I mentioned probably way back in July that I had started reading Tim Ferriss’ book Tribe of Mentors. Well, long story short, I’m still reading it. I had to renew it multiple times and re-check it out, but I’m finally getting close to the end. It is a 569 page book.
I need to return it to the library by the end of October. It’s not really a book to just sit and read for hours at a time, though.
I’ve really enjoyed this book, but it is definitely slow going. And, I have been choosing to jot down favorite tidbits from each interviewee in a notebook- which takes me even longer.
A couple weeks ago, when I realized the due date is coming up (again), I sketched out a plan that will have me finishing it by October 28th. (I’ve been reading 5 “chapters/ interviews” per day (they are generally short- just a few pages each)).
Like I said, I really like the book, but I kind of need to be done with it now!! If I owned it, I would just keep working through it slowly, but I don’t want to check it out again. And I would kind of just like to move on to some other books now, too. 🙂
I’ve shared some quotes from the book in previous posts, but today I want to dump a bunch more that I liked.
Quotes from Tribe of Mentors!
“What makes a river so restful to people is that it doesn’t have any doubt- it is sure to get where it is going, and it doesn’t want to go anywhere else.” – Hal Boyle
“In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is.”
“Watch what people are cynical about, and one can often discover what they lack.” – George S. Patton
“Beware the investment activity that produces applause; the great moves are usually greeted by yawns.” – Warren Buffett
“In hopes of reaching the moon men fail to see the flowers that blossom at their feet.” – Albert Schweitzer
“Whenever there is a hard job to be done, I assign it to a lazy man; he is sure to find an easy way of doing it.” – Walter Chrysler
(HA! This one made me laugh.)
“Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action.” -Benjamin Disraeli
“Let life ripen and then fall. Will is not the way at all.” –Lao Tzu
“Excellence is the next 5 minutes or nothing at all. It’s the quality of your next 5 minute conversation. It’s the quality of, yes, your next email. Forget the long term. Make the next 5 minutes remarkable.”
“If you don’t make mistakes, you’re not working on hard enough problems. And that’s a big mistake.” – Frank Wilczek
“Anything worth doing is worth doing slowly.” -Mae West
“Part of knowing who you are is knowing who you’re not.”
“The way to get the strongest is to lift what is optimal and not what is maximal.”
(*I love this one! Work smarter, not harder.)
“I took my time and made a little, tiny bit of progress 4 or 5 times a year. When you make a little progress 4 times a year over 28 years, you’re going to be pretty good at what you do.” – Ed Coan, powerlifting champion
“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” -Leo Tolstoy
“I never really use the word “failure”, though. Once you learn from an experience, it’s tough to assign it that word, because it has become useful to you.” – Sarah Elizabeth Lewis
“The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” 🙂
“There is no earth-spinning committee.”
“Remember, Babe Ruth was not only the home run king, he was also the strike out king.”
“Don’t believe everything you think.”
There you go! Hope you enjoyed those. I’ll hopefully have one last quote dump before I return the book.
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful for shrimp tacos last night! We actually MADE A MEAL PLAN last week- I know, this is big news for me. Shrimp tacos were on the list.
GRATEFUL KAE 
Nice quotes Kae. I am also a big fan of quotes, like noting them down etc. One nice thing I found is that we can search in goodreads for quotes from books and by specific authors. For example, we can google search for “tribe of mentors quotes goodreads” and it will give a list of all nice quotes.
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That’s a great idea! Thank you!
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I can see why you’re maybe done with this book – it might be a good one to buy, but borrowing it from the library means you have to read it more quickly than is appropriate for its content. I just read a book on my Kindle where the images were distorted and hard to read and I wished I had a paper copy of the book – some books really need to be in a particular format to get the most out of them.
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This seems like a book that I should consider buying and it can be my “slow, but steady” book where I read like a chapter a night or a couple a week. I can see myself flagging passages and wanting to possibly refer to them in the future. I love the quotes you shared! I think this one resonated with me the most: “Part of knowing who you are is knowing who you’re not.” That is so crucial, especially in our work lives. Like I had to figure out that I am not someone who wants to be a manager. I am much happier as an individual contributor. But there can be some pressure at work to climb the ladder and aspire to manage people. But why seek out something that will make you miserable just because that is what other see as the path to success? But I have to remind myself of this when opportunities arise and I’ve had conversations about it with my boss when he asks what my career aspirations are. It can sound like you are mailing it in when I say I want to stay in this role and get better and better at what I do but don’t aspire to manage people/get promoted into a management role.
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Yes, I feel that same way! I do think there is often the assumption that everyone wants to “move up” or get to that “next step”, but there’s nothing wrong with NOT wanting that, either. I also have no desire to have the pressure and responsibility that comes with some large high level management job.
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We’ve discussed our mutual appreciation for this book before! I’ve read it twice and agree – it’s a great one to own and be able to flip through a few interviews here and there. I love the format and how he asks the same questions over and over. I actually bought a few of the products recommended by the people interviewed and ordered many books based on book recommendations.
But it is LONG!
My favourite quote from the ones you’ve pulled out:
“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” -Leo Tolstoy
Also – those tacos look so delicious. I’m hungry now!
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i love this book and the quotes you selected. this is a book that I will go back from time to time to be inspired to go big 🙂
your dinner looks so yummy.
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I would love to own that book but it would be a tough one to get through on a library hold!
Speaking of books, if you ever wanted to do a south Wisconsin in person book discussion of Tranquility by Tuesday let me know!
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Oh my gosh, yes!!! That would be so fun!! I will email you! I think I remember specifically where you said in the past that you’re located, and if I have that right, you’re totally not far.
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Oh, there were some gems in there. Thanks for sharing. My favorite quote here was “In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is.” 🙂
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I love quotes in general and any book that has them from multiple well-regarded people is high on my list! I need to read this book (*gets out longest TBR in history…* sigh…).Love these – thanks for sharing!
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