Quotes and aphorisms of Mikhail Litvak

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© Mikhail Litvak

Mikhail Litvak (1938-2020) is an outstanding Russian psychologist, psychotherapist, author of numerous best-selling books on practical psychology, creator of the concept of “psychological aikido.” Corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences.

Psychiatrist, psychologist and psychotherapist Mikhail Efimovich Litvak

We bring to your attention 20 of his most famous statements about life, love and happiness, professional and personal success:

If a person cannot say anything good about himself, but wants to say something, he begins to say bad things about others.
If you really want to gnaw on something, gnaw on the granite of science, and not on your neighbor’s throat.
Depression is given to a person to think about himself.
No one leaves anyone, someone just moves forward. The one who lags behind believes that he was abandoned.
If you think well of yourself, you don't need anyone else to think well of you.
Do what you want and don't ask permission. Suddenly they refuse.
The ability to love and tolerate loneliness well is an indicator of spiritual maturity. We do our best work when we are alone.
An immature person often knows, but does not know how. A mature woman not only knows, but also knows how. Therefore, an immature person criticizes, while a mature person does.
I don't know the path to success. But I know the path to failure is the desire to please everyone.
There is no male or female logic, there is the ability or inability to think intelligently.
Do you want to know your main enemy? Look in the mirror. Deal with him and the rest will run away.
Achieve success and the grievances will go away.
It is pleasant to communicate with friends, and useful to communicate with enemies.
There is only one valid reason for breaking a relationship and leaving a job - the impossibility of personal growth in the current conditions.
Share only joy with both friends and enemies. The friend will rejoice, the enemy will be upset.
Don't chase happiness, but find the place where it is found. And happiness will find you on its own. I can tell you the place where your happiness is found - it is yourself. And the path to it is the maximum development of all your abilities.
Happiness is a “by-product” of properly organized activities.
If you want to prove something to someone, it means you live for the sake of the person to whom you want to prove it. If you live for yourself, then there is no need to prove anything to anyone.
Dreams are the voices of our abilities. I don't dream of singing in opera. There is no voice, no hearing. And if I dreamed, then, consequently, this dream would be fueled by my abilities. Therefore, I would try to get into the opera. You just need to think about how to make this dream come true. The main thing here is not to rush, then it will work out pretty quickly. It’s good when a person can say the following about himself: “All I do is try to make my dreams come true.”
It is better to communicate with a good book than with an empty person.

Valuable aphorisms of Mikhail Litvak that help you live when it’s really hard

Valuable aphorisms of Mikhail Litvak, which help to live when it is very difficult. Psychologist, psychotherapist, candidate of medical sciences, author of 30 books on practical and popular psychology, the total circulation of which as of 2013 was more than 5 million copies. The person who developed and began to put into practice the concept of a system for resolving conflicts in relationships between people, called “psychological aikido.”

Happiness lies in the fact that I WANT, CAN and SHOULD have the same content.

A person is often torn in these three directions.

I want but I can not. I SHOULD, but I DON'T WANT. I WANT and CAN, but I CAN’T (shouldn’t).

And “when there is no agreement among the comrades, then nothing will come of it, only torment,” as our great fabulist wrote. Often, because of the “must-shouldn’t” system, a person does not do what he wants, or does not do what he wants. And a person, as F. Nietzsche wrote , becomes a camel that carries all these values. And it takes the courage of a lion to throw them off your back.

Look for the right path, not the straight one, because the right path is not always the straight one.

When I am on the twentieth floor and I need to quickly go down, the most direct and light way is through the balcony down. At the same time, you will still be able to experience the unforgettable feeling of flying, which, however, you will hardly be able to tell anyone about later.

