100 Naval Ravikant Quotes (On Happiness, Life, Money)

By Maxime Lagacé

Maxime is the founder of WisdomQuotes. He has been collecting quotes since 2004. His goal? To help you develop a calm and peaceful mind. Learn more about him on his about page.

Top 10 Quotes – Happiness – Life – Money – Takeaways – Visual – Video – Further Readings

naval ravikant quotes wisdom
Here are 100 of the best Naval Ravikant quotes.

I guarantee you’ll love them.

You’ll learn:

How to be happier
How to make more money
How to find meaning in your life
And more

But first, who’s Naval?

A venture capitalist and angel investor (X, Uber, Yammer, Disqus, Stack Overflow)
An entrepreneur who co-founded Angelist (a platform for connecting startups with investors)
A philosopher on topics like happiness, wealth, education, meditation

So don’t wait to read these fabulous quotes by Naval.

You’ll discover deep and practical ideas for your life.

Enjoy!

Top 10 Naval Ravikant Quotes

Don’t take yourself so seriously. You’re just a monkey with a plan. Naval Ravikant

You can escape competition through authenticity. Naval Ravikant

You make your own luck if you stay at it long enough. Naval Ravikant

Most of life is a search for who and what needs you the most. Naval Ravikant

The modern mind is overstimulated and the modern body is understimulated and overfed. Meditation, exercise, and fasting restore an ancient balance. Naval Ravikant

Happiness is a state where nothing is missing. Naval Ravikant

Sing the song that only you can sing, write the book that only you can write, build the product that only you can build, live the life that only you can live. Naval Ravikant

True happiness comes out of peace. Peace comes out of many things, but it comes from fundamentally understanding yourself. Naval Ravikant

That’s the fundamental delusion – that there is something out there that will make you happy forever. Naval Ravikant

A busy calendar and a busy mind will destroy your ability to create anything great. Naval Ravikant

Naval Ravikant About Happiness, Inner Peace

I, and I alone, am responsible for everything I think and feel. Naval Ravikant

The success driven mentality drives you to unhappiness. Naval Ravikant

You can neither give happiness, nor receive it. Naval Ravikant

A rational person can find peace by cultivating indifference to things outside of their control. Naval Ravikant

I don’t have a preconception of a perfect day, because if I did, then it would ruin the day that I was living. Naval Ravikant

Internal happiness is reward from being in flow. Create, meditate, love, play. Clears the mind and leaves us in peace. Naval Ravikant

You’re always busy wanting something except whatever’s in front of you. Naval Ravikant

Real happiness only comes as a side-effect of peace. Most of it is going to come from acceptance, not from changing your external environment. Naval Ravikant

To me happiness is not about positive thoughts. It’s not about negative thoughts. It’s about the absence of desire, especially the absence of desire for external things. Naval Ravikant

Meditation is intermittent fasting for the mind. Too much sugar leads to a heavy body, and too many distractions lead to a heavy mind. Time spent undistracted and alone, in self-examination, journaling, meditation, resolves the unresolved and takes us from mentally fat to fit. Naval Ravikant

Mentors won’t make you rich. Doctors won’t make you healthy. Nutritionists won’t make you slim. Teachers won’t make you smart. Gurus won’t make you calm. Trainers won’t make you fit. Ultimately, you have to take responsibility. Save yourself. Naval Ravikant

The modern struggle – Lone individuals summoning inhuman willpower, fasting, meditating, and exercising, up against armies of scientists and statisticians weaponizing abundant food, screens, and medicine into junk food, clickbait news, infinite porn, endless games and addictive drugs. Naval Ravikant

Desire is a contract that you make with yourself to be unhappy until you get what you want. Naval Ravikant

The fewer desires I can have, the more I can accept the current state of things, the less my mind is moving because the mind really exists in motion towards the future or the past. Naval Ravikant

Happiness is an internal trait that comes out of being peaceful and accepting of whatever is going on around you. It’s that sense that nothing is missing in this moment. Naval Ravikant

Nothing you do is going to matter that much in the long run. Don’t take yourself so seriously. Naval Ravikant

Knowing how little you matter is very important for your own mental health and happiness. Naval Ravikant

To live in the present moment is the highest calling. It’s the source of all happiness. Naval Ravikant

One reason to meditate is to prove yourself how little you actually need out of life. Naval Ravikant

Happiness is a choice you make and a skill you develop. Naval Ravikant

It’s a bad habit that we develop that we forget how to appreciate what we do have. Naval Ravikant

If you could literally just sit for 30 minutes and be happy, you are successful. Naval Ravikant

I’m not a busy person and I’m not busy because I refuse to schedule things. Naval Ravikant

Notifications are just alarm clocks that someone else is setting for you. Naval Ravikant

If you’re a peaceful person, anything you do will be a happy activity. Naval Ravikant

To have peace of mind, you have to have peace of body, first. Naval Ravikant

Uncertainty, not outcome, is the root of stress. Naval Ravikant

Most of our suffering comes from avoidance. Naval Ravikant

Related

Naval Ravikant About Life

Relax, you’ll live longer and perform better. Naval Ravikant

The flavor of life is on the edge. Naval Ravikant

Desire is just fear by another name. Naval Ravikant

Ruthlessly cut meetings out of your life. Naval Ravikant

It’s easier to change yourself than to change the world. Naval Ravikant

To a tree, there is no right or wrong. There is no good or bad. Naval Ravikant

On his morning routines: 1 hour meditation + 1 hour workout/yoga. Naval Ravikant

Everything you’re a winner at now in your life, you were a once a loser at. Naval Ravikant

