Strange —

Why would you willingfully expose yourself to strange, bizarre , morose media?

The newest design is the best design?

Redesigned from the bottom-up!

BITCOIN!

Auspicious

.

Risk free rate

4.8% SULFUR

3.2% after taxes

Risk free rate

60% a year

.

29% tax deferred gain over 21 years ,,, after tax, risk adjusted

60% ARR, kind of dilutive and distracting

Just buy Bitcoin and hold it!

*

Best ideas built on Bitcoin!

I want Better than 29%, can you get 15 year loan for 6%, invest

Long term debt!

20:1 lever in volatility stupid leverage

.

Smart leverage

Sophisticated ideas

Leverage

Equity

.

Mortgage your house! Borrow 2.7% in 30 years … most intelligent thing you could have done!

Sell bitcoin to pay off 3% mortgage?

.

Debt inflated away

.

20% levered

$200,000

.

Borrow 1% interest , 200k for 5-10 years not bad ideas

The cost to debt is free

.

Sources of cheap debt cheap interest rates cheap capital

1 page 8k

Get through 2 paragraphs

20 pages of investment filings

.

Bitcoin cold storage 30 years go to sleep

Investor , public company investor ..

More risk do it because you expect more reward! ***

.

Your job — invest in public companies

Illegal to buy the Bitcoin! ***->

.

Run a hedge fund!

Unlikely your company grow over 60% year, 29% over 21 years possible

Built on a capital market of Bitcoin

BTC Bitcoin for photographers

Swamp water, pump mud

.

Miniaturization

Positively polarized to capital

Slurp all the capital!

100x your company

.

1000x opportunity! ***

.

Soon, just necessary…

.

Next 4 years is an extraordinary opportunity!

.

4 year window

Offer a hedge ***

.

Strategic advantage

.

Repulsive or attractive?

Attractive or repulsive to capital.?

.

Attract, attractive

Increases !

Attractive vs Repulsive ***

.

Repulsive or attractive to capital

Burn coal in stove or wood in stove or nuclear reactor?

It’s just better technology!

Crypto reactor bitcoin as fuel or wood burning stove, stinks up the house choking fumes

Chop down the village with wood burning stoves?

.

Change over time?

.

More optionality, more volatility?

How to increase volatility?

Engineer, engineered different —

.

65 year old conductors not Led Zeppelin electric guitar, 16 year olds

.

Growing or dying?

.

Fucking mid podcast advertising!

Spartan Libertarian?

Autarkes: self sufficiency suffice.

What is sufficient, suffice?

Predatory?

Lawyer for legal disputes

Capital good — can create value!

.

Increase of capital productivity

How to Live With Bitcoin

.

Phantom

Splendid Sparta

Fixed intention

His own high roof

Independent thinking

Auto thinking

Self sufficient, thinking

.

Sights to even please a god

Mercurial, volatile ***

Volatile people are good?

Human town, gods get fine sacrifices

The most unhappy man alive

The gods who live at ease

Set him free from time and death forever

I have insanely high human IQ?

I’m the ultimate social disruptor?

I’ve won all the human accolades, physical, wealth, entrepreneurial, fame, artistic, philosophical?

He had no choice

I am taller too, more beautiful, better body

I prize my freedom

The bitcoin nomad?

Money on safety

The best muscles for being a father of the best exercises

Cyber builders, cyber developers

Simplest design possible 

Bitcoin is digital property

Everything is much faster one powered by bitcoin

.

Digital transformation

Equity capital markets

$350b in QQQ

nasdaq 100

40th largest company in index

Bigger

Larger

.

10b in 4 years

Under promise under deliver

Anyone powered by Bitcoin shall thrive!

.

$108k!

Going faster

$17b in 6 weeks

.

3x as big!

Greater life goals?

.

Raise money buy Bitcoin, don’t sell the Bitcoin

As much as we can buy! Not holding back!

.

BTC YIELD

Accretion

Julian

$100 bitcoin per share, stock at $100. Can sell … BTC yield 0

.

Negative BTC yield, dilutive

Accretive vs Dilutive

.

Fully dilutive

Bigger Bitcoin exposure than just buying bitcoin! ****

.

72.4% BTC YIELD, this year

72.4% more bitcoin per share than Jan 1st,

Without any cost or dilution

107k per Bitcoin, 14.66b for the year!

.

Greater yield! Maximize yield *

Maximizing yield in life?

Bitcoin lifestyle abroad?

Slower, less hurried?

Also you can sleep earlier, wake up later ,,, no more any hidden pressure to “maximize” your productivity?

LIFESTYLE by KIM

1. 
   Outrage Porn
2. Photography *IS* Our Lifestyle
3. DAILY.
4. EFFIENCY.
5. Parallel Living
6. Towards a Streamlined Lifestyle
7. Life Design
8. What’s the Best Life or Mode of Existence?
9. More Interesting or Less Interesting?
10. Lifestyle Design
11. CRAFT YOUR OWN IDEAL FUTURE.
12. All Information is Information
13. Natural Light and Health
14. Minimum Viable Thriving
15. Good Homes Over Good Cars
16. Sleep is Godlike
17. Dynamic Lifestyle
18. What is the Ideal Home?
19. Lifestyle?
20. ERIC KIM QUARANTINE LIFESTYLE
21. In Praise of a Choice Minimal Lifestyle
22. BETA LIFESTYLE
23. In Praise of a Ghetto Lifestyle
24. Park Lifestyle

Wild man, into the wild?

New vision?

It seems one of the wise thoughts in life is to never fight uphill battles. For example, still… The upside and the genius of owning a white car in Los Angeles. Even some subtle things is that like if the neighbor maintenance guy next-door is using a leaf blower, in advertently all the dirt will actually appear on your car too.

Passive maintenance

So certainly with things and life, that are certain things which require maintenance. Almost everything in the physical realm besides bitcoin.

 so obviously it is probably very advantageous to own a vehicle or a car to take you to local nature preserves, one hikes in nature etc.

I didn’t suppose the new one is rather than seeking to maximize or have the best car or whatever, or the most beautiful car or whatever, still… The best strategy and goal is the car with the least amount of maintenance required.

Assuming you live in the apartment or don’t live in a home with a charger built-in,, still, having to always charge your car is kind of like a hidden maintenance.

Also apparently if you let your car seat idle for like a week or a month, it will drain to zero. Not good for us digital nomads, or us globetrotter world travelers.

The most important thing to maintain is your body

Use it or lose it.

Muscle and bitcoin

Soul to Millie the only thing that you should probably try to maintain is your body, because this is the most valuable asset you got.

Social media and Internet is toxic

Almost everything in modern day life is toxic?

Headwind or tail wind?

France has the nuclear advantage

Make it sexy and cool !

Happiness is sexy

Thank god for cops and police–> you never really appreciate them until you have kids?

*

Just let someone else do the dirty work

Virtuous movement

Muscle Up!

Liberty , liberty thoughts ? 
.

Uphill or Downhill Battle? 

It seems one of the wise thoughts in life is to never fight uphill battles. For example, still… The upside and the genius of owning a white car in Los Angeles. Even some subtle things is that like if the neighbor maintenance guy next-door is using a leaf blower, in advertently all the dirt will actually appear on your car too.

Passive maintenance

So certainly with things and life, that are certain things which require maintenance. Almost everything in the physical realm besides bitcoin.

 so obviously it is probably very advantageous to own a vehicle or a car to take you to local nature preserves, one hikes in nature etc.

I didn’t suppose the new one is rather than seeking to maximize or have the best car or whatever, or the most beautiful car or whatever, still… The best strategy and goal is the car with the least amount of maintenance required.

Assuming you live in the apartment or don’t live in a home with a charger built-in,, still, having to always charge your car is kind of like a hidden maintenance.

Also apparently if you let your car seat idle for like a week or a month, it will drain to zero. Not good for us digital nomads, or us globetrotter world travelers.

The most important thing to maintain is your body

Use it or lose it.

Muscle and bitcoin

Soul to Millie the only thing that you should probably try to maintain is your body, because this is the most valuable asset you got.

Social media and Internet is toxic

Almost everything in modern day life is toxic?

Spartan Libertarian?

Autarkes: self sufficiency suffice.

What is sufficient, suffice?

Predatory?

Lawyer for legal disputes

Capital good — can create value!

.

Increase of capital productivity

How to Live With Bitcoin

.

Phantom

Splendid Sparta

Fixed intention

His own high roof

Independent thinking

Auto thinking

Self sufficient, thinking

.

Sights to even please a god

Mercurial, volatile ***

Volatile people are good?

Human town, gods get fine sacrifices

The most unhappy man alive

The gods who live at ease

Set him free from time and death forever

I have insanely high human IQ?

I’m the ultimate social disruptor?

I’ve won all the human accolades, physical, wealth, entrepreneurial, fame, artistic, philosophical?

He had no choice

I am taller too, more beautiful, better body

$44,000 USD for a car, self driving car,,, what *MORE* virtuous experiences can that money afford?

The art of moving

Moving money, people, ideas?

Why are we so sensitive?

Think bare feet —

You’re strong enough

Fixed income markets , preferred stocks, convertible bonds, revisit capital plans

.

Equity capital markets, 4 weeks!

Convertible market, equity market, fixed income markets in Q1

Think Month!

Delevered?

100% delta

.

Build more intelligent leverage

.

ATM. sell equity into market if we like terms and price

Equity is under valued?

.

Think Month?

Think YTD?

.

Philosophically

.

Healthy software division

$45b billion owned, treasury operations

Create value , operating income 75M$ a year , investing income … 18.6B of unrealized investment income

Fair value accounting next year , investment income captured in GAAP

.

LBO, taking cheap capital. Higher return –>

Capital acquisition

14.4B$ benefit, at $105k

.

Bitcoin treasury operations

Accounting rules

.

SP500 … ? Above my pay grade , they will make that decision

2025, fair value accounting, $50B of assets on accounting, goes up $10B a year of investment income!

YTD, 650.18% gain!!!

.

6.5x gain in just one year?

.

Buying in bulk

Regulated exchanges like Coinbase, TWAP algorithm, not be noticed by market

Be market participants but be noticed

STEALTH//

.

Stealth Bitcoin

.

I invented a large piece of it we enjoy it it is profitable core part company identity

.

Rejected by MSFT

.

THEY don’t have a need to adopt a new idea

Pay out dividends , conventional finance playbook Harvard business school

Fair value accounting became mandatory ***–> SAB 121, fair value accounting

Embraced as digital commodity

.

First time in 100 years, capital asset can consider in lieu of treasury bills

Not real estate gold paintings, barrels or oil

Bitcoin as treasury asset

Year 1, new asset.

.

Magnificent 7, embrace later, we don’t need it now

.

Eric Kim, a photographer and blogger, has extensively shared his perspectives on cryptocurrency, particularly Bitcoin, through his writings. His views encompass several key themes:

Philosophical Alignment with Decentralization:

Kim appreciates the decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies, aligning this with Stoic values of autonomy and resilience. He views Bitcoin as a means to achieve financial independence from centralized authorities, allowing individuals greater control over their resources.

Bitcoin as ‘Digital Gold’:

He likens Bitcoin to digital gold, emphasizing its finite supply of 21 million coins. This scarcity, in his view, preserves value and offers a more ethically grounded form of currency, free from the inflationary tendencies of fiat currencies.

Investment Philosophy:

Kim’s investment approach is characterized by simplicity and long-term thinking. He advocates for extreme frugality, minimizing unnecessary expenses to allocate more resources toward investments like Bitcoin. He suggests that focusing on one or two well-chosen investments, such as Bitcoin, can be more effective than over-diversification.

Skepticism Toward Altcoins:

While acknowledging the existence of various alternative cryptocurrencies, Kim expresses a preference for Bitcoin. He cautions against the pursuit of the “next Bitcoin,” suggesting that such endeavors may distract from the potential benefits of investing in Bitcoin itself.

Long-Term Perspective:

Kim encourages viewing Bitcoin investments through a long-term lens, considering potential appreciation over decades. He envisions a future where Bitcoin plays a significant role in global finance, particularly as societies move toward digital and contactless payments.

In summary, Eric Kim’s philosophy on cryptocurrency reflects a blend of philosophical principles, minimalist investment strategies, and a strong belief in Bitcoin’s potential as a cornerstone of future financial systems.

To stack muscle is like stacking bitcoins or satoshis?

To “spend” money is like losing muscle mass? The greatest fear of any body builder or weight lifter,,, or even worse — losing your “one rep max” ability as a powerlifter?

Economics by KIM

1. 80/20 Living
2. You Can’t Rent Forever
3. Money is For Slaves
4. Growth
5. Think Volume
6. Think Payoffs
7. Kaizen Gains
8. Cost to Capital
9. Price vs Value
10. EVERYONE WINS!
11. INVESTING PR’S
12. The Philosophy of Investing
13. ERIC KIM VENTURE CAPITALIST
14. How to FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early)
15. How to *Save* a Million Dollars
16. Increase Value
17. MAYBE IT IS A GOOD IDEA TO BUY HIGH
18. Banks Are the True Menace to Society
19. THE PROMISE OF FUTURE MONOPOLY PROFITS?
20. High gas prices are good
21. What is Capitalism?
22. Pride in What You Paid For
23. On Making Money from Nothing
24. Save Money Towards What Ends?
25. No Regret Investment

Economic obesity, economic … overfat?

A kid doesn’t seek “fun maximization” or to “optimize” fun?

We the new Sparta!

Introduction to Bitcoin Lecture Video

Introduction to Bitcoin Transcript

Super pumped to share with you, my first full length lecture on an introduction to bitcoin, the bitcoin Revolution, and also this edited transcript that I provided for you!

1. Full video zoom recording Dropbox link
2. PDF SLIDES
3. AUDIO FULL
4. PDF version of new transcript for talk

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ETHICS by KIM

What to become:

1. HAPPINESS IS INFECTIOUS
2. People Who Do Harm Unto You?
3. My New Modern Virtues
4. ALL STANDARD ETHICS & MORALITY IS BAD.
5. Why American Ethics are Bad
6. BECOME A BULLY
7. Different Rules for Men and Women
8. Never Share What You *Really* Think
9. “Happiness” is for Women, Not for Men
10. “Rules” & “Regulations”
11. Stubborn Geniuses
12. Avoid Misery
13. What We Hate
14. HOW I DEAL WITH RACISM
15. How to Become a Great Man
16. BETTER TO FOLLOW YOUR GUT AND BE WRONG THAN DISOBEY YOUR GUT AND BE RIGHT
17. “I CAN’T BE FUCKED.”
18. Carte Blanche Ethics
19. Toxic People
20. Why Are We So Into Other People
21. Just focus on yourself and your own life
22. Perfect morals and ethics is following your own gut
    WHY ETIQUETTE?
23. NO BLAME, JUST CAUSE AND EFFECT.
24. Ignorance Takes Courage
25. TREAT OTHERS CARTE BLANCHE
26. Don’t give people what they want or what you *think* they want, give them what you think they *should* have.
27. Anti Small
28. Disdain or Admiration?
29. Beware Those With Good Intentions
30. STUBBORN x FLEXIBLE
31. ETHICS ARE VIA NEGATIVA
32. OBEDIENCE & DISCIPLINE
33. The Motive of Criticism
34. Ethics are Social
35. Anti Role Models
36. What is Greed?
37. On Having the Courage to Make Your Own Decisions
38. How *NOT* to Get Duped or Suckered
39. Why Help Others?
40. The Duty of the Strong
41. Why I’m So Intolerant Towards Intolerance
42. The Ethics of Criticizing Others
43. Consult Your Own Conscience
44. The Ethics of Shit Talking
45. The Ethics of Personal Enrichment
46. I’m Easily Distracted
47. On Forming Your Own Opinion
48. ERIC KIM Philosophy of Tolerance
49. Tolerance
50. Aesthetics are Ethics
51. Morality and Ethics

---

1. Dread *NOT* Fear
2. Stoicism out of Strength or Weakness?
3. Emotions?
4. Forgive 10x the Bad Things & Remember the Good
5. A REAL STOIC DOESN’T WANT OR NEED APOLOGIES.

STOICISM 101

STOIC VLOG

Introduction to Stoicism 

Something I have been meaning to write or create or do is like some sort of book, ebook, pamphlet, or introductory primer to stoicism. I really think that stoicism is probably one of the most useful and philosophical models to live normal every day real life. Yet, I haven’t really found a good instructional guide on it, especially when I was self teaching it to myself.

