Read on Twitter
[THREAD]
A collection of 120+ amazing quotes by Angel Philosopher @naval on health, wealth, happiness, work, success, self improvement, life and modern society:
1. Most of modern life, all our diseases, are diseases of abundance, not diseases of scarcity.
A collection of 120+ amazing quotes by Angel Philosopher @naval on health, wealth, happiness, work, success, self improvement, life and modern society:
1. Most of modern life, all our diseases, are diseases of abundance, not diseases of scarcity.
2. The modern mind is overstimulated and the modern body is understimulated and overfed.
Meditation, exercise, and fasting restore an ancient balance.
Meditation, exercise, and fasting restore an ancient balance.
3. Meditation is intermittent fasting for the mind.
Too much sugar leads to a heavy body, & too many distractions lead to a heavy mind.
Time spent undistracted and alone, in self-examination, journaling, meditation, resolves the unresolved & takes us from mentally fat to fit.
Too much sugar leads to a heavy body, & too many distractions lead to a heavy mind.
Time spent undistracted and alone, in self-examination, journaling, meditation, resolves the unresolved & takes us from mentally fat to fit.
4. Mentors wonât make you rich.
Doctors wonât make you healthy.
Nutritionists wonât make you slim.
Teachers wonât make you smart.
Gurus wonât make you calm.
Trainers wonât make you fit.
Ultimately, you have to take responsibility.
Save yourself.
Doctors wonât make you healthy.
Nutritionists wonât make you slim.
Teachers wonât make you smart.
Gurus wonât make you calm.
Trainers wonât make you fit.
Ultimately, you have to take responsibility.
Save yourself.
5. The modern struggle â Lone individuals summoning inhuman willpower, fasting, meditating, & exercising, up against armies of scientists & statisticians weaponizing abundant food, screens, & medicine into junk food, clickbait news, infinite porn, endless games & addictive drugs.
6. Meditation is self-therapy.
Instead of paying a therapist to sit there and listen to you, youâre listening to yourself.
Instead of paying a therapist to sit there and listen to you, youâre listening to yourself.
7. The three big ones in life are wealth, health, and happiness.
We pursue them in that order but their importance is in the reverse.
We pursue them in that order but their importance is in the reverse.
8. School, politics, sports, and games train us to compete against others.
True rewards â wealth, knowledge, love, fitness, and equanimity â come from ignoring others and improving ourselves.
True rewards â wealth, knowledge, love, fitness, and equanimity â come from ignoring others and improving ourselves.
9. A happy, calm, and peaceful person will make better decisions.
So if you want to operate at peak performance, you have to learn how to tame your mind.
So if you want to operate at peak performance, you have to learn how to tame your mind.
10. You can escape competition through authenticity, when you realize that no one can compete with you on being you.
That would have been useless advice pre-internet.
Post-internet, you can turn that into a career.
That would have been useless advice pre-internet.
Post-internet, you can turn that into a career.
11. Sing the song that only you can sing,
write the book that only you can write,
build the product that only you can buildâŠ
live the life that only you can live.
write the book that only you can write,
build the product that only you can buildâŠ
live the life that only you can live.
12. Today in society you get rewarded for creative work,
for creating something brand new that society didnât even know that it wanted that it doesnât yet know how to get,
other than through you.
for creating something brand new that society didnât even know that it wanted that it doesnât yet know how to get,
other than through you.
13. The best way to prepare for the future 20 years is find something you love to do, to have a shot at being one of the best people in the world at it.
Build an independent brand around it.
Try to make a creative work, so youâll stay interesting, stay ahead of the game.
Build an independent brand around it.
Try to make a creative work, so youâll stay interesting, stay ahead of the game.
14. Youâre better off following your genuine intellectual curiosity rather than chasing whatever is hot right now.
15. If you want to operate at peak performance, you have to learn how to tame your mind.
16. Only through suffering do you have change and self-improvement.
17. Reality is neutral.
Reality has no judgments. To a tree, thereâs no concept of right or wrong or good or bad.
Youâre born, you have a whole set of sensory experiences⊠and then you die.
How you choose to interpret that is up to you. And you do have that choice.
Reality has no judgments. To a tree, thereâs no concept of right or wrong or good or bad.
Youâre born, you have a whole set of sensory experiences⊠and then you die.
How you choose to interpret that is up to you. And you do have that choice.
18. The universe has been around for a long time, and the universe is a very, very large place.
If youâll study even the smallest bit of science, for all practical purposes we are nothing.
We are amoeba. We are bacteria to the universe.
