PROVOK’s useful quotes.
Humans need to be reminded more than they need to be taught. PROVOK collects insightful quotes and guiding truths to remind himself of important life lessons. Here’s his list:
You win a no-win situation by rewriting the rules.
— Can’t remember whom
Don’t play the odds. Play the man.
— Can’t remember whom
Threats are tactics to distract you from your goal.
— Can’t remember whom
Don’t challenge the content. Challenge the frame.
— Can’t remember whom
If someone puts pressure on you, you put it back on them.
— Can’t remember whom
If that makes you look like shit... make it look like shit.
— Can’t remember whom
If your customers want you to succeed... you will.
— Can’t remember whom
Generosity is its own form of power.
— Can’t remember whom
Honesty is your best defense and offense.
— Can’t remember whom
We suffer more often in imagination than in reality
— Seneca
Easy choices, hard life. Hard choices, easy life.
— Jersey Gregorek
The brand with the strongest tribe wins.
— Mary Neumeier
The leader with the strongest tribe wins.
— PROVOK
Good leaders push employees beyond their limits.
— Gary Vee
Jamais rien ne se refuse à celui qui ne se cherche pas d’excuses.
— Boruto
When you look at someone through rose-colored glasses, all the red flags just look like flags.
— Wanda Pierce, Bojack Horseman
Savoir, c’est pouvoir.
— Someone in some Assassin’s Creed game
Mentir aux autres, c’est commencer par se mentir à soi-même.
— PROVOK’s dad
Parfois, il vaut mieux fermer sa gueule et passer pour un con plutôt que de l’ouvrir et en donner la preuve.
— PROVOK’s dad
Always give a reason to people to do stuff. Never appeal to their good nature. Always count on them to give in to their ego. Always count on them to validate their identity construct.
— PROVOK
A man’s pride hides his weakness.
— Moxxie, Borderlands 3
Excellence is not an act. It’s a habit.
— Julian Treasure
People want the flame, but they don’t want to touch the fire
— Tim Grover
What an idea contains is often not as important as what it can represent.
— PROVOK
Good design is obvious. Great design is transparent.
— Joe Sparano
If you aim at nothing, you will never hit your target.
— PROVOK
Don’t think that you are. Know that you are.
— Morpheus, Matrix
The key to a good user experience is to ensure that no one can make excuses for themselves.
— PROVOK
Worrying means that you suffer twice.
— Newt Scamander, Fantastic Beasts
Shame doesn’t exist if you own your actions.
— PROVOK
To be respected, one must be respectable.
— PROVOK
Fear leads to ego, and ego leads to politics.
— PROVOK
We all have the same 24 hours in a day. Life isn’t about time; it’s about choices.
— PROVOK
That little voice in the back of your head right now... it’s not your conscience.
It’s fear.
— Ivan Block, Runner Runner
Power follows the blame finger. Whoever you blame owns you.
— Alex Hormozi
Stack enough evidence to give enough proof that you are what you say you are.
— Alex Hormozi
The only thing that beats growing up poor is growing up damaged.
— Barbara Corcoran
Fast beats free.
— Alex Hormozi
Don’t be cute, don’t be fancy. You’re not a special snowflake. Replicate before you get fancy.
— Alex Hormozi
Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.
— Buddha
When it gets easy, is when you go hard.
— Jason Fladlien
Les avis, c’est comme des culs, tout le monde on a un. Si rien ne me prouve que t’es quelqu’un de bien, le tien je m’en beurre le cul.
— PROVOK
The best way to find a needle in a haystack is to bring a magnet.
— Tony Stark
Beauty often seduces us on the road to truth.
— James Wilson, Dr. House
Pick your specialist, you pick your disease.
— Dr. House
The eyes can mislead, a smile can lie, but the shoes always tell the truth.
— Dr. House
I had to do what I thought was right... it is the only reason anybody does anything.
— Dr. House
Everybody covers their ass. Everybody lies.
— Dr. House
Fools talk. Cowards are silent. But wise men listen.
— Shimazu Koji, John Wick 4
How you do anything is how you do everything.