Consider this a practical primer, cutting through the BS:

---

What does stoicism mean? 

Stoicism, stoic, the stoa in ancient Greece– essentially the stoa was like some sort of portico, patio, pillar, outside, essentially a spot where guys would just hang out, talk shop, talk philosophy, etc.  

I think about the show “Hey Arnold” in which I was raised with… the notion of “stoop kid“, the notion of a stoop is that in a lot of cities, especially the east coast in New York, you have this little stoop or porch, stairs that go outside your front door… and you could just hang out there, engage in social and neighborhood life etc.

The new stoa? 

One of my happiest moments was when I was living in Providence Rhode Island, and then COVID-19 hit. Everything was closed, besides the park. I can still go to the park, hang out, workout, do chin ups– I learned how to do muscle ups, more bodyweight calisthenics stuff, and also… I had a lot of fun with this “rock toss“ challenge and workout… in the middle of the park was a huge ass rock and huge ass stone, and every single day I would go there pick it up, and then eventually work out with it; throwing it around for fun, doing overhead presses with it, clean and jerks, squats, and eventually I would just throw it around for fun. Funny enough it might have been the most fit I was in my life… this was the true “functional” fitness.

The inspiration — Hector lifting an insanely massive stone (barely 2 strong men could lift it)… using it to break down the door of the ships of the other side.

Open air, open sun concept

Anyways, the reason why that period of covid was so good is that it was in the middle of beautiful Providence Rhode Island summer, so nice and bright and warm and lovely… and one of the good things was going to the park was like an open forum, a new anatheum for a lot of really cool guys to come, hang out, talk shop, go topless and shirtless, workout and hang out.

I met some really interesting people during that period of time. I met some guys who were really cool. For example, one guy I met was in the US military Navy, I think he was training to be a Navy seal or Delta force or something. Another guy in some sort of ROTC training, another cool guy from the hood, and also I would say I probably met half a dozen friendly drug dealers there. And of course a lot of people who believed in conspiracy theories; really friendly, a little weird, but overall good guys.

Anyways, one of the biggest benefits of hanging out at that outdoor park, open air, nothing but green grass, the beautiful sun and the fitness equipment was that I think having this sort of open air environment is actually very conducive to socializing, thinking and thought, and pro social behavior. My theory about a lot of modern day antisocial behavior has to do with the structures which enclose us. For example, almost universally most guys at the gym are extremely antisocial. Why? My theory is that because most gyms have closed, cramped narrow ceilings, and do not have access to natural light, or outside space.

Cramped indoor spaces promote antisocial behavior.

The only good gym I went to which was interesting was the golds gym in Venice, which has this really big outdoor workout area. I think this is much more natural and more fun and better; to be able to work out directly outside outdoors, with your shirt off.

Who is this philosophy for?

Stoics, stoicism — it was originally I think codified by this guy named Zeno, and over time he picked up some followers. Essentially the whole thing happened organically; Zeno would first share his thinking on philosophy ethics and pragmatic ways to deal with other people and the downsides of life, he built a following, and then his followers would propagate the thoughts and start their own little schools of thoughts, their own little stoic clubs.

What is “real” stoicism?

Would I like about stoicism is how loosey goosey it is. It is kind of like zen, or taoism… it is not really quantified as a religion, or a strict moral order. In fact, a lot of the ancients stoics would meditate on random stuff like cosmology, natural sciences like Seneca, how volcanoes worked or whatever. I think nowadays in today’s world, we focus primarily on the pragmatic side; how to deal with fear, uncertainty, downsides etc.

So how did I discover stoicism?

I think I might’ve first learned about stoicism from Nassim Taleb and his ANTIFRAGILE book. I was curious, and my curiosity went to deep. To quote NASSIM TALEB and the Venetian saying “The ocean goes deeper, the deeper you wade into it.”

I literally consumed every single book I could find on stoicism, even the obscure ones. Funny enough, a lot of the stoic thinkers tried to claim other philosophers as being stoic, like Seneca did with Diogenes the cynic. 

Cynic, cynicism, actually comes from the word canine, the dog. Diogenes was considered the “dog” philosopher, first used as a pejorative, but ultimately Diogenes reappropriated that title for fun! He saw dogs as tough, almost like wild wolves, rather than seeing them as a negative thing.

Even Achilles when he was raging against king Agamemnon, he called him “dog faced“ as a heaping insult.

Who is worth reading?

First, Seneca. Seneca the younger, his dad was called Seneca the elder.

In fact, this is such a big deal because Cindy and I named our first son, Seneca, directly after the stoic philosopher. This is true soul in the game; if you name your kid after your favorite philosopher, certainly it is a sign that you really liked that philosopher, or found them impactful.

The reason why I really like Seneca the stoic philosopher is because he had real connections to real reality. What that means is he wasn’t just on the sidelines; he actually existed in the real world, engaged in real politics, was even advisor to the emperor Nero, the bad one, who eventually low-key coerced Seneca to commit suicide, in a manly, dignified manner.

I think this was because maybe… there was actually a plan to overthrow Nero, and essentially Nero found out. 

What makes Seneca so good?

I really like Seneca because his writing is accessible, practical and pragmatic, and interesting.

A lot of thinkers tend to lack connections to real reality, I have no tolerance for boring philosophers to talk about metaphysics, which is things which are not physical. Like thoughts ideas, the universe, electricity and energy, strange phenomenon and conspiracy theories on ghosts, “energy” whatever.

For a long time, I would hear the term “metaphysics” being thrown around, and I had zero idea what it actually meant. 

Meta– on top of. Or nestled within.

Physics — the physical, physical phenomenon like gravity, first principles.

The reason why metaphysics philosophers tend to be a bunch of losers is that they are all weak and anemic, nerds or geeks or weaklings who seem to have some sort of physiological degeneracy, which encourages them to opine or talk or think about impractical things, superficial things.

Personally speaking, I think philosophy must be practical. 

Practical, praxis, practice — to do!

The Spartan, Zen Stoic, demigod ideal

I have a very funny ideal; the general idea is that your body looks like a demigod, and your physiology is out of control. The general idea is one must be tall, strong, highly muscular, low body fat percentage, I’m not exactly sure what my body fat percentage is, but maybe it’s around 5%.

Also, physical fitness is critical to any stoic. My ideal is to walk 50 miles a day, eat 20 pounds of meat like Milo of Croton a day. And also, abstinence from silly things like media, alcohol, drugs, marijuana etc.

Trust no thinker who does drugs!

Even our best friend Nietzsche said that coffee was bad, because it would make people dark and gloomy. He encouraged 100% cocoa powder instead. 

You let the drugs talk I let my soul talk ayy! – Kendrick Lamar

Simple technique:

First, look at a picture or a portrait or a full body shot, ideally topless of the artist, philosopher or thinker or individual… then judge their thoughts later.

Why? My theory is this: the thoughts of an individual is hugely affected by their bodily physiology.

For example, an extreme example: if somebody is locked inside a solitary confinement cell, and not permitted to go outside for years, but, he had a pen and pad and would jot down some thoughts… Would be the quality of these thoughts? Certainly dark and morose.

Why does stoicism matter? 

In today’s world, why does it matter, what is the significance of stoicism, etc.?

First and foremost, I think we are living in a troubling time, especially with the advent of modern day internet based media and advertising. I think 99% of what is propagated on the internet is fear mongering, and what is hate? Hate is just fear.

The first thought on stoicism is that it is just fear conquering. What I discovered about street photography, is that 99% of it is conquering your fears. Conquering your fears of upsetting other people, getting in some sort of verbal or physical altercation etc. In fact my bread and butter workshop is my conquering your fears and street photography workshop, the workshop which is still interesting to me even after a decade.

Why is this so important? I think it is rooted in almost everything; conquering your fears is rooted in entrepreneurship, innovation, risktaking and real life.

Even my speculation in crypto. 99.9% of crypto speculation is just balls. Having the balls to make big bets, and when things go south, knowing how to master your emotions.

A simple extra I have is this: just imagine it will all go down to zero.

It was useful because when I was in college, my sophomore year I got really into trading stocks, and I eventually lost my whole life savings, maybe around $3500 USD, and some bad penny stock which I actually misread the financials… the whole time I thought the company was making a profit, but actually it was taking a loss. I actually didn’t know that if profits are written in parentheses, it means a loss.

It was funny because my initial start as an investor was back in high school, I bought some Adobe stock when I was a high school junior, and also some mutual funds, which both went up after about 4-5 years.

Also I remember in elementary school computer class, when I was in the sixth grade in Bayside Queens, there was some sort of stock stimulation trading game, and actually it was funny… the kids who made the most money and were the most successful just put 100% of everything into Apple, note this is when we were only 12 years old, and I was born in 1988.

Stoicism and capitalism?

Funny enough, it seems that stoicism actually plays well with capitalism. Why? According to modern day capitalist thinking, the best way to approach life is to be objective, strong, stoic, unemotional, logical and rational.

Also, with modern day media there is so much fear mongering in the news, about some sort of global armageddon, global financial ruin, etc. I call it “fear porn”.

Therefore stoicism as a mindset is useful to think and position your mind in such a way that you could consider that life is all upside, no downside.

In fact, if I could summarize stoicism in one sentence, it is that life is all upside, no downside. Inspired by NASSIM TALEB.

Sex and Stoicism

So, is stoicism useful to you if you’re a man or a woman? Does it matter?

The good thing is I think it could apply to both sexes. Conquering sexism and social pressures is useful if you’re woman, and also if you’re a man.

Also, gender is social. Lot of the expectations set on us by society is socialized and gamed to a certain degree.

Stoic strategies 

First, we got to unchain ourselves from modern day ethics and morality. I believe that all modern day philosophy and thinking and ethics and religion is bad.

For example, the notion of turning the other cheek is a patently bad one. Why did Jesus turn his cheek? It is because he lacked on army.

Also, philosophically I think we should put no trust in Socrates. I thought which has puzzled me for a long time was this “Why was Socrates so ugly?

Monster in face, monster in soul.

I think Socrates was a degenerate, and he lacked any sort of real power. Therefore he turned logic and rationality into his terrorizing weapon (via Nietzsche). Back in the day, you didn’t need logic or rationality to have things your way, you simply was able to dictate that which you wanted to pause it, because you had a military force behind you. Just think about Machiavelli and IL PRINCIPE– the reality of being a mercurial prince, king, and military leader is hard, stoic, “immoral”. But ultimately it all comes down to war, conquest, the military.

Trust nobody who uses rationality or logic as their tyrannizing weapon. 

In fact, I believe that all should have the body and strength of some sort of super soldier. Essentially look like all the guys from the movie 300, this is our ideal.

Demigod physique. 

What has helped me

1. Allow yourself to be a bad, immortal, “evil” person. When you decide to adopt an unorthodox way of thinking and living, you’re going to rub some feathers the wrong way. And truth be told, even if you act in a strange vibrant way… At worse you’re only “mildly” annoying other people.
2. For good inspirations, I think the best stoic writers and thinkers include Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius and also the humor of the cynic philosopher Diogenes. I would even posit the idea that one could consider Alexander the Great as a stoic. Why? When you’re trying to create an empire, and you always have your life on the line, certainly this takes a stoic mindset. Also, let us think and consider that Alexander the Great had a copy of the Iliad by his bedstand, it was the only book he traveled with during his military tours.
3. Imagine the worst possible case scenario, and backtrack: Apparently even NASSIM TALEB would do this when he was a trader; every single day when he would go to his trading desk, he would assume that his investments would all go to zero, and if that wasn’t the case every single day, it was just upside. Therefore for myself, I just think to myself very simple; imagine like I got zero dollars, zero money, and literally all I need is meat, a Wi-Fi connection and I’m good. 
4. Live like a poor person: The notion of “debasing“ the coin or the currency is the general idea that you are not a coward in regards to money. The best way to think about money is like a social tool; I think money is actually just codified labor. If you want people to clean bathrooms, run the cashiers stand, you have to promise them money. Even Seneca said the upsides of simulated poverty; essentially living like a poor person, or even a homeless person when you don’t need to… is the ultimate position to be in. Why? True freedom of spirit and soul; as a philosopher thinker writer or whatever… you cannot be “canceled”, because there is nothing to cancel. As long as you could pay your rent, buy meat at Costco, and publish your thoughts to your own self hosted website blog, and pay your server fee, you have 100% freedom. And also, still… America is the best place to be because there is true freedom of speech and expression, you don’t want to be a trillionaire but not be able to say what’s really on your mind. And I think this is the big issue with entertainers, actors, media people… as long as you’re signed to a contract, you don’t run your own production company, or, you’re still a slave to money… you’re not really going to see what’s really on your mind. Why is it that the Rock cannot say anything bad about China, or Tibet? Because he is still enslaved by the media corporation. New slaves by Kanye West.

And this is the true courage of Kanye West; he literally put everything on the line, and even lost his spouse and I think maybe his kids? All for the sake of revealing inequities. 

“I throw these Maybach keys fucking c’est la vie! I know that we the new slaves.”- Ye

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Stoic training

The fun thing about stoicism is that you could just make it up as you go, devise your own strategies and whatever.

“Fucking c’est la vie!” My favorite Kanye West line.

Essentially the general idea is that in life, one should not take things too seriously. Laughter is golden, I forget the philosopher who was called the laughing philosopher… Democritus?; better to laugh about the follies of human beings rather than to be dark and morose about it.

Also, thoughts from the Odyssey; if you look far enough  into the future, everything becomes comedic and hilarious.

So when you’re in some sort of bad situation, just think to yourself “Perhaps one day, 20 or 30 years from now… I will look back at this and just laugh!” It will just be humorous.

Honestly, laughter, and kind of being able to joke about things might be the best way to live life and deal with setbacks. 

Modern day ailments

Problems in modern day life:

1. Too much time spent indoors, not enough time out in the sun. Perhaps it is better to be out outside all day, and joyful, even with the risk of getting skin cancer or whatever… rather than to be indoors, scared, weak and anemic. Differences between if you’re a man or a woman, but still… the most beautiful skin has a sunkissed, olive color tone; the true privilege is having a full body tan. 
2. Get chatGPT, the paid premium one. And use the image generation AI art tool DALL-E. People pay therapists to just speak their mind, and get some sort of sounding board. I actually think it’s much better to chat with AI instead; because it will not judge you, and ultimately what is a therapist anyways? A therapist is just a mirror, a sounding board for you to verbalize and flesh out your thoughts. Often when we talk about our problems, 90% of the issues go away because once we verbalize it, we feel much better about ourselves. The next thing I’m going to do is build some sort of therapy bot. 
3. Not enough walking: I have never met anybody who walks 30,000 steps a day and is depressed. Even my friend Jimmy, who works as a US postal worker delivering the mail, he walks around 30,000 steps a day and is always bright cherry and jovial. I think this is also where people who hike a lot or walk a lot in nature are so happy; when you’re able to walk around a lot, and zen out… you just feel much better. My simple suggestion is when you go on a hike or a walk in nature or even in the city… leave your phone at home, or locked inside your glove compartment, and don’t bring any headphones or speakers or Apple watches or whatever. Just bring along your camera, and enjoy. My personal ideal is the bear lifestyle; walking 50 miles a day. 

Real stoics don’t call themselves Stoics?

A funny thing I have learned is that when you call something something, it isn’t that.

For example, if someone calls something a “luxury car”, it ain’t. For example, a true modern day luxury car is maybe a Tesla, but Tesla never calls itself a luxury car. Also the ultimate luxury technology company is probably Apple… but Apple is very intelligent and not calling themselves a luxury brand.

A pro tip is when it comes to websites, read the alternative text, the header text, the stuff that shows up in the tab of your browser window. If the website, the automotive retailer tries to market themselves as a “luxury” brand, typically it is actually a sign that it isn’t a luxury brand it isn’t luxury brand.

Thought: what are some good examples of true luxury brands which don’t overly calls itself luxury? 

In someways, we can think and consider stoicism as our new luxury. In fact, having luxury, luxury of mind and soul… and luxury of freedom of speech, isn’t this the ultimate luxury?

When somebody asked Diogenes the cynic; “What is the best human good”? He said “Freedom of speech, speaking your mind, having the power to see whatever is on your mind.”

In fact, my current joy is becoming more and more free talking, and free riding. What that means is this; I’m ain’t going to censor myself no more, even if I might be politically incorrect insensitive or whatever. 

