PhilipTheHandsome

"The superior distinguishes himself from the inferior by his fearlessness and willingness to confront setbacks." - Friedrich Nietzsche

the reason Napoleon said, “a true man hates no one,” is bcz u can't hate something inferior to you. once u know most people are simply stupid, hatred disappears. u do not hate what is beneath u; u merely see it clearly. Superiority complex is truly a gift you can give yourself.

@ModernCeasar Will read this

Thomas Carlyle, a Scottish historian and essayist is the original founder of “Great Men” theory. He stated that there are 6 fields Great men emerge in: > Divinities (Odin) > Prophets (Mohamed) > Poets (Shakespeare) > Priests (Martin Luther) > Men of letters (Jean-Jacques Rousseau) > Kings (Napoleon) Some of them serve a spiritual and moral purpose, and others are of different important classes in society. Each of these fields takes a part in shaping humanity and has its own great men or women to push those areas forward.

famed psychologist Abraham Maslow

“Winning takes care of everything." - Tiger Woods

For Romans, otium (leisure) was not meant to be idle, but rather a time for study, writing, and intellectual pursuit—the true enrichment of the mind.

“One must keep working continuously; otherwise, one thinks of death.” - Enzo Ferrari

The harshest truth everyone must learn in their lives is that hard work never guarantees success, and that merit can be left entirely unrewarded. And that occurs when you're optimizing for the wrong variables. The antidote to your insignificance is positioning. Ruthless positioning. Remember to own the things you work for and advertise them accordingly. Because hard work without visibility remains entirely invisible.

A moving man meets his luck.

My wife sometimes asks me with genuine curiosity; why the male fascination for violence & war? I have to yield to Robert Fagles for an explanation I deeply felt, but could never put in to words as elegantly. If you share this sentiment, remember, there is nothing wrong with it.

"One man alone was alive then in Europe; the rest of us tried to fill our lungs with the air he had breathed.“ Alfred de Musset

"I have lived long enough among fighters to know that there is no man without fear. Without fear, even courage would be meaningless; it is the dark shadow against which risk appears more vivid and more attractive." — Ernst Jünger

It's true

Beethoven has the hardest "fuck you" quote: "Prince, what you are, you are by accident of birth; what I am, I am through my own labour. There are and will be thousands of princes. But there is only one Beethoven."

Game theory explains why working harder inside a broken system is the worst response to that system. Because a system is never truly broken. It's just producing exactly the outcomes its own incentive structures were designed to produce, whether intentional or not. Working harder inside this system increases your output in the payoff matrix, but it simply won't change the actual structure of the system's matrix. Thus, the correct response is not more effort. Instead, you must aim to identify whose interests the current structure serves and position yourself in favor of those interests rather than against them. Change the game, or play the game that is actually being played. Either way, you must stop optimizing for the game you wish it to be and start acting realistically.

@nic_munoz Which biography in particular would you recommend? Adrian Goldsworthy I would assume? Read his biography on Octavian, it was brilliant.

Just a reminder that studying Alexander The Great will make you a better leader than 99% of leaders. Everyone from Caesar to Napoleon studied and learned from him. This great man can, has, and will continue to mold great leaders forever.

@EmpiresPod Currently reading “The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt”.

Just sent out the first edition of Empire-Builders Book Club picks, consisting of twelve authoritative biographies. The first four will hardly be a surprise to anyone following this account. The next eight might be...