— Winston, John Wick 4
Teamwork makes the dream work.
— REVOKE
It’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission.
— Christopher Nolan
We’ll need to get lost to find our way.
— Christopher Nolan
Once your children are born, you can never look at yourself from your eyes anymore.
— Hanz Zimmer
You should describe your products the same way you describe your lover.
— Enzo Ferrari
If your plan requires luck to succeed, then it’s a bad plan.
— Alex Hormozi
Operationalizing patience is just figuring out what you do in the meantime.
— Alex Hormozi
You can’t buy success but you can define it.
— PROVOK
Marketing is just a fancy 9 letter word for test.
— Tom Bilyeu
Seek to get a number of nos instead of yeses to embrace the process instead of the outcome.
— Alex Hormozi
[About debt] If you’re smart you don’t need it and if you’re dumb you shouldn’t use it.
— Warren Buffett
What are your choices when someone holds a gun to your head? You do what they say or they shoot you, right?
Wrong!
You take the gun or pull out a bigger gun or you call a bluff or you do any of the other 146 other things.
— Harvey Specter
The point of automation is to reduce cost and labor.
— Rick Sanchez
I cannot lose if I do not quit.
— Alex Hormozi
It’s only after we’ve lost everything that we’re free to do anything.
— Tyler Durden
Eye contact should be used as punctuation.
— Andrew Tate
Body language is not about doing “this” or “that” to be “this or that way”. Body language is about being able to flip it to make people think. A massive change in body language makes people think twice.
— Andrew Tate
Life is like a video game: If you don't play it on hardcore mode, no one watches you play.
— REVOKE
How does it feel to achieve your dreams? Empty, right? Like when DiCaprio won the Oscars. You could see it in his face.
— Rick Sanchez
Let them hate. Just make sure they spell your name right.
— Harvey Specter
Allow manipulation to find out where your enemy wants you to go, then use your brain to break the trap and punish the perpetrators.
— Andrew Tate
I don’t believe humans are as emotionally incontinent as they pretend to be.
— Andrew Tate
Shame only exists in the shadows.
— Alex Hormozi
You cannot overestimate the unimportance of practically everything.
— John Maxwell
Power follows the blame finger.
— Alex Hormozi
The man who loves walking will walk further than the man who loves the destination.
— Anonymous
Loneliness is a kind of tax you have to pay to atone for a certain complexity of mind.
— Alain de Botton
The more you do, the more you realize what you can do.
— Alex Hormozi
People want you to do well, but not better than them.
— Alex Hormozi
The hate from people towards you is actually the light that shows you’re on the right path. Just think about it as an indicator.
— Alex Hormozi
The cost that you pay is what makes the goal worthwhile, to begin with. Because if what you were setting out to do was immediately available to you, then it would be immediately available to everyone. Which means it wouldn’t be worthwhile. The very fact that it is difficult is why it is worth doing. — Alex Hormozi
The money isn’t made in the buy, and it’s not made in the sale. It’s made in the wait.
— Charlie Munger
The hard part about the plan is sticking to the plan. The stick-to-it muscle is the one that you have to flex.
— Alex Hormozi
You’re not your thoughts.
— PROVOK
I am the output of the work, not the outcome. Work is never wasted. The more I work, the more I build myself.
— Alex Hormozi
Judge yourself by your actions, not by your thoughts.
— Alex Hormozi
The work doesn’t care who you are. It just cares that it gets done.
— Alex Hormozi
I will do what is required and this work needs doing.
— Alex Hormozi
But I’ll know that I could have done better.
— Alex Hormozi
99 times out of a hundred, when your parents say “She’s not the right girl”, they’re right every single time, except for the one time it matters and you end up marrying that person. They are right more times, but they are not more right.
— Alex Hormozi
Your mind has to be stronger than your feelings.
— Tim Grover
Everyone can start something. Very few people can finish.
— Tim Grover
What’s the last time an excuse got you result?
— Tim Grover
You don’t find balance. You create it.
— Tim Grover
Excellence is lonely.
— Tim Grover
Feelings sway. Truth stays.
— PROVOK
People build you up to tear you down.
