Essential Quotes

“Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land

“For there is but one essential justice which cements society, and one law which establishes this justice. This law is right reason, which is the true rule of all commandments and prohibitions. Whoever neglects this law, whether written or unwritten, is necessarily unjust and wicked.”
― Marcus Tullius Cicero, Yasalar Üzerine

“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you've got to focus on. But that's not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I'm actually as proud of the things we haven't done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things.”
― Steve Jobs

“If we only live through the eyes of the others and don’t try to capture the vibration of our own individual experience, we may miss out the beam and brilliance of authenticity that is essential to move forward in life”
― Erik Pevernagie

“As many people are in turmoil, they happen to put many substantial questions. By incessantly asking themselves what it means "to be essential," they start wondering whether "usefulness" has a key function in their life. It is true; many people can only survive through necessary and useful effects. But can we dispel "unusefulness" as worthless? For some, art and play may be “useless” but, yet, are fundamental ways and means for survival. ("Corporeal prison")”
― Erik Pevernagie

“Schizophrenic pandemic aggression may keep us in the confinement of our physical arrest. Still, if we have no other tools in our shed, we have to grind our teeth, take a deep breath, sharpen our awareness, and use the time to recognize what is essential in life. ("Corporeal prison").”
― Erik Pevernagie

“Should we be capable of ‘forgiving or forgetting’ to be happy? If anger is too powerful and overwhelming, and we cannot tame or cage our rage, let us forget about forgiving. But if real life does not stop crying out for us, telling us to store new energy and experiences and inviting us to sort out the tools for cleaning up our boisterous interior, a new reality may start taking shape, transmitting joy, and letting us tune in with ourselves. When we are in line with the world, we can feel a new mindset has absorbed us and eventually sense what is essential in our lives.”
― Erik Pevernagie

“When the tribulations of our life are shaking up our entrenched values, and we are tossed about between “urgent, important, and essential “ issues, we must carve a haven in our walks of life, ensuring us “time to breathe,” giving back our “touch of freedom.” ("If he doesn't play ball")”
― Erik Pevernagie

“I ask myself: is every story that has ever been written in this world, a story of suffering and affliction?

”
― Clarice Lispector, The Hour of the Star

“Try for once to justify the meaning of your existence as it were a posteriori by setting yourself an aim, a goal... an exalted and noble 'to this end.' Perish in pursuit of this and only this”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, Untimely Meditations

“The assumption of an absolute determinism is the essential foundation of every scientific enquiry.”
― Max Planck, Dilemmas of an Upright Man: Max Planck and the Fortunes of German Science

“Nothing is more essential, than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular Nations, and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded; and that, in place of them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated.”
― George Washington, The Papers of George Washington: March-April 1778 (Volume 14)

“Be beautiful if you can, wise if you want to, but be respected - that is essential.”
― Anna Gould

“Beyond thought I reach a state. I refuse to divide it up into words - and what I cannot and do not want to express ends up being the most secret of my secrets. I know that I'm scared of the moments in which I don't use thought and that's a momentary state that is difficult to reach, and which, entirely secret, no longer uses words with which thoughts are produce. Is not using words to lose your identity? is it getting lost in the harmful essential shadows?”
― Clarice Lispector

“I've been quite happy. Look, here are my proofs. Remember that I am indifferent to discomforts which would harass other folk. What do the circumstances of life matter if your dreams make you lord paramount of time and space?”
― W. Somerset Maugham

“What you do with your time daily is essential for spiritual and physical growth”
― Sunday Adelaja

“Clarity about what is essential fuels us with the strength to say no to the nonessentials.”
― Greg McKeown, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

“The big question, I jotted down during the long wait at the long wait at the airport, is how to hope and what to hope for. We are citizens of corrupt country, of a corrupt vision. There is such a sense of death and of being buried under the weight of technocracy. How to keep cool and get hold of the essential... and, above all, how to recognize the essential.”
― May Sarton, Journal of a Solitude

“I think that the essence of the tea ceremony lies in how sincere you are toward your guests.
Human life is a fragile thing. We may be alive and kicking right now, but we could die at any moment. That's why you have to put your heart and soul into the way you treat your guests, and conduct yourself as if it's the last time you'll ever see them.
The tea ceremony is a practice through which you show your consideration to others. The manners and utensils are all part of that.
That's why I think people who brag about how expensive their utensils are, or who take pride in the fact that they know the right manners, do not understand the spirit of the tea ceremony.
Putting your heart and soul into it means you must get rid of all vanity. And that's why the governing aesthetic of the tea ceremony is to get rid of what's non-essential, in order to pursue the essence of things.”
― Tetsu Kariya, Japanese Cuisine

“Tyler: Do you know what a duvet is?

Narrator: A comforter.

Tyler: It’s a blanket. Just a blanket.
Why do guys like you and I know what a duvet is?
Is this essential to our survival
in the hunter-gatherer sense of the word?
No.
What are we, then?

Narrator: I don’t know. Consumers?”
― Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club

“Instead of reacting to the social pressures pulling you to go in a million directions, you will learn a way to reduce, simplify, and focus on what is absolutely essential by eliminating everything else.”
― Greg McKeown, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

“Ask the essential question: “What will I say no to?” This is the question that will uncover your true priorities. It is the question that will reveal the best path forward for your team.”
― Greg McKeown, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

“Essential intent applies to so much more than your job description or your company’s mission statement; a true essential intent is one that guides your greater sense of purpose, and helps you chart your life’s path.”
― Greg McKeown, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

“I applied only to Stanford—both times. When I finally received my offer the second time around it couldn’t have been more clear to me that this was the most vital thing for me to be doing. It was the right path at the right time. It was the quiet, personal confirmation of the way of the Essentialist.”
― Greg McKeown, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

“The COVID-19 vaccine was an essential requirement for my compromised immune system.”
― Steven Magee, Hypoxia, Mental Illness & Chronic Fatigue

“Vitamin R – The radiation (R) vitamin that is essential to life, however too much or too little will make you sick.”
― Steven Magee, Hypoxia, Mental Illness & Chronic Fatigue

“To my way of thinking, any American who gets up and goes to work every day is essential, whether your job is caring for the sick, driving a delivery truck, stocking a shelf, or milking a herd of cows. You matter. And your job matters because it matters to you.”
― Kristi Noem, Not My First Rodeo: Lessons from the Heartland

“L-Lysine is an essential amino acid that may prevent cold sores.”
― Steven Magee, Pandemic Supplements

“When the time comes for someone to step in and become the expert on your life, you have the ability to prepare them.”
― Wendy Michelle Cappola

“Il avait cessé de se battre et était rentré chez lui, retrouver sa femme, à Okazaki.
– Toi, et la fraîcheur des pins, avait-il simplement dit.”
― Cyril Gely, Le Dernier Thé de maître Sohô