“The trouble with being in the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat.”
― Lily Tomlin

“All those ants scurrying about like rats in a maze, going back and forth to the same few locations day after day, thinking the cheese they’re sniffing for will somehow magically appear on the routes they cover over and over again. They’re born into the programmed maze, so they can’t even conceive of a different way of life. Not only can’t they believe in a different way of life, but they’re programmed to scoff and ridicule the few freethinkers who do. After the ridiculing, they go back to their programming, pushing buttons and pulling levers for no reason. Ah, the good old rat race that never ends till cancer comes a knockin’.”
― Jasun Ether, The Beasts of Success

“I'm going to enjoy every second, and I'm going to know I'm enjoying it while I'm enjoying it. Most people don't live; they just race. They are trying to reach some goal far away on the horizon, and in the heat of the going they get so breathless and panting that they lose sight of the beautiful, tranquil country they are passing through; and then the first thing they know, they are old and worn out, and it doesn't make any difference whether they've reached the goal or not.”
― Jean Webster

“If money’s the god people worship, I’d rather go worship the devil instead.”
― Jess C Scott, Rockstar

“I am running and running, God knows where; God knows why?'

'Aren’t we all?”
― Abhaidev, The Gods Are Not Dead

“The only walls that exist are those you have placed in your mind. And whatever obstacles you conceive, exist only because you have forgotten what you have already achieved.”
― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem

“I am running and running, God knows where; God knows why?”
― Abhaidev, The Gods Are Not Dead

“I can do anything I want, I'm eccentric!”
― John Cleese

“Life is not a list of checkboxes that we have to tick off sequentially one after another. Got a degree? Tick. Booked a house under my name? Tick. Got married? Tick. Had Children? Tick. All this sound too cliché, too depressing. These are acts which people do under the influence of peer pressure, mimicking each other, and not willingly as a genuine choice of their own.”
― Abhaidev, That Thing About You

“Depression—which often culminates in burnout—follows from overexcited, overdriven, excessive self-reference that has assumed destructive traits. The exhausted, depressive achievement-subject grinds itself down, so to speak. It is tired, exhausted by itself, and at war with itself. Entirely incapable of stepping outward, of standing outside itself, of relying on the Other, on the world, it locks its jaws on itself; paradoxically, this leads the self to hollow and empty out. It wears itself out in a rat race it runs against itself.”
― Byung-Chul Han, Müdigkeitsgesellschaft

“[Poem: Slates of Grey]

Sullen faces like slates of grey—
What I’d seen on a walk today.

Bodies rushing bodies bolting
Time for life a disregarding.

Money to make and to grow old
What about the hands to hold?

Deadlines, projects, people to meet
What about our own two feet.

Sullen faces like slates of grey...
What I’d see most anyday.”
― Jess C Scott, Trouble

“I will not join the rat race because I'm not a rat. And I will not blindly follow a specific faith because I'm not a bat. The only race I'll take part in is for humans being humane. It's called the human race, and sadly it's got the least participants.”
― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem

“Children need time to become themselves--through play and social interaction. If you overwhelm a child with stuff--with choices and pseudochoices--before they are ready, they will only know one emotional gesture: More!”
― Kim John Payne, Simplicity Parenting: Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier, and More Secure Kids

“Give a man entertainment and comfort and watch him throw his dreams and ambitions away like they were nothing. This world is shallow and dictated by trends and what to buy next. Always more, always another thing. It’s a rat race, that’s all it is. A rat race to the grave, and the winner has the most in his
bank account and the most cybergenetic enhancements to get rid of what made him human!”
― Rhett Downing, Crocodile Tears

“The Daily Grind by Stewart Stafford

Crooked broker flashes teeth,
Cannibal flesh on their napkin,
The traffic jam zombie shuffle,
Stars, take me home quickly.

Follow the screaming off a cliff,
Panic echoes as the land recoils,
Sea spray whipping up at you fast,
Splash down into drowning lessons.

See a shark fin’s scything slash,
Fangs picked clean with a toothpick,
Dark eyes wander to exposed midriff,
Chomp, and all the problems cease.

© Stewart Stafford, 2023. All rights reserved.”
― Stewart Stafford

“A loan is often birthed to kill another.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“תודה לאל, שכבר אז נתן לי להבין, שמרוץ ההתקדמות לעולם לא ייפסק, ואם לא מחלקים את החיים למספר תקופות, כשבתחילת כל תקופה עושים קצת חושבים איך תיראה ומה אנו רוצים להשיג בסיומה, אזי רק רצים קדימה וקדימה, מנסים להגיע לפסגה שהולכת ומתרחקת ככל שמתקרבים אליה, במקום להנות מהטיפוס עצמו.
נראה לי, שאם היה בא לעולם הזה מישהו מבחוץ, איזה אורח אובייקטיבי מעולם אחר, הוא לבטח היה מקבל את הרושם שמטרת חיינו, הוויתנו, ופסגת אושרנו, היא לרוץ.
בכל אופן, מומלץ מדי פעם לעשות איזה עצירה, קצת לחשוב ולסכם רשמים, ואולי באותה הזדמנות גם להיזכר שאנו אמורים להינות מכל הסיפור הזה.”
― אילן הייטנר, חוכמת הבייגלה

“Quit the rat race, to lead your own.”
― Vikrmn: CA Vikram Verma, 10 GOLDEN Steps of Life

“Take a break, for you are not made to win this rat race. Try something different, something unique; something worth failing, worth falling.”
― Vikrmn: CA Vikram Verma, 10 GOLDEN Steps of Life

“The future many pursue is only a step ahead:
Get to work. Get to lunch. Get to the end of the day. Get to the weekend. Pay the bills.

