Stoic Quotes JSON

quotes.json

{"quotes":[{"text":"We have two ears and one mouth, so we should listen more than we say.","author":"Zeno of Citium, as quoted by Diogenes Laërtius"},{"text":"Man conquers the world by conquering himself.","author":"Zeno of Citium"},{"text":"The goal of life is living in agreement with Nature.","author":"Zeno"},{"text":"if being is many, it must be both like and unlike, and this is impossible, for neither can the like be unlike, nor the unlike like","author":"Zeno"},{"text":"Well-being is attained little by little, and nevertheless is no little thing itself.","author":"Zeno of Citium"},{"text":"The reason why we have two ears and only one mouth is that we may listen the more and talk the less.","author":"Zeno"},{"text":"When a dog is tied to a cart, if it wants to follow, it is pulled and follows, making its spontaneous act coincide with necessity. But if the dog does not follow, it will be compelled in any case. So it is with men too: even if they don't want to, they will be compelled to follow what is destined.","author":"Zeno of Citium"},{"text":"We have two ears and one mouth, therefore we should listen twice as much as we speak.","author":"Zeno"},{"text":"All the good are friends of one another.","author":"Zeno of Citium"},{"text":"A friend is our alter ego.","author":"Zeno of Citium"},{"text":"Nothing is more hostile to a firm grasp on knowledge than self-deception.","author":"Zeno of Citium"},{"text":"He would stretch his arm out in from of his and show his open palm…and he would point to his hand and say “this is perception”. then he would SLIGHTLY close his fingers…just a little bit…so now he looks like Zeno with arthritis…and he points to his hand NOW and says “This is assent” you know.. agreement or belief in something. then he closes his fist tight and points to it and says “This is Comprehension”. Then he takes his other hand and grabs his fist…holding it closed and says “This is Knowledge.","author":"Zeno of Citium"},{"text":"We have two ears and one mouth, so we should listen more than we say.","author":"Zeno of Citium, as quoted by Diogenes Laërtius"},{"text":"Man conquers the world by conquering himself.","author":"Zeno of Citium"},{"text":"The goal of life is living in agreement with Nature.","author":"Zeno"},{"text":"if being is many, it must be both like and unlike, and this is impossible, for neither can the like be unlike, nor the unlike like","author":"Zeno"},{"text":"Well-being is attained little by little, and nevertheless is no little thing itself.","author":"Zeno of Citium"},{"text":"The reason why we have two ears and only one mouth is that we may listen the more and talk the less.","author":"Zeno"},{"text":"When a dog is tied to a cart, if it wants to follow, it is pulled and follows, making its spontaneous act coincide with necessity. But if the dog does not follow, it will be compelled in any case. So it is with men too: even if they don't want to, they will be compelled to follow what is destined.","author":"Zeno of Citium"},{"text":"We have two ears and one mouth, therefore we should listen twice as much as we speak.","author":"Zeno"},{"text":"All the good are friends of one another.","author":"Zeno of Citium"},{"text":"A friend is our alter ego.","author":"Zeno of Citium"},{"text":"Nothing is more hostile to a firm grasp on knowledge than self-deception.","author":"Zeno of Citium"},{"text":"He would stretch his arm out in from of his and show his open palm…and he would point to his hand and say “this is perception”. then he would SLIGHTLY close his fingers…just a little bit…so now he looks like Zeno with arthritis…and he points to his hand NOW and says “This is assent” you know.. agreement or belief in something. then he closes his fist tight and points to it and says “This is Comprehension”. Then he takes his other hand and grabs his fist…holding it closed and says “This is Knowledge.","author":"Zeno of Citium"},{"text":"Imagine smiling after a slap in the face. Then think of doing it twenty-four hours a day.","author":"Markus Zusak"},{"text":"If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Warriors should suffer their pain silently.","author":"Erin Hunter"},{"text":"It is the power of the mind to be unconquerable.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"Complaining does not work as a strategy. We all have finite time and energy. Any time we spend whining is unlikely to help us achieve our goals. And it won't make us happier.","author":"Randy Pausch"},{"text":"Until we have begun to go without them, we fail to realize how unnecessary many things are. We've been using them not because we needed them but because we had them.","author":"Lucius Annaeus Seneca"},{"text":"Life is such unutterable hell, solely because it is sometimes beautiful. If we could only be miserable all the time, if there could be no such things as love or beauty or faith or hope, if I could be absolutely certain that my love would never be returned: how much more simple life would be. One could plod through the Siberian salt mines of existence without being bothered about happiness. Unfortunately the happiness is there. There is always the chance (about eight hundred and fifty to one) that another heart will come to mine. I can't help hoping, and keeping faith, and loving beauty. Quite frequently I am not so miserable as it would be wise to be.","author":"T.H. White"},{"text":"People hide their truest nature. I understood that; I even applauded it. What sort of world would it be if people bled all over the sidewalks, if they wept under trees, smacked whomever they despised, kissed strangers, revealed themselves?","author":"Alice Hoffman"},{"text":"A Stoic is someone who transforms fear into prudence, pain into transformation, mistakes into initiation, and desire into undertaking.","author":"Taleb Nassim Nicholas"},{"text":"Remember, it is not enough to be hit or insulted to be harmed, you must believe that you are being harmed. If someone succeeds in provoking you, realize that your mind is complicit in the provocation. Which is why it is essential that we not respond impulsively to impressions; take a moment before reacting, and you will find it easier to maintain control.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Feeling too much is a hell of a lot better than feeling nothing.","author":"Nora Roberts"},{"text":"How do you defeat terrorism? Don’t be terrorized.","author":"Salman Rushdie"},{"text":"Why should we place Christ at the top and summit of the human race? Was he kinder, more forgiving, more self-sacrificing than  ? Was he wiser, did he meet death with more perfect calmness, than  ? Was he more patient, more charitable, than  ? Was he a greater philosopher, a deeper thinker, than  ? In what respect was he the superior of  ? Was he gentler than  , more universal than  ? Were his ideas of human rights and duties superior to those of  ? Did he express grander truths than  ? Was his mind subtler than  ’s? Was his brain equal to  ’s or  ’s? Was he grander in death – a sublimer martyr than  ? Was he in intelligence, in the force and beauty of expression, in breadth and scope of thought, in wealth of illustration, in aptness of comparison, in knowledge of the human brain and heart, of all passions, hopes and fears, the equal of  , the greatest of the human race?","author":"Robert G. Ingersoll"},{"text":"For what prevents us from saying that the happy life is to have a mind that is free, lofty, fearless and steadfast - a mind that is placed beyond the reach of fear, beyond the reach of desire, that counts virtue the only good, baseness the only evil, and all else but a worthless mass of things, which come and go without increasing or diminishing the highest good, and neither subtract any part from the happy life nor add any part to it? A man thus grounded must, whether he wills or not, necessarily be attended by constant cheerfulness and a joy that is deep and issues from deep within, since he finds delight in his own resources, and desires no joys greater than his inner joys.","author":"Lucius Annaeus Seneca"},{"text":"What do you know of my heart? What do you know of anything but your own suffering. For weeks, Marianne, I've had this pressing on me without being at liberty to speak of it to a single creature. It was forced on me by the very person whose prior claims ruined all my hope. I have endured her exultations again and again whilst knowing myself to be divided from Edward forever. Believe me, Marianne, had I not been bound to silence I could have provided proof enough of a broken heart, even for you.","author":"Jane Austen"},{"text":"Always resignation and acceptance. Always prudence and honour and duty. Elinor, where is your heart?","author":"Jane Austen"},{"text":"The things you think about determine the quality of your mind.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Misfortune nobly born is good fortune.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Regard [a friend] as loyal, and you will make him loyal.","author":"Lucius Annaeus Seneca"},{"text":"Limiting one’s desires actually helps to cure one of fear. ‘Cease to hope … and you will cease to fear.’ … Widely different [as fear and hope] are, the two of them march in unison like a prisoner and the escort he is handcuffed to. Fear keeps pace with hope … both belong to a mind in suspense, to a mind in a state of anxiety through looking into the future. Both are mainly due to projecting our thoughts far ahead of us instead of adapting ourselves to the present.","author":"Lucius Annaeus Seneca"},{"text":"You should … live in such a way that there is nothing which you could not as easily tell your enemy as keep to yourself.","author":"Lucius Annaeus Seneca"},{"text":"Nothing is burdensome if taken lightly, and nothing need arouse one's irritation so long as one doesn't make it bigger than it is by getting irritated.","author":"Lucius Annaeus Seneca"},{"text":"You know yourself what you are worth in your own eyes; and at what price you will sell yourself. For men sell themselves at various prices. This is why, when Florus was deliberating whether he should appear at Nero's shows, taking part in the performance himself, Agrippinus replied, 'Appear by all means.' And when Florus inquired, 'But why do not you appear?' he answered, 'Because I do not even consider the question.' For the man who has once stooped to consider such questions, and to reckon up the value of external things, is not far from forgetting what manner of man he is.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"What really frightens and dismays us is not external events themselves, but the way in which we think about them. It is not things that disturb us, but our interpretation of their significance.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"There will never come a time when I will be able to resist my emotions.","author":"Louise Erdrich"},{"text":"Think of your many years of procrastination; how the gods have repeatedly granted you further periods of grace, of which you have taken no advantage. It is time now to realise the nature of the universe to which you belong, and of that controlling Power whose offspring you are; and to understand that your time has a limit set to it. Use it, then, to advance your enlightenment; or it will be gone, and never in your power again.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"I hear my silence talked of in every lane; The suppression of a cry is itself a cry of pain.","author":"Darshan Singh"},{"text":"If you want to make progress, put up with being perceived as ignorant or naive in worldly matters, don't aspire to a reputation for sagacity. If you do impress others as somebody, don't altogether believe it. You have to realize, it isn't easy to keep your will in agreement with nature, as well as externals. Caring about the one inevitably means you are going to shortchange the other.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Remember to act always as if you were at a symposium. When the food or drink comes around, reach out and take some politely; if it passes you by don't try pulling it back. And if it has not reached you yet, don't let your desire run ahead of you, be patient until your turn comes. Adopt a similar attitude with regard to children, wife, wealth and status, and in time, you will be entitled to dine with the gods. Go further and decline these goods even when they are on offer and you will have a share in the gods' power as well as their company. That is how Diogenes, Heraclitus and philosophers like them came to be called, and considered, divine.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Hunger is by far the best spice.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Show by a cheerful look that you don't need the help or comfort of others. Standing up - not propped up.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"People seek retreats for themselves in the countryside by the seashore, in the hills, and you too have made it your habit to long for that above all else. But this is altogether unphilosophical, when it is possible for you to retreat into yourself whenever you please; for nowhere can one retreat into greater peace or freedom from care than within one’s own soul, especially when a person has such things within him that he merely has to look at them to recover from that moment perfect ease of mind (and by ease of mind I mean nothing other than having one’s mind in good order). So constantly grant yourself this retreat and so renew yourself; but keep within you concise and basic precepts that will be enough, at first encounter, to cleanse you from all distress and to send you back without discontent to the life to which you will return.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"We all die having lived a full life, even those who die while they are being born.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Anxiety is the shadow of what we do not want to lose.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"The triviality of a question does not make a profound answer an impossibility.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Being spiritually asleep has deceived the vast majority of people into thinking that poverty is a poor person’s main problem in life. To those who are spiritually awake, poverty is not even a problem.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"You can wear an expensive watch and still be late.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"A family member is initially loved out of expectation … and is eventually loved out of habit.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Life is the struggle of delaying death.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Happiness is sweet; its pursuit, bitter.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"We cannot be too young to die.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"You cannot really not care about what others think about you, yet care about whether or not they know that you do not care about what they think about you.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Some fools have children. Some have children who have children. And some have children who have children who have children.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Unless you are spiritually awakened, being happy requires you to ignore or forget other people’s suffering.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"It is not that we have so little time but that we lose so much… The life we receive is not short but we make it so","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"Show by a cheerful look that you don't need the help or comfort of others. Standing up - not propped up.","author":"Marcus Aruelius"},{"text":"Be like a headland: the Waves beat against it continuously, but it stands fast and around it the boiling water dies down.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Stoicism is a mild form of pessimism … sprinkled with optimism.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"One of the main goals and effects of stoicism is to stop an adult from being a crybaby.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"We all too often invite a lie by asking someone how he or she is doing.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"No one is too old to live another day, or too young to die today.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Only those who are stupid mind coming across as stupid.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"There is no correlation between how many people or things, how much money, or how many problems you have … and how grateful, happy, or peaceful you can be.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Pleasure and pain are often each other’s seed.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"To make life very pleasurable, expect nothing. To make it even more pleasurable than that, expect nothing … but the worst.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Sometimes we want not freedom of choice, but freedom from choice.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"A millionaire who is a minimalist feels and is a trillion times richer than billionaires who are not minimalists.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Complaining about a person is way less annoying when we complain to that person.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"We gain the highest degree of freedom when we lose the desire to live, and gain the second highest degree when we lose the desire to live as long as we possibly can.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Concern should drive us into action and not into a depression. No man is free who cannot control himself.","author":"Pythagoras"},{"text":"Our education system would be betraying its master, capitalism, if it taught us to be content with what we have. Or if it told us about the fruits of practicing minimalism.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"To complain about life is to complain about being alive.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"If you care about yourself at all, come to your own aid while there’s still time.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Some solutions are seeds of some problems.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"You can be too old to live, but not too young to die.