Mark Manson Quotes

“Acts of love are valid only if they're performed without conditions or expectations.”

“As a rule, people who are terrified of what others think about them are actually terrified of all the shitty things they think about themselves being reflected back at them.”

“Commitment gives you freedom because you're no longer distracted by the unimportant and frivolous.”

“I always tell men, if every girl you date is unstable and crazy, that’s a reflection of your emotional maturity level. It’s a reflection of your confidence or lack of confidence. It’s a reflection of your neediness.”

“My biggest life lesson in 2022 is that I need far less to be happy than I thought.”

“Nobody remembers your mistakes as much as you do.”

“Parenthood is basically just following around a kid for a couple decades and making sure he doesn’t accidentally kill himself.”

“Self-awareness is like an onion. There are multiple layers to it, and the more you peel them back, the more likely you're going to start crying at inappropriate time.”

“The person you marry is the person you fight with. The house you buy is the house you repair. The dream job you take is the job you stress over. Everything comes with an inherent sacrifice—whatever makes us feel good will also inevitably make us feel bad. What we gain is also what we lose. What creates our positive experiences will define our negative experiences.”

“The rare people who do become truly exceptional at something do so not because they believe they’re exceptional. On the contrary, they become amazing because they’re obsessed with improvement. And that obsession with improvement stems from an unerring belief that they are, in fact, not that great at all. It’s anti-entitlement. People who become great at something become great because they understand that they’re not already great – they are mediocre, they are average – and that they could be so much better.”

“There’s a saying in Texas: “The smallest dog barks the loudest.” A confident man doesn’t feel a need to prove that he’s confident. A rich woman doesn’t feel a need to convince anybody that she’s rich.”

“What most people don't understand is that passion is the result of action, not the cause of it.”

“You can’t build a better mind without challenging your own beliefs and assumptions.”

“As intelligence increases, so does the intensity of suffering.”

“Because pain is the universal constant of life, the opportunities to grow from that pain are constant in life. All that is required is that we don't numb it, that we don't look away. All that is required is that we engage it and find the value and meaning in it.”

“Democracy can exist only when you are willing to tolerate views that oppose your own, when you’re willing to give up some things you might want for the sake of a safe and healthy community, when you’re willing to compromise and accept that sometimes things don’t go your way.”

“Don’t hope for better. Just be better. Be something better. Be more compassionate, more resilient, more humble, more disciplined.”

“Ever notice that the most important moments in life are always accompanied by somebody in a robe? Weddings, graduations, funerals, court hearings, judicial committee hearings, open heart surgeries, baptisms, and yes, even church sermons.”

“Evolution rewards the most powerful creatures, and power is determined by the ability to access, harness, and manipulate information effectively.”

“Freedom itself demands discomfort.”

“Hopelessness is the root of anxiety, mental illness, and depression. It is the source of all misery and the cause of all addiction.”

“How to start your own religion. Step one: Sell hope to the hopeless.”

“I don't care how scientific you think you are or how many letters you have after your name, you're one of us, bucko. You're a crazy feeling brain-piloted meat robot just like the rest of us.”

“If Jane has to choose between 2 boxes of cereal, and Mike can choose from 20 boxes, Mike does not have more freedom than Jane. He has more variety. Variety is not freedom.”

“If you can tap into people’s insecurities, they will buy just about any damn thing you tell them to.”

“Leaders need their followers to be perpetually dissatisfied; it’s good for the leadership business. If everything were perfect and great, there’d be no reason to follow anybody.”

“Moral gaps are where our values are born.”

“No matter how sunny our skies get, our mind will always imagine just enough clouds to be slightly disappointed.”

“Our crises of hope often start with a basic sense that we do not have control over ourselves or our destiny.”

“Pain is the currency of our values. Without the pain of loss (or potential loss), it becomes impossible to determine the value of anything at all.”