{ "type": "book", "site": { "name": "Leafy Quotes", "language": "en", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com" }, "formats": "Every page has two versions with the same data: JSON (the page address + .json) and markdown (the page address + .md). Append .json or .md to any `url` in this document.", "title": "Daily Negations", "slug": "daily-negations", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-s-hall/daily-negations", "json": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-s-hall/daily-negations.json", "markdown": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-s-hall/daily-negations.md", "author": { "name": "John S. Hall", "slug": "john-s-hall", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-s-hall" }, "cover": "https://quivercdn.com/covers/soft-skull/john-s-hall/daily-negations_978-19-3336-845-0.jpg", "quotes_count": 21, "quotes": [ { "id": "f992bd97-bd81-4f76-81b7-a5b8835357c8", "slug": "today-i-will", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-s-hall/daily-negations/today-i-will", "text": "Today, I will try to remember to regret the past. I will think of how many mistakes I have made throughout my life. I will say to myself, \"If only I could go back in time and make different choices, so that my life could be the way it should have been.\" Then I will remind myself that I cannot.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "the past", "slug": "the-past", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-past" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_S._Hall#Quotes_from_Daily_Negations_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:40" }, { "id": "f359f438-5b70-4f04-9ce4-2a0f182eff29", "slug": "if-i-take", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-s-hall/daily-negations/if-i-take", "text": "If I take things slowly today in order to appreciate life better, and if I take time to listen to the messages that life sends me, then I will have less time to do the things I need to do today. Then tomorrow I will have to do everything that much faster and I will be that much more unable to appreciate life. It is dangerous to stop and smell the roses.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_S._Hall#Quotes_from_Daily_Negations_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:40" }, { "id": "de274633-4cdd-452d-96ef-2e2f6bfd5b9e", "slug": "a-tree-does", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-s-hall/daily-negations/a-tree-does", "text": "A tree does not try to be a koala bear. A dog does not try to be a bird. A stone does not pretend it is alive. Why should I pretend I am intelligent, or good-looking, or successful?", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_S._Hall#Quotes_from_Daily_Negations_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:40" }, { "id": "d675f70c-7cc7-4825-b5b4-3041f810419f", "slug": "today-it-may", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-s-hall/daily-negations/today-it-may", "text": "Today, it may seem as if there are demons attacking me from within. I should remember that demons are illusory, and that when I think that I'm being attacked by unseen forces, it probably just means that I am going insane.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_S._Hall#Quotes_from_Daily_Negations_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:40" }, { "id": "d0be8658-76de-4a13-90d0-b46863de8727", "slug": "the-task-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-s-hall/daily-negations/the-task-that", "text": "The task that lies before me is daunting and the rewards are uncertain. I should probably let someone else do it.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "laziness", "slug": "laziness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/laziness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_S._Hall#Quotes_from_Daily_Negations_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:40" }, { "id": "c8c0e9e5-310c-4c37-addb-be0d39faa673", "slug": "its-not-just", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-s-hall/daily-negations/its-not-just", "text": "It's not just that I'm stupid; it's that I'm just smart enough to know how stupid I am. I wish I weren't so stupid. Or that I were stupider.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "stupidity", "slug": "stupidity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/stupidity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_S._Hall#Quotes_from_Daily_Negations_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:40" }, { "id": "be670ed9-a092-465c-af25-658abca41774", "slug": "perhaps-i-will", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-s-hall/daily-negations/perhaps-i-will", "text": "Perhaps I will achieve a small success today. If so, I must not be taken in. I am not on a roll, I am not in the zone. It was an accident, a happenstance. Such things are bound to happen sometimes. The false feeling of confidence will soon pass.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_S._Hall#Quotes_from_Daily_Negations_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:40" }, { "id": "b07d289b-41ca-477f-8286-023cc809214b", "slug": "today-life-will", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-s-hall/daily-negations/today-life-will", "text": "Today, life will offer me many lessons. I will learn nothing.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_S._Hall#Quotes_from_Daily_Negations_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:40" }, { "id": "ab5fff5d-edf0-4286-924c-51aaa618094f", "slug": "when-i-accept", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-s-hall/daily-negations/when-i-accept", "text": "When I accept another person's imperfections, I deprive myself of any opportunity to be right. Today, I should look out for people who might challenge or annoy me. They are wrong, and I am right. The more I attack others, the more important I will become.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_S._Hall#Quotes_from_Daily_Negations_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:40" }, { "id": "a6ced4f9-70b1-4cc5-93a6-a32a7e9cfe06", "slug": "it-seems-in-theory", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-s-hall/daily-negations/it-seems-in-theory", "text": "It seems, in theory, that I should be able to control at least a few of my bad habits. The problem is that my habits make me depressed, and the depression makes me want to indulge my habits and so I do. There isn't any solution to this.