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Marcus wept when he was told that his favorite tutor had passed away. We know that he cried one day in court, when he was overseeing a case and the attorney mentioned the countless souls who perished in the plague still ravaging Rome. We can imagine Marcus cried many other times. This was a man who was betrayed by one of his most trusted generals. This was a man who one day lost his wife of thirty-five years. This was a man who lost eight children, including all but one of his sons. Marcus didn’t weep because he was weak. He didn’t weep because he was un-Stoic. He cried because he was human. Because these very painful experiences made him sad. “Neither philosophy nor empire,” Antoninus said sympathetically as he let his son sob, “takes away natural feeling.” So Marcus Aurelius must have lost his temper on occasion, or he never would have had cause to write in his Meditations.","author":"Ryan Holiday"},{"text":"No parent should outlive their children. To lose eight of them? So young? It staggers the mind. “Unfair” does not even come close. It’s grotesque. How easily this could shatter a person, how easily and understandably it might cause them to toss away everything they ever believed, to hate a world that could be so cruel. Yet somehow we have Marcus Aurelius","author":"Ryan Holiday"},{"text":"We do not need to lose people or things to appreciate them.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Hating our opponent benefits us. Underestimating them benefits them.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"We each unwittingly contribute, each and every day, to the preventions and to the causes of millions of accidents.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"We do things for others for ourselves.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"We are good to others only because we think that that is, or will be, good for us.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"We must say nothing, when we have nothing to say.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"The best kind of pleasure comes from the indifference to pain … and pleasure.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"A wise answer is even more pleasing when it is a response to a foolish question.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Sometimes the only thing you can do is accept the fact that there is nothing you can do.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"It is foolish to expect a fool to act wisely.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Not everything that could have been done should have been done.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"What is happening is life’s way of telling us what should be happening.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Gluttony is nothing other than lack of self-control with respect to food, and human beings prefer food that is pleasant to food that is nutritious.","author":"Musonius Rufus"},{"text":"You cannot love what you have become, yet hate what you have overcome.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Learning how to live would take most people at least three lifetimes.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Our efforts do not owe us our desired outcomes.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Funerals greatly exaggerate the pleasantness of being alive, while they prevent us from thinking about the advantages of being dead.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Freedom of speech does not come with opinions worth listening to.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"It is joyful to see someone who is hopeful in a situation that is hopeless.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Some real kings are drama queens.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"We would rarely waste time if our existence were earned.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Saving money, when buying an unnecessary thing, leads to wasting time, when using the thing.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"For those who follow nature everything is easy and straightforward, whereas for those who fight against her life is just like rowing against the stream.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"We should not use philosophy like a herbal remedy, to be discarded when we're through. Rather, we must allow philosophy to remain with us, continually guarding our judgements throughout life, forming part of our daily regimen, like eating a nutritious diet or taking phisical exercise.","author":"Musonius Rufus"},{"text":"So the spirit must be trained to a realization and an acceptance of its lot. It must come to see that there is nothing fortune will shrink from[.]  There's no ground for resentment in all this. We've entered into a world in which these are the terms life is lived on – if you're satisfied with that, submit to them, if you're not, get out, whatever way you please.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"What good does it do you to go overseas, to move from city to city? If you really want to escape the things that harass you, what you're needing is not to be in a different place but to be a different person.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"[E]verything which went beyond our actual needs was just so much unnecessary weight, a burden to the man who had to carry it.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"In order to protect ourselves we must live like doctors and be continually treating ourselves with reason.","author":"Musonius Rufus"},{"text":"Ambition: The willingness to continually question and assess one’s acceptance and contentment with their place in life; conjunct with the willingness to take action should a resolvable discrepancy between one’s values and one’s current standing, present itself. By extension, an ambitious person is someone who has to the best of their abilities thoughtfully defined their values and continues on to do whatever is reasonably possible to fully embrace who they are in life.","author":"Yann Tanguay"},{"text":"[W]e can have the things we need for our ordinary purposes if we will only be content with what the earth has made available on its surface.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"The things that are essential are acquired with little bother; it is the luxuries that call for toil and effort.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"[W]hatever happens is never as serious as rumour makes it out to be.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"[T]he man who spends his time choosing one resort after another in a hunt for peace and quiet, will in every place he visits find something to prevent him from relaxing. The story is told that someone complained to Socrates that travelling abroad had never done him any good and received the reply: \"What else can you expect, seeing that you always take yourself along with you when you go abroad?‟","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"To lose someone you love is something you'll regard as the hardest of all blows to bear, while all the time this will be as silly as crying because the leaves fall from the beautiful trees that add to the charm of your home. [...] At one moment chance will carry off one of them, at another moment another; but the falling of the leaves is not difficult  to bear, since they grow again, and it is no more hard to bear the loss of those whom you love and regard as brightening your existence; for even if they do not grow again they are replaced. \"But their successors will never be quite the same.\" No, and neither will you.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"Many are the things that have caused terror during the night and been turned into matters of laughter with the coming of daylight.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"[A] man is wealthy if he has attuned himself to his restricted means and has made himself rich on little.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"People prone to every fault they denounce are walking advertisements of the uselessness of their training. That kind of man can be of no more help to me as an instructor than a steersman who is seasick in a storm[...]. What good to me is a vomiting and stupefied helmsman? [...] What is needed is a steering hand, not talking.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"Let me indicate here how men can prove that their words are their own: let them put their preaching into practice","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"All vices are at odds with nature.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"Zeno is our friend but truth is an even greater friend.","author":"Latin saying without author."},{"text":"Life is divided into three periods, past, present and future. Of these, the present is short, the future is doubtful, the past is certain. For this last is the one over which Fortune has lost her power, which cannot be brought back to anyone’s control. But this is what preoccupied people lose: for they have no time to look back at their past, and even if they did, it is not pleasant to recall activities they are ashamed of.