Book Review: Ego Is The Enemy, by Ryan Holiday

Buy the Book: Amazon

Book Type: Nonfiction, Self-Help/Advice

Ego is the Enemy, by Ryan Holiday is an excellent read! I found myself highlighting a lot of great lines. In today's book review, I'm sharing a few of those highlighted points (below - enjoy!). In addition, the book shares stories of Howard Hughes, John DeLorean, Alexander the Great, William Techumseh Sherman, Katharine Graham, Jackie Robinson, Eleanor Roosevelt, Bill Walsh, Benjamin Franklin, Angela Merkel and many more.

• Quaker William Penn observed: "Buildings that lie so exposed to the weather need a good foundation."
  
• "Only when free of ego and baggage can anyone perform to their utmost."
• "Ego is stolen. Confidence is earned." (I love this!)
  

• "Impressing people is utterly different from being truly impressive."
• "What is your purpose? What are you here to do? Because purpose helps you answer the question "To be or to do?"
• "It is not Who do I want to be in life? but What is it that I want to accomplish in life?"
• "The pretense of knowledge is our most dangerous vice, because it prevents us from getting any better. Studious self-assessment is the antidote."
• Holiday speaks about how many people are surprised to learn how humble aspiring greats have been. They weren't aggressive or entitled...rather, they were confident and they were ongoing students and learners.
• Be driven by reason (not necessarily passion).
• "Greatness comes from humble beginnings; it comes from grunt work. It means you're the least important person in the room - until you change that with results."
• "There is no one to perform for. There is just work to be done and lessons to be learned, in all that is around us." (Amazing quote and so true!)
• Cyril Connolly famously said: "Whom the gods wish to destroy, they first call promising."
• Henry Ford is known to have proclaimed: "You can't build a reputation on what you're going to do."
• "Pride blunts the very instrument we need to own in order to succeed: our mind. Our ability to learn, to adapt, to be flexible, to build relationships, all of this is dulled by pride."
• "Where we decide to put our energy decides what we'll ultimately accomplish."
• "Success is intoxicating, yet to sustain it requires sobriety. We can't keep learning if we think we already know everything."
• Examples of the problems that can arise with ego: "Ego tells you to cheat, though you love your spouse . Because you want what you have and what you don't have."
• "Find out why you're after what you're after. Ignore those who mess with your pace. Let them covet what you have, not the other way around. Because that's independence."
• ..."writer Cheryl Strayed once told a young reader, 'You're becoming who you are going to be and so you might as well not be an asshole.' This is one of the most dangerous ironies of success- it can make us someone we never wanted to be in the first place."
• "Ego tells us that meaning comes from activity, that being the center of attention is the only way to matter."
• An old saying I hadn't heard before says: If you want to live happy, live hidden.
• Hemingway wrote (in his book, A Farewell to Arms): "The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills.

The above bullet points are just a few of the MANY highlights I made throughout the book.

Holiday also writes about how psychologists say that threatened egotism is one of the most dangerous forces on earth. When a bully is made to feel shame, for example. The ramifications are usually not good. Bully's (aka ego's) don't like to be told they are wrong or bad. Holiday also writes about how in our lives we will always find ourselves in one of three phases: aspiration, success, or failure (and how we will battle ego in each phase). Life is a journey and we are learning as we go. Holiday's well-written, inspiration book, Ego is the Enemy is here to help us along our own personal journey. I rated the book a strong 4-stars and highly recommend it!

I have MANY favorite quotes (I'm a bit obsessed with studying quotes, daily). One is included in Holiday's book (and many new ones I now have because of this book!):

"A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you."
-C.S. Lewis

---

Stacey Ritz is a bestselling author and award winning writer. An empathetic and compassionate storyteller, Ritz wrote for a plethora of local and national news outlets, magazines, blogs, and websites (copywriter), prior to becoming a novelist. Her book, Covered in Pet Fur  has gained attention from RIVA Media and Animal Planet. She is the Executive Director and co-founder of Advocates 4 Animals, Inc. – a 501(c)3 non-profit animal welfare organization that has saved more than 11,000 lives (and counting). She currently resides in Ohio. Ritz is published through Rockville Publishing. You can interact with Stacey online via Stacey's Book Blog, on Pinterest, andInstagram.

Ritz writes the following genres:
Non-Fiction:
Motivation/Inspiration
Writing/Publishing
Animal Welfare
Fiction:
Love Stories

Click here to view Stacey's fiction books.

Click here to view Stacey's non-fiction books