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1. Happiness lies in the fact that I WANT, CAN and SHOULD have the same content. A person is often torn in these three directions. I want but I can not. I SHOULD, but I DON'T WANT. I WANT and CAN, but I CAN’T (shouldn’t). And “when there is no agreement among the comrades, then nothing will come of it, only torment,” as our great fabulist wrote. Often, because of the “should-shouldn’t” system, a person does not do what he wants, or does not do what he wants. And a person, as F. Nietzsche wrote, becomes a camel that carries all these values. And it takes the courage of a lion to throw them off your back. 2. Look for the right path, not the straight one, because the right path is not always the straight one. When I am on the twentieth floor and I need to quickly go down, the most direct and light way is through the balcony down. At the same time, you will still be able to experience the unforgettable feeling of flying, which, however, you will hardly be able to tell anyone about later. The correct way is to go out into the corridor, even if it is not very well lit, and look for the stairs or elevator. 3. When choosing a goal, find out whether the road you are planning to follow leads to it. Many people know where they want to go, but are often unaware that they are going in the opposite direction. Therefore, as soon as you find out that you are going along the wrong path, immediately change direction towards the right one. 4. If you want to be useful to others, live for yourself! The life strategy of living for yourself will lead to you becoming a high-class professional and taking care of your work partners. After all, without taking care of them, you will not benefit yourself. You will treat your wife well so that she will love you more deeply. You will raise your children well so that they can earn money for themselves and not sit on your neck. Take care of your future so as not to interfere with the lives of your children when they reach old age. 5. Started to think - decide, decided - act. The trouble with many neurotic individuals is that they think for a long time, but do not make decisions. And if they make decisions, they don’t act. We have developed a decision-making technique. “Remember the first thought that came to your mind - it is the most correct one. If you can’t remember, rely on fate - cast lots.” 6. If you want to live in peace, do not do good deeds when you are not asked to do so. Otherwise, you will become a deliverer and end up in a triangle of fate (persecutor - deliverer - victim). You will inevitably become a victim. A true benefactor is a person who does his job (“a good deed”) and does not even suspect that it unexpectedly turns out to be good for his communication partners. 7. When providing a conscious benefit, do not expect gratitude. The realization that you have performed a good deed is your reward for it. Therefore, be eternally grateful to the one who accepted this benefit, for without him you could not feel like a benefactor. 8. When providing a benefit, expect meanness from the one who accepted this benefit. The advice is based on the triangle of fate mentioned above: “persecutor - deliverer - victim”. The law knows no exceptions. But it happens that a person cannot resist good deeds! So let him at least prepare for trouble. It should also be taken into account that the larger the gift you gave, the more nasty things the person you are giving will do to you. 9. Do not accept expensive gifts and benefits, but pay immediately. This is advice for those who are trying to get something for nothing. It has been noticed that what costs you the most is what you got for free, because you fall into psychological slavery - you feel obligated all the time. This does not mean that, when receiving a small service, you need to immediately go after the money. But as soon as you are reproached for this, you should immediately settle accounts. 10. If you bought something cheap, and then it turned out that it costs much more, go and pay extra. 11. If one of your benefactors-saviors reproaches you for ingratitude, immediately find out how much this service costs, pay off and no longer deal with this person. This advice is for those who have already made a mistake: they accepted a benefit and did not pay back. By the way, the same should be done for children whose parents reproach them for ingratitude, telling them that they lived for their sake. 12. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes—failure is seven times more useful than success. Success leads to stagnation - next time in similar cases you will do the same. Once the same, twice the same... And you will start looking for the same situations. It's another matter if you made a mistake. A mistake will make you think. Next time you will do it differently. If you are not afraid to make mistakes, then after some time you will acquire a new skill. 13. Don’t be afraid, but rejoice when you are criticized - criticism is seven times more useful than praise. But don’t reproach or criticize yourself, especially for free. The aphorism is inspired by the thoughts of Socrates, who argued that you should not be offended by people when you are reproached or insulted. If it’s unfair, then it doesn’t concern you, but if it’s fair, then it serves you right. Think and improve. In the end, the one who criticizes you forces you to pay attention to yourself. 14. If you want to have enemies, be ironic. The aphorism is inspired by the thoughts of F. Nietzsche, who compared an ironic person to a dog that bites and smiles at the same time. He believed that this spoiled his character. The trouble is that it is not customary to be offended by jokes, even when it is offensive. An ironic person does not receive feedback. Anger at him builds up. In a difficult moment for himself, he receives blows from his offenders. 15. Don’t try to change circumstances and other people, but change yourself and adapt to circumstances. A psychologically immature person tries to change circumstances and other people, a mature person adapts to circumstances and changes himself. The most amazing thing is that when a person matures, then circumstances change.

"Love is a rare thing." M. Litvak

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Here are excerpts from two interviews with M.E. Litvak.

Mikhail Efimovich Litvak Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, Doctor of Medical Sciences, psychotherapist of the European register. Our library “Love, Family, Sex and About...” has almost all of his books.