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"Consider what intemperate lovers undergo for the sake of evil desires, and how much exertion others expend for the sake of making profit, and how much suffering those who are pursuing fame endure, and bear in mind that all of these people submit to all kinds of toil and hardship voluntarily. Is it then not monstrous that they for no honorable reward endure such things, while we for the sake of the ideal good - that is not only the avoidance of evil such as wrecks our lives, but also the acquisition of virtue, which we may call the provider of all goods -- are not ready to bear every hardship? And yet would not anyone admit how much better it is, in place of exerting oneself to win someone else's wife, to exert oneself the discipline of one's desires; in place of enduring hardships for the sake of money, the train oneself to want little; instead of giving oneself trouble about getting notoriety; instead of trying to find a way to injure an envied person, to enquire how not to envy anyone; and instead of slaving, as sycophants do, to win false friends, to undergo suffering in order to possess true friends? Since toil and hardship are a necessity for all, both for those who seek better and worse, it is preposterous that those pursuing the better are not much more eager in their efforts than those for whom there is small hope of reward for all their pains. ... It remains for me to say that who is unwilling to exert himself almost always convicts himself as unworthy of good, since all good is gained by toil.","author":"Musonius Rufus"},{"text":"Resent a thing by all means if it represents an injustice decreed against yourself personally; but if this same constraint is binding on the lowest and the highest alike, then make your peace again with destiny, the destiny that unravels all ties.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"More active and commendable still is the person who is waiting for the daylight and intercepts the first rays of the sun; shame on him who lies in bed dozing when the sun is high in the sky, whose waking hours commence in the middle of the day.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"[T]he man who lives extravagantly wants his manner of living to be on everybody's lips as long as he is alive. He thinks he is wasting his time if he is not being talked about.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"If you admit to having derived great pleasures, your duty is not to complain about what has been taken away but to be thankful for what you have been given.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"Один из главных принципов стоицизма состоит в умении различать вещи, которыми мы можем управлять и которыми — нет.","author":"Massimo Pigliucci"},{"text":"Но в действительности стоицизм — это не подавление или сокрытие эмоций, а их осознание, размышление об их причинах и умение направлять их себе на благо. Это понимание того, что находится под нашим контролем, а что — нет: следует сосредоточить усилия на первом, вместо того чтобы напрасно тратить их на второе.","author":"Massimo Pigliucci"},{"text":"Стоик стремится к добродетели, совершенству и живет по принципу: «Делать все настолько хорошо, насколько это возможно», он осознает моральный аспект всех своих действий.","author":"Massimo Pigliucci"},{"text":"Здоровье, образование и богатство считаются «предпочтительными безразличными вещами», стоики не пропагандировали аскетизм, многие из них не чурались жизненных благ и умели наслаждаться ими. Однако эти вещи не определяют нас как уникальных индивидуумов и не имеют ничего общего с нашей личностной ценностью, а она зависит исключительно от нашего характера и наших добродетелей.","author":"Massimo Pigliucci"},{"text":"Но в этом-то и состоит сила стоицизма: признание фундаментальной истины, что мы можем контролировать только свое поведение, но не его результаты (не говоря уже о результатах поведения других людей), дает нам способность невозмутимо принимать происходящее. Это происходит, потому что мы знаем: сделано все возможное и все зависящее от нас в данных обстоятельствах.","author":"Massimo Pigliucci"},{"text":"Но Эпиктет призывал мужественно смотреть в лицо реальности, а реальность такова, что все люди смертны и никто из них не принадлежит нам и не останется с нами навечно. [...] Признав эту реальность, мы понимаем, что должны наслаждаться любовью наших близких и общением с ними, когда это возможно, а не принимать их как должное: ведь неминуемо настанет день, когда «установленное время года» пройдет.","author":"Massimo Pigliucci"},{"text":"When you pursue wisdom, you will soon realize how much you don’t know. Your knowledge will be incomplete, but continually developing through your curiosity.  Arrogance blocks new information from coming in. When you’re conceited, you’ll resist change, and struggle to preserve your fixed image. Don’t fall into smug idleness, used to comfort. Challenge what you think you know, not caring if other people see you as a fool.  Progress daily in your own uncertainty.","author":"Bremer Acosta"},{"text":"Expectation is the only seed of disappointment.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"The first principle of practical Stoicism is this: we don’t react to events; we react to our judgments about them, and the judgments are up to us.","author":"Ward Farnsworth"},{"text":"In the first place, sensation (aisthesis) is a corporeal process which we have in common with animals, and in which the impression of an exterior object is transmitted to the soul. By means of this process, an image (phantasia) of the object is produced in the soul, or more precisely in the guiding part (hegemonikon) of the soul","author":"Pierre Hadot"},{"text":"You cannot continue to hate someone without repeatedly wasting, on them, some of your precious time and mental energy.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"It is way more pleasurable to master yourself than it is to masturbate.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"After failure, it is possible to keep going– and to fail better.","author":"Slavoj Žižek"},{"text":"Suffering adds spice to life.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"The fact that our minds are problem-solving machines says a lot about the nature of life.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Being in a hurry does not slow down time.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Meditation betters not only the mind but also the brain.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Most people have given back to life the power to make themselves happy.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Enlightenment does not mean making the most of bad situations. It means knowing that every situation is neither good nor bad.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Death is the release of an organism from the prison of life.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"At any given moment, it is a beautiful day in many parts of the world.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Our inability to imagine the length of the rest of existence magnifies our problems.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Suffering and happiness are not mutually exclusive.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"One man’s bad day is another man’s good night.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Even the worst that has ever happened to you could have been worse.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Life is a game we are all bound to lose.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Judgments are the only possible cause of unhappiness and happiness.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Within, the only place where it is created, is the very last place most pursuers of happiness are likely to go.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"The worst that can happen to anyone will happen to everyone.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Life takes from us only lives we were given by it.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"It is our natural and moral duty as consumers of other living things to someday die.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Not having expected an event makes it seem way better or worse than it really is.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"It is the human race, not the world, that desperately needs to be changed.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Når det kommer til stykket, er jeg ikke sikker på om De har moralsk rett til å blande dem i saken. Dessuten tror jeg fremdeles ikke det er noen fare på ferde. Etter min mening er det absurd å gå fra konseptene fordi om noen mennesker har fått lyst til å skifte ham. Det får bli deres egen sak. Det står enhver fritt for.","author":"Eugène Ionesco"},{"text":"If I did compress what I know and think about the spanish civil war into 6 lines you wouldn't print it. You wouldn't have the guts.","author":"George Orwell"},{"text":"The size of your problem is in your mind.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"It is a curse to be childish, but a blessing to be childlike.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"It takes selfishness to stop someone from killing themself.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"The ability to utter wise words is not exclusive to the wise.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"It is impossible to separate the art of living from the art of dying, because to be living is to be dying.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"A suicide attempt is an act of fighting for one’s death.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Being grateful for the shade of a tree is not nearly as honourable as planting a tree.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Being patient with a fool requires one not to be one.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Not complaining is sometimes a show off of tolerance or patience.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Slavery often masquerades as freedom.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"The person you are mad at for being late could be late.