“That our world is so massive that it is completely out of our control, that we cannot possibly be as large as we feel.”
“The way to control circumstances is to control the forces within yourself to make a greater man of yourself, and as you become greater and more competent, you will naturally gravitate into better circumstances. In this connection, we should remember that like attracts like. If you want that which is better, make yourself better. If you want to realize the ideal, make yourself more ideal. If you want better friends, make yourself a better friend. If you want to associate with people of worth, make yourself more worthy. If you want to meet that which is agreeable, make yourself more agreeable. If you want to enter conditions and circumstances that are more pleasing, make yourself more pleasing. In brief, whatever you want, produce that something in yourself, and you will positively gravitate towards the corresponding conditions in the external world.”
“You can overcome your circumstances or you can let your circumstances overcome you.”
“The truth is that most of life will unfold in accordance with forces far outside your control, regardless of what your mind says about it”
“The act of tattooing one s skin was a tranformative declaration of power, an announcment to the world: I am in control of my own flesh.”
“Morals are nothing but a civilized society’s attempt to tame some beast called man.”
“Maturity: knowing where you re crazy, trying to warn others of the fact and striving to keep yourself under control.”
“We all have a sea inside us; can you hear it? Can you hear the ocean roaring?”
“Instinct of love toward an object demands a mastery to obtain it, and if a person feels they can t control the object or feel threatened by it, they act negatively toward it.”
“I realize the simple truth is that power isn’t control at all- power is strength, and giving that strength to others. A leader isn’t someone who forces others to make him stronger; a leader is someone willing to give his strength to others so that they may have the strength to stand on their own.”
“We all have control over what kind of person we are. Each word that comes out, each action that we take, defines us.”
“My sister said Mary Elizabeth is suffering from low self-esteem, but I told her that she said the same thing about Sam back in November when she started dating Craig, and Sam is completely different. Everything can t be low self-esteem, can it? My sister tried to clarify things. She said that by introducing me to all these great things, Mary Elizabeth gained a superior position that she wouldn t need if she was confident about herself. She also said that people who try to control situations all the time are afraid that if they don t, nothing will work out the way they want.”
“Don t be a creation of circumstances, create your dreams, take full control of your destiny.”
“The real problem is I m greedy. I want complete, utter, unceasing bliss. But I don t want to fall into it either. If happiness were money I wouldn t want to win the lottery. I want to accomplish it, urn it as John Houseman would say. I want it to be an achievement because I want to be in control of my life. I don t want things to happen to me, I want them to happen because of me. Power I want. I want to feel the way I do when I stretch a new canvas and I want to feel that way all the time. the blank canvas fills me with the power of imminent creation. I m its god an it always bends to my will and when I m done I know, inside, that it s markedly better than what almost all of my similarly-engaged others can achieve. That s happiness.”
“Challenge who you can be, don t let fate control your future. Fate can come to rule your life if you don t decide for yourselves exactly what you want. It fills in the bits like a mischievous mistress.”
“Love. It seemed impossible that she could love him, but she was so deep in him there was really nowhere to go but further in. So this is what love was. Uncontrollable. Consuming. But so irresistible you wanted to be consumed.”
“Sholem [a painter] was saying that freedom, for him, is having the technical facility to be able to execute whatever he wants, just whatever image he has in his mind. But that s not freedom! That s control, or power. Whereas I think Margaux understands freedom to be the freedom to take risks, the freedom to do something bad or appear foolish. To not recognize that difference is a pretty big thing. [...] It s like with improv, Misha said. True improv is about surprising yourself--but most people won t improvise truthfully. They re afraid. What they do is pull from their bag of tricks. They take what they already know how to do and apply it to the present situation. But that s cheating! And cheating s bad for an artist. It s bad in life--but it s really bad in art. -p.20-1, How Should A Person Be”