Quotes from book

Mastery

“It is in fact the height of selfishness to merely consume what others create and to retreat into a shell of limited goals and immediate pleasures.”

“Most people are perpetually locked in the present. Their decisions are overly influenced by the most immediate event; they easily become emotional and ascribe greater significance to a problem than it should have in reality.”

“The conventional mind is passive - it consumes information and regurgitates it in familiar forms. The dimensional mind is active, transforming everything it digests into something new and original, creating instead of consuming.”

“Become who you are by learning who you are.”

“Everything that happens to you is a form of instruction if you pay attention.”

“Our natural tendency is to project onto other people our own belief and value systems, in ways in which we are not even aware.”

“The future belongs to those who learn more skills and combine them in creative ways.”

“You must understand the following: In order to master a field, you must love the subject and feel a profound connection to it. Your interest must transcend the field itself and border on the religious.”

“If we experience any failures or setbacks, we do not forget them because they offend our self-esteem. Instead we reflect on them deeply, trying to figure out what went wrong and discern whether there are any patterns to our mistakes.”

“The key then to attaining this higher level of intelligence is to make our years of study qualitatively rich. We don't simply absorb information - we internalize it and make it our own by finding some way to put this knowledge to practical use.”

“The truth is that creative activity is one that involves the entire self - our emotions, our levels of energy, our characters, and our minds.”

“The problem is that we humans are deep conformists.”

“The passive ironic attitude is not cool or romantic, but pathetic and destructive.”

“No one is really going to help you or give you direction. In fact, the odds are against you.”

“People around you, constantly under the pull of their emotions, change their ideas by the day or by the hour, depending on their mood. You must never assume that what people say or do in a particular moment is a statement of their permanent desires.”