Also, I would prefer to speak my mind and seriously hurt the feelings of others, rather than soften it for the sake of the other person. 

Similarly speaking, when people call themselves “influencers”, they are not influencers.

Stoicism as a technique and tool, not the end

Ultimately I think we should think of stoicism just like having another tool inside our tool kit. For example, if you’re a chef, you’re going to have different knives for different purposes. If you’re going to cut a big piece of meat, you probably want a big ass meat cutting knife, not something you would use to slice an apple with. Similarly speaking, if you’re going to scoop out the insides of an avocado, better to use a spoon rather than using a fork, or a knife. 

I think the problem is when some people get too into stoicism (I prefer writing stoicism with a lowercase), they think that everything needs to be consistent, and must fit into this nice little neat box of what is considered “stoicism“. This is a bad line of thinking… let us consider that Marcus Aurelius never even mentioned stoicism in his writings, his collections of thoughts, which we moderns call THE MEDITATIONS… it was just essentially his personal diary, to help him conquer his own personal fears and thoughts, I don’t think he ever intended it to be published publicly. I think he just wrote it to himself as self therapy. And I think the only stoic philosopher he even mentions is maybe Epictetus.

The future of stoicism?

For myself, I just come out with certain to work out thoughts and techniques because it helps me, and when I find these tricks or techniques or secret hacks or cheat codes… My passion is to simply share it with others. 

And ultimately, things are ever in flux and evolving and changing and adapting.

For example, I’ve discovered the quality of my thinking is different when I am in Culver City Los Angeles, compared to being in the boring suburbs of Orange County.

Also depending on my social environments… my stoic thoughts are different when I am in a gym, vs just working out by myself in my parking spot in the back of my apartment.

Also, the quality of my thoughts is different when living with family members or other people versus just living with myself Cindy and Seneca.

Stoicism is all about living with other people

Assuming you’re not growing your own vegetables and living in the middle of nowhere… you probably have some interaction with other human beings. As long as you have an iPhone, an Android phone, a smartphone, a 4G or 5G internet connection, wifi, a laptop, have to buy groceries somewhere… you’re still going to have to interact with other human beings.

And this is good. There is no other greater joy than other human beings.

In fact, modern-day society is strange because in someways, the ethos is to be antisocial and to be cowardly. But in fact, the best way to think about things is that real life is interaction with other human beings, and social conquest. One can imagine a lot of modern day entrepreneurship as simply a big dick swinging contest. He who is the most masculine confident tall and strong and stoic shall win.

More ideas

Assume that everyone is mentally insane: Have you ever been out in public, and you see some sort of crackhead or strange homeless person who acts radically, smells terrible, and is obviously mentally ill? Do you hate them for it? When they say something weird to you… do you take it personally? No. Why? They are crazy. Perhaps we should just adopt this stoic mindset towards other people; some people are actually physiologically ill, mentally unwell… don’t trust the opinion of nobody.

A lot of people are trying to actually deal with their own inner demons: For example, becoming the successful photographer and street photographer I am today… I’ve dealt with some individuals who would say anonymous bad things about me, and later I found out that their mom just died or something. I cannot imagine what it feels like losing a mother… therefore if somebody spew some hate on me because something bad happened to them, I’m not gonna take it personally.

Self-flagellation: I think a lot of people who are sick, mentally or physiologically self flagellate themselves. Essentially the way that they deal with other people or themselves is some sort of metaphorical self-flagellation.

For example… you know those strange individuals who have the whip and whip themselves, and inflict pain on themselves? I think some people do this metaphorically to themselves and others.

You just want to stay away from them.

Why so scared?

My personal theory on fear is that a lot of it is tied to morality and ethics. I think the general idea is not necessarily that we are afraid of anything… I think the true fear is that we’re afraid that we are some sort of bad evil unethical immoral person.

For example in street photography, the general ethical thought is that it is immoral to take a photo of somebody without their permission, because there is some sort of it inherent evil behind it. Is this true? No. Taking photos and not really a big deal.

Why do people make such a big deal out of small things?

I think it is because some people are just overly sensitive, which once again comes from some sort of physiological weakness.

For example, if you’re a weightlifter who could lift 1000 pounds, assuming you’re not taking any steroids or anything… are small things going to bother you? No. But let us assume that you are a skinny fat man, all you do is drink alcohol and smoke marijuana and watch Netflix, and you spent too much time on Reddit… you are 40% body fat, and have never lifted in your life. And also your testosterone is low and you never go outside. Certainly the quality of your thoughts is going to be different than if you’re a happy gay monster, lifting weights outside in the direct sun, laughing and having fun. 

In fact, I’ve actually personally discovered that the reason why a lot of people hate me is because I am so happy jovial and gay. They are secretly suspicious or envious of me? 

Weather and mood

Probably one of my worst experiences was this jarring transition; I was super happy insanely happy being in Vietnam in 2017; with a beautiful weather, the beautiful light, the happy people the great amenities etc.… and then that winter Cindy and I went to Europe, in Marseille Berlin and Prague, and maybe London… seriously the worst winter of my life. Why? I wonder if so much miserable feelings and thoughts simply comes from the darkness and lack of light. a lot of Europe is actually quite miserable; dark, unhygienic, morose.

Even Nietzsche had a thought about Schopenhauer; How much of these emo European philosophers came from the fact that it was just complaining about the cold weather in Germany etc.?

For myself, my ideal weather is Southeast Asia; I love being in Phnom Penh Cambodia, Vietnam etc. In the states, am I the only one who loves living in Los Angeles? Dr. Dre and Kendrick Lamar said that LA was the best for women weed and weather… I would definitely say the biggest upside of living in Los Angeles is the light, the sunlight. It actually does get quite cold here, but usually most reliably even in December during the winter time, the sun will always come up. As long as there is bright sunny light, I will be happy. And I think maybe for myself, considering that I am a photographer, and photography means painting with light… light for me is critical.

I also wonder how much of it is a physiological thing and a genetic trait; for example I could even recall being a young child, and my mom telling me that the most critical thing in finding a home or an apartment was light and natural light. Even now… 90% of my happiness comes from being able to have access to natural light, ideally floor to ceiling windows facing directly the sun, having some sort of modern temperature regulated apartment and home. Even living in our tiny studio minimalistic luxury apartment in Providence Rhode Island, where it was always 75° warm and cozy, and not frigid and damp and cold and dark and humid… I was always good. But moving to an older house, where it always felt damp and cold… this literally lowered my happiness by 1000%.

Therefore, if you’re feeling miserable sad or whatever… I say spend three months living in Hanoi or Saigon in Vietnam, or go to Phnom Penh Cambodia. I wonder if 90% of peoples misery is simply due to the weather.

Stoic assignments

”Better to be a gay monster than a sentimental bore!” – Fernandino Galliani, via Nietzsche

My stoic ideal is somebody who is happy, gay, smiling, no headphones or AirPods on, no sunglasses on, no hat, no facial hair, no baggy oversized clothing, no tint in their car. Somebody who makes great eye contact, laughs, stands up upright, jokes, and fools around. Like an overgrown child.

Also, lift weights at least once every day, ideally in the direct sun. Just buy some weightlifting equipment on Titan.fitness, I like the farmers carry handles, the Olympic loadable dumbbell, and also the Texas power squat bar. Just buy some cheap weights, and or buy a heavy 400 pound sandbag, and just have fun throwing it around.

True stoics are masculine

A true stoic should look something like Hercules or Achilles. Or like ERIC KIM; I have the aesthetic and the physique of Brad Pitt in FIGHT CLUB except with a lot more muscle. Like my friend Soren says, the Adonis physique and proportions.

A real stoic is sexy

I think a real stoic is sexy, happy and fun. Who doesn’t take life too seriously; and think of everything like a fun game. A real stoic would be joyful and cheery like three-year-old child without any adulteration from the outside world.

Why do adults become so dark and morose?

I don’t like talking with or hanging out with adults, uninteresting.

At what point or age do people become so emo?

Typically, highschoolers are very optimistic. Even college students. But I think at least in maybe college in high school nowadays… the bad trend is towards “over concern”, about the world the planet ethics animals etc.

I find a lot of this thinking superficial, performative, and uncritical. I think “animal rights“, “saving the planet” is this new pseudo world religion; which is just capitalism 3.0. I find the whole pet industry the whole dog industry to be insanely bizarre, and I trust nobody who talks about “saving the planet“ who owns an iPhone, owns any sort of car, or has an Amazon prime subscription. Certainly not any vegans.

A real stoic is a carnivore 

Animals are animals. They are lower on the hierarchy and totem pole on earth. Man is the apex predator, the apex bully and the apex tyrant.

Should we care for animals or “animal rights”? No. Animals are our slaves.

If you consider even dogs and pets… they are essentially our emotional slaves. People talk a lot about the virtuosity of dogs being loyal or whatever… and giving you unconditional love. This seems like some sort of emotional slavery.

The only dogs I respect are some sort of canine dogs, some sort of attack or defense dogs, or hunting dogs. For example, John Wick 3; Halle Barry and her dogs. An animal should either be a weapon, or nothing.

Why do people care about animals so much?

Essentially it looks like men no longer have a backbone. No more spine.

I trust nobody who owns a dog.

Let us not forget; they call it dog ownership, or “owning a pet”. There is no more concept of “human ownership, or “owning a human.”

End goals 

What is the end goal of humanity? To me it is towards entrepreneurship, innovation, art and aesthetics, philosophy etc. Design.

Stoicism should be considered a tool which could aid you in these things.

For example, I think 99% of entrepreneurship is courage. Stoicism could help you with that.

I also think with design, great design is also 99% courage, having the courage to attempt something that won’t sell or be received well… stoicism is all about practical courage. The only designers with courage include Steve Jobs, Jony Ive, Elon Musk, Kanye West. 

Also, weightlifting. To attempt to lift a certain weight you have never attempted before takes great courage. For example, me atlas lifting 1000 pounds; that is 10 plates and a 25 on each side, this is true stoic training. Why? The fear of injury is what holds most people back; if you had successfully conquered this fear and not injured yourself, this is pure stoic bliss.

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The physical

I think the only and the only proper way to lift weights is one repetition maximum training. That is; what is the maximum amount of weight you’re able to successfully lift or move, even half an inch?

To me, the courage is the success. Even if you had the courage to attempt it… that is what is considered success. 

Simple exercises to do include the atlas lift, innovated by ERIC KIM, or a one repetition max rack pull.

Or, a high trap bar deadlift, heavy Farmer’s walks, or heavy sandbag carries. Or even a simple thing you could do is go to the park or to the local nature center, find the biggest rock there and just see if you could pick it up.

Now what?

If you’re interested in stoicism, and have had some interesting thoughts on stoicism, one of the most noble things you could do is start your own blog. I think blogs are 1000 times more effective than publishing some sort of static printed book; I think the problem in today’s world is that everyone is seeking some sort of legitimacy by being picked up by some sort of legitimate publisher and getting “published“, and seeing your printed book at Barnes & Noble whatever.

I say it is better to be open source, free and permissionless, decentralized. Just publish your thoughts and book as a free PDF, and just host it on dropbox, Google Drive, or your own web server. Share the link freely, and also just publish the raw text as a big blog post. 

Even Sam Bankman-Fried wisely thought; 99.9% of books could just be summarized as big blog posts.

Don’t trust any modern day published book which isn’t free, because… there is some sort of hidden clout chasing somewhere. 

Even one of the worst compromises that led to the demise of Ray Dalio was the fact that he took his Principles book, which was essentially a free ebook PDF on his website, and then took it off, because I think he got a book deal with Simon and Schuster. After he did that, he lost my respect.

If you’re already independently wealthy, and you don’t crowd source your self-esteem… why would you need to externally validate yourself by getting some sort of constipated publisher and annoying editor?

Editors are bad.

Now what?

Start your own blog and start blogging your own thoughts on stoic philosophy, and even start a YouTube channel and start vlogging on it. My generalized thought is simple: if your thought your idea your blog post your video or whatever could even impact the life of one other human being on planet earth… it is worth it.

ERIC

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What is the secret to the maximum amount of happiness in life? The maximum amount of danger. (Nietzsche).

ERIC

FIN

Become invincible:

1. SPARTANISM.
2. Introduction to Stoicism
3. STOIC FLEX.
4. Becoming Spartan
5. MAKE IT ENTERTAINING FOR YOURSELF!
6. Stoic Aesthetics?
7. The Philosophy of Ugliness
8. Bad Stoicism
9. Stoicism 2.0
10. Becoming Stoic
11. LEMONADE.
12. Why Arguments and Confrontations Are Good
13. “I’m Over It”
14. How to Deal With Miserable People
15. How to Become a Stoic
16. How to Ignore
17. Pretend like you didn’t hear them
18. Bad Stoic Strategies
19. The Stoic Way of Dealing With Unpleasant or Miserable People
20. HOW TO BECOME A STOIC
21. Stoicism Stunts Our Power?
22. Stoicism is Mental Resistance Training
23. STOIC STRATEGIES.
24. How to Become Fearless
25. Extreme Stoicism
26. Ethics are Aesthetic
27. Indifference to Pain or Suffering
28. When is Stoicism Good? When is Stoicism Bad?
29. Why Others Criticize or Insult You
30. True Difficulty
31. What if Covid Never Goes Away?
32. SUPER STOIC
33. Anti-Hedonism
34. HOW TO CONQUER FEAR
35. ANTI FEAR
36. It is the Duty of the Strong to Help the Weak
37. The Goal is to Become Stronger
38. HYPER STOICISM
39. HYPER HERO
40. TRANSFORM EVERY DOWNSIDE INTO AN UPSIDE
41. STOICISM x Child’s Mind
42. The Art of Manly Virtue
43. Resistance Makes Us Stronger!
44. DON’T LIVE IN FEAR
45. Emotions are Good
46. Conquer Your Anger
47. BLACK EAGLE
48. DIFFICULTY AWAKENS YOUR INNER-GENIUS.
49. STOICISM IS ARMOR FOR THE MIND
50. The Spartan-Stoic Lifestyle
51. How I Conquered Fear
52. HOW TO CURE FEAR.
53. LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL.
54. The Upside of Poverty
55. How I Became Me
56. THE WILL TO POWER, OR THE WILL TO FEAR?
57. ATTACK REALITY
58. Living *THROUGH* History
59. How to Fear Less
60. Fear is the Ultimate Contagious Disease
61. STOICISM FOR DUMMIES
62. Don’t Be Scared!
63. WHAT CAN YOU CONTROL, WHAT CAN YOU NOT CONTROL?
64. HOW YOU CAN CONQUER FEAR
65. YOU’RE STRONGER THAN YOU THINK YOU ARE.
66. EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED
67. WHY AREN’T THINGS WORSE?
68. My Philosophy on Masculinity
69. A Riskier Life is a Better Life #philosophy #stoicism
70. How to Creatively Flourish in Life
71. Introduction to Stoicism
72. How to Become Stronger
73. How to Conquer Depression With Photography
74. What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger
75. How to Respect Yourself
76. How to Believe in Yourself
77. How to Steer Fear
78. How to Conquer Pessimism
79. How to Conquer Anxiety
80. How to Overcome Your Fear of People
81. How to Be Optimistic
82. Why I Don’t Take My Anger Seriously
83. HOW TO BECOME MORE POWERFUL
84. POSITIVITY.
85. HOW TO BECOME SUPERHUMAN
86. How to Give a Fuck Less
87. ALL IN.
88. Why I Cut My Dad Out of My Life.
89. Your iPhone Only Has 5% Battery Left.
90. How not to give a FUCK about your REPUTATION
91. WHAT IS A HUMAN?
92. HAPPINESS.
93. The Regret Minimization Framework in Photography and Life
94. How to Be a HERO
95. Conquer Your Fears by Making Fear Your Slave
96. Rule Circumstances; Don’t Let Your Circumstances Rule You
97. How to Love Yourself
98. How to Turn Shit into Gold
99. Your Parents Fuck You Up
100. Immortality
101. What Kills You Makes You Stronger
102. How to Be Patient
103. How to Conquer Anger
104. How to Bounce Back in Life
105. How to Overcome Resistance
106. Nothing Unlimited is Good; Nothing Good is Unlimited
107. You Have No Limits
108. Can 1’s and 0’s Hurt You?
109. The Envious Moment is Flying Now
110. Tomorrow We’ll Sail the Wide Seas Again
111. How to Forgive Others
112. Focus on Your Actions, Not the Results
113. Everything Will Be Alright
114. How to Be a Stoic Street Photographer
115. How to Be a Spartan Photographer
116. How to Overcome Your Fears in Life
117. How to Stop Worrying in Life
118. How to Use Photography as Self-Therapy
119. How to Free Your Soul From Disturbance
120. 3 Stoic Techniques that Can Help You Gain Tranquility
121. Can People Weaker than You Hurt You?
122. Does a Doctor Get Angry at a Crazy Patient?
123. Own Nothing