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"To live is to owe life to die.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Sunglasses are all too often used to hide shyness … or unhappiness.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Because of things such as arrogance, alcohol, and promiscuity, some people are each a legend in the unmaking.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"A thing named, misnamed, unnamed, or renamed is still itself.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"There is usually at least one person praying for a situation, or an outcome, that is the exact opposite of the one someone or some people are praying for.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"To give something or someone your attention is to give it or them a portion of your life.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Death is freedom from life.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Life sometimes shows kindheartedness by not handing us the success or fame we want, until we have matured enough to be able to handle it.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Unhappiness and the like often inspire us to perform random acts of unkindness.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Living is the outside of dying.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"A truth is not any less truthful, when it is said by someone who did not discover, or does not understand, it.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"A long life is a curse if you have a short temper.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"You have not yet reaped the sweetest fruits of meditation, if you still do not meditate only to meditate.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"You can look unhappy but feel the opposite. Or vice versa.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"It is humanly impossible to be unhappy while you are dancing or laughing willingly.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Some of the things we are trying to pray away were caused by some of our answered prayers.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"We prefer ourselves into unhappiness.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Pleasure is often felt through the tongue or genitals as an attempt to distract oneself from the pain one is feeling through the heart.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"To chase pleasure is to be chased by pain.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Arrogance gives confidence … a bad name.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Heartless’ is a label that is all too often wrongly given to someone who is rational by someone who is emotional.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"There is a correlation between how seriously we take life and how many problems it gives us.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Silence is often the wisest reply.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"An accident is often caused by an attempt to prevent one.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Some of those whose existence you wish could end now do not even know about your existence.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Happiness prefers to live inside those who do not have preferences, because it never gets evicted there.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Soon earth will cover us all. Then in time earth, too, will change; later, what issues from this change will itself in turn incessantly change, and so again will all that then takes its place, even unto the world's end. to let the mind dwell on these swiftly rolling billows of change and transformation is to know a contempt for all things mortal.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The curse of mortality is the other side of the coin of the blessing of life.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Some people who have been sentenced for life for crimes they did not commit are usually blissful, whereas many people who can go to any part of planet earth are usually miserable.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Let Nature make whatever use she pleases of matter, which is her own: lets us be cheerful and brave in the face of all, and consider that nothing of our own perishes. What is the duty of a good man? To offer himself to fate.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"We prefer our way into things such as regret, unhappiness, and anxiety.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"The vast majority of people make complaining seem to be a basic human need.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"And, just as it is harder to have good qualities when one is rich than when one is poor, it is harder to be a Stoic when one is wealthy, powerful, and respected than when one is destitute, miserable, and lonely.","author":"Nassim Nicholas Taleb"},{"text":"Seeing your loved one asleep is a great opportunity to practice seeing them dead.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"We are all capable of laughing at what is meant or expected to make us unhappy or angry.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"The wise willingly accept the unwillingness of the foolish to accept what is as part of what is.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"The degree of our happiness is not determined by (what we regard as) the source of our happiness.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Sleep is often a form of escapism.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"The same situation can either be perceived as a lead ball chained to your feet, or as wings growing out of your shoulder blades. How you interpret the challenge is crucial to your success of overcoming it. Ultimately, it's never the challenges that matter, but how you perceive them.","author":"Jonas Salzgeber "},{"text":"If you are pained by any external tiling, it is not this things that disturbs you, but your own judgment about it. And it is in your power to wipe out this judgment now\".","author":"Jonas Salzgeber"},{"text":"If you work at that which is before you, following right reason seriously, vigorously, calmly, without allowing anything else to distract you, but keeping your divine part pure, as if you should be bound to give it back immediately; if you hold to this, expecting nothing, fearing nothing, but satisfied with your present activity according to nature, and with heroic truth in every word and sound which you utter, you will live happy. And there is no-one who is able to prevent this.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Human beings are makers, usually of a mountain out of a molehill.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Stoicism is a logical philosophy.","author":"Ron Hall"},{"text":"Life is happening neither to nor for but through us.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Meditation can make an hour feel slightly longer … than a sneeze.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"The thing whose acquisition ‘made’ you happy need not be stolen, lost, or broken for ‘it’ to make you unhappy.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"If an adult has just moved as fast as a child, from crying to laughing, then it is either the laughter is fake, or they are being tickled.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Our deaths are not obliged to happen in the same order as our births.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"ANGER is calling to honour the needs that have gone IGNORED, UNMET, + UNSEEN.","author":"Me"},{"text":"Life sometimes delays giving us the thing we are forever praying or working hard for, until it has managed to show us that that thing is not that important, or important at all.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"To plan is to hope … without feeling passive.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"The vast majority of people are each a puppet that is forever pulled in this or that direction, or pushed into this or that action, by things such as public opinion and an emotion.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"A book can be read to you, not for you.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Time and money are almost always saved to be wasted.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Whoever then has knowledge of good things, would know how to love them; but how could one who cannot distinguish good things from evil and things indifferent from both have power to love?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"A child is one of the most common results of the lack or loss of self-control.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Appreciating what you have is the best cure for wanting what you have not.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"We are born old enough to die.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"The stoics divided philosophy into three branches: logic, physics, and ethics. Logic covered not only the rules of correct argumentation, but also grammar, linguistics, rhetorical theory, epistemology, and all the tools that might be needed to discover the truth of any matter. Physics was concerned with the nature of the world and the laws that govern it, and so included ontology and theology as well as what we would recognize as physics, astronomy, and cosmology. Ethics was concerned with how to achieve happiness, or how to live a fulfilled and flourishing life as a human being. A stoic sage was supposed to be fully expert in all three aspects.","author":"Robin Waterfield"},{"text":"Whenever an animal is overworking, a human is to blame.