Men, for the sake of getting a living forget to live.
—Margaret Fuller (1810–50) American Feminist, Writer, Revolutionary
Unbeknownst to most fun-loving bipeds, not all stress is bad. Indeed, the New Rich don’t aim to eliminate all stress. Not in the least.
—Tim Ferriss (b.1977) American Self-help Author
Being anxious, or in a painful rush of any kind, kills the possibility of meeting anyone with compassion.
—Guy Finley
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
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
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
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
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
A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety.
—Aesop (620–564 BCE) Greek Fabulist
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 Leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
God will never give you anything you can’t handle, so don’t stress.
—Kelly Clarkson (b.1982) American Singer, Songwriter, TV Personality
A life spent in constant labor is a life wasted, save a man be such a fool as to regard a fulsome obituary notice as ample reward.
—George Jean Nathan (1882–1958) American Critic, Editor, Writer
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
Loafing needs no explanation and is its own excuse.
—Christopher Morley (1890–1957) American Novelist, Journalist, Poet, Essayist
Pressure is a word that is misused in our vocabulary. When you start thinking of pressure, it’s because you’ve started to think of failure.
—Tommy Lasorda (1927–2021) American Baseball Player, Coach
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
How beautiful it is to do nothing, and then to rest afterward.
—Spanish 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
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
Maturity is achieved when a person accepts life as full of tension.
—Joshua L. Liebman (1907–48) American Rabbi, Author
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
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
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
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
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
It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do.
—Jerome K. Jerome (1859–1927) English Humorous Writer, Novelist, Playwright
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
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
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
Infinite striving to be the best is man’s duty, it is it’s own reward. Everything else is in God’s hands.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
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