The Stoic Masters

Learn from the master stoics:

• Seneca
• Marcus Aurelius
• Epictetus
• Publilius Syrus
• Heraclitus

See all philosophy >

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MOTIVATION BY KIM

Become more:

1. LIFE IS ALL ABOUT STRIVING FOR MORE!
2. PHOTOGRAPHY INSPIRATION IDEAS
3. Setbacks are a motivator, a turbocharger
4. THERE IS SO MUCH OF THE WORLD TO PHOTOGRAPH!
5. The Philosophy of Optimism
6. What Slows You Down?
7. Meta Editing
8. Move Mass
9. What’s “Cool”?
10. No In-Between
11. Independent Aspirations
12. COMPULSION.
13. *BEYOND* PERFECT.
14. BUY BOOKS WHEN YOU WANT TO BUY GEAR.
15. How to Make More Photos
16. JUST MAKE MORE PHOTOS.
17. MY DESIRE TO CAPTURE IT ALL.
18. VISUAL DETOX.
19. Photography is Our Addiction
20. A BILLION PHOTOS
21. THE MOTIVATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER.
22. CURIOUS.
23. PROVOKE.
24. How to Do More Photography
25. PRACTICE.
26. TURBOCHARGE YOURSELF, TURBOCHARGE OTHERS.
27. LIFE IS ALL UPSIDE, NO DOWNSIDE.
28. PHOTO TURBO THOUGHTS
29. No Such Thing as Good or Bad; Simply Stimulating or Not Stimulating
30. The Best Genre is No Genre
31. The Key to Photographic Motivation
32. Pacifying Media, Motivational Media
33. Our Hunger for New Experiences
34. Mental Motivation
35. ALL ABOUT PHOTOGRAPHY.
36. The Photographer as Creator
37. Create *BEYOND* Yourself
38. Let Your Curiosity Drive Your Photography
39. LOVE YOUR PHOTOS.
40. Abstract Monochrome Photography
41. SHOOT WITHOUT THINKING.
42. Just Have Fun With Photography
43. Wu-Wei Effortless Motivation
44. CONSISTENCY x NOVELTY
45. Easily Bored?
46. Face Photography
47. How to Become More Self-Motivated in Your Photography
48. YOUR OWN PHOTOS ARE THE BEST PHOTOS.
49. On Sharing Your Favorite Photos
50. UBERABUNDANCE.
51. Peak Photographic Productivity
52. When to Review Your Photos
53. Serotonin and Photos
54. The Photos You Have Yet Shot are Your Most Important Photos
55. 3 Tips How to Master Photography
56. Do You Like Your Own Photos?
57. The Beauty of Mundane, Everyday Moments
58. Reasons Why to Be Optimistic About the Future
59. A Photography-Full Future
60. The More You Shoot, the Better
61. How Many Photos Should You Shoot Everyday?
62. Why Do We Love Motion?
63. Now is Your Chance to Shoot History in the Making
64. Photo by Photo
65. How and Why Photography Remains So Interesting to Me
66. How to Conquer Your Inner Photographic Critic
67. Thoughts on HDR Photography
68. New Year, New Photos
69. Why Exhibit Your Photos?
70. Photography is Visual Poetry
71. What’s the Purpose of Art?
72. Why Do We Photographers Have Such a Hard Time Staying Inspired and Motivated?
73. On Becoming a More Optimistic Photographer
74. Philosophy of Weather
75. How to Become a More Optimistic Photographer and Human
76. You Are a Creative Photographer
77. JUST SHARE YOUR ARTISTIC PROCESS WITH OTHERS.
78. What Motivates Me to Shoot?
79. How to Maximize Yourself to the Fullest
80. HOW TO MOVE AND MOTIVATE PEOPLE
81. Autotelic Photography
82. The more I go out and photograph the world, the more interesting and beautiful the world becomes
83. Why Photographers Have Such Low Self-Esteem
84. ERIC KIM MOTIVATION
85. Why Am I So Unmotivated?
86. EVERY DAY IS A NEW DAY
87. WHY ARE YOU SO UNMOTIVATED?
88. Movement is Motivation
89. How to Motivate Myself to Make New Photos
90. Never Stop Optimizing
91. How to Help and Motivate Others
92. Feed On Your Own Photos; Let Them Nourish You!
93. Competition is for Suckers
94. A Future Without Travel
95. How Google Can Improve Your Photography
96. DEVELOP YOURSELF.
97. NEVER STOP MOVING!
98. How I Self-Motivate Myself
99. Every Day the Sun is Birthed Anew
100. A Life Without Photography Isn’t a Life Worth Living
101. WIN.
102. 8 Practical Photography Assignments for You
103. Tabula Rasa, Blank Slate, Carte Blanche
104. RELENTLESS
105. LIFE IS THE ULTIMATE RPG
106. HYPER VIGOR
107. FRESH AIR PHOTOS
108. WHO IS GONNA THRIVE IN TODAY’S BRAVE NEW WORLD?
109. ARTISTIC OPTIMISM
110. PASSION, not Discipline
111. Better Bad Photos than No Photos
112. The Empowering Feeling of Failure
113. To Be Human is to Move
114. Enjoy the Process
115. Better Bad Photos than No Photos
116. Why Keep Making New Art and Photos, Indefinitely?
117. Photography Motivation: What if There is Nothing Interesting to Photograph?
118. Move First, Motivation Later
119. Motivation Follows the Action
120. In Praise of Heroes
121. 5 Tips How to Boost Your Creativity
122. How to Have Inspiration to Take Photos in the Suburbs
123. Anything that Motivates You to Move is Good!
124. The Productive Photographer is the Happiest Photographer!
125. Make Today Count!
126. How to Break Through Photographer’s Block
127. The Joyful Photographer
128. The Dancing Photographer
129. The Kaizen Process of Gradual Self-Improvement in Photography
130. It is Your Duty to Make Beautiful Pictures!
131. Making Pictures IS Happiness!
132. NO EXCUSES.
133. The Pomodoro Photography Technique
134. The ABC of Photography
135. Just Shoot It.
136. How to Change the World With Photography
137. How to Find Inspiration in Photography and Life
138. How to Overcome Resistance
139. Create Against the Past
140. How I Motivate Myself to Make Photos
141. Wear Your Camera Like a Necklace or Bracelet
142. Have Your Photos Come to You
143. How to Level Up in Your Photography
144. How Not to Give a Fuck of What Others Think of You
145. How to Overcome Procrastination in Your Photography
146. How to Reinspire Your Photography
147. What is Your Mission in Photography and Life?
148. How to Overcome Photographer’s Block
149. Be a Photographer Now
150. How to Overcome Boredom with Photography
151. Never Stop Growing as a Photographer
152. Why Do You Need “Inspiration” to Shoot?
153. Just Shoot.
154. 5 Things to Do If You’ve Lost Your Passion for Photography
155. How to Have Unshakeable Confidence in Yourself
156. Don’t Give Up On Your Dream
157. Don’t Waste Your Potential
158. Unlock Your Potential
159. Empower Others With Your Photography
160. Why You Shouldn’t Follow Your Passion in Photography

See all articles >

Entrepreneurship by KIM

Change and do, and build or do things differently … based on what you believe the ideal world *should* look like:

1. Autotelic Entrepreneurship
2. The Love of Risk
3. INSANE FOCUS.
4. SHARE AS YOU LEARN.
5. VIA NEGATIVA SUCCESS
6. Emotional Readiness is *Physical* Readiness?
7. Annoyance & Entrepreneurship
8. Why Doesn’t Anything Satisfy Me?
9. ZERO FINANCIAL CONCERNS
10. How to Gain Ascendancy
11. Business vs Entrepreneurship?
12. TAKE REAL CHANCES
13. Making Money as a Hobby
14. The Best Exercises for Entrepreneurs
15. INCOME VS EXPENSES MONEY LIFESTYLE PHILOSOPHY
16. Entrepreneurship is the privilege of being able to attempt something new
17. How to Become More Influential
18. The Point of Life is Entrepreneurship?
19. How to Think Like an Entrepreneur
20. Become the Outlier
21. Self Reliance
22. How to Extend Your Reach
23. NEWS: How to Think Like an Entrepreneur
24. PVP (Player vs Player)
25. How I became so influential
26. WE LOVE THE *SENSATION* OF RISK-TAKING
27. WHY HIGH PROFIT MARGINS?
28. INNOVATION THOUGHTS
29. OVERCONFIDENCE IS GOOD.
30. GARAGE ENTREPRENEURSHIP
31. PERHAPS IT IS GOOD TO BE “DELUSIONAL”
32. USE YOUR WEALTH TO BUY STUFF, OR TO BUILD AND INNOVATE STUFF?
33. HOW TO THRIVE
34. Target Demographic
35. Ambition Over Happiness
36. Anti Collaboration
37. The Will to Economy
38. Why New?
39. CHOOSE ADRENALINE.
40. No Looking Back.
41. 1000x Different
42. BECOME SPENDTHRIFT
43. THE BENEFIT OF JUST ONE.
44. EXTREME INNOVATION.
45. Practicality is Boring
46. BECOME YOUR OWN STANDARD.
47. NEVER STOP ITERATING.
48. CONDENSE.
49. Take Lots of Small Financial Risks
50. Control Over Convenience
51. Why Are Chinese Companies So Innovative?
52. INSANELY DIFFERENT.
53. Why Doesn’t Anything Ever Satisfy Me?
54. THE GREAT PASSION.
55. Perhaps Dissatisfaction is Good
56. ONE REP MAX.
57. WHAT DO YOU *REALLY* WANT IN LIFE?
58. LIFE IS ABOUT STRIVING FOR MORE.
59. NEVER STOP LINKING.
60. THE GREATEST.
61. WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE!
62. THE BEST IS YET TO COME.
63. ERIC KIM CRITIQUE OF ROMANTICISM
64. COMPLACENCY.
65. JUST BUY IT.
66. ALL ABOUT YOU.
67. MOVE THE WORLD
68. Boring or Not Boring?
69. What if Your Past Self were Inferior to Your Present Self?
70. THE PHILOSOPHY OF PROGRESS
71. CULTURE IS YOUR ENEMY.
72. Difficulty & Interest
73. The Will to Expansion
74. What is Work?
75. SOUL IN THE GAME.
76. JUST START IT.
77. Not Boring
78. PRIDE IN YOUR OWN NAME / BRAND
79. AS MUCH AS YOU CAN TOLERATE.
80. Speed is Paramount
81. TAKE IT BACK TO THE BEGINNING.
82. A Life With No Risk Taking is *NOT* a Life Worth Living
83. Dissatisfaction is Good
84. GREATER STRENGTH, GREATER CHALLENGES.
85. In Praise of the New
86. Uncorrupted Desires
87. You Cannot Fake Passion
88. SELF-OVERGOING
89. FORM YOURSELF.
90. Personal Entrepreneurship
91. RELENTLESS.
92. PUT YOUR NAME ON IT.
93. A Life of Expansion
94. SELF-ENTREPRENEURSHIP
95. YOU ARE THE EXCEPTION.
96. Use Your Life as an Experiment to Self-Develop Yourself to Heights Never Seen Before
97. Invest in New Developments
98. Investing Towards What End?
99. The 90%/10% Principle in Entrepreneurship
100. Speed Wins
101. The Philosophy of Happiness
102. When to Over-Estimate, When to Under-Estimate?
103. Never Stop Iterating
104. Money as a Tool for Life and Artistic Experimentation
105. Less But More Premium
106. Mainstream vs Low-Key Success
107. Why Dissatisfaction is Good
108. SEEK YOUR OWN PERSONAL MAXIMAL BENEFIT INSTEAD OF COMPLAINING
109. Manifest Your Destiny
110. Is it Best to *Not* Communicate Your Inner Thoughts or Ideas With Others?
111. CREATE THINGS YOU WISH TO SEE MANIFESTED IN THE WORLD
112. How to Do More Work
113. CONTROL.
114. Competition is for Losers
115. Change.
116. Your Competitive Advantage with Insanely Fast Wifi and High Speed Internet
117. Pseudo Individualism
118. Natural Internal Promoting vs External Promptings

Think for Yourself.

1. Survival vs Thrivival
2. Become Rich
3. SECRETS.
4. Why it is Better to Beg for Forgiveness than Ask for Permission
5. Thinking About the Past Prevents You From Thinking About the Future
6. How to Predict the Future
7. Tools of Mass Distraction
8. So What?

FREEDOM

• On Leaving a Legacy
• I wanna be me!
• Productivity for personal freedom
• How to Purchase your Freedom

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Never stop innovating.

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Entrepreneurship Mindset

• What is Your Dream in Life?
• 8 Blogging Productivity Tips
• Why Be Normal?
• How Much Suffering Are You Willing to Endure to Achieve Your Dreams?

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Put a Dent in the Universe.

• Innovate for the Sake of Innovating!
• Reality is Malleable!
• Stoic Entrepreneurship
• Against Self-Preservation
• The Purpose of Life is to Make New Stuff!

Economics by KIM

1. Money is For Slaves
2. Growth
3. Think Volume
4. Think Payoffs
5. Kaizen Gains
6. Cost to Capital
7. Price vs Value
8. EVERYONE WINS!
9. INVESTING PR’S
10. The Philosophy of Investing
11. ERIC KIM VENTURE CAPITALIST
12. How to FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early)
13. How to *Save* a Million Dollars
14. Increase Value
15. MAYBE IT IS A GOOD IDEA TO BUY HIGH
16. Banks Are the True Menace to Society
17. THE PROMISE OF FUTURE MONOPOLY PROFITS?
18. High gas prices are good
19. What is Capitalism?
20. Pride in What You Paid For
21. On Making Money from Nothing
22. Save Money Towards What Ends?
23. No Regret Investment

Brave New World of Bitcoin

1. How to Get Free Bitcoins
2. Why Bitcoin is All-American
3. The Will to Bitcoin
4. 10x
5. Introduction to Bitcoin
6. Bitcoin Meditations
7. Options
8. Bitcoin for Investors
9. Paradise Bitcoin
10. The Philosophy of Volatility
11. Bitcoin is Free Speech
12. Digital Capital
13. BRAVE NEW WORLD OF DIGITAL CAPITAL
14. Bitcoin Economics
15. Bitcoin Philosophy

Essays

1. Bitcoin Paradise
2. The Philosophy of Volatility
3. The Philosophy of Investing
4. How to Get Rich

EK NEWS

1. Black & White
2. IMPERATIVE
3. Redesign Yourself
4. BITCOIN THOUGHTS

Street Photography 101

Master street photography:

1. Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Street Photography
2. The Street Portrait Manual
3. 100 Lessons from the Masters of Street Photography
4. Street Photography Starter Kit
5. What is Street Photography? / Download
6. Black and White / Download
7. How to Shoot Street Photography / Download
8. Street Portraits 101 / Download
9. Conquer Your Fears / Download
10. Composition / Download
11. Masters / Download
12. Editing and Post-Processing / Download
13. Photography Projects / Download
14. Motivation / Download

100% BITCOIN

Slides

Photography Entrepreneurship 101

THOUGHTS

1. 7 Lessons Elon Musk has Taught Me
2. Introduction to Stoicism

PDF

1. LEICA MANUAL PDF // MIRROR
2. TRAVEL NOTES
3. ZEN OF ERIC
4. MASTERS VOLUME 1 // MIRROR
5. Photography Composition Manual v1
6. Zen Photography
7. STREET PHOTO CONTACT SHEETS
8. STREET PHOTO CONTACT SHEETS VOLUME II
9. Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Mastering Street Photography
10. The Street Portrait Manual
11. 100 Lessons From the Masters of Street Photography

ERIC KIM NEWS

Don’t be left behind: ERIC KIM NEWS >

EK MIND STREAM.