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"It is foolish to waste time in order to save money.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Alcohol is the worst thing to mix with anger.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Getting something or someone we want is often a guaranteed way to eventually stop us from wanting it, him, or her.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Sex for pleasure is chewing gum for genitals.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Having to make a difficult or important decision is sometimes more agonizing than not having a choice.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Wishing is usually an indirect way of feeling sorry for yourself.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Failing can ultimately be way more rewarding than succeeding.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Disappointment is an unwanted—but invited—guest.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Developing the extremely rare attitude of not minding how life is happening is a billion times better than prolonging your life, even if by a trillion years.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"There is a switch in the air tonight. It’s not suffocating, like breakups all those years ago, but clean and clear. He does not want me anymore so I tilt my head, take a breath and say, “Okay. I understand.” It’s calm now. My heart didn’t break, it kept on beating like a stoic marching forward without looking back, and I will be a writer now. I love so many people, still. I think I will write about them forever.","author":"Charlotte Eriksson"},{"text":"The mind, unconquered by violent passions, is a citadel, for a man has no fortress more impregnable in which to find refuge and remain safe forever.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"There is no correlation between the degree to which you are confident that you are right and the chances of you not being wrong.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Some people would be ashamed of driving the cars, or living in the houses, some people are showing off.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Our caring about what others think about us is one of the pillars of the economy.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"What does it mean to be getting an education? It means learning to apply natural preconceptions to particular cases as nature prescribes, and distinguishing what is in our power from what is not.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"We often mistake assuming or hoping for knowing.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"No, it is events that give rise to fear -- when another has the power over them or can prevent them, that person becomes able to inspire fear. How is the fortress destroyed? Not by iron or fire, but by judgments... here is where we must begin, and it is from this front that we must seize the fortress and throw out tyrants.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Take it to mind, not to heart.","author":"Nate Hamon"},{"text":"You have two essential tasks in life: to be a good person and to pursue the occupation that you love. Everything else is a waste of energy and a squandering of your potential.","author":"Ryan Holiday"},{"text":"It usually takes maturity in a child, and immaturity in an adult, not to be on speaking terms with someone.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"No man is good by chance. Virtue is something which must be learned.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"Don't just say you have read books. Show that through them you have learned to think better, to be a more discriminating and reflective person. Books are the training weights of the mind. They are very helpful, but it would be a bad mistake to suppose that one has made progress simply by having internalized their contents.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"A fool’s plans are entertainment for the wise.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"It is humbling to realize that what you hate (the most) about someone is actually what they love (the most) about themselves.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Some people get killed by water. Some die from dehydration.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"A true believer in God prays only to thank, never to ask; and welcomes, with open arms, every single thing that is happening.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Some people deny the existence of God in order to give themselves credit for their successes. Some accept His existence in order to deny responsibility for their failures.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Change is not always a bad thing: it sometimes takes the form of progress. And is not always a good thing: it sometimes takes the form of regress.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"For I am not everlasting, but a human being, a part of the whole as an hour is a part of the day. Like an hour I must come, and like an hour pass away.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Engineers can prove that a bumblebee, with its heavy body and little bitty wings, can't fly. But nobody tells the bumblebees ... and they fly just fine.","author":"Bill Bowerman"},{"text":"The universe is change, and life mere opinion.","author":"Democrates"},{"text":"Nothing can affect a person’s mind if he chooses not to be affected by it.","author":"Cave Man"},{"text":"We have, not problems, but negative attitudes towards some situations (towards which some people have or would have positive attitudes).","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Nobody is stopping you from using things such as your ability to read or hear as your definition of ‘success’ or ‘wealth’.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"The fact that we are all going to die prevents the vast majority of people from being driven insane by the fact that they are going to die.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"[...] so läßt der, welcher der Lust nachjagt, alles andere liegen, und die Freiheit ist das erste, was er preisgibt [...]","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"An emotion is a mild mental illness.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Usually, that which could have been better could have been worse.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Giving in to sleep is a great opportunity to practice letting go of life.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"What some people regard as an expression of freedom is actually that of slavery.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"At the crisis of my fever, I besought Hollingsworth to let nobody else enter the room, but continually to make me sensible of his own presence… then he should be the witness how courageously I would encounter the worst. It still impresses me almost a matter of regret, that I did not die then, when I had tolerably made up my mind to do it","author":"Nathaniel Hawthorne"},{"text":"Unless you learn your lesson, it will keep hurting. Not only it will never stop, it will also keep increasing the amount, so you won’t get used to it.","author":"Cave Man"},{"text":"Education almost always leaves stupidity intact.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Zu den herrlichsten Schätzen, die durch die Bemühungen anderer aus der Finsternis ans Licht gezogen sind, werden wir geführt; kein Zeitalter ist uns verschlossen, zu allen haben wir Zutritt [...] Die Zusammenfassung aller Zeiten macht ihm [/ihr] das Leben lang.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"All too often, a wise or free person is ridiculed, because of ignorance, by fools or slaves.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Escaping death is a temporary victory.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Perhaps I did not always love him so well as I do now. But in such cases as these, a good memory is unpardonable.","author":"Jane Austen"},{"text":"Some things do not make sense, not in themselves, but to some people.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"The fear of being poor or broke is a blessing, if you are a successful entrepreneur; but is a curse, if you want to be an entrepreneur.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Seeing that our birth involves the blending of these two things—the body, on the one hand, that we share with animals, and, on the other hand, rationality and intelligence, that we share with the gods—most of us incline to this former relationship, wretched and dead though it is, while only a few to the one that is divine and blessed.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"People often give us a piece of their mind with the intention to take away our peace of mind.