Quotes from James Altucher

SILENCE Don't be afraid to go silent. Mirror and then have the confidence to go silent. Nobody wants the negotiation to end. They will keep talking and give you more information.

The muse, or the inspiration, does not just show up, it requires sweat as an offering.

One time someone wrote to us: "I'm applying all of the things you suggest, and I am coming up with a ton of ideas to improve my life. The only problem is, when I go out drinking with my friends on Friday night, they all laugh at the ideas. What should I do?" We wrote back: "Simple solution: stay home on Friday night.

Most people are not truly talented at anything. However, most people can be pretty good at something.

We can no longer afford to rely on others and repeat the same mistakes from our pasts.

what if you have a job? Get rid of it. You ultimately don't need it. You ultimately will be pushed out of it.

The best ideas come from collisions between newer and older ideas.

Freedom to help ourselves so that we can help others. Freedom to live the life we choose to lead, instead of having to live the life that has been chosen for us.

The way you get good ideas is to do two things: 1) Read two hours a day. 2) Write ten ideas a day. By the end of a year, you will have read for almost one thousand hours and written down 3,600 ideas. One of these ideas will be a home run.

Choose to commoditize your labor or choose yourself to be a creator, an innovator, an artist, an investor, a marketer, and an entrepreneur.

Both of these stories are about the same thing, even though they seem completely different. Gandhi chose himself. He once said, "You must first be the change you want to see in this World.

How do you get past this?" Diversification is everything. You get past "this" by having lots of "that"s.

In order to be creative you have to be healthy physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.

People fool themselves into thinking that the currency of unhappiness will buy them happiness. That we have to "pay our dues," go on some sort of ride, and then get dropped off at a big location called our "purpose," where now we can be happy. It doesn't work that way.

You need to build a positive base: physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. Once these four "bodies" are working in harmony, you can reach out into the world. You build the foundation for the house you want to live in.

If you want to be successful, you need to study success, not hate it or be envious of it. If you are envious, then you will distance yourself from success and make it that much harder to get there. Never be jealous. Never think someone is "lucky." Luck is created by the prepared. Never think that someone is undeserving of the money they have. That only puts you one more

You can find the tools to be happy right now. I still don't know what my purpose is. I'm afraid I will never know. That makes me very happy. Maybe I can have lots of adventures between today and the day I die. Maybe I can do lots of different things. And if I don't—if I die even tomorrow—that's fine also. What does purpose mean when we are dead? We might as well choose to be happy now.

Honesty is the only way to make money in today's world.

we can choose the life we want for ourselves. You choose that life by doing the best you can right in this moment. Right now. By being bold in this moment. Right now. There is no other moment to wait for.

you choose your family, your friends, your colleagues, your tribe, your life.

The idea muscle must be exercised every day. Even if you've come up with ideas every day of your life, it will atrophy if you give it a two-week rest.

Everything in life is about having as many options as possible so you can maximize your freedom.

In some cultures, like Buddhism, you want things in your life to disappear, to reduce your needs and desires. To achieve some form of enlightenment. I believe in this brand of spirituality as well. I don't think it and abundance are mutually exclusive at all. If you lower your expectations, for instance, your expectations are easy to exceed.

You either read the book and use these ideas, or you shouldn't bother.