The Wisdom I Stole and Made my Own
Some of the Quotes I Keep Coming Back to
How often do you see a quote you like and take a screenshot or save it to your notes?
I do it quite almost daily, then do nothing with them, until I want to use one in an article to illustrate a point and then I can't remember the quote, the author or where I stored it.
Then I saw a post by Stefano who listed five of his favourite quotes and how they rewired his brain. I liked the format and basically told him I was going to copy him. If nothing else it gives me somewhere to store them.
I couldn't just post a few quotes and call it a day though, so for each quote that has touched me in some way I want to explain why I think it is still relevant today, and I also wanted to reimagine the quote in my own voice.
"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." - Thomas Edison
This is the battle cry of every stubborn genius, DIY enthusiast, and anyone who’s ever tried to assemble flat pack furniture without reading the instructions. Edison understood that failure is just data that informs the next iteration. It only counts as actual failure if you quit before you crack it.
In today’s world of instant gratification, this one matters more than ever. We expect to trade a six pack of beer for six pack abs in the two weeks after January 1st. We want viral fame overnight and success without the setbacks. If you’re not failing, you’re not trying hard enough.
🔹 Reinterpreted Quote: "Keep going until you run out of ways to be wrong."
"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." - Lao Tzu
If you’re waiting for the perfect moment to start something big, you’ll be waiting forever. Big things start with tiny, unimpressive steps. The first run when you end up wheezing after 30 seconds. That first draft that reads like a toddlers homework. The first attempt at anything that makes you want to throw it all in the bin, that’s just how things begin. Start, then keep walking.
🔹 Reinterpreted Quote: "Nothing worth doing starts smoothly, but it won’t start at all unless you do."
"Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does." - William James
It’s easy to feel like you’re shouting into the void, like your efforts don’t matter. But they do, especially to the people watching, learning and being affected by your actions. Like your kids and your friends. You won’t always see the impact, but that doesn’t mean it’s not there.
🔹 Reinterpreted Quote: "You might not change the world, but you can easily change someone’s world, so act the part."
"The unexamined life is not worth living." - Socrates
A way of saying, stop coasting through life. If you never stop to ask why you do what you do, why you are who you are, are you even living, or just existing?
This is especially relevant now, when people would rather scroll their way through life observing other people, then actually living it themselves.
🔹 Reinterpreted Quote: "If you never question your choices, don’t question yourself when you wake up in a life you don't remember choosing."
"Life must be understood backward; but it must be lived forward." - Søren Kierkegaard
Hindsight is a smug little thing. Only after making a choice do you realise what you should have done. But life doesn’t let you flip through the instruction manual first, you make decisions with the information you have at the time, even though you might only understand them when it’s too late to change plans.
🔹 Reinterpreted Quote: "Clarity always arrives late, so choose boldly, commit fully and walk your path with purpose."
"You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realise this, and you will find strength." - Marcus Aurelius
If Marcus Aurelius had lived in the age of Twitter, would he still have come out with bangers like this? Most of us waste so much energy on things we can’t control, like other people’s opinions, the weather or the outcome of a football match. This quote reminds us to focus on the one thing we can control: how we respond.
🔹 Reinterpreted Quote: "Control your choices, let go of the rest. It’s all just background noise."
"It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life." - Jean-Luc Picard
This is the kind of brutal wisdom that doesn’t sugarcoat reality. We like to believe that if we do everything right, things will go our way. Work hard, play fair, make good choices, and success will follow. But sometimes, life doesn’t care about effort or fairness. You can do everything right and still come up short.
That’s not a sign that you failed. It’s a reminder that success isn’t always in your control. There are many moving parts, luck, timing, the actions of others and sheer randomness all play a role. This isn’t an excuse to stop trying, but a call to stop tying your selfworth to the outcome. Strength isn’t about never losing. It’s about carrying on even though losing was never part of the plan.
🔹 Reinterpreted Quote: "You can play your best game and still lose the match. Life doesn’t hand out guarantees, only chances."
"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." - Martin Luther King Jr.
It’s not always the people who openly oppose you that leave the deepest scars, it’s the ones who should have had your back but stayed quiet. Whether it’s personal betrayal or social injustice, silence is a choice and it’s not always golden.
🔹 Reinterpreted Quote:
"Not all those who wander are lost." - J.R.R. Tolkien
Society loves a well planned life: school, job, mortgage, retirement, death. But some people take the scenic route, they take a curious detour now and again and that doesn’t mean they’re lost, it means they refuse to to stay on the path everyone else is walking.
🔹 Reinterpreted Quote: "Just because I'm not following a map it doesn’t mean I don’t know where I'm going."
"I can resist everything except temptation." - Oscar Wilde
Self control is a great concept, right up until you smell fresh bread or see a sale on something you absolutely don’t need but suddenly must have. Wilde knew that humans are their own worst enemies when it comes to discipline. I have had more than a few problems with impulse control in my life, ones I can partially blame on ADHD now I know I have it. This might be one of my favourite quotes. I love paradoxes and this is such a clever one.
🔹 Reinterpreted Quote: "My self control is legendary, right until the moment I actually need it."
"Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else." - Margaret Mead
Another paradox, this time of individuality. We’re all special little snowflakes… in a world with billions of other snowflakes. This is a great reminder that while we should embrace our uniqueness, we shouldn’t get too smug about it.
🔹 Reinterpreted Quote: "Yes, you’re one of a kind. Just like every pigeon in Trafalgar Square."
Do they still train hawks in Trafalgar Square to keep the pigeon population in check?
"If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito." - Dalai Lama
No, not like that, get your head out of the gutter!
Size doesn’t determine impact, persistence and vision does. If something as tiny as a mosquito can ruin your night, imagine what a determined person can do with enough drive and determination. Imagine what you can do with a keyboard and an internet connection!
🔹 Reinterpreted Quote:"Even the smallest ember can set the world alight."
Love this and so many of these are quotes I think of often and live by. Love your restatements! Thanks Mark....good start to my week!
Loved this format invented by you. Hope you'll come up with more of these in the future. I'd love to do the same, it's superb to reflect on something that impacted you by expressing it.