Wise Words from Wise People (July 2025 Edition)

I’ve collected quotes for many years. My database now contains thousands of them, and every month I add the best ones I learn from books, articles, newsletters, TED talks, YouTube videos, podcasts, etc.

Here are the best quotes I found this month:

"I will lead you by a shortcut to the greatest wealth. . . . not wanting something is just as good as having it." -Seneca

"To know oneself is, above all, to know what one lacks. It is to measure oneself against Truth, and not the other way around. The first product of self-knowledge is humility." -Flannery O'Connor

"All models are wrong, but some are useful." -George Box

"My most important piece of advice to all you would-be writers: when you write, try to leave out all the parts readers skip." -Elmore Leonard

“If it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you.” -Fred DeVito

"People who believe in improvement are often preparing or practicing during times when others are not; that difference in commitment can be conspicuous, and threatening." -Bill Belichick

“When a day’s writing goes well, it’s got little to do with that day at all. It’s actually a lagging indicator of hours and hours spent researching and thinking. Every passage and page has a prologue titled Preparation.” -Ryan Holiday

“There never was a moment, and never will be, when we are without the power to alter our destiny.” -Steven Pressfield

“Whenever you are stuck searching for the optimal plan, remember: Getting started changes everything.” -James Clear

“Your personal experiences make up maybe 0.00000001% of what’s happened in the world but maybe 80% of how you think the world works. We’re all biased to our own personal history.” -Morgan Housel

“Do not pray for an easy life, pray to be a strong person.” -Nadia Comaneci

“Epictetus reminds us that ‘it’s impossible to learn that which you think you already know.’ To the Stoics, particularly Zeno, conceit was the primary impediment to wisdom. Because when you’ve always got answers, opinions and ready-made solutions, what you’re not doing is learning.” -Ryan Holiday

"A lot of history is just gawking at how wrong, how blind, people can be. Disastrously wrong, embarrassingly blind. Millions of people, all at the same time. When you then realize that today will be considered history in a few generations … oh dear. It’s unpleasant. But also fascinating." -Morgan Housel

"Every job looks easy when you're not the one doing it." -Jeff Immelt

“That’s the gift of entrepreneurship. You get to name the business you want. And then you get to build it. No permission needed. No external judgments factor in. What matters is that you see what you want and you build a profitable business around it.” -Barrett Brooks

“There is usually an inverse relationship between how much something is on your mind and how much it’s getting done.” -David Allen

“There are two types of wealthy people colon those who desperately want you to know they are wealthy and those who desperately don’t.” -Mark Brooks

“The worst walls are never the ones you find in your way. The worst walls are the ones you put there.” -Ursula K. Le Guin

"The content that changes lives rarely goes viral. And the content that goes viral rarely changes lives.” -Justin Welsh

"Power is based on perception. If you think you got it, you got it, even if you don't got it." -Herb Cohen