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Remember that you must behave in life as at a dinner party. Is anything brought around to you? Put out your hand and take your share with moderation. Does it pass by you? Don’t stop it. Is it not yet come? Don’t stretch your desire towards it, but wait till it reaches you. Do this with regard to children, to a wife, to public posts, to riches, and you will eventually be a worthy partner of the feasts of the gods. And if you don’t even take the things which are set before you, but are able even to reject them, then you will not only be a partner at the feasts of the gods, but also of their empire.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Never call yourself a philosopher, nor talk a great deal among the unlearned about theorems, but act conformably to them. Thus, at an entertainment, don’t talk how persons ought to eat, but eat as you ought. For remember that in this manner Socrates also universally avoided all ostentation. And when persons came to him and desired to be recommended by him to philosophers, he took and recommended them, so well did he bear being overlooked. So that if ever any talk should happen among the unlearned concerning philosophic theorems, be you, for the most part, silent. For there is great danger in immediately throwing out what you have not digested. And, if anyone tells you that you know nothing, and you are not nettled at it, then you may be sure that you have begun your business. For sheep don’t throw up the grass to show the shepherds how much they have eaten; but, inwardly digesting their food, they outwardly produce wool and milk. Thus, therefore, do you likewise not show theorems to the unlearned, but the actions produced by them after they have been digested.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"The wise remind themselves that ‘This too shall pass’ even when things are good; the foolish, only when things are bad.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Happiness is an inevitable result of embracing, and unhappiness that of rejecting, what is.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"To some of us, these are the good old days in the making.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Hatred and love are equally enslaving.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Equanimity is often mistaken for depression.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"And if you want to know why all this running away cannot help you, the answer is simply this: you are running away in your own company.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"It takes, not cowardice, but courage to kill yourself.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Some people are a degree of impatience away from wishing a year were only a few weeks long.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Sometimes we are lucky to lose something or someone.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"For our happiness or unhappiness, we have only what we think about something or someone to thank or blame.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Life is 99 percent attitude. Yet for the majority of people, it is the remaining one percent that dominates 99 percent of their life.","author":"Bill Madden"},{"text":"why should I demand from fortune that she should give me this and that rather than demand from myself that I should not ask for them? why should I ask for them, after all? am I to pile them up in total forgetfulness of the frailty of human existence?","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"Philosophy is not an occupation of a popular nature, nor is it pursued for the sake of self-advertisement. Its concern is not with words, but with facts. It is not carried on with the object of passing the day in an entertaining sort of way and taking the boredom out of leisure. It moulds and builds the personality, orders one’s life, regulates one’s conduct, shows one what one should do and what one should leave undone, sits at the helm and keeps one on the correct course as one is tossed about in perilous seas. Without it no one can lead a life free of fear or worry. Every hour of the day countless situations arise that call for advice, and for that advice we have to look to philosophy.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"We cannot have, but can lose, everything.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"We sometimes learn, not from something, but from not having learned from it.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"The second best thing to not chasing success is chasing success that was defined by you, not for you.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"A man is as much a fool for shedding tears because he isn't going to be alive a thousand years from now.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"Истории о великих деяниях не только вдохновляют нас, не только будят в нас все лучшее и усиливают нашу веру в человека, но и напоминают о том, насколько проще и безопаснее стала сегодня жизнь для большинства из нас. Разве требуется так уж много мужества, чтобы противостоять боссу, который плохо обошелся с вашим коллегой? Худшее, что с вами может случиться, — это увольнение. Но ведь вас не будут пытать и не посадят в одиночную камеру, как Стокдейла, так неужели трудно вести себя достойно и честно в повседневной жизни? Если на то пошло, сохранить свою честь можно и не прибегая к жестокому самоубийству, как Катон. Только представьте, насколько лучше стал бы наш мир, если бы все мы каждый день проявляли чуть больше мужества, мудрости, умеренности и боролись против несправедливости.","author":"Massimo Pigliucci"},{"text":"A man’s wealth must be determined by the relation of his desires and expenditures to his income. If he feels rich on ten dollars, and has everything else he desires, he really is rich.","author":"John Davison Rockefeller"},{"text":"We make life even more painful by having expectations and preferences.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"When someone wrongs you, ask yourself: What made him do it? Once you understand his concept of good and evil, you'll feel sorry for him and cease to either be amazed or angry. If his concept is similar to yours, then you will be bound to forgive him since you would have acted as he did in similar circumstances. But if you do not share his ideas of good and evil, then you should find it even easier to overlook the wrongs of someone who is confused and in a moral muddle\".","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"How was your day?’ ought to be ‘How did you look at your day?","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Stoicism is Buddhism without the dogma.","author":"Bill Madden"},{"text":"The most common act of violence is the relentless mental violence we perpetrate upon ourselves with nothing other than our thoughts.","author":"Bill Madden"},{"text":"Our mind can be in heaven while our body is in hell. And vice versa.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"That you are about to bury or have just buried your loved one does not make you and your loved ones immortal for a while.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Love, unless it is for life as a whole, is contaminated by things such as our preferences and memories.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Patience is the antidote to the restless poison of the Ego. Without it we all become ego-maniacal bulls in china shops, destroying our future happiness as we blindly rush in where angels fear to tread. In these out-of-control moments, we bulldoze through the best possible outcomes for our lives, only to return to the scene of the crime later to cry over spilt milk.","author":"Anthon St. Maarten"},{"text":"To be everywhere is to be nowhere.","author":"Lucius Annaeus Seneca"},{"text":"Confronting the worst-case scenario saps it of much of its anxiety-inducing power. Happiness reached via positive thinking can be fleeting and brittle, negative visualization generates a vastly more dependable calm.","author":"Oliver Burkeman"},{"text":"Philosophy calls for simple living, not for doing penance, and the simple way of life need not be a crude one.","author":"Lucius Annaeus Seneca"},{"text":"What fortune has made yours is not your own.","author":"Lucius Annaeus Seneca"},{"text":"And here lies the essential between Stoicism and the modern-day 'cult of optimism.' For the Stoics, the ideal state of mind was tranquility, not the excitable cheer that positive thinkers usually seem to mean when they use the word, 'happiness.' And tranquility was to be achieved not by strenuously chasing after enjoyable experiences, but by cultivating a kind of calm indifference towards one's circumstances.","author":"Oliver Burkeman"},{"text":"It is a ridiculous thing for a man not to fly from his own badness, which is indeed possible, but to fly from other men's badness, which is impossible.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"I must fling myself down and writhe; I must strive with every piece of force I possess; I bruise and batter myself against the floor, the walls; I strain and sob and exhaust myself, and begin again, and exhaust myself again; but do I feel pain? Never. How can I feel pain? There is no place for it.","author":"Harry Houdini"},{"text":"There was no sign of Plato, and I was told later that he had gone to live in his  , where he was cheerfully submitting to his own  . [...] None of the Stoics were present. Rumour had it that they were still clambering up the steep hill of Virtue [...]