- Be patient. No matter what.
- Don’t badmouth: Assign responsibility, never blame. Say nothing behind another’s back you’d be unwilling to say, in exactly the same tone and language, to his face.
- Never assume the motives of others are, to them, less noble than yours are to you.
- Expand your sense of the possible.
- Don’t trouble yourself with matters you truly cannot change.
- Expect no more of anyone than you yourself can deliver.
- Tolerate ambiguity.
- Laugh at yourself frequently.
- Concern yourself with what is right rather than whom is right.
- Never forget that, no matter how certain, you might be wrong.
- Give up blood sports.
- Remember that your life belongs to others as well. Do not endanger it frivolously. And never endanger the life of another.
- Never lie to anyone for any reason.
- Learn the needs of those around you and respect them.
- Avoid the pursuit of happiness. Seek to define your mission and pursue that.
- Reduce your use of the first personal pronoun.
- Praise at least as often as you disparage.
- Never let your errors pass without admission.
- Become less suspicious of joy.
- Understand humility.
- Forgive.
- Foster dignity.
- Live memorably.
- Love yourself.
- Endure.
I don’t expect the perfect attainment of these principles. However, I post them as a standard for my conduct as an adult. Should any of my friends or colleagues catch me violating any one of them, bust me.
John Perry Barlow
October 3, 1977
