[dk902]

I've been reading Sun Tzu's The Art of War recently and it has strategies and principles that can be applied in every day life in many situations that you can live by.

Do you have your own personal mantra that you live by?

I don't have one but it would go along the lines of:

Believe when others doubt.

There are some I admire such as the US Marines: 'Semper Fi' or the SAS 'Who Dares Wins'

What virtues are important to you as a man?

For me personally the most important virtue I have as a man is my integrity. I will never fuck my friends over and I like to consider myself as a man of my word.

To me this is important in a world of people who will stab you in the back in a heartbeat. I also think being a fair person is linked to integrity, e.g. letting another guy get a drink before you at the bar if he was there before you. But that's just my take, each man has his own interpretation.

I think persistence is also a key virtue as a man. As men we are thrown all kinds of shit in life. Being a man is how you deal with that, do you crumble in the face of adversity or get back up and try again and keep at it?

A sense of humor - when things go to shit, you can dwell on them or you can laugh them off. I don't think life should be taken too seriously, enjoy it while you can.

I don't think there are any right/wrong virtues and each man's is personal to him.

[durangotang]

I like your post. I agree with what you wrote. Here's a good one:

"In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king."

From Latin "in regione caecorum rex est luscus," credited to Desiderius Erasmus's Adagia (1500).

[Tengen]

SNMC = She Needs My Cock

Need to have that engraved on a ring someday

[Hannibal]

This, too, shall pass.

Or my favorite

Crush your enemies
see them driven before you
and hear the lamentation of their women

[WesternCancer]

There are a bunch I dig:

"comparison is the death of happiness"
"This is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time"

[Walnuts]

whenever i find myself in any doubt, i like to angrily tell myself "STOP BEING SUCH A PUSSY!!!".
This works for almost any dilemma you may be facing.

another i like is you take one of your role models and think what they would do.
for me its either "what would my pops do?" or "what would tony (soprano) do?"
then again they are pretty much the same person, it's weird. the temper and sociopathy, its all there.

[cybermutiny]

Usually whenever i am about to make an important life decision i ask myself "Will I regret this when I'm 40?" Of course, i cant see into the future, but i can make a pretty educated guess about what a middle aged man may regret doing (or not doing). Good life decisions stand the test of time.

This "mantra" has kept me traveling and living abroad long past when most Americans my age settle down into a career.

[Tully Mars]

Bukowski nailed it for me

[Stitch]

"Let there be little time in your life where you are not either building your skills or profiting from their use." Even play should be practice.

[ColSpanker]

"What are they gonna say about him? What are they gonna say? That he was a kind man? That he was a wise man? That he had plans, man? That he had wisdom? Bullshit, man!"

[Hades]

Whenever I feel like shit and don't think I can make it, I ask myself this question
"You started this. How bad do you want it?"
That's how I keep going.

[Kitsune]

[Andreas]

The opposite of my anti-role models of course

[Cr33pin]

"honey badger dont care"

[dulst]

SNMD
"Every girl in here would fuck me given the chance"
Be happy

As for virtues - honesty and personal responsibility.

[theoogabear]

"i don't give a shit"

[user10726]

I try to stick by my motto of "help out your friends" and by friends I mean your true friends, not people you'd say hello to in the street if you saw them.

[ElJefe]

This is turning into an "Alpha-Male Quote" thread... perhaps bump the other one?

I like the quote Fisto put up a while back, I've used it to power me through the last three months hard training and save my broke-ass from going even more broke.

"A year from now you'll wish you started today".

That combined with reading the Seven Habits by Covey last year convinced me to cut out a lot of stuff I did that distracted me from my goals, like going out to game even when broke. The training has really paid off, and now if only I could apply the same attitude to cold-approaching on the streets or in coffee shops, I think I could really move some boundaries.

Another thing I've been working on is to listening to my gut feelings... giving the cat's more space, making myself more "scarce" and unreachable. Taking plenty of alone time. Reflecting more.

[MMM]

"is is, is not is not is"

[Blue!!!]

One of my favorites is:
"When young men seek to be like you, when lazy men resent you, when powerful men look over their shoulder at you, when cowardly men plot behind your back, when corrupt men wish you were gone and evil men want you dead...only then you have done your share." (Phil Messina?)

[Rah]

"You play the game, you play it straight, you follow the rules, you do everything you're supposed to, and you're still going to die screaming".


We're going to die alone, screaming = fuck what everyone else thinks

[Cookie]

Hold my dick I´m going in.

[Pilgrim37]

"I'd rather be sorry for something I've done,than for something that I didn't do"

Kristofferson

   

   

[Pacesetter20]

Living well is the best revenge.
-George Herbert

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