— One of your ideas is the desacralization of love. At least the one about which they sang songs, because of which they committed suicide. And Litvak came and said: love is an active interest in the life and development of the object of love, and everything else is a neurotic disorder.

- In general, love is a rare thing. Few people have seen her, and few people know how to love her. People call love when you can’t live without this person. And this is not love, but need. Love is when I feel even better with this person, although I already feel good.

- That is, if one person’s heart begins to beat faster when he sees another...

- The hysteria is real. Children's reaction - take it out and put it down. And the resentment that you were abandoned.

- What about the saying “he who does not lose his head loses a lot”?

- Stupidity.

— After reading your books, I get the impression that everything is done wrong here. This is not how they teach, this is not how they treat people, this is not how they work, this is not how they raise families. Do I understand you correctly?

- Not quite right. Those who study properly, work, start a family and set the right goals, I have nothing to do with them. People who are having a hard time come to me. And if it’s hard for them, it means they somehow grew up wrong. I really like one image. A straight tree that grows upward feels good. But the crooked one feels bad.

- Judging by your reasoning, almost all of us are crooked.

- Yes, there are not many healthy ones. Psychologically healthy. In the process of upbringing, some restrictions are imposed on a person, and instead of even growth, he begins to crumple. And then he feels bad, and he seeks help.

— You said that 85% of our population needs psychological help.

— This is my research of four thousand workers of two large factories. The sample is large enough to be extrapolated to others. But knowing our pedagogical system, it is difficult to imagine that it is possible to survive in it. After all, what is its essence? That a person, such as he is, we do not need him. Just like on a lawn, when the plants grow up, they are cut, people are also cut. As soon as some outstanding student appears, they begin to fight with him that he is not like everyone else. Naturally, it is those people who suffer the most who could achieve a lot.

- So what should we do?

— A child must be raised, not educated. Parenting is a limitation. And the most severe limitation is the prohibition to think. Because if a child starts doing something of his own that is incomprehensible to the teachers, they will give him a bad mark. So I helped my youngest son solve a math problem. And then the son says, it’s wrong, our teacher didn’t decide that way. And next time he will no longer solve the problem, but guess what the teacher needs. Or when a person has a joyless life, he begins to celebrate holidays. And this is not by nature. By nature, every day should be a holiday.

— According to official statistics, we have 70 divorces for every 100 marriages. And I say that out of 100 marriages, 100% are divorces. We don't have families as such. It’s just that people live isolated in one territory, isolated from each other. These are the kinds of families we have, where only the outer shell holds people together. I studied families where the marriage lasted 10-15 years, and asked a question of this type: “you would marry your husband now, but only everything would repeat as it was.” And vice versa. As a result, only 5% of men did not regret marrying this woman. And 9% are women. But let’s say I agree to marry her, but my wife wouldn’t marry me now, if it were a new one. So, out of 11 thousand 400 families, there were five such families, where there is mutual choice.

-What do you think love is?

— I use Fromm’s definition: love is an active interest in the life and development of the object of love. (We often confuse love with sex.) Thanks to this definition, you can, for example, understand whether the mother loves the child or not. Love is not the giving of expensive gifts, but a kind of educational process, as a result of which the child becomes more and more independent. If a child at 10 years old does not know how to do anything, then his mother does not love him. Well, love in a broad sense can even be classified.

- Interesting... - Basic love is self-love. She is the most important. And these are not so much feelings as actions. So I do physical education, that is, I develop myself. So I love you. If I go to school, I love it too. I drink vodka, but I don’t like it. Because vodka is destroying my health. In erotic love, self-love is also fundamental. If I don’t love myself and suddenly fell in love with some woman, then, as an honest person, I should leave her.

-?!

“Well, if I don’t love myself, then, if you’ll excuse the expression, I’m crap, and you don’t give crap to a loved one.”

-What other kind of love is there?

- When we are little, we need mother's love. Then - paternal, then - erotic. And there is also love for God, for truth. And only in erotic love there is sex. But sex there is only one form of expression of love. The child really needs his mother's love. Just like that, not for merit. Unfortunately, most of us did not receive this love in childhood.

— Most mothers don’t love their children?

