THE FOUR AGREEMENTS
A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom
By Don Miguel Ruiz
Introduction
P. 4 “It was not your choice to speak English. You didn’t choose your religion or your moral values—they were already there before you were born.”
P. 6 “We train our children, whom we love so much, the same way that we train any domesticated animal.”
P. 7 “The rewards feels good, and we keep doing what others want us to do in order to get the reward.”
P. 12 “The human is the only animal on earth that pays a thousand times for the same mistake. The rest of the animals pay once for every mistake they make. But not us.”
P. 14 “Every human has his or her own personal dream and just like the society dream, it is often ruled by fear.”
P. 15 “All of humanity is searching for truth, justice, and beauty.”
P. 15 “We don’t see the truth because we are blind. What blinds us are all those false beliefs we have in our mind.”
P. 17 “Death is not the biggest fear we have; our biggest fear is taking the risk to be alive—the risk to be alive and express what we really are.”
P. 19 “The way we judge ourselves is the worst judge that ever existed.”
P. 20 “The more self-love we have, the less we will experience self-abuse.”
P. 22 “Each of us is born with certain amount of personal power that we rebuild every day after we rest.”
The First Agreement: Be Impeccable with Your Word
P. 27 “The word is so powerful that one word can change a life or destroy the lives of millions of people—your word can create the most beautiful dream, or your word can destroy everything around you.”
P. 28 “Every human is a magician, and we can either put a spell on someone with our words or we can release someone from a spell.”
P.32 “Being impeccable with your word is the correct use of your energy; It means to use your energy in the direction of truth and love for yourself.”
The Second Agreement: Don’t Take Anything Personally
P. 47 “Whatever happens around you, don’t take it personally.”
P. 48 “Nothing other people do is because of you. It is because of themselves.”
P. 52 “If you are not afraid, there is no way you will be jealous or sad.”
P. 55 “We have a choice whether or not to believe the voices we hear within our own minds, just as we have a choice of what to believe and agree with our dream for the planet.”
P. 58 “If someone is not treating you with love and respect, it is a gift if they walk away from you.”
P. 60 “You need to trust yourself to make responsible choices. You are never responsible for the actions of others; you are only responsible for you.”
The Third Agreement: Don’t Make Assumptions
P. 64 “All the sadness and drama you have lived in your life was rooted in making assumptions and taking things personally.”
P. 66 “Making assumptions in our relationship is really asking for problems.”
P. 70 “We do not need to justify love; it is there or not there.”
P. 70 “Real love is accepting other people the way they are without trying to change them.”
P. 71 “Find someone whom you don’t have to change at all. It is much easier to find someone who is already the way you want him/her to be, instead of trying to change that person.”
P. 72 “If you do not understand something, it is better for you to ask and be clear, instead of making an assumption.”
The Fourth Agreement: Always Do Your Best
P. 75 “Keep in mind that your best is never going to be the same from one moment to the next.”
P. 76 “Just do your best—in any circumstance in your life.”
P. 79 “Doing your best is taking the action because you love it, not because you’re expecting a reward.”
P. 83 “Whatever life takes away from you, let it go. When you surrender and let go of the past, you allow yourself to be fully alive in the moment.”
P. 84 “You are born with the right to be happy, to love, to enjoy and to share love.”
P. 84 “You can only be you when you do your best.”
P. 91 “Do not be concerned about the future; keep your attention on today, and stay in the present moment.”
Priyanka Uprety