If youâll study even the smallest bit of science, for all practical purposes we are nothing.
We are amoeba. We are bacteria to the universe.
19. Knowledge is discovered by all of us, each adding to the whole.
Wisdom is rediscovered by each of us, one at a time.
Wisdom is rediscovered by each of us, one at a time.
20. If you eat, invest, and think according to what the ânewsâ advocates,
youâll end up nutritionally, financially and morally bankrupt.
youâll end up nutritionally, financially and morally bankrupt.
21. Suffering is a moment of clarity, when you can no longer deny the truth of a situation and are forced into uncomfortable change.
Inside suffering is the seed of change.
Inside suffering is the seed of change.
22. Relax youâll live longer and perform better.
23. We donât always get what we want, but sometimes what is happening is for the best.
The sooner you can accept it as a reality, the sooner you can adapt to it.
The sooner you can accept it as a reality, the sooner you can adapt to it.
24. I think it just helps to be very aware that fundamentally, there are no adults.
Everyone is making it up as they go along.
You have to find your own path, picking, choosing, taking and discarding as you see fit.
Everyone is making it up as they go along.
You have to find your own path, picking, choosing, taking and discarding as you see fit.
25. Think clearly from the ground up.
Understand and explain from first principles.
Ignore society and politics.
Acknowledge what you have.
Control your emotions.
Understand and explain from first principles.
Ignore society and politics.
Acknowledge what you have.
Control your emotions.
26. Nothing you do is going to matter that much in the long run.
Donât take yourself so seriously.
Donât take yourself so seriously.
27. Become the best in the world at what you do.
Keep redefining what you do until this is true.
Keep redefining what you do until this is true.
28. Guard your time. Itâs all you have.
29. A busy calendar and a busy mind will destroy your ability to create anything great.
30. No one is going to value you more than you value yourself.
31. Earn with your mind, not your time.
32. People spend too much time doing and not enough time thinking about what they should be doing.
33. You do not want to compete, you want to be a market of one.
34. You have to put in the time, but more important is the judgment.
The direction youâre heading in matters more than how fast you drive.
The direction youâre heading in matters more than how fast you drive.
35. You should be too busy to do coffee while keeping an uncluttered calendar.
36. The world doesnât always give what you want, but it often gives you what you need.
37. You get paid for being right first, and to be first, you canât wait for consensus.
38. Youâll do better work if youâre bored rather than busy.
39. Trade money for time, not time for money.
Youâre going to run out of time first.
Youâre going to run out of time first.
40. Arm yourself with specific knowledge.Â
Specific knowledge is knowledge that you cannot be trained for.
If society can train you, it can train someone else, and replace you.
Specific knowledge is knowledge that you cannot be trained for.
If society can train you, it can train someone else, and replace you.
41. Productize yourself.
42. To the experts, what looks like hard work from the outside, is play from the inside.
43. The means of learning are abundant, itâs the desire to learn thatâs scarce.
44. Just focus on the one or two really really important things, and everything else, just surrender to it.
Just take it as it comes. Just accept it. Be glad with it. Be happy that youâre in this world.
Just take it as it comes. Just accept it. Be glad with it. Be happy that youâre in this world.
45. Donât do things that you know are morally wrong.
Not because someone is watching, but because you are.
Self-esteem is just the reputation that you have with yourself.
Not because someone is watching, but because you are.
Self-esteem is just the reputation that you have with yourself.
46. Thereâs no certainty in life.
You can put in the hours, you can put in the time, but you canât really expect the outcome.
You can put in the hours, you can put in the time, but you canât really expect the outcome.
47. When looking for a purpose to life, notice that most things are stepping stones, done for ulterior motives.
True art, love, and play stand apart, as they are done for their own sakes.
True art, love, and play stand apart, as they are done for their own sakes.
48. Escape competition through authenticity.
49. Wealth creation is an evolutionarily recent positive-sum game.
Status is an old zero-sum game.
Those attacking wealth creation are often just seeking status.
Status is an old zero-sum game.
Those attacking wealth creation are often just seeking status.
50. Solve via iteration. Then get paid via repetition.
51. Become the best in the world at what you do.
Keep redefining what you do until this is true.
Keep redefining what you do until this is true.
52. The greatest superpower is the ability to change yourself.
53. We waste our time with short term thinking and busywork.
Warren Buffett spends a year deciding and a day acting.
That act lasts decades.
Warren Buffett spends a year deciding and a day acting.
That act lasts decades.
54. When youâre healthy you have 10000 needs, but when youâre sick you only have one need.
55. The reality is life is a single-player game.
Youâre born alone. Youâre going to die alone.
