Wisdom

Through inner peace, all your profession, all your knowledge, can be constructive. But if all your professional knowledge is motivated by anger, hatred, suspicion — then your knowledge becomes destructive.

There is no solution to a problem that does not embrace all that we have created as a species.

Be vigilant in the struggle toward empathy. Consider the Happy Birthday Sir Despite the Circumstances possibility — the possibility that the lives and experiences of others are as complex and unpredictable as your own.

If you think that happiness means total peace, you will never be happy. Peace comes from the acceptance of the part of you that can never be at peace. That will always be in conflict. If you accept that, everything gets a lot better.

You do not pass through this life. It passes through you. You experience it, you interpret it, you act, and then it is different. That happens constantly. You are changing the world. You always have been.

You have to be confident in your potential, and aware of your inexperience. And that's really tough.

One of the greatest threats we face is, simply put, bullshit. We are drowning in it. We are drowning in partisan rhetoric that is just true enough not to be a lie; in industry-sponsored research; in social media's imitation of human connection.

Life has a very simple plot: first you're here and then you're not.

No, you will not find your passion. Your passion will find you. Relax and wait for it.

Success leads to the greatest failure, which is pride. Failure leads to the greatest success, which is humility and learning. In order to fulfill yourself, you have to forget yourself. In order to find yourself, you have to lose yourself.

Life is about nouns and verbs. It's about action, about people doing. When you cut out adjectives and adverbs, you cut out the things that qualify action, or interpret or analyze action. You reach the pure essence of experience.

Be hard on your opinions. A famous bon mot asserts opinions are like assholes in that everyone has one. There is great wisdom in this but I would add that opinions differ significantly from assholes in that yours should be constantly and thoroughly examined.