Michael Pollan Quotes

Standing up for yourself doesn't always involve verbal confrontation. Sometimes it's about not wasting energy on people who are negative.

I believe in natural gas as a clean, cheap alternative to fossil fuels.

You only have so much emotional energy each day. Don't fight battles that don't matter.

Never lie down with a woman who's got more troubles than you.

I can't do that to myself...

Other people are not medicine.

Recognize that it is not really possible to steadily help others when we ourselves are not in good physical, mental, or emotional state. We may be able to carry on for a while, but sooner or later we end up feeling depleted, discouraged, or weak. We cannot keep on giving when we are running on an empty tank. We need to be solid.

Forget hydrogen, forget hydrogen, forget hydrogen.

I decided when I was a kid that I would only go out of the house if I felt good enough to be bothered. Could I be interrupted at dinner? Am I in the mood? If I am, I go out. If I'm not, I don't! So, it's the art of deciding what the truth of your job is, and what you can and cannot handle. You can design your stresses.

Don’t sacrifice yourself too much, because if you sacrifice too much there’s nothing else you can give and nobody will care for you.

So unlike having to convert, you know, all the cars' or all the lorries' petrol stations, once you've actually got the clean fuels, it's relatively easy to, you know, get it to the airplanes.

I always feel bad when I meet celebrities and I can just tell every single thing about their personal life, I just say, "Well, they don't have friends. Or a therapist." Once you have both, you don't have to share everything with people, because then you don't have a private life, and then you're, I guess, a workaholic.

At the end of the day I separate things; my life is my life and my work is my work.

I learned to stop saying yes because I then have to back out. I've been trying to prioritize my health.

No matter how advanced our economy might be, no matter how sophisticated our equipment becomes, for the foreseeable future we will still depend on fossil fuels.

The surest way to make ourselves crazy is to get involved in other people's business, and the quickest way to become sane and happy is to tend to our own affairs.

No person or thing hurting you is worth you hurting yourself

How inexplicable it seems. Anything else will be accepted as a better excuse. If one sets aside time for a business appointment, a trip to the hairdresser, a social engagement or a shopping expedition, that time is accepted as inviolable. But if one says: I cannot come because that is my hour to be alone, one is considered rude, egotistical or strange.

Turn your midlife crisis to your own advantage by making it a time for renewal of your body and mind, rather than stand by helplessly and watch them decline.

Be easy on yourself. Have fun. Only hang around people that are positive and make you feel good. Anybody who doesn't make you feel good, kick them to the curb. And the earlier you start in your life the better. The minute anybody makes you feel weird and non-included or not supported, you know, either beat it or tell them to beat it.

I mean, if you need a minute to yourself, you aren't going to get it, but you just have to realize it's what you signed up for, because those difficult moments are what make for a much better show.

Every day is not perfect. You have your bad days and good days just like anyone else. You do not want to talk to people sometimes. It is normal.

In the early days I was incredibly creative and productive - I loved the research trips, I loved the creation and finding technical solutions to creative challenges. I didn't need alcohol and the pills for that. What changed was, I was afraid to say no - that little word, N.O. Because I thought it showed weakness. And with more and more success I would just say yes. And keep on taking more work on - which took its toll.

Don't get down on yourself that you can't run a 4K or dance all night long at a fun club. Give yourself a break.

Boundaries and risk management are very important parts of living a healthy and positive life.