Anyone who appreciates this one and hasn’t read the entirety of Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations (compiled into book form) really should. Many gems of stoic wisdom therein.

I love this. As a software engineer, I see people run into this issue all the time. I’ve often heard it as, “Done is better than perfect.”

Just FYI, that quote from your girlfriend is not original. Good one though. I believe originally it’s, “Better a bitter truth than a sweet lie,” but I’m not sure who said it first.

Here are a few off the top of my head (though I looked up the original kanji for some of the Japanese ones)…

To enjoy life’s immensity, you do not need many things.

• Ryōkan, a Japanese poet

Ain’t no shame in holding onto grief, as long as you make room for other things too.

• Bubbles, from the last episode of The Wire

Honor is dead, but I’ll see what I can do.

• Kaladin, from The Stormlight Archive Book 2 by Brandon Sanderson

Beware the difference between intelligibility and correctness.

• Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Success consists of moving from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.

• Winston Churchill

猿も木から落ちる (Saru mo ki kara ochiru)

Even monkeys fall from trees.

• Anonymous, traditional Japanese saying

正勝吾勝 (Makatsu agatsu)

True victory is victory over one’s self.

• Morihei Ueshiba, founder of Aikido