Joy > Joy's Quotes

“The wide world is all about you: you can fence yourselves in, but you cannot for ever fence it out.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

“Man corrupt everything, say Shug. He on your box of grits, in your head, and all over the radio. He try to make you think he everywhere. Soon as you think he everywhere, you think he God. But he ain't. Whenever you trying to pray, and man plop himself on the other end of it, tell him to git lost, say Shug. Conjure up the flowers, wind, water, a big rock.”
― Alice Walker, The Color Purple

“There's something in all of us that wants a medal for what we have done. That wants to be appreciated.”
― Alice Walker, The Color Purple

“Shared and once again shared experience. Billions of prickling textures. Cut one sense away, cut part of life away. Cut two senses; life halves itself on the instant. We love what we know, we love what we are. Common cause, common cause, common cause of mouth, eye, ear, tongue, hand, nose, flesh, heart, and soul.”
― Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes

“Stuff your eyes with wonder," he said, "live as if you'd drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It's more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories. Ask no guarantees, ask for no security, there never was such an animal. And if there were, it would be related to the great sloth which hangs upside down in a tree all day every day, sleeping its life away. To hell with that," he said, "shake the tree and knock the great sloth down on his ass.”
― Ray Bradbury

“Nothing inspires more reverence and awe in me than an old man who knows how to change his mind.”
― Santiago Ramón Y Cajal

“He was a thinker, but also a man of action.”
― Dan Millman

“What good to conquer an enemy in battle, only to be vanquished by hunger or cold?”
― Dan Millman, The Journeys of Socrates

“Even a dark purpose can keep a man alive.”
― Dan Millman, The Journeys of Socrates

“Life develops what it demands.”
― Dan Millman, The Journeys of Socrates

“When a man has learned to live without money, he thought, a few rubles can go a long way.”
― Dan Millman, The Journeys of Socrates

“First of all," said Serafim, "there are no advanced skills; there is only skillful movement.”
― Dan Millman, The Journeys of Socrates

“Life is about refinement, not perfection. And you still have refining to do.”
― Dan Millman, The Journeys of Socrates

“Never fear the weapon, only the man wielding it. Focus on your opponent while he focuses on his knife or saber or pistol. He invests his power in the weapon but forgets the rest of his body.”
― Dan Millman, The Journeys of Socrates

“Make peace within, and there will be no one who can overcome you. And no one you will wish to overcome.”
― Dan Millman, The Journeys of Socrates

“You will fail many times, but in failing you will learn , and in learning you will find your way.”
― Dan Millman, The Journeys of Socrates

“The actions you take will shape your future for better or for worse. Such is the power of choice.”
― Dan Millman, The Journeys of Socrates

“A man's character reveals itself most clearly when he makes a choice under pressure.”
― Dan Millman, The Journeys of Socrates

“As the number of choices grows further, the negatives escalate until we become overloaded. At this point, choice no longer liberates, but debilitates. It might even be said to tyrannize,”
― Barry Schwartz, The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less

“Much of human progress has involved reducing the time and energy, as well as the number of processes we have to engage in and think about, for each of us to obtain the necessities of life.”
― Barry Schwartz, The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less

“Most good decisions will involve these steps:

1. Figure out your goal or goals.
2. Evaluate the importance of each goal.
3. Array the options.
4. Evaluate how likely each of the options is to meet your goals.
5. Pick the winning option.
6. Later use the consequences of your choice to modify your goals, the importance you assign to them, and the way you evaluate future possibilities.”
― Barry Schwartz, The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less

“The very wealth of options before us may turn us from choosers into pickers. A chooser is someone who thinks actively about the possibilities before making a decision. A chooser reflects on what's important to him or her in life, what's important about this particular decision, and what the short- and long-range consequences of the decision may be. A chooser makes decisions in a way that reflects awareness of what a given choice means about him or her as a person. Finally, a chooser is thoughtful enough to conclude that perhaps none of the available alternatives are satisfactory, and that if he or she wants the right alternative, he or she might have to create it. A picker does none of these things.”
― Barry Schwartz, The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less

“Every choice we make is a testament to our autonomy, to our sense of self-determination. Almost every social, moral, or political philosopher in the Western tradition since Plato has placed a premium on such autonomy. And each new expansion of choice gives us another opportunity to assert our autonomy, and this display our character.”
― Barry Schwartz, The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less

“Having the opportunity to choose is no blessing if we feel we do not have the wherewithal to choose wisely.”
― Barry Schwartz, The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less

“So by using rules, presumptions, standards, and routines to constrain ourselves and limit the decisions we face, we can make life more manageable, which gives us more time to devote ourselves to other people and to the decisions that we can’t or don’t want to avoid.”
― Barry Schwartz, The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less

“Learning to choose is hard. Learning to choose well is harder. And learning to choose well in a world of unlimited possibilities is harder still, perhaps too hard.”
― Barry Schwartz, The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less

“When asked about what they regret most in the last six months, people tend to identify actions that didn’t meet expectations. But when asked about what they regret most when they look back on their lives as a whole, people tend to identify failures to act.”
― Barry Schwartz, The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less

“On the other hand, the fact that some choice is good doesn’t necessarily mean that more choice is better.”
― Barry Schwartz, The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less

“The way that the meal or the music or the movie makes you feel in the moment—either good or bad—could be called experienced utility.”
― Barry Schwartz, The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less

“Pay attention to what you’re giving up in the next-best alternative, but don’t waste energy feeling bad about having passed up an option further down the list that you wouldn’t have gotten to anyway.”
― Barry Schwartz, The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less