When you’re engaged in short-term goals, [you're] like a hamster on a wheel: expending lots of energy, but not making progress.

To exit the rat race of [one-step-ahead] day-to-day mindset requires a shift in your focus. Begin thinking much bigger and further out. [Instead of asking yourself, "what am I doing after this task?" ask yourself:] Where could you be in five years?”
― Benjamin P. Hardy, Be Your Future Self Now: The Science of Intentional Transformation

“Without God, whose arms I was in, all of life was nothing more than a rat race to find pleasure, wealth, and approval from others. One glorious rat race, and then we’re gone. But I was not limited to an empty life like that anymore. I was His”
― Michael J Heil, Pursued: God’s relentless pursuit and a drug addict’s journey to finding purpose

“Having thousands of birds in the sky doesn't stop you from flying your kite.”
― Kolade.Emma

“One does not have to believe in Rousseau’s ‘noble savage’ to believe that man’s fall from grace came with city dwelling; it is common sense. Some cities might be prosperous and secure, with good land and a strong ruler; but they would be the exceptions. Most cities would be little more than large groups of human beings living together for convenience, like rats in a sewer.

The consequence is obvious. Man ceases to be an instinctive, simple creature. Whether he likes it or not, he has to become more calculating to survive. He also has to become, in a very special sense, more aggressive—not simply towards other men but towards the world. Before this time, there had only been small Neolithic communities, whose size was limited by their ability to produce food. If the population increased too fast, the weaker ones starved. It encouraged a passive, peaceful attitude towards life and nature. Big cities were more prosperous because men had pooled their resources, and because certain men could afford to become ‘specialists’—in metalwork, weaving, writing and so on. And there were many ways to keep yourself alive: labouring, trading or preying on other men. Unlike the Neolithic community, this was a world where enterprise counted for everything. It would be no exaggeration to say that the ‘rat race’ began in 4000 B.C.”
― Colin Wilson, The Occult

“In our race to show off our wealth, we are more like a rat on a wheel consuming material goods while trying
to keep up with the Jones family.”
― Christopher Manske, Outsmart the Money Magicians: Maximize Your Net Worth by Seeing Through the Most Powerful Illusions Performed by Wall Street and the IRS

“Anything that is taxed by the government, like a house or car, will forever require income to keep it in your life. This means that when we dream of living in a
fancy mansion with chandeliers, we’re really yearning to fill our life with additional cost and financial burden.”
― Christopher Manske, Outsmart the Money Magicians: Maximize Your Net Worth by Seeing Through the Most Powerful Illusions Performed by Wall Street and the IRS

“Money made by our own effort is limited by how
much time, energy, and attention we can give to a task along with what other people will pay for us to do that task. Making money in this firsthand fashion is hard on us because we run our own personal rat race.”
― Christopher Manske, Outsmart the Money Magicians: Maximize Your Net Worth by Seeing Through the Most Powerful Illusions Performed by Wall Street and the IRS

“Don’t increase your lifestyle until your passive income surpasses your active income. You’ll know you can and should buy that luxury item when the cost of keeping it is totally covered by your passive income. The
things you own (such as dividend-paying stocks, oil partnerships, and real estate investment trusts) should pay for the things you enjoy and consume.”
― Christopher Manske, Outsmart the Money Magicians: Maximize Your Net Worth by Seeing Through the Most Powerful Illusions Performed by Wall Street and the IRS

“Josh: There's no rush to figure it out.
Ashley: Do you back-burner everything in your life until it's convenient? .... You seem to me to epitomize the concept of putting everything off until tomorrow.
Josh: And you never put anything off. Maybe I'm just trying to lead you to a middle ground. The truth is, we tend to make our own chaos. Sure, the real world has deadlines, and they're important. But we turn everything into a "must do" crisis. Not everything needs to be done immediately. We can take the pressure off ourselves. We can choose not to participate in the rat race. All it takes is recognizing our own limits, prioritizing, and learning to say no.
It was just as he'd try to tell her: answers came as soon as a person stopped trying to force them.”
― Sherryl Woods (author)

“Josh: There's no rush to figure it out.
Ashley: Do you back-burner everything in your life until it's convenient? .... You seem to me to epitomize the concept of putting everything off until tomorrow.
Josh: And you never put anything off. Maybe I'm just trying to lead you to a middle ground. The truth is, we tend to make our own chaos. Sure, the real world has deadlines, and they're important. But we turn everything into a "must do" crisis. Not everything needs to be done immediately. We can take the pressure off ourselves. We can choose not to participate in the rat race. All it takes is recognizing our own limits, prioritizing, and learning to say no.
It was just as he'd try to tell her: answers came as soon as a person stopped trying to force them.
(From The Laws of Attraction)”
― Sherryl Woods (author), The Laws of Attraction

“The possibility of waking up from (or even in) the dream offers a glimmer of hope, a sense that there’s more to existence than this mundane rat race. It suggests that we’re not just NPCs, non-player characters in a preprogrammed reality—but that, instead, we’re capable of becoming truly conscious players with the power to shape our own destinies.”
― Sol Luckman, Get Out of Here Alive: Inner Alchemy & Immortality