— Ahmad Rashad
Winners don’t make excuses when the other side plays the game.
— Harvey Specter
Losers make excuses. Winners make the game their bitch.
— PROVOK
When assholes act invincible, it’s because they think they are.
— Harvey Specter
People are really impressed with discipline and a plan.
— Scott Galloway
Advanced entrepreneurs never don’t do the basics.
— Alex Hormozi
If you say anything confidently, consistently, and naturally enough, someone will believe you.
— Neil Strauss
Boys are confident. Men a certain.
— Alex Hormozi
It’s not about doing your best. It’s about doing what’s required.
— Alex Hormozi
Learning requires action and stillness.
— Roshan, Assassin's Creed: Mirage
The sweetest honey is in the hive
— Anonyme
A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.
— Anonymous Greek Proverb
If they don’t have what you want, don’t listen to them.
— Alex Hormozi
Brand is simply an association made between two or more things. For the brand to be successful, the audience has to understand one of them.
— Alex Hormozi
It takes years to become good enough that people talk about how good you are before you enter the room.
— Alex Hormozi
Don’t fake it until you make it. Fake it until you become it.
— Amy Cuddy
Without hunger, you can’t achieve anything.
— Alex Ferguson
Stay hungry.
— Arnold Schwarzenegger
The wolf on the hill is not as hungry as the wolf climbing the hill, but when it wants food, it’s there.
— Arnold Schwarzenneger
Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell and advertise.
— Ted Turner
You have ancestors who fought so you could fight, not so you could die watching Netflix.
— PROVOK
We can do everything, but poorly.
— Alexis Victor
You can be successful at anything you want, just not everything you want.
— Alex Hormozi
I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.
— Confucius
Praise publicly. Criticize privately. Praise by name. Criticize by category.
— Alex Hormozi
No man ever steps into the same rive twice because it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.
— Heraclitus
Traps are open casting calls for heroes.
— Gary Goodspeed, Final Space
War isn’t about who’s right. It’s about who’s left.
- Avocato, Final Space
I will do what is required.
— Alex Hormozi
If there was one rule, for me it’s “Do you”.
— Alex Hormozi
Men fall in love with what they see. Women fall in love with what they hear. This is why women will always wear makeup and men will always lie.
— Idriss Elba
Don’t sacrifice an empire for a pot of gold.
— Sharran Srivatsaa
No half measures.
— Alex Hormozi
People do nice things when they’re in a good mood. Get them in a good mood first, then ask for the nice thing.
— Alex Hormozi
The only people who like excuses are the ones giving them.
— Alex Hormozi
Invert, always invert.
— Albert Einstein
Confidence comes from the past, not the present.
— Alex Hormozi
If you want to change what you do, change who you compare yourself to.
— Alex Hormozi
Who means do.
— Alex Hormozi
Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.
— Jeff Bezos
It’s easy to win because most motherfuckers are weak.
— David Goggins
Make a thousand kitchen knives. Then, you may be ready to make a sword.
— Eiji, Blue Eye Samurai
You think you’re very empathetic and you care about other people’s feelings, but sometimes you take it too far and you do it out of vanity. You want people to like you. You care too much about whether the people working with you love you.
— Steve Jobs
An eye for an eye makes everyone blind.
— Elon Musk
Beware the fury of a patient man.
— Kostas, The Tourist
Love is giving something you don’t have to someone who doesn’t want it.
— Lacan
No one gives a shit who finishes fourth place at the Olympics.
— Alex Hormozi
If you try to find the ten people who are interested in your thing, you’ll probably create more viral hits and help them than if you were trying to create viral hits in the first place.
— Alex Hormozi
Never be cringe = Never be fake
— Alex Hormozi
Fear is a mile wide and an inch deep.
— Leila Hormozi
List all the things that you aren’t willing to give up for the dreams that you have. That is what the person who will beat you is willing to give up.
— Alex Hormozi
Why have a vendetta when life will take care of them for me.
— Alex Hormozi
Can I one up their insult?
— Alex Hormozi
Agreement is the ultimate nullifier for insults.