All of your interpretations are alone. All your memories are alone.
Youâre gone in three generations and nobody cares.
Before you showed up, nobody cared. Itâs all single-player.
Youâre born alone. Youâre going to die alone.
All of your interpretations are alone. All your memories are alone.
Youâre gone in three generations and nobody cares.
Before you showed up, nobody cared. Itâs all single-player.
56. Cynicism is easy. Mimicry is easy.
Optimistic contrarians are the rarest breed.
Optimistic contrarians are the rarest breed.
57. A fit body, a calm mind, a house full of love.
These things cannot be bought â they must be earned.
These things cannot be bought â they must be earned.
58. All the real benefits in life come from compound interest.
59. The older the problem, the older the solution.
60. Anything deep is interesting.
61. Be present above all else.
62. The heart decides, the head rationalizes.
63. Art is just creativity, itâs just anything done for its own sake.
64. Once youâve truly controlled your own fate, for better or for worse, youâll never let anyone else tell you what to do.
65. The best way, perhaps the only way, to change others is to become an example.
66. The best exercise is the one your enjoy doing every day.
67. Picking the direction that youâre heading in in every decision is far, far more important than what force you apply.
Just pick the right direction to start walking in, and then start walking.
Just pick the right direction to start walking in, and then start walking.
68. When it comes to medicine and nutrition, subtract before you add.
69. To measure the quality of your life, simply do nothing, and see how it feels.
70. My definition of wisdom is knowing the long term consequences of your actions.
71. You always have three options.
You can change it, you can accept it, or you can leave it.
You can change it, you can accept it, or you can leave it.
72. In general, avoid getting into situations where youâre sacrificing today for an imagined tomorrow.
73. All real success is internal and has very little to do with external circumstances.
74. When building habits, choose consistency over content.
The best book is the one you canât put down.
The best exercise is the one you enjoy doing every day.
The best health food is the one you find tasty.
The best work is the work youâd do for free.
The best book is the one you canât put down.
The best exercise is the one you enjoy doing every day.
The best health food is the one you find tasty.
The best work is the work youâd do for free.
75. Weâre genetically wired to be pessimists, but modern society is far, far safer.
76. It made sense to be pessimistic in the past, but it makes sense to be an optimist today.
77. I donât think life is that hard. I think we make it hard.
78. The problem happens when we have multiple desires.
When we have fuzzy desires.
When we want to do ten different things and weâre not clear about which is the one we care about.
When we have fuzzy desires.
When we want to do ten different things and weâre not clear about which is the one we care about.
79. You have to work on your internal state until you are free of as many biases and conditioned responses as possible.
This will improve every aspect of your life.
This will improve every aspect of your life.
80. People who live far below their means enjoy a freedom that people busy upgrading their lifestyles canât fathom.
81. I think a lot of what we think of happiness is just pleasure.
Itâs physical pleasure, either from, âOh, that tasted goodâ.
Or it might be momentary pleasure from, âHe loves me, she loves meâ.
Itâs physical pleasure, either from, âOh, that tasted goodâ.
Or it might be momentary pleasure from, âHe loves me, she loves meâ.
82. You should realize that this is such a short & precious life that itâs really important that you donât spend it being unhappy.
Thereâs no excuse for spending most of your life in misery.
Thereâs no excuse for spending most of your life in misery.
83. To live in the present moment is the highest calling.
Itâs the source of all happiness.
Itâs the source of all happiness.
84. Knowing how little you matter is very important for your own mental health and happiness.
85. Investing favors the dispassionate.
Markets efficiently separate emotional investors from their money.
Markets efficiently separate emotional investors from their money.
86. The purpose of wealth is freedom.
Itâs nothing more than that.
Itâs not to buy fur coats, or drive Ferraris, or sail yachts, or jet around the world in your Gulfstream.
That stuff gets really boring and really stupid, really fast.
Itâs nothing more than that.
Itâs not to buy fur coats, or drive Ferraris, or sail yachts, or jet around the world in your Gulfstream.
That stuff gets really boring and really stupid, really fast.
87. Work becomes flow at the limits of ability.
88. In an older society with few resources and mechanical work, the scheduled life is the most productive.
In a modern society with permissionless leverage and creative work, the unscheduled life is the most productive.
In a modern society with permissionless leverage and creative work, the unscheduled life is the most productive.
89. Youâre never going to be the best in the world at anything unless itâs something that you just absolutely love to do.
