I don't tell people, 'You're okay the way that you are.' That's not the right story. The right story is, 'You're way less than you could be.'
Jordan PetersonRead
Part of the reason there's an injunction to the truth, for example, is that if you're in a circumstance of extreme uncertainty, your best weapon, let's say, or your best tool or your best defense is the truth, because it keeps things simpler.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The truth serves as a guiding tool in uncertain situations, simplifying complexities.
In circumstances filled with uncertainty and chaos, the truth acts as a reliable compass, providing clarity and direction. By adhering to the truth, individuals can navigate through difficult situations more effectively, as it cuts through confusion and offers a more straightforward approach to problem-solving.
Themes
TruthUncertaintyClaritySimplicityDefense
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about overcoming challenges, you might quote this to emphasize the importance of honesty.
More from Jordan Peterson
All quotes βOnce someone has spent enough time cultivating bad habits and biding their time, they are much diminished. Much of what they could have been has dissipated.
Jordan PetersonRead
If you learn a martial art, you learn to be dangerous, but simultaneously, you learn to control it.
Jordan PetersonRead
Life is tragic. You are tiny and flawed and ignorant and weak, and everything else is huge, complex, and overwhelming.
Jordan PetersonRead
Music has an intrinsic meaning, which has always been mysterious to me.
Jordan PetersonRead
I'm interested in what motivates individuals to participate in atrocious acts to support their ideological identification.
Jordan PetersonRead
Similar quotes
And the pleasures and rewards of the intellect are inseparable from angst, uncertainty, conflict and even despair.
Christopher HitchensRead
They deem me mad because I will not sell my days for gold; and I deem them mad because they think my days have a price.
Khalil GibranRead
It's surprisingly nice out here, peaceful and pretty-strange to be standing in the middle of a little garden while enclosed by the massive stone walls of the prison, like being at the exact center of a hurricane, and finding peace and silence in the middle of so much shrieking damage.
Lauren OliverRead
Age helps one to acquire some of the perspectives necessary to create harmony among apparent contradictions.
Roberto AssagioliRead
When we give thanks in all things, we see hardships and adversities in the context of the purpose of life.
Dallin H. OaksRead
The beginning point at both conferences must be that everything is a woman's issue. That means racism in a woman's issue, just as is anti-Semitism, Palestinian homelessness, rural development, ecology, the persecution of lesbians, and the exploitative practices of global corporations.
Charlotte BunchRead