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 Football Player, Coach
There are thousands of causes for stress, and one antidote to stress is self-expression. That’s what happens to me every day. My thoughts get off my chest, down my sleeves and onto my pad.
—Garson Kanin (1912–99) American Novelist, Director, Playwright
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
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
God will never give you anything you can’t handle, so don’t stress.
—Kelly Clarkson (b.1982) American Singer, Songwriter, TV Personality
Throw out an alarming alarm clock. If the ring is loud and strident, you’re waking up to instant stress. You shouldn’t be bullied out of bed, just reminded that it’s time to start your day.
—Sharon Anderson-Gold (1947–2011) American Philosopher, Academic
Stress is basically a disconnection from the earth, a forgetting of the breath. Stress is an ignorant state. It believes that everything is an emergency. Nothing is that important. Just lie down.
—Natalie Goldberg (b.1948) American Buddhist Author
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 (1809–94) American Theologian, Author
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
Men, for the sake of getting a living forget to live.
—Margaret Fuller (1810–50) American Feminist, Writer, Revolutionary
Enjoyment, on the other hand, is not always pleasant, and it can be very stressful at times. A mountain climber, for example, may be close to freezing, utterly exhausted, and in danger of falling into a bottomless crevasse, yet he wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. Sipping a pina colada under a palm tree at the edge of the turquoise ocean is idyllic, but it just doesn’t compare to the exhilaration he feels on the windswept ridge.
—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1934–2021) Hungarian-American Psychologist
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
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
A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety.
—Aesop (620–564 BCE) Greek Fabulist
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
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
If people concentrated on the really important things in life, there’d be a shortage of fishing poles.
—Doug Larson (1926–2017) American Columnist
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
We create stress for ourselves because you feel like you have to do it. You have to. I don’t feel that anymore
—Oprah Winfrey (b.1954) American TV Personality
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
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
The only liberty an inferior man really cherishes is the liberty to quit work, stretch out in the sun, and scratch himself.
—H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic
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 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
The more you struggle to live, the less you live. Give up the notion that you must be sure of what you are doing. Instead, surrender to what is real within you, for that alone is sure. As stars high above earth, you are above everything distressing. But you must awaken to it. Wake up!
—Baruch Spinoza (1632–77) Dutch Philosopher, Theologian
Stress is the trash of modern life – we all generate it but if you don’t dispose of it properly, it will pile up and overtake your life.
—Danzae Pace
Being anxious, or in a painful rush of any kind, kills the possibility of meeting anyone with compassion.
—Guy Finley
Stress is nothing more than a socially acceptable form of mental illness.
—Richard Carlson (1912–77) American Actor, Director, Screenwriter
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
Training gives us an outlet for suppressed energies created by stress and thus tone the spirit just as exercise conditions the body.
—Arnold Schwarzenegger (b.1947) Austrian-American Athlete, Actor, Politician
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