THOUGHTS

1. THE PHILOSOPHY OF RISK TAKING — PDF
2. Why I Bought Chainlink — PDF
3. How to Become a Philosopher
4. How to Become a Stoic

ART PHOTO BOOKS

1. SUITS

ERIC KIM PODCAST

EK PODCAST ALSO ON SPOTIFY

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MODERN PHOTOGRAPHER

• DOWNLOAD FREE // PDF DOWNLOAD // MIRROR

STOICISM

Delve into the mind of EK:

BOOKS

1. THE PHOTOGRAPHER

NEW CHATGPT BOTS

1. COMPOSITION CHECKER
2. WHY APP?

Crypto

1. BACK TO CHAINLINK, EVERYONE SHOULD OWN *AT LEAST* ONE BITCOIN, AI IS NEXT $100T, 1000T INDUSTRY?
2. Bitcoin Babe

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 ERIC KIM CHATGPT BOTS

1. BITCOIN BABE
2. ZEN OF ERIC
3. ERIC KIM BOT

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STREET PHOTOGRAPHY STARTER KIT

Open source:

0. What is Street Photography? (2.4gb) / Download
1. Black and White (2.3gb) / Download
2. How to Shoot Street Photography (2.2gb) / Download
3. Street Portraits 101 (1.9gb) / Download
4. Conquer Your Fears (430mb) / Download
5. Composition (460mb) / Download
6. Masters (107mb) / Download
7. Editing and Post-Processing (1.3gb) / Download
8. Photography Projects (1.4gb) / Download
9. Motivation (3.7gb) / Download

View all >

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PHOTOLOSOPHY

What can you become as a photographer-visual artist?

0. Introduction (830mb)
1. Street Photography (2.6gb)
2. Personal Photography (1.8gb)
3. Entrepreneurship (1.5gb)
4. Motivation: HAPTIC BOOKS (20mb)
5. Audio (100mb)
6. Presets (40mb)
7. Transcripts (29kb)

DOWNLOAD FULL COURSE (7.4GB)

See the full course here.

STREET PHOTOGRAPHY 101

Becoming the uber-street photographer:

MASTER THE STREETS:

 ERIC KIM CHATGPT BOTS

1. ZEN OF ERIC
2. ERIC KIM BOT

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STREET PHOTOGRAPHY STARTER KIT

Open source:

0. What is Street Photography? (2.4gb) / Download
1. Black and White (2.3gb) / Download
2. How to Shoot Street Photography (2.2gb) / Download
3. Street Portraits 101 (1.9gb) / Download
4. Conquer Your Fears (430mb) / Download
5. Composition (460mb) / Download
6. Masters (107mb) / Download
7. Editing and Post-Processing (1.3gb) / Download
8. Photography Projects (1.4gb) / Download
9. Motivation (3.7gb) / Download

View all >

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Video

STREET PHOTOGRAPHY 101

1. How to Become More Stealth in Street Photography
2. HOW TO BECOME A BETTER STREET PHOTOGRAPHER
3. Street Photography Mastery
4. How I Became the Greatest Street Photographer Alive
5. Antifragile Photography
6. How to Conquer Your Fears in Street Photography
7. INSANELY AUDACIOUS AND BOLD
8. 5 Simple Street Photography Techniques
9. STREET PHOTOGRAPHER.
10. The Street Photographer Ideal
11. 50 Street Photography Tips, Techniques and Ideas
12. Street Photography Values
13. STREET PHOTOGRAPHY DOESN’T NEED TO HAVE PEOPLE IN IT.
14. Why Street Photography is So Great
15. WHY BECOME A STREET PHOTOGRAPHER?
16. Society Photography, Not “Street” Photography
17. How to Street Photography
18. STREET PHOTOGRAPHY OPTIONALITY.
19. 10 Street Photography Tips
20. The Street Photographer as the Apex Photographer
21. Street Photography & Adrenaline
22. STREETTOGS STARTING GUIDE
23. 50 Street Photography Tips by ERIC KIM
24. What I Wish I Knew If I Started Street Photography All Over Again
25. Photograph like it’s not a big deal
26. Suburb Street Photography
27. What is Our Personal Motivation Behind Street Photography?
28. WHY I’M SO PASSIONATE ABOUT STREET PHOTOGRAPHY
29. Personal Street Photography
30. STREET PHOTOGRAPHY AS A PRACTICE.
31. Pandemic Street Photography
32. AIRPORT STREET PHOTOGRAPHY
33. How to Shoot Street Photography Right Now
34. Towards a More Independent Street Photography Approach
35. How Street Photography Improves Your Life
36. How to Tell Stories in Your Street Photos
37. Face Street Photography
38. How to Start Shooting Street Photography
39. How to Shoot Street Photography During a Pandemic
40. 7 Street Photography Assignment Ideas

STREET PHOTOGRAPHY STARTER KIT

Master street photography with STREET PHOTOGRAPHY STARTER KIT.

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STREET PHOTOGRAPHY 101

If you’re new to street photography, start here:

• The Ultimate Street Photography Tutorial
• Street Photography 101 Tutorial
• 100 Lessons From the Masters of Street Photography
• How to Shoot Street Photography

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Brave New Street Photography

• 10 Lessons I’ve Learned from Street Photography
• SKIN IN THE GAME: STREET PHOTOGRAPHY ETHICS
• The Beauty of Mundane Happenings
• Humans and Environments
• Define Street Photography for Yourself
• Street Photography of People You Know
• Street Photography Composition Ideas
• How to Shoot Political Photography
• Social Photography
• Street Photography Lifestyle
• Why Street Photography is So Fun
• Street Photography for Mental Health
• How to Become a Street Photography Sharpshooter
• How to Shoot Kid Street Photography
• STREET PHOTO MANUAL
• Street Photography is an Approach, a Technique, and an Ethos

Street Photographs

1. How to Shoot Street Photography with Dads and Kids
2. HOW I BECAME SUCH A GREAT STREET PHOTOGRAPHER
3. Use Quarantine as an Opportunity to Pick up Film Photography
4. Hong Kong Street Photography by ERIC KIM

Street Photography Philosophy

• Brave New Street Photographer
• How to Talk to Strangers
• How to Shoot More Dynamic Street Photographs
• WHY I LOVE ARCHITECTURE AND STREET PHOTOGRAPHY
• Why Street Photography Brings Me So Much Joy
• How to Shoot Street Photography Video
• How to Shoot Street Photography in the Brave New COVID World
• The Future for Street Photography
• ALL STREET PHOTOGRAPHS ARE GOOD PHOTOGRAPHS.
• AMERICA by KIM
• Street Photography in a Non-Travel World?
• How to Shoot Street Photography During COVID-19
• You’ve Never Shot Photography Until You’ve Shot Street Photography
• Xenophilia: Love of Strangers
• My Street Photography Philosophy
• Why Street Photography is Important for Society
• HOW STREET PHOTOGRAPHY CAN CHANGE THE WORLD
• STREET PHOTOGRAPHY IS ABOUT LOVING ALL PEOPLE
• Real Life People vs Abstract People
• Is it OK to Piss Off or Annoy People in Photography?
• ANTI PURISM IN STREET PHOTOGRAPHY
• Street Photography of People You Know
• Street Photography is Courage
• MY STREET PHOTOGRAPHY PHILOSOPHY
• Street Photography Motivation from ERIC KIM
• I AM STREET PHOTOGRAPHY
• WHY TALK TO STRANGERS?
• Why Street Photography is Supreme
• How to Make Great Street Photos
• Street Photography Ideas by ERIC KIM
• Why Street Photography?
• The Street Photographer’s Soul
• How to Become a Fearless Street Photographer
• Black and White or Color for Travel Street Photography?
• Street Photographers are Adrenaline Junkies
• How to Master Street Photography
• Almost Anything and Everything is Street Photography
• Advice for Aspiring Street Photographers
• Street Photography Sociology
• Why There’s No Right or Wrong Way to Shoot Street Photography
• The Street Photographer as a Soldier-Artist
• Why Street Photography is the Best Photography
• Street Photography is a Way of Life
• How to Conquer Anxiety
• Street Photography is Art with People

Street Photography Articles

• How to Edit and Sequence a Photography Project
• Practical Street Photography Tips
• 5 Simple Street Photography Assignments
• Street Photography Composition Ideas
• 10 Advanced Street Photography Tips and Techniques
• Daredevil Photography
• Lingering Technique: How to Work the Scene in Street Photography
• Why Photograph People?
• No Guilt in Street Photography
• Street Photography is Hard.
• Street Photography Inspiration
• 5 Simple Tips How to Shoot Better Street Photos
• 10 Super Simple Street Photography Tips
• How to Shoot Head-On in Street Photography
• The Decapitation Technique in Street Photography
• Be Brazen in Street Photography
• How to Shoot Better Street Photographs
• Drive-By Technique in Street Photography
• How to Shoot a Wedding Like a Street Photographer
• Street Photography is 80% Risk Taking!
• 10 Simple Street Photography Principles
• 5 Fundamental Street Photography Principles
• 10 Street Photography Assignment Ideas
• How to Tell Stories in Street Photography

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Street Photography Techniques

• How to Shoot Head-On Street Photography
• Street Photography Composition Tips
• In Praise of Street Vlogging
• How to Shoot Video Street Photography
• Street Photography Technique: The Stalker Technique
• Photography Technique: Take Photos While Walking!
• New Tokyo GoPro Fusion POV Street Photography YouTube Videos
• ERIC KIM Street Photography Tips and Technique
• The 360 Degree Technique in Street Photography
• How to Work the Scene in Street Photography
• How to Shoot Layers and the Bookend Technique in Street Photography
• Street Photography Technique: GET CLOSE & FILL THE FRAME + GOLDEN DIAGONAL COMPOSITION
• Street Photography Techniques: The 3D Scan/360 Degree Technique (Shooting Head-on) and Holding Your Camera High in the Air and Point Downwards (and Use Your LCD Screen to Frame the Scene)
• The Walking Alongside Someone and Shooting Until They Notice You Street Photography Technique
• SUPER INNOVATIVE NEW GOPRO STREET PHOTOGRAPHY POV EXPERIENCE: Cutoff Technique, Shooting Head-on with Flash, and Slow-Motion on RICOH GR II at 28mm
• How to Shoot a Street Portrait: Tips, Technique, and GoPRO POV Tutorial
• Street Photography Technique/Composition: Leading Lines and Crouching Down Low
• How to Shoot Layers in Street Photography: GoPRO POV Video Composition Tutorial
• How to Shoot Street Photography with a 24mm Lens
• The Cutoff Technique in Street Photography
• THE CUTOFF TECHNIQUE IN STREET PHOTOGRAPHY: GOPRO POV KYOTO ERIC KIM

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Street Photography Ideas

• Street Photography is Like Fishing
• Why Do We Feel Nervous Shooting Street Photography?
• Street Photography Philosophy
• Everyday Street Photography
• Why Street Photography?
• Why You Must Follow Your Own Voice in Street Photography
• How to Overcome Guilt in Street Photography
• 5 Dynamic Off-Center Street Photography Compositions
• 5 Night Street Photography Composition Tips
• How to Talk to Strangers
• How to Overcome Fear in Street Photography
• Street Photography Empowerment
• Eric Kim’s Top 30 Street Photography Tips
• How to Shoot Street Photography on a 35mm Lens
• 7 Tips How to Conquer Your Fears of Shooting Street Photography
• Street Photography Lifestyle
• How to Use Tactful Flattery in Street Photography
• How to Conquer Social Anxiety With Street Photography
• Street Photography Secrets Debunked
• 10 Dynamic Street Photography Tips
• The Benefits of Shooting Street Photography
• The Street Photography Manifesto
• My Experience Shooting Digital Medium Format in Street Photography
• Why Do You Feel Guilty Shooting Street Photography?
• Improvise in Street Photography
• Ethics in Street Photography

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Street Photography Composition Techniques

• 10 Inspirational Sergio Larrain Compositions
• 5 Henri Cartier-Bresson Photography Composition Lessons
• Street Photography Technique: Overlap
• Street Photography Composition Lesson: Chunking
• The Fishing Technique in Street Photography

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STREET NOTES.

Push yourself out of your comfort zone with STREET NOTES: Mobile Edition.

STREET NOTES PAPER EDITION ON AMAZON >

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LEARN FROM THE MASTERS OF STREET PHOTOGRAPHY

Timeless wisdom from the masters of street photography.

Learn more about MASTERS >

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FUNDAMENTALS OF STREET PHOTOGRAPHY

• The Psychology of Street Photography
• Fundamentals to Street Photography
• How to Conquer Fear in Street Photography
• Street Photography Secrets
• NEO STREET PHOTOGRAPHY
• Street Photography Lenses
• Street Photography Settings
• Street Photography Techniques
• Street Photography Ideas
• CLOSER.
• CLEAN BACKGROUND

Street Photography Inspiration

• How to Enter the Street Photography Zone
• Simple Street Photography Tips
• How to Defuse Confrontations in Street Photography 
• How to Make Controversial Street Photographs
• Street Photography Project Ideas
• How to Make Good Street Photos
• Is Defining “STREET PHOTOGRAPHY” a Good Thing?
• STREET PHOTOGRAPHY “RULES” TO BREAK
• Walking Meditation in Street Photography
• 10 COMMANDMENTS OF STREET PHOTOGRAPHY
• Street Photography is Improvisation
• In Praise of Randomness in Street Photography
• How to Become a Fearless Photographer
• How to Make Better Street Photographs
• 12 ERIC KIM Street Photography Assignments
• Meaningful Street Photography
• 25 Street Photography Tips by ERIC KIM

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Beginner Street Photography Articles

Get started in street photography:

Definitions in Street Photography

• Visual Sociology Street Photography
• Why Street Photography?
• What is Street Photography?
• Why Shoot Street Photography?
• The History of Street Photography

How to Shoot Street Photography

• How to Shoot Street Photography
• Street Portraits 101 by ERIC KIM
• The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Street Photography
• 70 Street Photography Tips for Beginners
• 15 Street Photography Techniques and Tips
• A Letter to My 18 Year Old Self: If I Started Street Photography All Over Again

Street Photography Equipment

• What is the Best Camera for Street Photography?
• What is the Best Lens for Street Photography?
• What to Consider When Buying a Camera

See all equipment articles >

How to Conquer Your Fears in Street Photography

• How to Conquer Your Fears in Life
• Shoot What You’re Afraid Of
• How to Channel Your Fear into Bravery

See all articles to conquer your fears >

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Intermediate Street Photography Articles

Take your street photography to the next level:

• How to Become a Stoic Street Photographer
• The 10 Principles of Good Street Photography
• 7 Tips How to Capture “The Decisive Moment” in Street Photography
• The Importance of Social Skills in Street Photography
• The Street Photography Code of Ethics
• “Taking” vs “Making” Photos in Street Photography
• Follow Your Gut in Street Photography
• 10 Reasons Why You Should Never Chimp While Shooting Street Photography

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Advanced Street Photography Articles

Find deeper meaning in your street photography:

• How to Master Street Photography
• How to Be a Zen Street Photographer
• Personal Street Photography
• The “Bookend” Technique in Street Photography
• Street Photography is Self-Therapy
• Zen in the Art of Street Photography
• Taoism and Street Photography
• How to Find Your Style in Street Photography
• Follow Your Gut in Street Photography

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Street Photography Tips & Technique

Learn how to shoot on the streets:

• 70 Street Photography Tips for Beginners
• 15 Street Photography Techniques and Tips
• Flash Street Photography Guide
• Take More Risks
• Don’t Think About Composition When You’re Shooting Street Photography
• 7 Tips How to Capture “The Decisive Moment” in Street Photography
• 7 Tips How to Make a Great Street Photograph
• Tokyo Street Photography Contact Sheets
• Video: Why it is Important to “Work the Scene” in Street Photography
• Shoot Less, Better
• Make Shitty Photos
• Shoot Effortlessly
• 10 Tips for Candid Street Photography
• 103 Lessons I’ve Learned From Street Photography

See all street photography tips and techniques >

Street Photography Guides

In-depth guides on street photography:

• How to Shoot Candid Street Photography
• How to Shoot Street Portraits with Permission
• How to Shoot Black and White Street Photography
• How to Shoot Color Street Photography
• How to Shoot Street Portraits with Permission
• How to Shoot Layers in Street Photography
• How to Shoot Urban Landscapes

Street Photography Equipment

The best equipment for street photography:

• What is the Best Camera for Street Photography?
• What is the Best Lens for Street Photography?
• Why I Love Cameras with Non-Interchangeable Lenses
• The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide for Cameras in Street Photography
• What to Consider When Buying a Camera for Street Photography
• In Street Photography, The Smaller the Camera, the Better
• Why Sharpness is Overrated in Street Photography
• How to Shoot Street Photography on a DSLR

See all equipment articles >

Street Photography Editing and Workflow

• Video: Introduction to Editing, Processing, and Workflow in Lightroom
• How to Edit (Choose Your Best Photos) in Street Photography
• How Studying Contact Sheets Can Make You a Better Street Photographer
• Debunking the “Myth of the Decisive Moment”

How to Start a Street Photography Project

• Free E-Book: The Street Photography Project Manual
• How to Start Your Own Street Photography Project
• How to Come Up With a Personal Photography Project Idea

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Learn From the Masters of Street Photography

“He without a past has no future.”

