“The desire for more positive experience is itself a negative experience. And, paradoxically, the acceptance of one’s negative experience is itself a positive experience.”

—  Mark Manson

Source: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck (2016), Chapter 1, “Don’t Try” (p. 9)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The desire for more positive experience is itself a negative experience. And, paradoxically, the acceptance of one’s ne…" by Mark Manson?
Mark Manson photo
Mark Manson 50
American writer and blogger 1984

Related quotes

Tenzin Gyatso photo

“I believe that in the 20th century, humanity has learned from many, many experiences. Some positive, and many negative.”

Tenzin Gyatso (1935) spiritual leader of Tibet

Interview in The New York Times (28 November 1993).
Context: I believe that in the 20th century, humanity has learned from many, many experiences. Some positive, and many negative. What misery, what destruction! The greatest number of human beings were killed in the two world wars of this century. But human nature is such that when we face a tremendous critical situation, the human mind can wake up and find some other alternative. That is a human capacity.

T. B. Joshua photo

“I feel strong in challenges, believing that personal improvement and fulfillment come through the continual process of learning from both negative and positive experiences.”

T. B. Joshua (1963) Nigerian Christian leader

On both praise and persecution - "'ATTRIBUTING THE SATELLITES SUCCESS TO ME IS BLASPHEMY' – T.B. JOSHUA" http://www.modernghana.com/print/247180/1/attributing-the-satellites-success-to-me-is-blasph.html Modern Ghana (November 4 2009)

Walter Pater photo

“Not the fruit of experience, but experience itself, is the end.”

Walter Pater (1839–1894) essayist, art and literature critic, fiction writer

Conclusion
The Renaissance http://www.authorama.com/renaissance-1.html (1873)
Context: Not the fruit of experience, but experience itself, is the end. A counted number of pulses only is given to us of a variegated, dramatic life. How may we see in them all that is to to be seen in them by the finest senses? How shall we pass most swiftly from point to point, and be present always at the focus where the greatest number of vital forces unite in their purest energy. To burn always with this hard, gem-like flame, to maintain this ecstasy, is success in life.

Rollo May photo
T.S. Eliot photo
Ram Dass photo
Nassim Nicholas Taleb photo

“Consider that the turkey's experience may have, rather than no value, a negative value.”

It learned from observation, as we are all advised to do (hey, after all, this is what is believed to be the scientific method). Its confidence increased as the number of friendly feedings grew, and it felt increasingly safe even though the slaughter was more and more imminent. Consider that the feeling of safety reached its maximum when the risk was at the highest!
Source: The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable (2007), pp. 40–41 (Taleb attributes the parable of the turkey to Bertrand Russell, who originally wrote of a chicken.)

Edmund Husserl photo

“Experience by itself is not science.”

Edmund Husserl (1859–1938) German philosopher, known as the father of phenomenology

... bloße Erfahrung ist keine Wissenschaft.
Pure Phenomenology, 1917

Eleanor Roosevelt photo

“In the long run there is no more exhilarating experience than to determine one's position, state it bravely and then act boldly.”

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States

Source: Tomorrow Is Now (1963), pp. 119–120
Context: We must know what we think and speak out, even at the risk of unpopularity. In the final analysis, a democratic government represents the sum total of the courage and the integrity of its individuals. It cannot be better than they are. … In the long run there is no more exhilarating experience than to determine one's position, state it bravely and then act boldly.

Related topics