12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson (Quotes and Excerpts)

If you've spent time on the internet lately, especially on YouTube, chances are that you know who Jordan Peterson is.

He is one of today's most influential and famous lecturers on sociological topics like free speech, biology, psychology and gender politics to name a few.

In 2018 he released his highly acclaimed non-fiction book 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote for Chaos and here below is the general outline of the book followed by a selection of insightful quotes and excerpts.

Outline of the book:

If you wish to read the entire book, here is a link to amazon



Jordan Peterson Quote: RULE 4 COMPARE YOURSELF TO WHO YOU WERE YESTERDAY, NOT TO WHO SOMEONE ELSE IS TODAY

RULE 4: COMPARE YOURSELF TO WHO YOU WERE YESTERDAY, NOT TO WHO SOMEONE ELSE IS TODAY

Jordan Peterson

Jordan Peterson Quote: You must determine where you are going in your life, because you cannot get there unless you move in that direction. Random wandering will not move you forward. It will instead disappoint and frustrate you and make you anxious and unhappy and hard to get along with (and then resentful, and then vengeful, and then worse).

You must determine where you are going in your life, because you cannot get there unless you move in that direction. Random wandering will not move you forward. It will instead disappoint and frustrate you and make you anxious and unhappy and hard to get along with (and then resentful, and then vengeful, and then worse).

Jordan Peterson

Jordan Peterson Quote: Dreams shed light on the dim places where reason itself has yet to voyage.

Dreams shed light on the dim places where reason itself has yet to voyage.

Jordan Peterson

Jordan Peterson Quote: If we lived in Truth; if we spoke the Truth - then we could walk with God once again, and respect ourselves, and others, and the world. Then we might treat ourselves like people we cared for. We might strive to set the world straight. We might orient it toward Heaven, where we would want people we cared for to dwell, instead of Hell, where our resentment and hatred would eternally sentence everyone.

If we lived in Truth; if we spoke the Truth - then we could walk with God once again, and respect ourselves, and others, and the world. Then we might treat ourselves like people we cared for. We might strive to set the world straight. We might orient it toward Heaven, where we would want people we cared for to dwell, instead of Hell, where our resentment and hatred would eternally sentence everyone.

Jordan Peterson

Jordan Peterson Quote: It took untold generations to get you where you are. A little gratitude might be in order. If you're going to insist on bending the world to your way, you better have your reasons.

It took untold generations to get you where you are. A little gratitude might be in order. If you're going to insist on bending the world to your way, you better have your reasons.

Jordan Peterson

12 Rules for Life Quote: When you decide to learn about your faults, so that they can be rectified, you open a line of communication with the source of all revelatory thought. Maybe that’s the same thing as consulting your conscience. Maybe that’s the same thing, in some manner, as a discussion with God.

When you decide to learn about your faults, so that they can be rectified, you open a line of communication with the source of all revelatory thought. Maybe that’s the same thing as consulting your conscience. Maybe that’s the same thing, in some manner, as a discussion with God.

Jordan Peterson

Jordan Peterson Quote: It is far better to render Beings in your care competent than to protect them.

It is far better to render Beings in your care competent than to protect them.

Jordan Peterson

Jordan Peterson Quote: There’s some real utility in gratitude. It’s also good protection against the dangers of victimhood and resentment

There’s some real utility in gratitude. It’s also good protection against the dangers of victimhood and resentment.

Jordan Peterson

Jordan Peterson Quote: Ideologies are substitutes for true knowledge, and ideologues are always dangerous when they come to power, because a simple-minded I-know-it-all approach is no match for the complexity of existence.

Ideologies are substitutes for true knowledge, and ideologues are always dangerous when they come to power, because a simple-minded I-know-it-all approach is no match for the complexity of existence.

Jordan Peterson

12 Rules for Life Quote: To stand up straight with your shoulders back is to accept the terrible responsibility of life, with eyes wide open. It means deciding to voluntarily transform the chaos of potential into the realities of habitable order. It means adopting the burden of self-conscious vulnerability, and accepting the end of the unconscious paradise of childhood, where finitude and mortality are only dimly comprehended. It means willingly undertaking the sacrifices necessary to generate a productive and meaningful reality (it means acting to please God, in the ancient language)

To stand up straight with your shoulders back is to accept the terrible responsibility of life, with eyes wide open. It means deciding to voluntarily transform the chaos of potential into the realities of habitable order. It means adopting the burden of self-conscious vulnerability, and accepting the end of the unconscious paradise of childhood, where finitude and mortality are only dimly comprehended. It means willingly undertaking the sacrifices necessary to generate a productive and meaningful reality (it means acting to please God, in the ancient language)

Jordan Peterson

12 Rules for Life Info

Published: 16 January, 2018

12 Rules for Life is a non-fiction book written by the Canadian psychologist, lecturer and writer Jordan B Peterson.
The book mainly explores ethical topics concerning life derived from disciplines such as biology, psychology, literature, religion, myths, clinical experience and scientific research.

Read the whole book