These are the best quotes and highlights from the book Stillness is the Key by Ryan Holiday.
In Stillness Is the Key, Ryan Holiday uses ancient Stoic and Buddhist philosophy to demonstrate why slowing down is the hidden weapon for those who want to get ahead.
In this book, Holiday sets out a strategy for achieving this ancient but critically needed way of living. He maintains, drawing on a wide range of history’s greatest philosophers, from Confucius to Seneca, Marcus Aurelius to Thich Nhat Hanh, John Stuart Mill to Nietzsche, that stillness is the key to self-mastery, discipline, and attention.
Quotes from Stillness is the Key by Ryan Holiday
Stillness is not an excuse to withdraw from the affairs of the world. Quite the opposite‚ it’s a tool to let you do more good for more people.
Mo’ money, mo’ problems, and also mo’ stuff, less freedom.
Every prophet must be forced into the wilderness—where they undergo solitude, deprivation, reflection, and meditation. It’s from this physical ordeal that ‘psychic dynamite’ is made.
Whatever you face, whatever you’re doing will require, first and foremost, that you don’t defeat yourself. That you don’t make it harder by overthinking, by needless doubts, or by second-guessing.
When we know what to say no to, we can say yes to the things that matter.
Stillness is the key to, well, just about everything.
We are one big collective organism engaged in one endless project together. We are one.
The call to stillness comes quietly. The modern world does not.
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We are not present . . . and so we miss out. On life, On being our best, On seeing what’s there.
This moment we are experiencing right now is a gift (that’s why we call it the present).
It is in this stillness that we can be present and finally see the truth. It is in this stillness that we can hear the voice inside us.
Whatever you face, whatever you’re doing will require, first and foremost, that you don’t defeat yourself.
We can’t be afraid of silence, as it has much to teach us. Seek it. The ticking of the hands of your watch is telling you how time is passing away, never to return. Listen to it.
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Because the mind is an important and sacred place. Keep it clean and clear.
Only through stillness are the vexing problems solved. Only through reducing our aims are the most difficult targets within our reach
Our soul is where we secure our happiness and unhappiness, contentment or emptiness—and ultimately, determine the extent of our greatness.
History teaches us that peace is what provides the opportunity to build. It is the postwar boom that turns nations into superpowers, and ordinary people into powerhouses.
It’s ironic that stillness is rare and fleeting in our busy lives because the world creates an inexhaustible supply of it. It’s just that nobody’s looking.
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We have so little control of the world around us, so many inexplicable events created this world, that it works out almost exactly the same way as if there was a god.
Remember, that’s what time is. It’s your life, it’s your flesh and blood, that you can never get back.
Take action. Get out from under all your stuff. Get rid of it. Give away what you don’t need.
If you want peace, there is just one thing to do. If you want to be your best, there is just one thing to do. Go to sleep.
That quiet feels so unnatural is a sign of its importance. Seize it. We can’t be afraid of silence, as it has much to teach us. Seek it.
There is no stillness to the mind that thinks of nothing but itself, nor will there ever be peace for the body and spirit that follow their every urge and value nothing but themselves.
Most of us would be seized with fear if our bodies went numb and would do everything possible to avoid it, yet we take no interest at all in the numbing of our souls.
I cannot understand how some people can live without communicating with the wisest people who ever lived on earth.
We can’t be afraid of silence, as it has much to teach us. Seek it. The ticking of the hands of your watch is telling you how time is passing away, never to return. Listen to it.
The world is like muddy water. To see through it, we have to let things settle. We can’t be disturbed by initial appearances, and if we are patient and still, the truth will be revealed to us.
More Books by Ryan Holiday
25 Best Quotes from Ego Is The Enemy by Ryan Holiday
The Obstacle Is the Way by Ryan Holiday
