Ask HN: What's Your Personal Motto?

90% of the time, nothing is the right thing to do

play hard, work harder.

I've always loved Søren Kierkegaard (especially Aesthetic)[0]:

Marry, and you will regret it; don’t marry, you will also regret it; marry or don’t marry, you will regret it either way.

Laugh at the world’s foolishness, you will regret it; weep over it, you will regret that too; laugh at the world’s foolishness or weep over it, you will regret both.

Believe a woman, you will regret it; believe her not, you will also regret it…

Hang yourself, you will regret it; do not hang yourself, and you will regret that too; hang yourself or don’t hang yourself, you’ll regret it either way;

whether you hang yourself or do not hang yourself, you will regret both. This, gentlemen, is the essence of all philosophy

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_S%C3%B8ren_Kierk...

[EDIT]

It looks I am being downvoted, so I am adding more details for those confused:

This is written from the point of view of the Aesthete, someone who lives entirely for pleasure. From the point of view of pleasure, each decision is a missed opportunity for a different kind of pleasure. You'll find some pleasure in marrying, but you'll miss out on some other pleasures by doing so. Due to this, every choice is meaningless and thus cause for regret.

Kierkegaard paints this as being very different from decisions made in the ethical realm. Once in the ethical, we choose based on certain principles, and those principles guide us to do what is right. In that scenario our choices become meaningful and we are no longer plagued with regret, for even if there was pleasure in the other option, we did what was good, and thus we are satisfied. The life of pleasure seeking is characterized by this kind of regret, for Kierkegaard, whereas he characterizes the ethical life as being made up of meaningful choice.

Do the right thing.

go where others won't; be kind when no-one's watching; be outside as much as possible; give away as much as is reasonable; no zero-days, ever

sucks as a motto but that's basically what i live by