90. Forty hour workweeks are a relic of the Industrial Age.
Knowledge workers function like athletes â train and sprint, then rest and reassess.
Knowledge workers function like athletes â train and sprint, then rest and reassess.
91. Generally, most people will make the mistake of paying too much attention to the competition and being too much like the competition and not being authentic enough.
92. Itâs only after youâre bored that you have the great ideas.
Itâs never going to be when youâre stressed, or busy, running around or rushed.
Make the time.
Itâs never going to be when youâre stressed, or busy, running around or rushed.
Make the time.
93. In an age of infinite leverage, judgement is the most important skill.
94. The modern world is a gift.
It gives us tools and choices, but we need the self-discipline and wisdom to choose wisely.
It gives us tools and choices, but we need the self-discipline and wisdom to choose wisely.
95. If they can train you to do it, then eventually they will train a computer to do it.
96. Creativity is the last frontier.
Automation over a long enough period of time will replace every non-creative job. Thatâs great news.
That means that all of our basic needs are taken of, and what remains for us is to be creative, which is really what every human wants.
Automation over a long enough period of time will replace every non-creative job. Thatâs great news.
That means that all of our basic needs are taken of, and what remains for us is to be creative, which is really what every human wants.
97. Technology is the application of knowledge to control the natural world.
Itâs the greatest driver of both human prosperity and our capacity for self-annihilation.
Itâs the greatest driver of both human prosperity and our capacity for self-annihilation.
98. Specific knowledge canât be taught, but can be learned.
99. If youâre struggling through a subject, unless you need it for graduation, drop it.
Go learn something that you want to learn.
Go learn something that you want to learn.
100. Study microeconomics, game theory, psychology, persuasion, ethics, mathematics, and computers.
101. Your most important skill isnât even what you majored in or even what you studied, itâs just knowing how to learn.Â
If you learn how to learn, itâs the ultimate meta skill.
If you learn how to learn, itâs the ultimate meta skill.
102. Instead of memorizing, understand the basics so you can derive answers.
103. Shorter feedback loops means more iterations, and itâs the number of iterations, not the number of hours, that drives learning.
104. I think learning should be about learning the basics in all the fields and learning them really well over and over.
105. Whatâs really important is to develop a love of learning.
That is more important than anything else; itâs more important than what you learn.
Itâs more important than what school you go to, and itâs more important than what job you have.
That is more important than anything else; itâs more important than what you learn.
Itâs more important than what school you go to, and itâs more important than what job you have.
106. The Internet is the best school ever created.
The best peers are on the Internet.
The best books are on the Internet.
The best teachers are on the Internet.
The best peers are on the Internet.
The best books are on the Internet.
The best teachers are on the Internet.
107. Identify your strengths and apply them to what you care about.
Iterate at the edge of knowledge.
Building it will feel like play to you, but look like work to others.
Iterate at the edge of knowledge.
Building it will feel like play to you, but look like work to others.
108. Keeping your intellectual curiosity alive is really important.
The only way thatâs going to happen is if you learn what you love, if you read what you love, if you do what you love.
The only way thatâs going to happen is if you learn what you love, if you read what you love, if you do what you love.
109. Read what you love until you love to read.
110. Study logic and math, because once youâve mastered them, you wonât fear any book.
111. Ruminating on the past is largely a waste of time. Itâs illusory.
112. I think most of life is about searching, itâs not about doing.
People spend too much time doing and not enough time thinking about what they should be doing.
People spend too much time doing and not enough time thinking about what they should be doing.
113. I think itâs really worth â whenever you can in life, if you have the choice â optimizing for independence rather than optimizing for pay.
114. What you want to do in life is, you want to be in control of your time, so you want to get into a leveraged job, and then you want to get into one where you control your own time and youâre tracked on the outputs.
115. A clear mind, leads to better judgement, leads to better outcome.
116. A busy mind can often rob you of peace of mind.
The peace that we seek is not peace of mind, itâs peace from mind.
The peace that we seek is not peace of mind, itâs peace from mind.
117. The fewer desires I can have, the more I can accept the current state of things, the less my mind is moving because the mind really exists in motion towards the future or the past.
118. Everything is perfect exactly the way it is.
It is only in our particular minds that weâre unhappy or not happy and things are perfect or imperfect because of what we desire.
It is only in our particular minds that weâre unhappy or not happy and things are perfect or imperfect because of what we desire.
119. The advantage of meditation is not that youâre suddenly going to gain the superpower to control your internal state, itâs that you will recognize just how out of control your mind is.
120. Love is given, not received.
121. True, unconditional love, is the province of parents and saints.
