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 →Once 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
When you have to prove the value of your ideas by persuading other people to pay for them, it clears out an awful lot of woolly thinking.
Tim O'ReillyRead
The process of growth is, it seems, the art of falling down. Growth is measured by the gentleness and awareness with which we once again pick ourselves up, the lightness with which we dust ourselves off, the openness with which we continue and take the next unknown step, beyond our edge, beyond our holding, into the remarkable mystery of being.
Stephen LevineRead
...we all must admit that everything is fine and there's no need in the world to worry, and in fact we should realize what it would mean to us to UNDERSTAND that we're not REALLY worried about ANYTHING.
Jack KerouacRead
Giap was a master of logistics, but his reputation rests on more than that. His victories were achieved by a patient strategy that he and Ho Chi Minh were convinced would succeed - an unwavering resolve to suffer immense casualties and the near total destruction of their country to defeat any adversary, no matter how powerful.
John MccainRead
Knowing what to say, in the right way - at the perfect moment - can mean the difference between a world-class life and an average one.
Robin S. SharmaRead
I often don't know what I'll be working on next year or a year from now. There is often a chance meeting, or something that I worked on 10 years ago suddenly becomes important again.
Terence TaoRead