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "habits", "slug": "habits", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/habits" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_S._Hall#Quotes_from_Daily_Negations_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:40" }, { "id": "8bb3fc3e-82bd-4a73-a87f-5491b6094cf7", "slug": "it-may-seem", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-s-hall/daily-negations/it-may-seem", "text": "It may seem sometimes that the whole world is against me and the reason I have failed in life is because of fate—that I was destined to fail, and there was nothing I could have done. But that's not true. There was plenty I could have done. Why didn't I do something?", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "fate", "slug": "fate", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fate" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_S._Hall#Quotes_from_Daily_Negations_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:40" }, { "id": "88852f07-b1bd-4f7b-97bf-731a20bdb367", "slug": "i-cant-make", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-s-hall/daily-negations/i-cant-make", "text": "I can't make people change, and I can't change myself. I can't change the political climate, or fix the myriad problems of the world, or make anyone else happy. When I think about these things, I feel impotent and sad. When I don't think about them, I am running away from the truth. Either way I lose.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "change", "slug": "change", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_S._Hall#Quotes_from_Daily_Negations_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:40" }, { "id": "829fa6e6-9e36-4551-9876-66ac9b78cf31", "slug": "if-i-work", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-s-hall/daily-negations/if-i-work", "text": "If I work hard and am rewarded, then I haven't really gained anything. It has been a trade: I've put in, and I've gotten back. Only if I am rewarded without having done anything have I actually come out ahead. The best way to gain the most is to do nothing.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "work", "slug": "work", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_S._Hall#Quotes_from_Daily_Negations_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:40" }, { "id": "758c3e0e-7a5d-4053-8841-87059e355b6a", "slug": "i-have-tried", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-s-hall/daily-negations/i-have-tried", "text": "I have tried very hard to find meaning in what I do, but I have found instead a vast and limitless nothingness. I tried to embrace the nothingness, but it slipped through my grasp, and now there is nothing where the nothingness was. This may sound meaningful, but it isn't.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "meaning of life", "slug": "meaning-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/meaning-of-life" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_S._Hall#Quotes_from_Daily_Negations_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:40" }, { "id": "5061e517-6652-4eff-8a94-e8ad0b29a22c", "slug": "there-is-no-better", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-s-hall/daily-negations/there-is-no-better", "text": "There is no better feeling than the feeling that I have done something right. That feeling comes so rarely and is so fleeting that I can never really enjoy it. So in a way, it's not a good feeling at all.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_S._Hall#Quotes_from_Daily_Negations_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:40" }, { "id": "3801f5d1-beab-449d-90bc-667bf318b859", "slug": "the-fact-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-s-hall/daily-negations/the-fact-that", "text": "The fact that many people overindulge, and lose themselves in excess, and make fools of themselves and act like idiots, is no reason for me to do these things. The reason for me to do these things is that I, too, am an idiot.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "stupidity", "slug": "stupidity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/stupidity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_S._Hall#Quotes_from_Daily_Negations_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:40" }, { "id": "2103271f-e9f1-4648-9cb8-6daec6b3c593", "slug": "i-am-not-successful", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-s-hall/daily-negations/i-am-not-successful", "text": "I am not successful and I probably never will be. I look around and I see successful people, and I see that they have something I don't—success. Perhaps they were born that way, or perhaps they figured something out that I can never seem to learn. I don't know. That's why I'm not successful.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "success and failure", "slug": "success-and-failure", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/success-and-failure" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_S._Hall#Quotes_from_Daily_Negations_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:40" }, { "id": "1f3a5ff2-2d92-4f19-88b0-1d77f9ad5c42", "slug": "many-people-talk", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-s-hall/daily-negations/many-people-talk", "text": "Many people talk as if they have all the answers, whereas I know I don't. That's probably why no one listens to me.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_S._Hall#Quotes_from_Daily_Negations_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:40" }, { "id": "12d5ec92-4a50-4518-a217-a78b6ed43e67", "slug": "it-is-better", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-s-hall/daily-negations/it-is-better", "text": "It is better to curse the darkness than to light a candle, because, first of all, how much light is one candle going to shed anyway? And secondly, what is there to see that is so important? Whereas cursing is always satisfying. The next time I find myself in the dark, I will curse heartily.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_S._Hall#Quotes_from_Daily_Negations_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:40" }, { "id": "126dc0e2-312b-454c-9e02-b8a5cfc2d1eb", "slug": "when-i-am-tired", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-s-hall/daily-negations/when-i-am-tired", "text": "When I am tired, it is easy to believe that my exhaustion is the reason I am depressed and lonely and uninspired. But when I am well-rested [sic], I can realize that these negative feelings are not a result of too little sleep. They are a result of my being a miserable, hopeless, misanthropic wretch.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "depression", "slug": "depression", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/depression" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_S._Hall#Quotes_from_Daily_Negations_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:40" }, { "id": "06cfb774-0bc0-4774-883c-b82b8fe1accd", "slug": "today-i-should", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-s-hall/daily-negations/today-i-should", "text": "Today, I should think of something about myself that really annoys me, and I should try to change it. Then, when I fail to change it, I can be annoyed by that as well. Then, I can be annoyed about how easily I get annoyed. Then I can get angry.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "anger", "slug": "anger", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/anger" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_S._Hall#Quotes_from_Daily_Negations_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:40" } ] }