Fauwkbook

Socrates, considered one of the founders of Western philosophy, was once named the wisest man on earth by the Oracle of Delphi. When Socrates heard that the oracle had made such a comment, he believed that the statement was wrong.

Socrates said: 

“I know one thing: that I know nothing.”

How can the smartest man on earth know nothing? I heard this paradoxical wisdom for the first time from my school teacher when I was 14 or 15. It made such an impact on me that I used Socrates’s quote as my learning strategy.

To me, “I know nothing” means that you might be a wise person, but still, you know nothing. You can still learn from everything and everyone. One thing that I like better than learning from my mistakes is learning from other people’s mistakes. Over the years, I’ve been blessed to have great mentors, teachers, family, and friends that taught me about life.

What you will find below is a list of the most important things I learned from other people and books. Some of the lessons took me a long time to learn—but if I had had to learn these things all by myself, it would have taken me a lot longer.

We might learn things quickly, but we often forget them at the same rate—and sometimes we need to remind ourselves of what we’ve learned. 

Here are 25 of those reminders that others taught me.