words I come back to.

mortality

"You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think."
— Marcus Aurelius

ego

"It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinions than our own."
— Marcus Aurelius

"Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself."
— Rumi

action

"If there is no wind, row."
— Latin proverb

"The first minute of action is worth more than a year of perfect planning."
— James Clear

"The purpose of knowledge is action, not knowledge."
— Aristotle

consistency

"Two is twice as good as one, but one is infinitely better than zero."
— James Clear

"Consistency beats intensity. Consistency beats volume. Consistency beats passion."
— Rich Roll

mastery

"Mastery is the best goal because the rich can't buy it, the impatient can't rush it, the privileged can't inherit it, and nobody can steal it."
— Derek Sivers

"I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it."
— Vincent van Gogh

"It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows."
— Epictetus

adversity

"No man is more unhappy than he who never faces adversity. For he is not permitted to prove himself."
— Seneca

attention

"The trick to forgetting the big picture is to look at everything close up."
— Chuck Palahniuk

"Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity."
— Simone Weil