Quotes About Challenge

the individual brave enough to voluntarily beard the serpent in his lair is most likely to gain access to the untold riches that exist in potential, awaiting us in the adventure of our life, away from security and what is currently known. Who dares wins*—if he does not perish.

Jordan B. Peterson

Every bit of learning is a little death. Every bit of new information challenges a previous conception, forcing it to dissolve into chaos before it can be reborn as something better. Sometimes such deaths virtually destroy us. In such cases, we might never recover or, if we do, we change a lot.

That would be fine if trouble did not compound, like interest—but we all know that it does.

Living things are always to be found in places they can master, surrounded by things and situations that make them vulnerable.

Your nervous system responds in an entirely different manner when you face the demands of life voluntarily.

Almost all learning happens in spite of fear, because to learn something you have to explore something new and that is usually something that is frightening. If you are willing to face something that is frightening, you can garter something of value.

We are well advised to take on challenges at precisely the rate that engages and compels alertness, and forces the development of courage, skill, and talent, and to avoid foolhardy confrontation with that which lies beyond current comprehension.

Imagine that you are very good at some, middling at others, and terrible at the remainder. Perhaps that's how it should be. You might object: I should be winning at everything! But winning at everything might only mean that you're not doing anything new or difficult. You might be winning but you're not growing, and growing might be the most important form of winning. Should victory in the present always take precedence over trajectory across time?

There's nothing that requires you to think more deeply than to write a book. (Interview with Chris Williamson)

Face the demands of life voluntarily.

The Word that produces order from Chaos sacrifices everything, even itself, to God. That single sentence, wise beyond comprehension, sums up Christianity. Every bit of learning is a little death. Every bit of new information challenges a previous conception, forcing it to dissolve into chaos before it can be reborn as something better. Sometimes such deaths virtually destroy us. In such cases, we might never recover or, if we do, we change a lot.

We become stronger by voluntarily facing what impedes our necessary progress.

Un viejo perro manso puede morder, las más intimas amistades pueden traicionar y las nuevas ideas pueden destruir antiguas convicciones que resultaban cómodas. Este tipo de cosas importan. Son reales.

Stretching yourself beyond the boundaries of your current self requires carefully choosing and then pursuing ideals: ideals that are up there, above you, superior to you—and that you can't always be sure you will reach. But if it's uncertain that our ideals are attainable,

Standing up means voluntarily accepting the burden of Being. Your nervous system responds in an entirely different manner when you face the demands of life voluntarily. You respond to a challenge, instead of bracing for a catastrophe.

I will be your worst nightmare," was his phrase of choice, in such situations. I have wished intensely that I could say something like that, after encountering unnecessary bureaucratic obstacles, but it's generally best to let such things go.

you have to run as fast as you can just to stay in the same place." No one standing still can triumph, no matter how well constituted.

Jordan B. Peterson

If you stick your neck out, then the sword will come.

Imagine a toddler repeatedly striking his mother in the face. Why would he do such a thing? It's a stupid question. It's unacceptably naive. The answer is obvious. To dominate his mother. To see if he can get away with it. Violence, after all, is no mystery. It's peace that's the mystery. Violence is the default. It's easy. It's peace that is difficult: learned, inculcated, earned.

Artists must be contending with something they do not understand, or they are not artists. Instead, they are posers, or romantics (often romantic failures), or narcissists, or actors (and not in the creative sense).

it is much harder to extract someone from a chasm than to lift him from a ditch.

You need to consider the future and think, "What might my life look like if I were caring for myself properly? What career would challenge me and render me productive and helpful, so that I could shoulder my share of the 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?