- In a sense, yes. If the mother is demonstratively dissatisfied with the child’s behavior, then he often begins to behave as the mother needs. Although, perhaps, he himself does not need it. Some psychologists went further and divided maternal and paternal love into infantile and mature. Infantile maternal love should last up to one year. At this time, the mother keeps the child close to her, he can always find protection from her. Then comes the period of mature love: the mother gradually lets go of the child. But many, alas, keep their children with them longer than necessary, sometimes accompanying them to school until their senior year. And then the person becomes dependent. He always needs a leader to guide him.

- What is the essence of fatherly love?

“He loves the child not just like that, but for something.” Infantile fatherly love - do as I do. It is necessary for acquiring skills. The child comes to his father and says: I did this. My father approves: well done for what you did. Infantile fatherly love is needed until the age of 7-8 years. And then the time comes for the mature one - do what you want, you’re smart. Otherwise, the child is deprived of creative potential and only repeats what others do. By the way, mature fatherly love is very rare. The question is often asked: what to do if a woman raises a child alone? So he doesn’t need mom and dad, but mother’s and father’s love. And mom needs to learn how to give them.

Read the book “Love! Good or evil? Psychological measurements". Evgeny Pushkarev

— You talked about love for God and truth...

- It is the same. "Plato is my friend but the truth is dearer". No matter how much I love you, if you say something that, from my point of view, is not the truth, I will object. You tell me that the Earth stands on three pillars. And I say that the Earth is round and rotates. But that doesn't mean I don't love you. Whereas many people view disagreement as hostility. And the lack of love leads to very serious consequences - to neuroses, suspicion, and generally incorrect behavior. A neurotic person makes demands on his loved one that cannot be satisfied. For example, he believes that he should be loved. The woman is sure that her husband must figure out what flowers to bring her and what gift to give her. Well, how can I guess that I should scratch my beloved under the left shoulder blade if she doesn’t tell me?

—What is the behavior of a healthy person, not a neurotic?

— His principle in relation to his partner is: let’s pull the burden of life together. By the way, we conducted one study. They asked women which explanation of love they preferred. They offered four options: “I have never seen someone as beautiful as you.” "I need you". “I will carry you in my arms.” And “let’s pull the burden of life together.” Nobody liked the fourth option. But let's think about it. “I’ve never seen someone so beautiful,” this is the womanizer’s explanation. “I need you” - this is explained by a brat, perhaps an alcoholic. Love, let me remind you, is an active interest in the life and development of the object of love. I will say a paradoxical thing: there are no tragedies in love. Unrequited love is bullshit. A loved one cannot become an inalienable need. Without water a person will die, but without love he will not.

- What does the third option mean?

- “Carry it in your arms all the time?” This is impossible. If I carry a person in my arms, he will stop developing.

- It turns out that pulling the burden of life is a manifestation of true love?

“This means that I tell my woman: you are reliable, smart, smart, businesslike.” And I am ready to help you in everything. In my opinion, this is the most powerful declaration of love. And they tell me - oh, how unromantic. People do not know how to love themselves or others. What kind of romance is there? But to be honest, we don’t have families as such. People live in the same territory, isolated from each other. Like in a joke. A man was walking to a birthday party. He didn’t have much money, but he wanted to buy an expensive gift. I went to an antique store. They say that our old vase broke. You can buy it for pennies, like scrap. We will wrap it, you will give it, drop it, break it, and everyone will see how expensive the gift was. He agreed, bought it, served it, dropped it. And when they unwrapped it, it turned out that each half was wrapped separately. These are the kind of families we have, people are held together only by the outer shell. I studied families where the marriage lasted 10-15 years, and asked a question of this type: would you marry your husband now, but only everything would repeat as it was? As a result, only 5% of men did not regret marrying this woman. And 9% are women. Only three couples were happy. And everyone has the same story. Like Tolstoy: all families are equally happy. Only now I have scientific proof.

- Tell me the same story.

— They worked in the same institution in adjacent rooms. They collaborated, felt some kind of sympathy for each other, not even sexual. We never thought that we could be together. And then there was a fire, and they saved the documents together. Then I had to wash my face somewhere, and she lived next door. And without any second thought, she invited him to her place. And he stayed. After all, they were tested by practice! The marriage turned out to be strong and happy. Family is production. And there must be very qualified people there. A man who can support himself, his wife and children from this marriage has the right to marry. But a woman has the right to get married if she can support herself, her children and... her husband, if, God forbid, something happens to him.

— It turns out that all happy couples find each other at work?

