# Stillness Is the Key  ## Metadata - Author: [[Ryan Holiday]] - Full Title: Stillness Is the Key - Category: #books ## Highlights - Stillness is what aims the archer’s arrow. It inspires new ideas. It sharpens perspective and illuminates connections. It slows the ball down so that we might hit it. It generates a vision, helps us resist the passions of the mob, makes space for gratitude and wonder. Stillness allows us to persevere. To succeed. It is the key that unlocks the insights of genius, and allows us regular folks to understand them. ([Location 159](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07MJ3TDCZ&location=159)) - We pay thousands of dollars to have a device in our pocket to ensure that we are never bored. We sign up for endless activities and obligations, chase money and accomplishments, all with the naïve belief that at the end of it will be happiness. ([Location 434](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07MJ3TDCZ&location=434)) - The less energy we waste regretting the past or worrying about the future, the more energy we will have for what’s in front of us. ([Location 446](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07MJ3TDCZ&location=446)) - As a general, Napoleon made it his habit to delay responding to the mail. His secretary was instructed to wait three weeks before opening any correspondence. ([Location 466](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07MJ3TDCZ&location=466)) - The way you feel when you awake early in the morning and your mind is fresh and as yet unsoiled by the noise of the outside world—that’s space worth protecting. ([Location 527](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07MJ3TDCZ&location=527)) - The world is like muddy water. To see through it, we have to let things settle. We can’t be disturbed by initial appearances, and if we are patient and still, the truth will be revealed to us. ([Location 654](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07MJ3TDCZ&location=654))