Derek Sivers:

We're all busy. We've all taken on too much. Saying yes to less is the way out.

Tim Ferriss:

Once you reach a decent level of professional success, lack of opportunity won't kill you. It's drowning in 7-out-of-10 "cool" commitments that will sink the ship.

Greg McKeown:

Make your peace with the fact that saying 'no' often requires trading popularity for respect.

Marilynne Robinson:

If you take something seriously, you're ready to encounter difficulty, run the risk, whatever. I mean, when people are turning in on themselves -- and God knows, arming themselves and so on -- against the imagined other, they're not taking their Christianity seriously.

It's supposed to be difficult. It's supposed to be a challenge.

Cormac McCarthy:

Anything that doesn't take years of your life and drive you to suicide hardly seems worth doing.