Wise Words from Wise People (Sept 2026)

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

Here are the best quotes I found this month:

“I train like I’ve never won, and I compete like I’ve never lost.” -Eileen Gu

“The big money is not in the buying or selling, but in the waiting.” -Charlie Munger

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” -Upton Sinclair

“Chips on shoulders put chips in pockets.” -Josh Wolfe

“It’s not what you are capable of; it’s what you are willing to do. Plenty of people are capable. Fewer people are willing.” -Coach Mike Tomlin

“The ceiling of your potential is determined by the size of uncertainty you’re willing to tolerate.” -Jay Yang

“I know of nothing more despicable and pathetic than a man who devotes all the hours of the waking day to the making of money for money’s sake.” -John D. Rockefeller

“The curse of discipline is that every day looks the same. The curse of indiscipline is that every year does.” -Hemant Mohapatra

“It is easy for me to imagine that the next great division of the world will be between people who wish to live as creatures and people who wish to live as machines.” -Wendell Berry (written back in 2000)

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.” -Albert Einstein

“That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you’re not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong.” -F. Scott Fitzgerald

"Failure is a feeling long before it becomes an actual result." -Michelle Obama

“Who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived, or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed?” -Hunter S. Thompson

“Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.” -Truman Capote

“The secret to success is to do the common things uncommonly well.” -John D. Rockefeller

“If you love your enemies, you will have no enemies.” -Leo Tolstoy