My friend Jon reads this book a couple of times a year. He can be a little obsessive about things but Way of The Peaceful Warrior is a book worth being obsessive about. I’m not one for writing book reviews and I’d simply say that of the many personal development books I’ve read this is one my favorites. It’s a classic hero’s journey, a piquant fiction/non-fiction with a long list of principles for living a richer life. Here’s some of my favorite quotes:
- “Life is not a private affair. A story and its lessons are only made useful if shared”
- “Life requires more than knowledge; it requires intense feeling and constant energy. Life demands right action if knowledge is to come alive”
- “If you remain blind to your weaknesses, you can’t correct them—nor can you play up your strength”
- “There are no accidents, Danny. Everything is a lesson. Everything has a purpose, a purpose, a purpose”
- “If you don’t get what you want, you suffer; if you get what you don’t want, you suffer; even when you get exactly what you want, you still suffer because you can’t hold onto it forever”
- “Stay in the present. You can do nothing to change the past, and the future will never come exactly as you plan or hope for”
- “There are no ordinary moments!”
- “All these years I had been sustained by an illusion—happiness through victory—and now that illusion was burned to ashes. I was no happier, no more fulfilled, for all my achievements”
- “Better to live until you die. I am a warrior; my way is action”
- “Lao Tzu fell asleep and dreamt he was a butterfly. Upon awakening, he asked himself, “Am I a man who has just been dreaming that he was a butterfly, or a sleeping butterfly, now dreaming that he is a man?”