Throughout the years, I have collected my favorite quotes and advice from books, e-mail newsletters, podcasts, etc. The items below are some of those nuggets I thought were worth saving.

Personal Growth & Learning

• "The greatest teacher is called 'doing'"
• "Confidence is built, not born"
• "Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change"
• "You are only as young as the last time you changed your mind"
• "Am I willing to look foolish today so I can learn something that will make me better tomorrow?"
• "You're capable of more than you know. Don't be your own bottleneck"
• "It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows"
• "Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know"
• "Mastery is the best goal because the rich can't buy it, the impatient can't rush it, the privileged can't inherit it, and nobody can steal it"

Mindset & Perspective

• "You do not experience life, you experience the life you focus on"
• "We see things and people not as they are, but as we are"
• "Reality is undefeated. Embrace it"
• "Once your mindset changes, everything on the outside will change along with it"
• "Know thyself"
• "What might I be wrong about?"
• "One of the biggest mistakes we make is assuming other people think the way we think"
• "Focus on how you want your life to be, not how people perceive you"
• "While you're busy fighting what is, you're blind to what could be"
• "If you base your self-esteem on other people's approval, your confidence will always be unstable"

Productivity

• "The secret to being productive is to work on the right thing - even if it's at a slow pace"
• "You cannot limit the work so you must limit your hours. Your time, not the work, is the only thing you can manage"
• "Long-term consistency trumps short term intensity"
• "Effective planning turns a daunting item into a series of small, clear, manageable tasks"
• "If you've been head-down on a task for too long, lift your head up to make sure you're going the right way"
• "The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities"
• "Make it as easy as possible to work as hard as you can"
• "How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives"
• "If your goal does not have a schedule, it is a dream"
• "A rushed process is a failed process"
• "Action cures fear"
• "You get credit for action, not preparation"
• "Do the simplest thing that works, then iterate"
• "Keep busy. The worried person must lose himself in action, lest he wither in despair"
• "Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there"
• "Now, not how"
• "Don't hide behind the big. Do the smallest thing possible"
• "Make before you manage"
• "To know and not to do is really not to know"
• "Finish something. Anything. Stop researching, planning, and preparing to do the work and just do the work"
• "The only way to truly know if any idea works is to test it. And if you're looking for the best idea, test everything"

Technical & Engineering

• "Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability"
• "The best code can't make up for poor data structures"
• "Duplication is far cheaper than the wrong abstraction"
• "Premature optimization and abstraction is the root of all evil. As simple as possible, but not simpler"
• "It is much easier to add features to reliable software, than it is to add reliability to featureful software"
• "The worst sin of performance engineering is applying effort to unproven problems"
• "No matter what it is about, when you feel a single technique is your silver bullet solution for everything...that's not engineering. That's a religion"

Relationships

• "Relationships really are like a garden - if you don't tend to them, they wither"
• "The easiest way to improve your relationship with anyone is an unexpected gift at an unexpected time"
• "Hurry kills relationships. Love takes time; hurry doesn't have it"
• "Connect first. Educate second"
• "Lack of appreciation is where relationships go to die. Vocalize appreciation in the moment"
• "When you avoid a hard conversation, you're taking on a debt that has to be repaid with interest"
• "Say the thing you think you cannot say"
• "Make the implicit explicit"
• "The best way to get to yes in a negotiation is to truly understand what yes means for the other party"
• "Good questions are asked with the desire to learn, and they are specific"

Peace & Well-being

• "We suffer more in imagination than in reality"
• "If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live in the moment, live in the breath"
• "No amount of anxiety makes any difference to anything that is going to happen"
• "Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes. Including you"
• "True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future"
• "Today I escaped from anxiety. Or no, I discarded it, because it was within me, in my own perceptions"
• "The struggle ends when the gratitude begins"
• "You can be relaxed and dedicated. Just because you worry more, doesn't mean you care more"
• "Never worry alone"
• "In everything, love simplicity"

Problem Solving & Decision Making

• "Problem-solving: 1. Write down a problem. 2. Think very hard. 3. Write down the solution"
• "How can we make this work?" instead of stopping at "This won't work because..."
• "Is your reading and research supplementing your actions or substituting for them?"
• "Procrastinating? My current task is probably not defined or too wide in scope. Explicitly define the next step"
• "Focus your energy on $10,000 solutions, not $1 problems"
• "The foolish person winds up doing at the end what the smart person does at the beginning"
• "Assume zero knowledge and infinite intelligence"
• "Quick judgements are antithetical to curiosity"
• "Complaints don't solve problems"
• "You don't need the answer, but rather an attitude of curiosity"
• "When we become overly attached to a premature version of the work, we do a disservice to the project's potential"
• "In terms of priority, inspiration comes first. You come next. The audience comes last"
• "It's a healthy practice to approach our work with as few accepted rules, starting points, and limitations as possible"

Life Philosophy & Resilience

• "There is no such thing as a quantum leap. There is only dogged persistence"
• "He who suffers before it is necessary suffers more than is necessary"
• "He who indulges empty fears earns himself real fears"
• "When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this - you haven't"
• "Too much agreeableness is an act of self betrayal"
• "He who jumps into the void owes no explanation to those who stand and watch"
• "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter"
• "The only Zen you can find on the tops of mountains is the Zen you bring up there"
• "If you don't bring it with you, you won't find it there"
• "The best work ethic requires a good rest ethic"
• "The grass isn't greener on the other side, the grass is greener where you water it"
• "Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished"
• "The part can never be well unless the whole is well"
• "Less, but better"
• "Priorities are like arms. If you think you have more than a couple, you're either lying or crazy"
• "The man is richest whose pleasures are cheapest"
• "Focus only on results and win one time. Focus on systems and win again and again"
• "There are no solutions. There are only trade-offs"
• "Your behavior, not your opinions, will change the world"
• "You get back what you give"

Leadership

• "One of the most important qualities of a good leader is optimism, a pragmatic enthusiasm for what can be achieved. People are not energized by pessimists"
• "Fear of failure destroys creativity"
• "Great is often a collection of very small things"
• "You can't build a reputation on what you're going to do"

#random