Quotes from Jordan B. Peterson

Our ancestors acted out a drama, a fiction: they personified the force that governs fate as a spirit that can be bargained with, traded with, as if it were another human being. And the amazing thing is that it worked.

Emergency—emergence(y). This is the sudden manifestation from somewhere unknown of some previously unknown phenomenon (from the Greek phainesthai, to "shine forth"). This is the reappearance of the eternal dragon, from its eternal cavern, from its now-disrupted slumber.

DA POR HECHO QUE LA PERSONA A LA QUE ESCUCHAS PUEDE SABER ALGO QUE TÚ NO SABES

It is easier and more direct to represent a behavioral pattern with behavior than with words. Outright mimicry does that directly, action for action. Imitation, which can produce new behaviors akin to those that motivated the mimicry, takes that one step further.

NOTICE THAT OPPORTUNITY LURKS WHERE RESPONSIBILITY HAS BEEN ABDICATED

You could ask yourself, "Is there anything at all that I might be willing to do about that pile of paper? Would I look, maybe, at one part of it? For twenty minutes?" Maybe the answer will be, "No!" But you might look for ten, or even for five (and if not that, for one). Start there. You will soon find that the entire pile shrinks in significance, merely because you have looked at part of it.

To have others attend to what you find important or interesting is to validate, first, the importance of what you are attending to, but second, and more crucially, to validate you as a respected center of conscious experience and contributor to the collective world.

I'm a collaborator and opponent even when I'm not talking. I can't help it. My expressions broadcast my response, even when they're subtle.

Change might be opportunity, instead of disaster.

A rabbit isn't virtuous, it just can't do anything except getting eaten. It's not virtuous. If you're a monster and you don't act monstrously, then that's virtuous.

Make Yourself Invaluable

There's almost nothing better than character development. And aiming at having a good character is the highest aim, and it's the aim that will provide the most meaning in your life.

En estado natural, por decirlo de algún modo, a los seres humanos no les gusta pensar como lógicos, ni siquiera como empiristas. Hace falta entrenamiento para pensar así. Pero aun en ausencia de ese entrenamiento, seguimos pensando, aunque lo hacemos de manera más subjetiva, como seres -poco razonables-, idiosincráticos, emocionales que habitan unos cuerpos de tamaño determinado, con unas propiedades particulares y constreñidas.

It is also by no means self-evident that value, subjective though it appears to be, is not an integral part of reality, despite the undeniable utility of the scientific method.

So, I'm communicating, as Freud so rightly stressed, even when silent.

load, and enjoy the consequences? What should I be doing, when I have some freedom, to improve my health, expand my knowledge, and strengthen my body?

I act as if God exists.

The things that pose the greatest threats to your survival are the most real things.