Start here:

1. Why Study the Masters of Photography?
2. Great Female Master Photographers
3. Cheat Sheet of the Masters of Photography
4. 100 Lessons From the Masters of Street Photography
5. Beginner’s Guide to the Masters of Street Photography
6. Download All Articles >

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The Masters of Photography

Classics never die:

• Alfred Stieglitz
• Alec Soth
• Alex Webb
• Alexey Brodovitch
• Anders Petersen
• Andre Kertesz
• Ansel Adams
• Araki
• Blake Andrews
• Bruce Davidson
• Bruce Gilden
• Constantine Manos
• Daido Moriyama
• Dan Winters
• David Alan Harvey
• David Hurn
• Diane Arbus
• Dorothea Lange
• Elliott Erwitt
• Eugene Atget
• Eugene Smith
• Fan Ho
• Garry Winogrand
• Gordon Parks
• Helen Levitt
• Henri Cartier-Bresson
• Irving Penn
• Jacob Aue Sobol
• Jeff Mermelstein
• Joel Meyerowitz
• Joel Sternfeld
• Josef Koudelka / Part 2
• Josh White
• Lee Friedlander
• Lisette Model
• Magnum Contact Sheets
• Magnum Photographers
• Mark Cohen
• Martin Parr
• Martine Franck
• Mary Ellen Mark
• Rene Burri
• Richard Avedon
• Richard Kalvar
• Robert Capa
• Robert Frank
• Saul Leiter
• Sergio Larrain
• Sebastião Salgado
• Shomei Tomatsu
• Stephen Shore
• The History of Street Photography
• Todd Hido
• Tony Ray-Jones
• Trent Parke
• Vivian Maier
• Walker Evans
• Weegee
• William Eggleston
• William Klein
• Zoe Strauss

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Free Downloads

• Eric Kim Lightroom Presets
• Street Photography Presentations

See all free downloads >

Free Street Photography Books

Distilled information on street photography:

• STREET PHOTOGRAPHY MANUAL by ERIC KIM
• The Art of Street Photography
• 100 Lessons From the Masters of Street Photography
• Street Photography Contact Sheets
• Street Photography 101
• Street Photography 102
• Film Street Photography Manual
• The Street Photography Composition Manual
• The Street Portrait Manual
• 31 Days to Overcome Your Fear in Street Photography
• Zen in the Art of Street Photography

For more resources on photography, Start Here >

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CRYPTO BY KIM

Brave new world for photographers and crypto:

1. Self-Custody
2. HOLD OR CIRCULATE?
3. BITCOIN OR BUST
4. BITCOIN THOUGHTS
5. Bitcoin is Sexy
6. Fuck the Banks!
7. Ethereum?
8. Why Chainlink?
9. BIG AMOUNTS, SMALL AMOUNTS?
10. CRYPTO, CRYPTOCURRENCY THOUGHTS.
11. The Philosophy of Crypto
12. BITCOIN SHALL BE THE LAST CRYPTO STANDING.
13. Bitcoin Price Prediction
14. Trust chainlink for the most accurate prices for bitcoin or any other crypto
15. BITCOIN
16. There is No Web 3.0
17. 2 cents to 2 dollars?
18. Crypto.com?
19. Speculation vs Investing
20. Building with Bitcoin
21. DYNAMICS VS STATICS.
22. How Do You Know if the Timing Is Right?
23. BITCOIN IN THE NEWS
24. BITCOIN & UNCERTAINTY
25. Fake Money
26. Why I Bought More Bitcoin (Again)
27. How I Made Money with Crypto
28. Better to buy Dogecoin then buy a Tesla
29. NO LIMITS.
30. ALL DIGITAL FUTURE.
31. Digital over Physical Possessions
32. DIGIBYTE.
33. CHAINLINK.
34. The Excitement of Starting from Zero
35. HAPTIC INDUSTRIES NOW ACCEPTING CRYPTO AND BITCOIN
36. In Praise of Crypto
37. JUST BUY IT.
38. Why I’m So Bullish on Bitcoin
39. Bitcoin as the Simplest Cryptocurrency
40. Why I bought (more) bitcoin
41. Once You Become a Crypto Billionaire, Then What?
42. Why Crypto is Under-Hyped
43. The Joy of Speculation
44. BITCOIN AND CRYPTOCURRENCY FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
45. Why I Bought Bitcoin
46. Crypto Photography
47. Crypto Thoughts
48. On Making Money from Nothing
49. BITCOIN THOUGHTS
50. Bitcoin is Sexy
51. Fuck the Banks!
52. Ethereum?
53. Why Chainlink?
54. BIG AMOUNTS, SMALL AMOUNTS?
55. CRYPTO, CRYPTOCURRENCY THOUGHTS.
56. The Philosophy of Crypto
57. BITCOIN SHALL BE THE LAST CRYPTO STANDING.
58. Bitcoin Price Prediction
59. Trust chainlink for the most accurate prices for bitcoin or any other crypto
60. BITCOIN
61. There is No Web 3.0
62. 2 cents to 2 dollars?
63. Crypto.com?
64. Speculation vs Investing
65. Building with Bitcoin
66. DYNAMICS VS STATICS.
67. How Do You Know if the Timing Is Right?
68. BITCOIN IN THE NEWS
69. BITCOIN & UNCERTAINTY
70. Fake Money
71. Why I Bought More Bitcoin (Again)
72. How I Made Money with Crypto
73. Better to buy Dogecoin then buy a Tesla
74. NO LIMITS.
75. ALL DIGITAL FUTURE.
76. Digital over Physical Possessions
77. DIGIBYTE.
78. CHAINLINK.
79. The Excitement of Starting from Zero
80. HAPTIC INDUSTRIES NOW ACCEPTING CRYPTO AND BITCOIN
81. In Praise of Crypto
82. JUST BUY IT.
83. Why I’m So Bullish on Bitcoin
84. Bitcoin as the Simplest Cryptocurrency
85. Why I bought (more) bitcoin
86. Once You Become a Crypto Billionaire, Then What?
87. Why Crypto is Under-Hyped
88. The Joy of Speculation
89. BITCOIN AND CRYPTOCURRENCY FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
90. Why I Bought Bitcoin
91. Crypto Photography
92. Crypto Thoughts
93. On Making Money from Nothing

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PHILOSOPHY BY KIM

IDEAS BY KIM

1. *Beyond* Individualism
2. MAN & WOMAN, LIGHT & DARK
3. A LIFE WITHOUT PAIN, DISCOMFORT OR (LIMITED) SUFFERING IS NOT A LIFE WORTH LIVING?
4. BIGGER IS WEAKER.
5. How to Become a Philosopher
6. Deep Vanity
7. Time Will Tell
8. What is Wisdom?
9. LOOK *BEYOND*
10. BECOMING MORE IMMORAL?
11. ‘LUCK’ VS COURAGE
12. ‘SKILL’ VS MERIT?
13. Becoming Antifragile
14. How to “Improve” Men
15. The Art of Virtue
16. How to Dominate
17. JUST SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCES AND WISDOM WITH OTHERS.
18. How to Get More Done in a Single Day – MEMENTO MORI PHILOSOPHY
19. THINK FOR YOURSELF
20. Cruel?
21. GO DEMIGOD.
22. How to Be Happy: Challenge and Danger Philosophy
23. To Become Greater, You Must Become *LESS* Productive!
24. Imperfect Beauty
25. The Philosophy of Pleasure
26. What Interests You?
27. Anti Theory of Everything
28. Become?
29. STRONGER OR NOT?
30. Carte Blanche Ideals
31. CHOOSE JOY
32. Don’t Judge Your Impulses
33. On Becoming Less Human
34. COWARDICE.
35. The Philosophy of Futurism
36. PHILOSOPHY IS VALUE-SETTING
37. PHILOSOPHY IS NOT LIFESTYLE
38. WHY STANDARDIZATION IS BAD.
39. YOUR OWN TABLE OF VALUES.
40. RETRO IS BAD.
41. INSANELY LOFTY THOUGHTS.
42. Strive to *Lose* Weight, Not *Gain* Weight
43. DIABLO II ANALOGIES FOR REAL LIFE.
44. If You Know Your *WHY* You Can Discover Any *HOW*
45. Life is Too Short to Be Miserable
46. What Consumption Takes Skill?
47. OFF THE GRID.
48. REALITY IS CRUEL.
49. Pain is Information
50. WHY REMOVE VULGARITY AND DISORDER FROM OUR EYES?
51. AUTOTELIC.
52. UNPLUG.
53. How to Become a Philosopher
54. SUBOPTIMAL IS OPTIMAL
55. THE LUST FOR MORE.
56. TO DO IS TO BECOME.
57. IN PRAISE OF AGGRESSIVE.
58. THE PHILOSOPHY OF OPTIMISM
59. OUR PHILOSOPHICAL WILL TO EXISTENCE
60. Is Hope a Vice?
61. MOVE MEAN
62. Carte Blanche Ideals
63. One Interesting Thought
64. What Lasts? What Doesn’t Last?
65. A WOUND STIMULATES THE RECUPERATIVE POWERS
66. Children & Purpose
67. Thoughts on Becoming a Parent
68. Where Does Our Desire to Upgrade Come From?
69. WE ALWAYS NEED SOMETHING FURTHER TO ASPIRE TO.
70. Self-Task Yourself an Awesome Mission in Life
71. Differentiation vs Equalization
72. My Passion to *Become* Something More
73. No Aesthetic or Ethos is Forever
74. What is Your Higher Purpose in Life?
75. IT WILL NEVER SATISFY YOU.
76. How to Decide
77. Things You *Want* to Do vs Things You *MUST* Do
78. Towards a More Beautiful Mode of Existence and Future
79. EXTREME GRATITUDE.
80. AMAP (As Much as Possible) or None.
81. Why or How Does it Matter?
82. The Philosophy of Time and Events
83. How *Not* to Resent
84. FORWARD LOOKING
85. DOMAIN FLEXIBILITY.
86. The Miracle of Human Growth
87. EXTREME ADAPTATION.
88. Why Plan?
89. You Don’t Need to Justify Yourself
90. The Philosophy of Ego
91. True vs False Passions
92. How to Achieve Tranquility
93. On Making Your Own Philosophy
94. The Purpose of Life is to Create New Life
95. Think On!
96. The Wisdom of Doing Nothing
97. Congruency
98. My Thoughts on Meditation
99. The Philosophy of Purpose
100. Emulate Yourself
101. Good Fear, Bad Fear
102. For the Betterment of Humanity or Just Yourself?
103. What you *really* believe in and care for is manifested through your actions (or non-actions)
104. Why Culture is Your Enemy
105. YOUR EXPERIENCES ARE KING.
106. LIFE IS INHERENTLY GOOD.
107. Artistic, Physical, and Philosophical Muscles
108. All New Experiences are Good Experiences
109. What is the Purpose of X?
110. UTILITY.
111. Philosophy is a Luxury
112. The Attempt is More Interesting than the Result
113. Joyfulness vs “Happiness”
114. Effectiveness Over Happiness
115. Self Actualization
116. MAXIMAL ENGAGEMENT
117. Life & Pain
118. On Living Every Day with No Regret
119. Learn as if you’re going to live forever, live as if you’re going to die tomorrow
120. Live Every Day Like it Were the Last Day of Your Life
121. Self-Determination
122. FALSE GRATITUDE vs REAL GRATITUDE
123. HOW TO LIVE MORE
124. THE UPSIDE OF TRAGEDY
125. Satisfaction is a Sucker’s Game
126. Supreme Repose
127. WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF LIFE? According to ERIC KIM
128. STUBBORN, FLEXIBLE
129. EVERYTHING HAPPENS AS IT *SHOULD* HAVE HAD HAPPENED
130. Good Addiction, Bad Addiction?
131. What is the Best Life?
132. The Philosophy of Thinking
133. The Philosophy of Conspiracies
134. Conspiracies
135. Growth
136. Skepticism.
137. What Do You Really Want Out of Life?
138. Seem or Be?
139. Learn Through Pain
140. Respect Yourself
141. In Praise of Elitism
142. Why Independent Thinking?
143. I Will Never Die
144. Bitter is Better
145. The Genesis of Nihilism and Existential Dread
146. The Ethics of Personal Enrichment
147. Good vs Not Good
148. Punished by Privilege
149. Abstinence Over Moderation
150. Just Leave Others Alone
151. You Can Only Critique that Which You Truly Understand and Love
152. ERIC KIM Critique of Metaphysics
153. Only Trust Philosophers Who Deadlift
154. Heuristic: If Someone Talks Shit About Others Behind Their Back, Most Likely They’re Also Talking Shit About You Behind Your Back
155. Virtue is a Privilege
156. What Are Your Life Goals?
157. Honesty
158. Why I’m Anti Moderation
159. No Spite, No Malice.
160. Ascending Life or Descending Life?
161. Double Edged Sword
162. Ignorance.
163. Why I Don’t Trust “Nice Guys”
164. Why You Must Share Your Opinion
165. Selfish Isn’t Evil
166. Wisdom is the Goal
167. YOU ARE KING.
168. MASTER YOURSELF
169. What is “Good” for You is Often what is Bad for You
170. Care.
171. BITTERSWEET
172. ONE REP MAX
173. Morality and Ethics is the Snare
174. BY HELPING YOURSELF, YOU BEST HELP OTHERS
175. Insanity is Good.
176. Think Deep.
177. PHILOSOPHY IS THE FUTURE.
178. Open Mind vs Closed Mind
179. ENTHUSIASM IS GENIUS
180. Towards a More Critical and Rigorous Line of Thinking
181. How to Encourage and a Foster Independent and Free Thinking
182. What is the Purpose of Life?
183. WHY PHILOSOPHY IS SUPREME.
184. Elitism.
185. I Cannot Form an Opinion About Somebody Until I’ve Met Them in the Flesh
186. ALL GENETICS ARE GOOD GENETICS.
187. Happiness vs Freedom
188. The Birth of a Hater
189. My Way Isn’t the Right Way
190. Walking as an Existential Thing
191. Why I’m So Tolerant
192. Mortal Gods
193. THE HUMAN SPECIES
194. Why I’m So Skeptical
195. Just Follow the Money
196. Why Selfish?
197. WHY WE CANNOT BLAME OTHERS
198. Why Are We So Anti Elitism?
199. What Actually Interests You?
200. How to Become Yourself
201. SELF HATE
202. Optimistic Fatalism
203. Death is the Ultimate Creative Constraint
204. FLUX.
205. How to Think for Yourself
206. FLESH
207. How to Live the Best Life
208. Why Live a Life Without Regrets?
209. Why Plato Ruined Art and Aesthetics for Us
210. Self Respect
211. Hypocrite vs Contradict
212. Ideals vs Reality
213. Spaceship Philosophy
214. What is Your Ideal Life?
215. MY EXTREME GRATITUDE TOWARDS LIFE AND BEING ALIVE!
216. Critique of Utilitarianism
217. Don’t Treat Others the Way You Want to Be Treated
218. The Eternal Recurrence of Tragedy and Joy in Life
219. Elite Asceticism
220. Why I Don’t Like Numbers
221. Action and Reaction, Cause and Effect
222. The Antidote to Nihilism: The Philosophy of Nothingness
223. ERIC KIM Notes on Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
224. EXPLOIT CHAOS.
225. WHY I DON’T BELIEVE IN GENETICS
226. Self-Wisdom
227. The Future Belongs to the Fearless
228. INDIVIDUALISM
229. Why Live Forever?
230. THIS TOO WILL PASS.
231. Why Education?
232. How to Become Yourself
233. Things Shouldn’t Go Back to the Way They Used to Be
234. Why Am I So Cruel?
235. The Great Joy of Existence
236. Virtue for the Sake of Virtue
237. NO DISDAIN.
238. INTELLIGENT IGNORANCE
239. A LIFE WITHOUT PAIN, DIFFICULTY OR TRAGEDY ISN’T A LIFE WORTH LIVING
240. BITTER IS BETTER.
241. EXPLOIT THE BEST FROM TRAGEDY AND LIFE 
242. DISREGARD FOR SELF-PRESERVATION
243. PAIN.
244. WHAT IF EVERYTHING IS NOT GONNA BE ALRIGHT?
245. Tomorrow is Never
246. Life is the Ultimate Creative Constraint
247. EMBODIED REALITY
248. BLACK SWAN
249. THINGS WILL NEVER GO BACK TO THE WAY THEY USED TO BE
250. What are you *really* afraid of?
251. HAPPINESS ISN’T THE GOAL
252. Philosophy is King
253. Why is Selfish Evil?
254. YOU’RE CONSTANTLY IN A STATE OF BECOMING
255. ENTITLEMENT A SIN?
256. NARCISSISM
257. BE BRUTALLY HONEST WITH YOURSELF
258. WHY FREE WILL?
259. OBEY YOUR OPINION
260. EGO IS GOOD.
261. WHY IT IS GOOD TO BE INTO YOURSELF
262. Seek the Good Pain
263. Anti-Perfection in Photography, Art, and Life
264. Can You Become an End into Yourself?
265. WHY I LIVE
266. Why I Hate Decline
267. Why I Eat
268. Why am I So Positive and Optimistic?
269. EFFORT IS ENJOYMENT
270. Never Stop Gaining
271. TRUST YOURSELF
272. A Life of Maximal Personal Independence
273. What Do You Desire to Become?
274. What Do I Want from Technology?
275. Stratified Society
276. Do You Love or Hate Reality?
277. On the Brian, Body and Mind
278. I’m Maximally Happy, Now What?
279. Care over Fame
280. ACTIVE NIHILISM
281. Never Stop Subtracting
282. How to Live a Happier and More Epic Life
283. A Risker Life is a Better Life
284. Only Work on Things You Can Imagine Doing for Eternity
285. How to Maximize Your Happiness
286. Influence
287. The Gladiator Makes His Plans once He Enters the Ring
288. Meditations on Meaning in Life
289. There is Nothing More Interesting than Human Beings
290. Is Hope a Vice?
291. EGO
292. Why Be Unique?
293. Happiness is Metabolism Health and Strength
294. You’re the Hero
295. Is Productivity a Virtue or Vice?
296. Why Do We Prize the Rare?
297. The Joy of Uncertainty
298. How Should I Best Use My Time and Life?
299. A Life Without Pain or Suffering Isn’t a Life Worth Living
300. Free or Unfree?
301. What Do You Really Care For in Life?
302. Anti-Satisfaction in Life
303. Why Think?
304. The Eternal Return
305. Only Do What is Best for You!
306. Truthiness
307. Why Be Happy?
308. Permissionless Living
309. In Praise of Unconventional Wisdom
310. Become the Change Which You Wish to See in the World
311. Happiness
312. Beyond Freedom
313. Idolize People, Not Stuff
314. What Makes You Stronger? What Makes You Weaker?
315. Why Hate?
316. The Secret of Happiness
317. You’re Constantly in a State of Becoming
318. Life is about Choices, Not Obligations
319. Anti-Nihilism
320. First, Do What is Best for You.
321. Live Dynamic
322. How to Prosper
323. Is the Point of Life to Be Satisfied?
324. SUPREME EFFORT OF WILL.
325. How to Become more Idealistic
326. Thrivival 101
327. Create Yourself
328. Non-Small
329. Inspiration
330. How to Live a Heroic Life: Dare the Heights!
331. Human Augmentation
332. Prune
333. Happiness: Do What You Want to Do (And Don’t Do What You Don’t Want to Do)
334. Avoid Vain (Empty) Pursuits in Life
335. Modern Slavery
336. Kill the Leeches
337. Wisdom Augmentation
338. Why We Need Friction in Life
339. Straight Line Philosophy
340. What’s Your End-Game in Life?
341. Create Your Own Happiness Today
342. Desire Both Pain and Pleasure in Life
343. Try the Impossible
344. SELF-RESPECT
345. Anti-Social Extrovert
346. Never Blame Anybody But Yourself
347. Human Flourishing
348. Simpler, Not Better.
349. How to be Free
350. Embrace the Extremes
351. Cultivate Your Own Culture
352. COURAGE.
353. Thrivival
354. Inner Power
355. How to Live a Purposeful Life
356. My Definition of Happiness
357. Why Change is Good
358. Why Work?
359. How to Live the Happiest Possible Life
360. The Two-Pronged Approach to Maximize Joy in Your Life
361. You Always Have Another Option!
362. INFINITISM
363. Never Stop!
364. What is Your Self-Directed Purpose in Life?
365. Live Today Like it Were Your Last
366. Do You Photograph to Live, or Live to Photograph?
367. ARTIST-PHILOSOPHER
368. Live Life to the Fullest!
369. In Praise of Selfishness
370. Why You Must Be a YAY-SAYER to Succeed in Entrepreneurship and Life
371. Why I Love Walking
372. Live Life Like a Video Game!
373. Simple Luxuries in Life
374. Treat Your Life Like a Fun Experiment!
375. Only Prove it to Yourself
376. You Don’t Always Need to Feel Joyful to Live a Fulfilling and Meaningful Life
377. Life is Too Short to Be Bored!
378. Money Cannot Destroy Boredom
379. How to Find Inspiration in Life
380. Why You Must Ignore Haters to Succeed and Win in Life
381. An Active Life is a Happy Life
382. My Simple Joys in Life
383. Never Stop Striving
384. How to Motivate Yourself in Life
385. How to Be Optimistic in Life
386. How to Dictate Your Purpose in Life
387. In Praise of a Dynamic Life
388. PURPOSE.
389. How to Enjoy Life
390. Photography Therapy
391. How to Conquer Regret
392. Take Your Play Very Seriously.
393. How to Prosper
394. Memento Vivere
395. Destroy in Order to CREATE
396. Trust Your Body More Than Your Mind
397. Make Photos to Make Meaning in Your Life
398. Seek Knowledge, Not Information
399. The Purpose of Human Life
400. How to Overcome Impedence
401. Why I Love Death
402. How to Be Centered in the Eternal Now
403. How to Be Happy
404. Why Do You Care What Others Think of You?
405. Why I’m Happy
406. Why?
407. Why I’m So Prolific
408. How to Reduce LAG in Life

