Clarity moves much more efficiently than violence or stress.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
Believing that you must do something perfectly is a recipe for stress, and you’ll associate that stress with the task and thus condition yourself to avoid it.
—Steve Pavlina (b.1971) American Motivational Speaker
Past tense means you used to be nervous.
—Unknown
If you ask what is the single most important key to longevity, I would have to say it is avoiding worry, stress and tension. And if you didn’t ask me, I’d still have to say it.
—George Burns (1896–1996) American Comedian
There is more to life than increasing its speed.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
I think it is fair to say that it is under a great deal of stress, and if I am asking for significant changes, it is because the world is going through significant changes.
—Mohamed ElBaradei (b.1942) Egyptian Diplomat
In these days, half our diseases come from the neglect of the body in the over work of the brain. In this railway age, the wear and tear of labor and intellect go on without pause or self-pity. We live longer than our forefathers; but we suffer more from a thousand artificial anxieties and cares. They fatigued only the muscles, we exhaust the finer strength of the nerves.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths, or the turning inwards in prayer for five short minutes.
—Etty Hillesum (1914–43) Jewish Diarist
Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with, it is a toy and an amusement. Then it becomes a mistress, then it becomes a master, then it becomes a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster, and fling him to the public.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
No one can get inner peace by pouncing on it.
—Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878–1969) American Baptist Minister
Basically, my problem was attributed to stress more than anything. I don’t know what that does and I guess doctors can tell you that there’s chemicals that build up in your system when you go through a lot of stress and constant stress.
—Mike Ditka (b.1939) American Sportsperson
Loafing needs no explanation and is its own excuse.
—Christopher Morley (1890–1957) American Novelist, Essayist
Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are.
—Chinese Proverb
A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety.
—Aesop (620–564 BCE) Greek Fabulist
If people concentrated on the really important things in life, there’d be a shortage of fishing poles.
—Doug Larson (1926–2017) American Columnist
The field of consciousness is tiny. It accepts only one problem at a time.
—Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900–44) French Novelist, Aviator
That’s the purpose of stress. It’s a friend. It’s an alarm clock, built in to let you know that it’s time to do The Work.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
Future shock is the shattering stress and disorientation that we induce in individuals by subjecting them to too much change in too short a time.
—Alvin Toffler (1928–2016) American Writer, Futurist
Stress is the high-level performers PowerBar.
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save.
—Will Rogers (1879–1935) American Actor, Rancher, Humorist
Maturity is achieved when a person accepts life as full of tension.
—Joshua L. Liebman (1907–48) American Jewish Rabbi, Author
Being anxious, or in a painful rush of any kind, kills the possibility of meeting anyone with compassion.
—Guy Finley
It is easy to be swept away by some overwhelming feeling, so it’s helpful to remember that any stressful feeling is like a compassionate alarm clock that says, “You’re caught in the dream”.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
Looking to any angry, anxious, or otherwise stressed emotional state to help you sort out the pain you’re in is like trying to organize your monthly bills by throwing them into a blender.
—Guy Finley
The mark of a successful man is one that has spent an entire day on the bank of a river without feeling guilty about it.
—Unknown
I can find only three kinds of business in the universe: mine, yours and God’s. Much of our stress comes from mentally living out of our business. When I think, “You need to get a job, I want you to be happy, you should be on time, you need to take better care of yourself,” I am in your business. When I’m worried about earthquakes, floods, war, or when I will die, I am in God’s business. If I am mentally in your business or in God’s business, the effect is separation.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
I have never experienced a stressful feeling that wasn’t caused by attaching to an untrue thought. Behind every uncomfortable feeling, there’s a thought that isn’t true for us.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
In times of stress and strain, people will vote.
—Unknown
Men, for the sake of getting a living forget to live.
—Margaret Fuller (1810–50) American Feminist, Writer, Revolutionary
There are an enormous number of managers who have retired on the job.
—Peter Drucker (1909–2005) Austrian-born Management Consultant
The time to relax is when you don’t have time for it.
—Sydney J. Harris (1917–86) American Essayist, Drama Critic
Rather than understand the original cause—a thought—we try to change the stressful feelings by looking outside ourselves.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
When you realize that every stressful moment you experience is a gift that points you to your own freedom, life becomes very kind.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
If a warrior is to succeed at anything, the success must come gently, with a great deal of effort but with no stress or obsession.
—Carlos Castaneda (1925–98) Peruvian-born American Anthropologist, Author
A careless word may kindle strife.A cruel word may wreck a life.A timely word may level stress.A loving word may heal and bless.
—Indian Proverb
Give your stress wings and let it fly away.
—Terri Guillemets
When you suffer an attack of nerves you’re being attacked by the nervous system. What chance has a man got against a system?
—Russell Hoban (1925–2011) American Novelist, Children’s Writer
In times of stress, be bold and valiant.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 BCE) Roman Poet
I have discovered that in every language and every country I have visited, there are no new stories. They’re all recycled. The same stressful thoughts arise in each mind one way or another, sooner or later.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
The superior man is distressed by the limitations of his ability; he is not distressed by the fact that men do not recognize the ability that he has.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
There is nothing so elastic as the human mind. Like imprisoned steam, the more it is pressed the more it rises to resist the pressure. The more we are obliged to do the more we are able to accomplish.
—Tryon Edwards American Theologian
When a thought appears such as “Do the dishes” and you don’t do them, notice how an internal war breaks out… The stress and weariness you feel are really mental combat fatigue.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
In times of great stress or adversity, it’s always best to keep busy, to plow your anger and your energy into something positive.
—Lee Iacocca (1924–2019) American Businessperson
The capacity of man himself is only revealed when, under stress and responsibility, he breaks through his educational shell, and he may then be a splendid surprise to himself no less than to his teachers.
—Harvey Williams Cushing (1869–1939) American Neurosurgeon, Biographer
Stress: The confusion created when one’s mind overrides the body’s basic desire to choke the living daylights out of some jerk who desperately deserves it
—Unknown
Don’t underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can’t hear, and not bothering.
—A. A. Milne (1882–1956) British Humorist, Playwright, Children’s Writer
The components of anxiety, stress, fear, and anger do not exist independently of you in the world. They simply do not exist in the physical world, even though we talk about them as if they do.
—Wayne Dyer (1940–2015) American Self-Help Author
Your nature is truth, and when you oppose it, you don’t feel like yourself. Stress never feels as natural as peace does.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
How beautiful it is to do nothing, and then to rest afterward.
—Spanish Proverb
To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring – it was peace.
—Milan Kundera (b.1929) Czech Novelist