We’re genetically wired to be pessimists, but modern society is far, far safer. Naval Ravikant

The world doesn’t always give what you want, but it often gives you what you need. Naval Ravikant

It made sense to be pessimistic in the past, but it makes sense to be an optimist today. Naval Ravikant

Intelligence not only demands solitude but feeds upon it. Naval Ravikant

You have to be pretty ruthless about saying no to things, about turning people down, and about leaving room in your life for serendipity. Naval Ravikant

You have to do hard things to create your own meaning in life. Naval Ravikant

Your goal in life is to find out the people who need you the most, to find out the business that needs you the most, to find the project and the art that needs you the most. There is something out there just for you. Naval Ravikant

I think happiness is a skill, nutrition is a skill, diet is a skill, investing is a skill, self-awareness is a skill. And skills get built up over decades with feedback loops and you just have to constantly keep working on it. Naval Ravikant

My number one priority in life, above my happiness, above my family, above my work, is my own health. It starts with my physical health. Second, it’s my mental health. Third, it’s my spiritual health. Then it’s my family’s health. Naval Ravikant

School, politics, sports, and games train us to compete against others. True rewards — wealth, knowledge, love, fitness, and equanimity — come from ignoring others and improving ourselves. Naval Ravikant

Three things in life – your health, your mission, and the people you love. That’s it. Naval Ravikant

If you’re going to pick 3 cards in the hand you’re dealt, take intelligence, drive, and most importantly, emotional self-discipline. Naval Ravikant

The three big ones in life are wealth, health, and happiness. We pursue them in that order but their importance is in the reverse. Naval Ravikant

There’s no certainty in life. You can put in the hours, you can put in the time, but you can’t really expect the outcome. Naval Ravikant

I wish I had done all of the same things but with less emotion and less anger. Naval Ravikant

The greatest superpower is the ability to change yourself. Naval Ravikant

I don’t think life is that hard. I think we make it hard. Naval Ravikant

Naval Ravikant About Money, Work

Seek wealth, not money or status. Naval Ravikant

Earn with your mind, not your time. Naval Ravikant

You won’t get rich renting out your time. Naval Ravikant

Escape competition through authenticity. Naval Ravikant

Spend your time doing only what you can uniquely do. Naval Ravikant

The people who succeed are irrationally passionate about something. Naval Ravikant

If you can’t code, write books and blogs, record videos and podcasts. Naval Ravikant

If you want to operate at peak performance, you have to learn how to tame your mind. Naval Ravikant

Learn to sell. Learn to build. If you can do both, you will be unstoppable. Naval Ravikant

What you do, who you do with, and how you do it are way more important than how hard you work. Naval Ravikant

If you want to be effective in business, you need a clear, calm, cool, and collected mind. Naval Ravikant

You will get rich by giving society what it wants but does not yet know how to get. At scale. Naval Ravikant

People spend too much time doing and not enough time thinking about what they should be doing. Naval Ravikant

The first thing you realize when you make a bunch of money is that you’re still the same person. Naval Ravikant

Guard your time. It’s all you have. Naval Ravikant

You retire by saving up enough money, becoming a monk, or by finding work that feels like play to you. Naval Ravikant

As long as you can keep taking shots on goal, and you keep getting back up, eventually you’ll get through. Just stick at it. Naval Ravikant

The ultimate purpose of money is so that you do not have to be in a specific place at a specific time doing anything you don’t want to do. Naval Ravikant

You can spend your life however you want, but if you want to get rich, it has to be your number one overwhelming desire. Naval Ravikant

By the time people realize that they have enough money, they’ve lost their time and their health. Naval Ravikant

Work as hard as you can. Even though what you work on and who you work with are more important. Naval Ravikant

Become the best in the world at what you do. Keep redefining what you do until this is true. Naval Ravikant

Apply specific knowledge, with leverage, and eventually you will get what you deserve. Naval Ravikant

You should be too busy to do coffee while keeping an uncluttered calendar. Naval Ravikant

The direction you’re heading in matters more than how fast you drive. Naval Ravikant

You do not want to compete, you want to be a market of one. Naval Ravikant

I don’t have time is just saying it’s not a priority. Naval Ravikant

Guard your time. Forget the money. Naval Ravikant

Related: Naval Ravikant Tweet Storm on X (How To Get Rich, Without Getting Lucky)

Conclusion

We’re not really here that long, and we don’t really matter that much. Nothing that we do lasts. Eventually, you will fade. Your works will fade. Your children will fade. Your thoughts will fade. These planets will fade. This sun will fade. It will all be gone. Naval Ravikant

Key Takeaways

Stay foolish. Naval advocates living freely. Without a schedule. To follow what interests you. And no matter the outcome, keep going. That’s the ultimate wisdom. “Don’t take yourself so seriously. You’re just a monkey with a plan”
Be content. Naval warns you that your unlimited desires are making you unhappy. So be aware of them. Stay alert. And choose only a handful of them. “Happiness is a state where nothing is missing”
It’s your fault. Naval reminds you that happiness is a skill. It’s something you can learn. Like learning to read, to write, to cook. So if you’re unhappy, it’s your fault. And if you’re happy, it’s your fault too. “I, and I alone, am responsible for everything I think and feel.”
Relax. Naval tells you that judgment is vital for your success. And to have good judgment, you’ll need to be cool, calm, and collected. “Relax, you’ll live longer and perform better”
Say no often. Ultimately, Naval tells you that the only thing you have is time. So don’t do meetings. Don’t get distracted. Say no. Ignore most things that come your way. “Guard your time. It’s all you have”