Masters of Philosophy Â»

• Seneca
• Marcus Aurelius
• Publilius Syrus

Personal Philosophy Â»

• You Are the Light of the World
• Your Soul is a Diamond in the Rough
• Why Live?

Stoicism Â»

• How to Be a Stoic Street Photographer
• How to Use Photography as Self-Therapy
• How to Free Your Soul From Disturbance

Zen Philosophy »

• How to Be a Zen Street Photographer
• Zen in the Art of Street Photography
• How to Find Tranquility in Your Photography

Life Lessons Â»

• How to Conquer Your Fears in Life
• Conquer Yourself
• How to Focus

Learn more: Start Here >

It is your moral and ethical duty to be happy?

ETHICS by KIM

What to become:

1. People Who Do Harm Unto You?
2. My New Modern Virtues
3. ALL STANDARD ETHICS & MORALITY IS BAD.
4. Why American Ethics are Bad
5. BECOME A BULLY
6. Different Rules for Men and Women
7. Never Share What You *Really* Think
8. “Happiness” is for Women, Not for Men
9. “Rules” & “Regulations”
10. Stubborn Geniuses
11. Avoid Misery
12. What We Hate
13. HOW I DEAL WITH RACISM
14. How to Become a Great Man
15. BETTER TO FOLLOW YOUR GUT AND BE WRONG THAN DISOBEY YOUR GUT AND BE RIGHT
16. “I CAN’T BE FUCKED.”
17. Carte Blanche Ethics
18. Toxic People
19. Why Are We So Into Other People
20. Just focus on yourself and your own life
21. Perfect morals and ethics is following your own gut
    WHY ETIQUETTE?
22. NO BLAME, JUST CAUSE AND EFFECT.
23. Ignorance Takes Courage
24. TREAT OTHERS CARTE BLANCHE
25. Don’t give people what they want or what you *think* they want, give them what you think they *should* have.
26. Anti Small
27. Disdain or Admiration?
28. Beware Those With Good Intentions
29. STUBBORN x FLEXIBLE
30. ETHICS ARE VIA NEGATIVA
31. OBEDIENCE & DISCIPLINE
32. The Motive of Criticism
33. Ethics are Social
34. Anti Role Models
35. What is Greed?
36. On Having the Courage to Make Your Own Decisions
37. How *NOT* to Get Duped or Suckered
38. Why Help Others?
39. The Duty of the Strong
40. Why I’m So Intolerant Towards Intolerance
41. The Ethics of Criticizing Others
42. Consult Your Own Conscience
43. The Ethics of Shit Talking
44. The Ethics of Personal Enrichment
45. I’m Easily Distracted
46. On Forming Your Own Opinion
47. ERIC KIM Philosophy of Tolerance
48. Tolerance
49. Aesthetics are Ethics
50. Morality and Ethics

Kids don’t naturally envy other kids?

All kids are naturally “autistic”?

I wonder if consumerism, and “buyerism” is predicated on feeling fake envy or jealousy to others ,,, to seek to become like them, by purchasing X, Y, Z?

Goes with cars, houses, yachts, moneys, etc?

I don’t really envy anybody else on the planet, I prefer myself.

How does one begin to not envy other people?

First, Zen. A lot of these rich successful famous people, have no Zen no peace of mind, no good sleep.

Even the Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh talks about one of the virtues that people want to have is really good sleep. I think this is a good virtue. 

Second, join team bitcoin. Imagine if you had like LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant all playing on the same team, all playing for a team bitcoin. Whenever they score you score!

Now some people might think, they’re putting up 100 points and I’m only putting up 10 points. But this is besides the point. Every time they score you score!

Everyone wins together? 

So then this becomes very fascinating because it becomes a positive feedback loop; rather than being envious of the gains of others, instead, you began to be grateful and happy that the gains of other GOATS directly benefits you!

Physicality and fitness

I think one of the critical things to understand is love these guys on steroids, yes everyone is on steroids, LeBron James, Steph Curry, your favorite sports player who doesn’t even look like they’re on steroids. Essentially the big idea here is that steroids are broad; Even people who have to use the typewriter for living often get steroids injected into their carpal tunnel area, in order to ease the pain.

For example, a lot of individuals then, get some sort of cortisol shots, which is actually steroids.

Now what is the downside of steroids? Your balls shrink to the size of tiny acorns, you lose your sexual libido, your dick gets smaller.

So when you see the guy who can deadlift like 100 times more than you, or has the physique of a demigod, assuming that they’re not ERIC KIM, rather, “I pity the fool!“.

Why?

I think the seeds of envy is based on the premise that other people are in a happier, more superior, more beneficial, more awesome position than you.

But once you figure out that in fact, they’re actually in an inferior position than you, your opinion changes. You start to feel compassion for them. Their suffering.

For example, probably the most interesting thing I learned about the Walter biography on Elon Musk is that you do not want to be Elon Musk. It is more of a curse than a blessing.

For example, Elon has a very very poor physiological approach, and he also seems quite foolish. He’ll party until 4 AM, drinking Red Bull and vodka, only having to take Ambien to fall asleep and to wake up the next day to continue performing.

Xanny?

And also, I also wonder why a lot of these rappers, were supposed to be super tough or whatever, why are they all talking about Xanax? Because I think they are all riddled with anxiety, that is why they comatose themselves with alcohol marijuana and sex, perhaps porn pornography as well in order to just fall asleep at night?

The truth is bad

So I’ve discovered a lot of truths, but ultimately I’ve discovered that the truth is pretty ugly and bad. And that actually the point of philosophy isn’t truth-finding, rather, it is more of an artistic pursuit, towards beauty, joy, aesthetics, ethos and ethics.

The reason why almost everything is bad is that everything created or produced or whatever is typically created by unhealthy individual individuals, unhealthy corporations, all on some sort of fiat based standard.

Therefore as a consequence, I would say only put your trust in individuals, institutions or whatever, which are financially independent, on a 100% undiluted diversified bitcoin standard.

For example, am I the only YouTuber or podcast I know that has zero advertisements of any kind?

And this is where also I am a bit suspicious of a Joe Rogan; why does he still do these advertisements which are insanely lame? Isn’t he already super super rich?

Also, maybe this is where the idea of a Joe Rogan coin or a Joe Rogan token is a great idea; I invest $100 in Joe Rogan coin, in order to have the privilege of not having to listen to annoying advertisements, and he could do an ethical way. And he could do some sort of Joe Rogan club in which anybody who owns at least $1000 worth of Joe Rogan coin could join him on a private zoom call, ask him any questions etc.

Maybe I’ll introduce an ERIC KIM coin one day. 

Autotelic goals?

So a big idea that I have is once you’re dumb rich, everything you could be doing is autotelic in nature; which means you only do stuff that you really care for, things that you think will benefit the human race. Because you no longer need to make a profit off of it.

For example, one of the big problems is that everyone is always trying to chase a profit, which leads people to just getting burnt out?

If you’re already independently wealthy, then you could just do anything that you want!

An interesting thought; there’s a guy named Derek Sivers, sivers.org I think ,,, and he became independently wealthy I think maybe from selling some sort of tech company? Anyways apparently now his community service is just answering emails from random people all across the globe with random questions?

Also, I’m not sure what Tim Ferris is up to, however, last time I checked, I think he’s still doing podcasts, and once again I’m not really sure why he still needs to put annoying advertisements on his podcasts, isn’t he super rich? I almost find that it is more intelligent and better for him to just promote his own products his own stuff, rather than promoting the products of other people and their services?

Promoting other people is unethical, promoting yourself is more ethical?

Once again, I think Joe Rogan is great! The reason why Joe Rogan became the uber GOAT is because he never censored himself, he is no BS, and he’s just likable as a person!

I think there would be a ton of people willing to pay 10 bucks a month to be part of a Joe Rogan fan club or something, or even for him to have a special newsletter to only $10 a month Joe Rogan fan club members.

Because honestly at this point, money is essentially free; everyone has a ton of money and if somebody is undiluted, 100% honest and pure, you want to support them!

How to uncensor yourself

So, I think the world of social media whatever people are loss averse; they are afraid of losing followers likes comments, subscribers etc. For example, even for myself, my email newsletter I’m slowly bleeding my email newsletter list from around 13,000 down to around maybe 8500 or so?

And also I think my YouTube, went from maybe 75,000 subscribers to now around 55,000?

And also my intelligent strategy of deleting my Instagram at its peak, at around 65,000 followers and rapidly growing in around 2017, and I haven’t looked back since? And note the ERICKIMphoto on Instagram is not me; it was recreated by some sort of virtuous and noble fan!

But anyways, I found that by trying to placate to the masses in some sort of non-controversial matter is not a winning strategy; to have 300 diehard fans is 1000000x better than having 1 million mildly interested followers?

Think King Leonidas and his brave 300!

All you need is 300 cyber Spartans!

The internet is toxic

If you have ever smelled sewer sewage water, like the smell of shit 1000 times over, you know how terrible the smell is. This is the last thing you want to smell before drinking a fine wine or eating your favorite rib eye steak,,,

And also, what if I told you that actually the truth was, 100% of the toxic comments on the internet were actually in fact created by bots?

For the most part going online is like voluntarily jumping into a sewer full of all the dung and foul stuff! With no hazmat suit!

Nobody is on Reddit

I’ll give you another example, I was using Reddit since like my freshman year of college, in 2006, but I quit around 2011. I would literally check it like 200 times a day, to kill the monotony of working my IT tech student job.

Anyways, I think the whole time I never created an account, and I think in the whole like four years of using a religiously, I only ever posted one comment just to be funny?

Therefore my theories; I wonder if all these comments on Reddit, I wonder if they’re all just bots? This were the case would you change your approach? Of course!

