Knocked my socks off, because you just don't find people who have made this kind of journey. This is a man who shows you how life should be lived. This is a man who knows where to fight and where to save, and why, and the book successfully teaches some of that. Sometimes the hardest things are the simplest. A few more like him and the world would have nothing to worry about. Thanks Eric for the book. Thanks for existing. The best book I’ve read about training Navy Seals. Maybe because Greitens was a Rhodes scholar and can actually write. I also believe in many of his philosophies.Favorite quotes: “Mother Teresa's missionaries were able to embrace people—complete with all sorts of weaknesses, failures, foibles, strengths, and faiths—and work with them wholeheartedly. The sisters lived their entire lives in faith, but to me, it seemed that they needed to whisper barely a word about their theology because the integrity of their work said everything. After spending time in a place of such care and love, I came to understand that when we see self-righteousness it is often an expression of self-doubt and self-hatred. In a place where people are able to accept themselves, love themselves, and know that they are loved, there is no need to criticize or compare, cajole or convince. The sisters concentrated, instead, on loving their neighbors.”“Alone, human beings can feel hunger. Alone, we can feel cold. Alone, we can feel pain. To feel poor, however, is something we do only in comparison to others.”“Bruce respected us, he respected the homeless men, and he believed if you respected someone, then you had to ask something of them. These men, be believed, should be involved in their own recovery.”“We live in a world marked by violence, and if we want to protect others, we sometimes have to be willing to fight. We all understand at the most basic level that caring requires strength as well as compassion."“What matters for the long-term health and vitality of people who have suffered is not what they are given, but what they do. Rather than simply giving aid to children, it make sense to support children, families, and communities that were already engaged in their own recovery.”“And a good life, a meaningful life, a life in which we can enjoy the world and live with purpose, can only be built if we do more than live for ourselves.”HELL WEEK“It began to teach the candidates that they could, that they had to, manage their fear and perform while under stress. Uncontrolled fear rots the mind and impairs the body."“Physical fitness mattered little without the mental fortitude to deal with fear."“Senior Chief Salazar was the epitome of an excellent trainer, apologetically demanding and relentlessly positive. ‘If you’re a real frogman, then every time a woman leaves your side, she’ll feel better about herself.”“Every man in the class had endured at least this much before, so it could not have been the physical pain that made them quit. No. They lost focus on what they had to do in the moment, and their fear of this monster –Hell Week - overwhelmed them like a giant wave that had crashed and washed away their sense of purpose.”“Hell week was a team evolution- only teams could survive – and he wasn’t yelling at me and Raines so much as he was letting the whole class know we better work together.”“My hardest moment was also the only moment in all of Hell Week when I was alone, focused on my own pain. It was the only moment when I began to think that things were unfair, when I started to feel sorry for myself.”“But the week does not transform you. While Hell week emphasizes teamwork and caring for your men, it does not necessarily produce good people. Hell Week tests the soul, it doesn’t clean it.”“This was not really “physical training” at all; it was spiritual training by physical means.”Afghanistan and Iraq“It’s relative advantage. The objective is to increase one’s options and reduce those of the adversary. The goal is less victory than persistent strategic progress.”“As Americans we often have a tendency to want to build thing in an effort to promote goodwill. We’d often be far better off investing in people.”“Suffering is a theme in Greek literature and philosophy. ‘Phronesis’ is the ability to figure out what to do, while at the same time knowing what is worth doing. ‘Phronesis’ allows soldiers to fight well and leaders to rule well, and, as Aristotle argues, it can only be obtained through experience.”“Hard decisions are best made by good people, and the best people can only be shaped by hard experience.”“Travis Manion Foundation, its motto being the famous saying, ‘If not me, then who?’ I though about that for myself.”“The Mission Continues, a non-profit. We’ve asked every wounded and disable veteran since then: we need you; how are you going to continue to serve?”
What do You think about The Hand And The Fist (2000)?
A great book about one man's struggle to become a courageous and selfless person.
—danny
One of the best books of it's type I've read. I liked it immensely!
—llave
what an amazing life Eric Greitens has lives. a must read.
—Sweetdog
Loved this book! What a life this guys has had!
—vicky