— Alex Hormozi
Only one person can be in the angry boat.
— Alex Hormozi
A man of his word is, above all, a man of action.
— PROVOK
Everyone thinks you’re crazy until it works.
— Alex Hormozi
Make it too good to fail.
— PROVOK
The ultimate productivity hack is “no”.
— Alex Hormozi
State the facts and tell the truth. The best marketing in the entire world is truth.
— Alex Hormozi
The world belongs to optimists, because if you’re going to do anything big you have to believe that it can happen. Otherwise it never will.
— Alex Hormozi
Anchor yourself to truth. It makes your words mean what you say. If they’re not happy, ask them if they would’ve preferred that you lied.
— Alex Hormozi
Trauma is when a punishing event permanently changes behavior.
— Alex Hormozi
It’s a rare enough thing a man who lives up to his reputation.
— Olenna Tyrell
You waste time trying to get people to love you, you’ll end up the most popular deadman in town.
— Bronn of the Blackwater
A personal brand is not “look at me”, it’s “look at this”. It’s not chasing the spotlight. It’s becoming a spotlight and spotlighting the thing that matters most, like an idea.
— Daniel Priestly
Effort is the universal currency of respect.
— Alex Hormozi
Either the business grows or I grow.
— Alex Hormozi
Le cul et les écus.
— Philippe Boxho
Quand c’est trop beau, c’est pas vrai.
— Philippe Boxho
Winners define themselves by what they’ve done. Victims define themselves by what happened to them.
— Alex Hormozi
If you search everywhere, yet cannot find what you are seeking, it is because what you seek is already in your possession.
— Lao Tzu
The best results happen long after you get bored doing it.
— Alex Hormozi
The truth does not change according to your ability to stomach it.
— Flannery O’Connor
The lazy don’t know how to start.
The losers don’t know how to finish.
The legends don’t know how to stop.
— Alex Hormozi
Life is what you do while you’re waiting to die, so you might as well do a good job.
— Donald Trump
If it hurts to hear it, look for the truth in it.
If it comforts to hear it, look for the lie in it.
— Naval Ravikant
You don’t close sales by being right, you close sales by making the prospect right.
— Alex Hormozi
Dogs bark at what they don’t understand.
— Heraclitus
Venting about your feelings rarely helps you fix your life.
— Leila Hormozi
I would rather be with just me, than be with someone who makes me less like me in order to be with them.
— Alex Hormozi
Never interrupt your ennemi when they’re making a mistake.
— Napoleon
If it’s endurable, then endure it. Stop complaining.
— Marcus Aurelius
Treat me like an option; I’ll show you how many I’ve got.
— Future
There are only three ways a smart person can go broke: liquor, ladies and leverage.
— Charlie Munger
Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner.
— Lao Tzu
The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.
— Marcus Aurelius
A broken clock is right at least twice a day; Even a fool can say something smart from time to time.
— REVOKE
Reputation is a currency. Its value derives from collective faith.
— Mr. Hands, Cyberpunk
You don’t win hearts by counting numbers.
— Mr. Hands, Cyberpunk
There is no favorable wind for the sailor who doesn’t know where to go.
— Seneca
Strong beliefs loosely held.
— Alex Hormozi
Everyone is jealous of what you’ve got.
No one is jealous of how you got it.
— Jimmy Carr
There is a saying that if you do what you love, you will never work a day in your life. At Apple, I learned that is a total crock. You will work harder than you ever thought possible, but the tools will feel light in your hands.
— Tim Cook
A lot of self work can be summarized into:
- Thoughts aren’t true.
- Feelings don’t require action.
- Things aren’t good or bad, they just are.
- Our greatest enemy is ignorance.
- To change your life change your surroundings.
- Our actions, not our pasts, define who we are.
— Alex Hormozi
Everything that needs to be said has already been said but since no one was listening everything must be said again.
— Andre Gide
Running a startup is like eating glass; you just start to like the taste of your own blood.
— Shawn Parker
We are working to build something important, something that matters to our customers, something that we can tell all of our grandchildren about. Such things are not meant to be easy.
— Jeff Bezos