- It turns out like this. Because that’s where the lice check usually takes place. There are different circumstances in a family. Sexual relationships have five stages. The first stage is the ideational stage. I looked at the woman and liked her. The second stage is production. Let's do something together. The third is presexual. The fourth is sex. And then the final fifth stage is postsexual. So that's the whole point. True feelings are what remains after good sex. Passion is a burning tree from which coals remain. Coals are love. Moreover, love is stingy with external expressions of feelings. In our country, external manifestations are cultivated, and a person gets used to vigorously expressing his feelings, although the feelings themselves go away.

— You once wrote that a person is responsible for choosing the object of love.

- Of course, I am responsible. I liked the woman. But we need to look further. There may be physical discrepancies, for this there is sexual exploration, for example, dancing. Then you need to think about whether you can rely on this person in difficult times. Oaths won't help here. If she doesn’t know how to do anything, then no matter how much she wants, she won’t do anything in difficult times.

- What if you fell in love at first sight?

- There is no such thing as love at first sight. The object of love is prepared by genetics and upbringing. Some image of the betrothed always exists. No disease begins suddenly; there is always an incubation period when a person feels more or less healthy. So it is here. This is why good education is important. When the mother is smart, then the boy will choose about the same wife for himself and will not be mistaken. And a girl, if her father is good, she won’t get involved with anyone.

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- Does love pass?

- Of course it does. I fell in love with the person as he is now. And I can live happily for 50 years only if I change and my wife changes.

— And each time you and your wife changed?

“You have to change if you want to save your marriage.” You can't listen to the same broken record forever, no matter how good it is. Therefore, people either change themselves or change their wives and husbands. For the union to be strong, both need to develop. The husband rose up and reached his wife. Then the wife stood up - the husband was reaching out to her. Otherwise, marriages break up.

— There are people who believe that they are not created for love, for family.

- It is not normal. You need to live as a couple. This is how nature created us. One or two failures, and a person sometimes puts on a shell. No one can prick you, but no one can stroke you either.

This is an article from the section Psychology of Love

Articles related to the same topic:

Narcotic (compulsive) love. M. Litvak

Love is healthy and addictive. M. Litvak

"Love" of a neurotic. M. Litvak

V. Frankl about love. M. Litvak

"Love is a rare thing." M. Litvak

Legends and myths of modern sexology. M. Litvak

Why don't you get normal men? M. Litvak

The main signs of a psychologically healthy person and his love. M. Litvak

A few words for self-diagnosis of neurosis. M. Litvak

The mechanism of neurosis formation. M. Litvak

Psychology of loneliness. M. Litvak

Neurotic love. O. Kurakin

Neurotic need for love. Karen Horney.

Essay based on the book by K. Horney “The Neurotic Personality of Our Time.” D. Martynenko

Signs of neuroticism: no longer the norm, but not yet a pathology. I. and L. Shiryaev

Express diagnostics of neurosis and level of neuroticism. E. Milyutina

Emotional disorders that lead to neuroticism

The essence of love. E. Pushkarev.

What is love. E. Pushkarev

Love test: “love scale” by Z. Rubin.

Psychological health is a prerequisite for love. E. Pushkarev

A large selection of articles and books about love addiction, which our culture often calls “addictive love”, “overselective love”, “neurotic love”, “too much love”, “more than love”, “compulsive love”, “toxic love” and etc. and people suffering from these disorders.

Sigmund Freud on love.

Our library of books and videos contains about 2000 items on the topic “Love, family, sex and about...” there are almost all the books by M.E. Litvak

Less than 30 days

On September 10, 2021, at the age of 82, the famous Russian psychologist, psychiatrist, psychotherapist, scientist, and writer Mikhail Litvak died. In memory of him, let's remember one of his wonderful books, where he collected all his wise, life aphorisms, rules, conclusions that he came to during his psychological practice.

Mikhail Litvak has many popular books. He came up with a psychological aikido technique that helps you communicate with different people and achieve your goals, and much more. But it is interesting that Litvak himself wrote that he wants to remain in people’s memory precisely with his aphorisms. The book where they are collected together - all the rich experience of the wise scientist in a concise, capacious form - has the unusual title “The Sperm Principle”. The author considered it his best book, because in it he managed to talk in a modern spirit about the works of such geniuses as Aristotle, Seneca, Dante, Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Freud and many others.