Envy?

Envy is an attribute of weak souls.

What is more constructive? Insane and extreme self pride!

This is actually the funny unorthodox thought; the thought is actually, being insanely self interested, self prideful and gloatful is actually a virtue?

I’ll give you an example — schadenfreude, or feeling some sort of superiority complex, by pitying or having compassion for worser off people?

Ignore other people and their kids

For example, something I’m starting to become exposed to is other people other kids, etc.

Now Seneca has never been in some sort of foreign daycare or childcare or standardized schooling yet, and he’s about to turn four. As a consequence, because I’m his personal trainer and teacher, he’s like pretty much on 100% carnivore diet, Wagyu beef, 100% grass-fed burger patties, etc. And actually, the other day when I took him to Legoland for like eight hours, he had a new meat PR, a new personal record; .7 pounds of ground beef burger patty, in a single day? That’s like 3/4ths of a pound, or nearly a pound of beef!

Anyways as a consequence Seneca is way taller stronger buffer, more intelligent and wise, better social skills, and also because he has a goddess for a mother, aka Cindy, she is insanely handsome fun and happy! He’s like the happiest, most giggly kid of all time. He’s essentially always laughing.

Anyways, whenever I see kids who are punier than him, my best strategy is to try to just not compare because I obviously know that Seneca is far superior.

And this is we’re having a pity party for other people their problems their kids is not constructive; I say all in or nothing.

For example, if you want to stage some sort of intervention, you essentially must be 100% committed. And my personal thought is this could only ever happen if it is your own child! Otherwise, you will not be 100% committed.

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100% time commitment

First, the time commitment idea.

The only way I am able to raise and shape and train Seneca the way he is is because I’m like with him 100% of the day. And this is the extreme privilege of being self-employed; even if you had the world’s best Montessori, there will never ever ever ever ever be a better teacher or personal trainer than you!

And also this might sound a bit sexist but I also find the bizarre thing is that if you are a man, and you have a son like your firstborn son… why are there so few male teachers and role models? And also,,, shouldn’t a man, a father raise his own son, his own firstborn son?

Think Leonidas

For example if this was ancient Sparta, and you want to train your son to become a warrior king, certainly you would want some sort of insanely jacked and virtuous man to train your kid.

Also as a heuristic; never trust a personal trainer who is not buffer or stronger than you. 

And this is why I have never ever ever had a personal trainer in my life because no one has ever been as strong unorthodox or courageous as myself; until I have met somebody who could lift 1000 pounds, the thousand pound ERIC KIM Atlas lift, I’m ain’t interested.

Now what?

So, the best thought is we are all on the same team, the same squad! No competition here, because once again we’re on the same team!

Thich Nhat Hanh had a piece of wisdom in one of his writing pieces is that does the left hand envy at the right hand for being stronger, more nimble or superior? No! The left hand doesn’t have an inferiority complex. And also, if you are a lotus flower, and you are surrounded by daffodils, do you envy the daffodil? No!

Or if you’re a panda, do you envy the cougars? No!

The same myology is true with trees; certainly every tree desires to be the tallest the most dominant, etc. However, I don’t think necessarily any trees envy other trees. They just stay focused on themselves, digging their roots ever deeper into the floor, to grow ever higher?

Being “autistic”– autos, self centered as a virtue.

Never stop growing!

So my personal thought is with life everything in-between; the goal isn’t to compare yourself with others, but rather to stay focused on yourself, and keep stacking yourself and growing yourself! And your kid, your family etc.

So for example, a simple personal goal that I have for myself is I want to always become physiologically stronger, more muscular, more dominant, more full of energy and vigor, more happiness joy, etc. Yet I do not compare myself with others; because once again, nobody else is as blessed or fortunate as myself.

The benefit of not going to the gym no more

Even a big benefit of not going to the gym anymore is that whenever I engage in some sort of weightlifting activity, it truly tests my own self-sincerity; am I doing this for myself, or to flex on others?

I think it’s fine to try to flex on others, but often the big problem is when you try too hard to flex on others, you could actually end up injuring yourself in a bad way?

A 2-year mistake

For example one of the bad regrets I had about two years ago, I’m OK now, is that I saw a bunch of guys who are bench pressing a lot, and I wanted to flex on them by benching even more, and in the process, I had a pretty bad injury in my right wrist, which took me nearly 2 years to fully recover!

Once again, one foolish display of machismo caused me two years of anguish. 

And this is where patience is a virtue; and also, the virtue of being self focused, self-centered.

Being self-centered is our new virtue. 

ERIC

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Never stop learning

1. Stoicism
2. Ethics
3. Philosophy

And always when in doubt,

START HERE

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What I’m reading

1. Principles of economics — Saifedean
2. The Odyssey, Emily Wilson Translation Also, Free open source books by KIM >

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A Spartans sword is short so he can get close to his enemy

You should either conquer or die.

The secret to happiness is freedom. The secret to freedom is courage.

No wish to live without my city?

Self restraint

Excellence is a habit not an act — what we are what we repeatedly do.

Admit it

Not how many,,, but where they are?

Fearlessness in battle

”if”—

..

Spartan sayings, often referred to as laconic phrases, are known for their brevity, wit, and sharpness. Spartans were taught from a young age to express themselves concisely and with clarity, reflecting their disciplined and practical way of life. Many of these sayings have survived through ancient historians like Herodotus, Plutarch, and others. Here are some of the best-known ancient Spartan sayings:

War and Duty

1. “With it or on it.”

A Spartan mother’s advice to her son, referring to his shield. This meant he should return victorious carrying his shield (with it) or dead, being carried upon it (on it), but never to return having discarded it in retreat.

2. “Come back with your shield or on it.”

Similar to the above, another way Spartan women emphasized their disdain for cowardice and their expectation of valor.

3. “If.”

When Philip II of Macedon sent a message to Sparta saying, “If I invade Laconia, I will raze it to the ground,” the Spartans replied simply, “If.” Their laconic wit underscored their confidence and refusal to be intimidated.

4. “Molon labe” (“Come and take them”).

King Leonidas’s defiant response to Persian King Xerxes, who demanded the Spartans lay down their weapons at Thermopylae.

5. “Then we shall fight in the shade.”

Dienekes, a Spartan warrior, famously said this when told that the Persian arrows would blot out the sun. This demonstrated the Spartans’ indifference to danger and death.

6. “Walls of Sparta are her young men, and her borders the points of their spears.”

A Spartan king’s response when asked why Sparta had no walls, signifying their reliance on warriors rather than fortifications.

Spartan Society and Values

7. “Spartans do not ask how many, but where they are.”

A common Spartan saying that reflected their fearless approach to battle.

8. “It will be worse for you.”

Spartan youths were trained to endure hardships silently. When a boy was caught stealing a fox and the fox began to bite him, he reportedly said, “It will be worse for you,” as he continued to conceal it rather than admit his theft.

9. “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

Although often attributed to Spartan philosophy, this is actually an Aristotelian idea, but it resonates with the disciplined Spartan way of life.

Leadership and Governance

10. “Do not make your city walls out of bricks, but out of men.”

A Spartan saying emphasizing the strength of its people over physical fortifications.

11. “A king serves as the perfect example of self-restraint.”

Reflecting the expectation of Spartan leaders to embody discipline and humility.

12. “He who sweats more in training bleeds less in war.”

A Spartan principle that emphasized preparation and discipline over complacency.

On Life and Death

13. “The Spartans are willing to die for their city because they have no wish to live without it.”

This sentiment captures the Spartan commitment to their state and their sense of collective identity.

14. “Beauty is only skin deep; courage lies in the heart.”

A statement that reflected Spartan values of inner strength and character over superficial appearances.

15. “The secret to happiness is freedom. And the secret to freedom is courage.”

This reflects the Spartan ethos that liberty is won through bravery and sacrifice.

Practical Wisdom

16. “Eat to live, don’t live to eat.”

A common saying among Spartans, who valued frugality and discipline.

17. “A Spartan’s sword is short so that he can get close to his enemy.”

Highlighting their practical, no-frills approach to warfare and life in general.

18. “He who runs from battle lives to see his shame.”

A condemnation of cowardice, which was one of the greatest dishonors in Spartan society.

On Spartan Women

19. “Why are you Spartan women the only ones who can rule men?”

Spartan women reportedly answered, “Because we are the only ones who give birth to men.” This reflects their significant role in Spartan society.

20. “You should either conquer or die.”

Another famous saying attributed to Spartan mothers, urging their sons to uphold the Spartan way of life without compromise.

These sayings encapsulate the Spartan ethos: discipline, bravery, duty, and devotion to their city-state. They are enduring testaments to the unique culture of Sparta and its people.

.

Spartans were renowned not only for their military prowess but also for their characteristically brief, pithy manner of speaking—a style known as “laconic.” Their short, pointed remarks often carried profound meaning and reflected their cultural values: honor, duty, courage, and discipline. Many of these sayings come down to us through ancient historians like Herodotus, Plutarch, and Pausanias, though precise attribution is sometimes unclear. Still, a handful of well-known Spartan sayings stand out as particularly emblematic.

1. “Μολὼν λαβέ” (Molon labe) – “Come and take them.”

Attributed to King Leonidas at Thermopylae, this defiant response came when the Persian King Xerxes demanded the Spartans surrender their weapons. It perfectly encapsulates the Spartan spirit of unyielding resistance.

2. “ἢ τὰν ἢ ἐπὶ τᾶς” (Ei tan ei epi tas) – “Either [return] with [your shield] or on it.”

Spartan mothers are said to have told this to their sons departing for battle. The meaning was clear: return victorious (with your shield) or dead with honor (carried upon it). Fleeing battle would mean discarding your shield to run faster—an act of shame in Sparta.

3. “We shall fight in the shade.”

When told that Persian arrows would be so numerous as to blot out the sun, a Spartan warrior (traditionally identified as the soldier Dienekes, not Leonidas) supposedly quipped this line. It humorously transforms a dire threat into a stoic acceptance of fate, making it a celebrated example of laconic wit.

4. “Spartans do not ask how many the enemy are, but where they are.”

Though we lack a precise ancient attribution, this sentiment is frequently referenced in discussions of Spartan ethos. It conveys the idea that Spartans did not fear the odds—only the opportunity to meet the enemy in battle mattered.

5. “The walls of Sparta are its young men, and its borders the points of their spears.”

This is a paraphrase of a notion credited to the Spartan king Agesilaus and others. When asked why Sparta had no fortification walls, Spartans would sometimes gesture to their disciplined warriors, suggesting that their courage and fighting skill were more impregnable than any fortress.

6. Gorgo’s Retort:

Gorgo, the wife of Leonidas, was known for her wit. When asked by a foreign woman, “Why are you Spartan women the only ones who can rule men?” Gorgo reportedly answered: “Because we are the only women who give birth to men.” This comment highlights the Spartan esteem for women’s role in cultivating courage and excellence.

Key Themes in Spartan Sayings:

• Brevity and Directness: Spartan sayings were famously short. Their culture valued fewer words with greater impact.

• Honor and Duty: Many sayings revolve around the idea that honor in battle and loyalty to Sparta outweigh personal survival.

• Fearlessness in Battle: Spartan wit often turns dire threats into manageable facts, illustrating their courage and stoicism.

• Cultural Pride: Their self-confidence and lack of need for flattery or explanation is evident; their strength is their hallmark.

While the exact historical veracity of some of these statements can be difficult to confirm, they have come to represent the quintessential Spartan character—fearless, principled, and starkly pragmatic.

.

Brevity, directness. Honor and duty, fearlessness in battle, cultural pride.

”Come and take them”—

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Historically speaking, very few direct quotes survive that can be confidently attributed to King Leonidas of Sparta (who died in 480 BCE). Most attributions come from ancient historians such as Herodotus and later classical writers like Plutarch, as well as from the rich tapestry of anecdotes that grew around the legend of Leonidas and his Spartans. It’s important to distinguish historically sourced quotes from modern adaptations—particularly those found in popular films and literature—since the latter often take creative liberties.

Historically Attributed Quote:

1. “Μολὼν λαβέ” (Molon labe) – “Come and take them.”

This is the most famously attributed phrase. According to Plutarch’s “Moralia” and other ancient sources, Leonidas supposedly uttered these words when the Persian King Xerxes demanded that the Spartans surrender their weapons. In this terse reply, Leonidas is said to have encapsulated the Spartan spirit of defiance and courage. While we cannot be completely certain of the exact wording as it was spoken, the phrase has deep historical roots and is strongly connected to Leonidas.

Other Traditional Attributions:

While not as definitively documented, several witty or resolute responses have been connected to Leonidas or members of his force at Thermopylae. These are found in various classical sources, but their exact speaker is sometimes disputed:

1. On Fighting in the Shade:

Ancient historian Herodotus recounts that a Spartan warrior (often said to be the soldier Dienekes rather than Leonidas himself) responded to a warning that the Persian arrows would be so numerous as to blot out the sun: “Good. Then we shall have our battle in the shade.” Sometimes this sentiment is attributed to Leonidas in popular culture, but the original source credits another Spartan, not the king.

2. When Asked to Surrender or Retreat:

Various laconic responses—short, pithy statements reflecting Spartan wit—circulate in later anecdotes and tradition. Leonidas, when urged by the Persian emissary to surrender to the overwhelming Persian force, is also said to have conveyed messages that demonstrated Spartan indifference to odds and a commitment to duty and honor. However, these attributions are less securely anchored in early texts than “Molon labe.”

Modern and Popular Culture Misattributions:

• “This is Sparta!”

Famously shouted by King Leonidas (portrayed by actor Gerard Butler) in the 2007 film “300.” This phrase has no basis in the ancient historical record. It is a purely modern, cinematic invention—albeit one that captures the fierce, defiant spirit that Leonidas has come to symbolize in popular imagination.

• Other Rousing Speeches from Films, Novels, and Comics:

“300” (the graphic novel by Frank Miller and the subsequent film) places a variety of dramatic speeches and statements into Leonidas’s mouth. While these resonate emotionally and reflect the spirit of defiance against impossible odds, they are not historical.

In Summary:

• Authentically ancient and widely recognized: “Molon labe” (“Come and take [them]”) is the prime example of a phrase closely tied to Leonidas.

• Likely apocryphal or spoken by others: Lines about fighting in the shade and other laconic responses are often collectively attributed to the Spartans at Thermopylae, but we cannot firmly place them in Leonidas’s mouth.

• Modern cultural influence: Many quotes and speeches attributed to Leonidas in modern media (films, graphic novels) are creative fabrications meant to evoke the Spartan ideal rather than historical fact.

When discussing Leonidas’s quotes, it’s most accurate to highlight “Molon labe” as the signature historical statement and treat all others, especially those originating in popular entertainment, as either legendary, uncertain, or invented for dramatic effect.

…

King Leonidas, the Spartan king immortalized in history and popular culture, is best known for his leadership during the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC. Here are some famous quotes attributed to him or inspired by his character (many popularized by the movie 300):

Historical Quotes

1. “Molon Labe” (Μολὼν λαβέ)

• Meaning “Come and take them,” this was Leonidas’ defiant response when the Persian king Xerxes demanded the Spartans lay down their arms.

2. “Dine in Hades”

• Reportedly, when informed that the Persian arrows would block out the sun, Leonidas remarked, “Then we shall have our battle in the shade.”

3. “Eat well, for tonight we dine in Hades.”

• Spoken to his soldiers before the final battle, emphasizing their readiness to face death with honor.

Quotes from the Movie 300 (2006)

1. “This is Sparta!”

• A dramatic line as Leonidas kicks a Persian envoy into a well, symbolizing Spartan defiance and pride.

2. “Spartans! Prepare for glory!”

• Rallying his troops to embrace their noble sacrifice for freedom and their city-state.

3. “A Spartan’s true strength is the warrior next to him.”

• A reminder of the unity and brotherhood among Spartans.

4. “No retreat, no surrender. That is Spartan law. And by Spartan law, we will stand and fight… and die.”

• Reflecting Spartan ideals of courage and loyalty to their cause.

5. “Give them nothing, but take from them everything!”

• A battle cry urging total commitment in the face of overwhelming odds.

6. “The world will know that free men stood against a tyrant, that few stood against many.”

• Highlighting the Spartans’ role as defenders of freedom against Persian oppression.

Leonidas is celebrated not only for his words but also for his unyielding actions and the principles he stood for.

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