Best quotes by Naval Ravikant

Fast, lift, sprint, stretch, and meditate. Build, sell, write, create, invest, and own. Read, reflect, love, seek truth, and ignore society. Make these habits. Say no to everything else. Avoid debt, jail, addiction, disgrace, shortcuts, and media. Relax. Victory is assured.

If you want to be rewarded, you have to be irreplaceable. If you want to be irreplaceable, you have to be unique. If you want to be unique, you have to be authentic. If you want to be authentic, stop listening to everyone and everything else. It’s drowning “you” out.

Doctors won’t make you healthy. Nutritionists won’t make you slim. Teachers won’t make you smart. Gurus won’t make you calm. Mentors won’t make you rich. Trainers won’t make you fit. Ultimately, you have to take responsibility. Save yourself.

“Artists” calling for censorship don’t know what art is. “Scientists” citing consensus don’t know what science is. “Teachers” indoctrinating students don’t know what teaching is. “Journalists” parroting propaganda don’t know what reporting is. Programming us all day long.

The goal of media is to make every problem, your problem.

The quality of your mind is the quality of your life.

Money doesn’t buy happiness - it buys freedom.

I, and I alone, am responsible for everything I think and feel.

The ability to stay calm during conflict is a superpower.

The measure of wealth is freedom. The measure of health is lightness. The measure of intellect is judgment. The measure of wisdom is silence. The measure of love is peace.

A happy person isn’t someone who’s happy all the time. It’s someone who effortlessly interprets events in such a way that they don’t lose their innate peace.

The more neatly you fit into society, the less free you actually are.

A fit body, a calm mind, a house full of love. These things cannot be bought - they must be earned.

If you need a degree to do it, it’s not going to make you wealthy.

The modern mind is overstimulated and the modern body is understimulated and overfed. Meditation, exercise, and fasting restore an ancient balance.

All social media oligopolists, not just TikTok, should open their recommendation algorithms to scrutiny. They are programming our minds and our societies.

Schools aren’t about learning. Offices aren’t about working. Churches aren’t about praying. Restaurants aren’t about eating.

You don’t need mentors, you need action.

The more seriously you take yourself, the unhappier you’re going to be.

Our temporary solution to a temporary problem has become a permanent problem.

The only two ways to coordinate human societies at scale are free markets and physical power. Any ideology rejecting free markets is just advocating for power. Socialism, communism, and fascism all converge to the same endpoint - rule by the biggest thug.

The only real test of intelligence is if you get what you want out of life.

If it hurts to hear it, look for the truth in it. If it comforts to hear it, look for the lie in it.

Imagine how effective you would be if you weren’t anxious all the time.

You’re spending time to save money when you should be spending money to save time.

Choose the non-emotional response to any given situation and see how much easier your life becomes.

The reason to win the game is so that you can be free of it.

The overscheduled life is not worth living.

Your company may not be in the software business, but eventually, a software company will be in your business.

If the work doesn’t require creativity, delegate it, automate it, or leave it.

Think for yourself, not of yourself. Think of others, not for others.

Cola has no “taste memory.” For an addict, it can replace water entirely. Social media has infinite variation. For an addict, it can replace learning entirely. Porn can replace sex. Games can replace careers. Sugar can replace nutrition. Drugs can replace motivation. Entirely.

Colleges have to convince students for the next year that a remote education is worth every bit as much as an in-person one, and then pivot back before students actually start believing it. It’s like only being able to sell your competitor’s product for a year.

The modern mental illness is anxiety. The symptom is inability to fall asleep. The evidence is pills, meditation apps, opioids, and sleep trackers. The causes are oversocialization and overstimulation.

Highs that don’t lead to subsequent lows: • Meditation, gratitude, prayer, journaling, unconditional love. • Yoga, exercise, play, nature walks. • Creating art, reading for fun, singing, poetry. • Practicing a craft, pursuing curiosity, work done for its own sake, flow.

Meditation is intermittent fasting for the mind. Too much sugar leads to a heavy body, and too many distractions lead to a heavy mind. Time spent undistracted and alone, in self-examination, journaling, meditation, resolves the unresolved and takes us from mentally fat to fit.

Be like family to your friends, a friend to strangers, and a stranger to your enemies.

Listening to books instead of reading them is like drinking your vegetables instead of eating them.

Self-awareness is the most attractive trait.

The human brain isn’t designed to process all of the world’s emergencies in realtime.

The larger the group, the worse the conversation.

Forty hour workweeks, regardless of the job. Four year degrees, regardless of the major. Four decades to retirement, regardless of the career. Remnants of the Industrial Age.

The difference between sounding smart and being smart is “I don’t know.”

The great viruses of our time spread through minds, not through bodies.

All self-help boils down to "choose long-term over short-term."

The ideal school would teach health, wealth, and happiness. It‘d be free, self-paced, and available to all. It‘d show opposing ideas and students would self-verify truth. No grades, no tests, no diplomas - just learning. Actually, you’re already here. Careful who you follow.

Meditation - The Art of Doing Nothing

Don’t settle, and don’t struggle. Life is what flows in between.

If your opinions line up neatly with those of your friends and colleagues, they’re not your opinions.

You’re offended when you fear that it might be true.