At the beginning of the book, Mikhail Efimovich unexpectedly reminds us that each of us at one time won a crazy race: it was you (or rather, your father’s sperm) on the day of conception that was ahead of 50 million competitors (according to some sources, 150 million). And each of us has this ability to go, overcoming obstacles, towards the goal from birth. This essence of ours - to move forward towards the goal - cannot be destroyed. “But if in the process of upbringing your sperm essence was overwhelmed with stones of prohibitions and you did not achieve your goal or you were led astray, then this book will help you,” writes Mikhail Litvak.

In this article we will present only a few of the most striking, in our opinion, aphorisms of Mikhail Efimovich, which help to achieve what you want.

“When choosing a goal, find out carefully whether the road you are planning to follow leads to it.”

Many people know what they want, but for some reason they go in the opposite direction. “You can, of course, go in the opposite direction from the goal and achieve it, but for this you will need to travel around the world. Maybe it’s better to get on the right path right away?”

Why is this worth focusing on? It often happens that we choose conscious goals, but unconsciously go in the opposite direction. This is because our rational part wants one thing, and our unconscious part wants another. And the second part wins. It is important to understand this when you choose ways to achieve your goal. Or maybe reconsider the goal itself. Is this what you really want? Or was it imposed on you from the outside: society, family, professional environment, etc.?

“Happiness is a heavy thing, and when it falls on a weak person, at best it will roll off him, at worst it will crush him.”

Be afraid of your wishes, they tend to come true. “There is a lot of happiness in life, but often there is not enough strength to bear it. Save up your strength. Become strong." In other words, grow into your desires, be prepared for them, and then you will be truly happy when they come true.

“Set only the highest, biggest, but realistic goals, because there is only one path to a small goal, but many paths to a big goal.”

“I advise scientists to strive to receive the Nobel Prize, businessmen to become the largest entrepreneurs in their industry, athletes to become world champions, politicians to become presidents, etc. And it doesn't matter if you don't achieve this goal. You will gain so many skills that you will still be something good.”

“If you want to be happy, develop your abilities”

And choose a job according to your abilities. Here is what Schopenhauer wrote about this: “Let everyone, for his own well-being, examine what powers he has and what he does not have: let him then develop his predominant powers to the highest degree and use them powerfully. ... Actually, there is no other pleasure than to use your powers and feel them ... "

And the famous Austrian psychiatrist, psychologist, neurologist Viktor Frankl believed that it is the full disclosure of one’s talents and capabilities that gives a person real support in life and helps to make a qualitative breakthrough. After all, in the end, what difference does it make what a person has in the minus, when he has such potential in the plus! Don't dwell on your shortcomings, develop your abilities - this is the path to happiness.

“When you set your sights on something, act as if you have already achieved it, but be prepared for the fact that you will not achieve it.”

Barry Gordy, the legendary founder of Motown Records, once remarked, “A winner is a winner before he wins.” Without realizing it, we behave in accordance with our faith. Those who believe in the success of their business feel good the entire time they implement it. And they are more likely to achieve what they want.

However, if it becomes clear that you have done everything you could, but you cannot achieve what you want, worry a little, and then look for new tasks and desires. Mikhail Efimovich writes that often, when a person fails to achieve something, it turns out that he no longer needs it, because he has changed along the way, which means it is time to adjust the route and goals.

“You can get rid of fear and anxiety by increasing your competence”

It’s interesting, but doctors and psychologists give this advice to their patients to prevent professional burnout. The higher a person’s qualifications, the slower this syndrome develops. Because, firstly, a person has more specific knowledge, and, secondly, it is easier for him to look at the situation from the outside, to distance himself from it a little.

Any study increases intelligence, which also helps counteract burnout syndrome, and also reduces anxiety levels. If a person correctly understands the cause of the difficulties he encounters, he experiences them more easily. He understands that he can eliminate some causes, and he eliminates them. And some are not in his power, and he tries not to pay attention to them, does not take them to heart.

“Set a goal and go towards it. Don't be afraid to go astray. The main thing is to look and go. You will still find something and end up somewhere. After all, Columbus was looking for India and discovered America.”

There are only seven aphorisms in this collection, but there are a huge number of them in Mikhail Litvak’s book. It is quite difficult to review this particular book, but we have an equally valuable alternative - a book by Mikhail Efimovich, in which he described his main technique: psychological aikido. Read in our Book Library A brief review of Mikhail Litvak’s book “Psychological Aikido in Action. How to communicate usefully."