Maxims from the best
By Marcelo Cardoso on May 14, 2021
Efficiency
It is vain to do with more what can be done with less.
William of Occam
Friendship
[...] the ultimate touchstone of friendship is not improvement, neither of the other nor of the self; the ultimate touchstone is witness, the privilege of having been seen by someone and the equal privilege of being granted the sight of the essence of another, to have walked with them and to have believed in them, and sometimes just to have accompanied them for however brief a span, on a journey impossible to accomplish alone.
David Whyte
Willpower
The difference between winnning and losing is most often not quitting.
Walt Disney
Choices
Easy choices, hard life. Hard choices, easy life.
Jerzy Gregorek
Whenever there is any doubt, there is no doubt.
David Mamet
The hard path is the unlearning path, the path where you start from the bottom of the mountain, in which you realize that in order to enjoy your full potential, you need to start from zero.
Naval Ravikant
Inner peace
Learning to ignore things is one of the great paths to inner peace.
Robert J. Sawyer
Owe
No one owes you anything.
Amelia Boone
Kindness
Never blame yourself for being too kind.
Yasmin Santana
Freedom
Freedom is to understand yourself, your emotions, who you are, and not to emprision yourself by "wanting to be something".
Krishna Murti
Money
Make money with your mind, not with your time... Product leverage is the key for wealth.
Naval Ravikant
Miscellaneous
A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.
Charles Darwin
The future is already here - it's just not evenly distributed.
William Gibson
Use context, not control. Inspire and lead people - don't micro-manage them - through setting the context.
- What are we trying to do?
- What are the constraints?
- Is it a big problem? Is it a little problem?
- Must it be done right, or we do an approximate version and fix it later?
- What are the behavioral norms in terms of honesty and sharing and forthrightness?
Reed Hastings
Don't criticize, condene or complain about others. If you know something good about someone, say it to others.
Dale Carnegie