. As for the Sceptics, it appeared that they were extremely anxious to get there, but still could not quite make up their minds whether or not the island really existed.","author":"Lucian of Samosata"},{"text":"Sometimes in life we must fight not only without fear, but also without hope.","author":"Alessandro Pertini"},{"text":"There is, I assure you, a medical art for the soul. It is philosophy, whose aid need not be sought, as in bodily diseases, from outside ourselves. We must endeavor with all our resources and all our strength to become capable of doctoring ourselves.","author":"Cicero"},{"text":"It is a great man that can treat his earthenware as if it was silver, and a man who treats his silver as if it was earthenware is no less great.","author":"Lucius Annaeus Seneca"},{"text":"The boon that could be given can be withdrawn.","author":"Lucius Annaeus Seneca"},{"text":"She (the First Lady, entering the room with her gravely wounded husband) would admit fear but not despair.","author":"Candice Millard"},{"text":"He is the kind of person I should expect to rescue one from a mad dog at any risk but then insist on a stoical indifference to the fright afterward.\" Jefferson Davis's future wife describing him at first meeting.","author":"Shelby Foote"},{"text":"Indeed this gentleman's stoicism was of that not uncommon kind, which enables a man to bear with exemplary fortitude the afflictions of his friends, but renders him, by way of counterpoise, rather selfish and sensitive in respect of any that happen to befall himself.","author":"Charles Dickens"},{"text":"He liked the English and their peculiarities. He liked their stoicism under pressure; on the wall in his factory he kept a copy of a war poster emblazoned with the Crown of King George and underneath the words “Keep Calm and Carry On.","author":"Natasha Solomons"},{"text":"The wife of a junior officer cooped up in a horrible canvas partition in steerage for five months wrote: \"I had enjoyed much peace there in the absence of every comfort, even of such as are now enjoyed in jail. I used to say that there were four privations in my situation - fire, water, earth and air. No fire to warm oneself on the coldest day, no water to drink but what was tainted, no earth to set the foot on, and scarcely any air to breathe. Yet, with all these miserable circumstances, we spent many a happy hour by candlelight in that wretched cabin whilst I sewed and he read the Bible to me.","author":"Stephen Taylor"},{"text":"In his numerous historical and Scriptural works   rejects all supernatural religion, and represents Christianity as a natural product of the mingling of the Stoic and Alexandrian philosophies...","author":"Joseph McCabe"},{"text":"Killing a person does not lead to nearly as much pain as creating a human being.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"We need not reply or even listen to people who are talking about—not to—us.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"All that exists is the seed of what will emerge from it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"An action is at least a billion times less difficult to choose than a reaction.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"The person you are mad at for being late could be dead.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"You cannot be blessed with the ability to be happy without being cursed with the ability to be unhappy.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Some things are made way more appealing than they are by our lack of them.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"We ought to be thankful not only for what we have but also for what we do not have.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"The happiest people are not those who have the most, but those who are the most grateful for what they have.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Even most of those whose wealth was not inherited or won often lose sleep over losing their wealth.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"We have never tried to do most of the things we are dead sure we cannot do.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"There is a correlation between how seriously we take life and the number of problems we have.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Feeling sorry for our bodies ought to be the closest we get to feeling sorry for ourselves.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Every habit and faculty is confirmed and strengthened by the corresponding actions, that of walking by walking, that of running by running. If you wish to be a good reader, read; if you wish to be a good writer, write. If you should give up reading for thirty days one after the other, and be engaged in something else, you will know what happens. So also if you lie in bed for ten days, get up and try to take a rather long walk, and you will see how wobbly your legs are. In general, therefore, if you want to do something, make a habit of it; if you want not to do something, refrain from doing it, and accustom yourself to something else instead.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"A blind man’s thoughts almost never have anything to do with the things he is facing.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Where you arrive does not matter as much as what sort of person you are when you arrive there.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"We ought not, therefore, to give over our hearts for good to any one part of the world. We should live with the conviction: 'I wasn‟t born for one particular corner: the whole world‟s my home country.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"We ought not, therefore, to give over our hearts for good to any one part of the world. We should live with the conviction: 'I wasn't born for one particular corner: the whole world's my home country.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"Men are of little worth. Their brief lives last a single day. They cannot hold elusive pleasure fast; It melts away. All laurels wither; all illusions fade; Hopes have been phantoms, shade on air-built shade, since time began.","author":"Sophocles"},{"text":"Some of the things we fear exist nowhere but where fear happens.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"The present isn’t more capable of causing mental pain than the past or the future.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"It is impossible to trip and fall while walking slowly.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Even the busiest bee does not move from one flower to another as often as an untamed mind moves from one thought to another.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Most people are like all stomachs: they cannot remain satisfied for a long time.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"[W]hat cause can there be for complaint, after all, in anything that was always bound to come to an end fading gradually away? What is troubling about that? [...] Moving to one's end through nature's own gentle process of dissolution - is there a better way of leaving life than that? Not because there is anything wrong with a sudden, violent departure, but because this gradual withdrawal is an easy route.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"We are more in control of how much we know than we are of how much we have.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Life is yet to produce someone who is loved by or important to everyone.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"They who always expect the worst are almost always pleasantly surprised.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"It would be foolish to be stoical all the time, you'd wear yourself out for nothing","author":"John-Paul Sartre"},{"text":"As things are, there is about wisdom a nobility and magnificence in the fact that she didn't just fall to a person's lot, that each man owes her to his own efforts, that one doesn't go to anyone other than oneself to find her.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"It is not the man who has too little that is poor, but the one who hankers after more.","author":"Lucius Annaeus Seneca"},{"text":"Life is such unutterable hell, solely because it is sometimes beautiful. If we could only be miserable all the time, if there could be no such things as love or beauty or faith or hope, if I could be absolutely certain that my love would never be returned: how much more simple life would be. One could plod through the Siberian salt mines of existence without being bothered about happiness.","author":"T.H. White"},{"text":"Nothing, to my way of thinking, is a better proof of a well ordered mind than a man’s ability to stop just where he is and pass some time in his own company.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"I have always swung back and forth between alienation and relatedness. As a child, I would run away from the beatings, from the obscene words, and always knew that if I could run far enough, then any leaf, any insect, any bird, any breeze could bring me to my true home. I knew I did not belong among people. Whatever they hated about me was a human thing; the nonhuman world has always loved me. I can't remember when it was otherwise. But I have been emotionally crippled by this. There is nothing romantic about being young and angry, or even about turning that anger into art. I go through the motions of living in society, but never feel a part of it. When my family threw me away, every human on earth did likewise.","author":"Wendy Rose"},{"text":"From the philosopher Catulus, never to be dismissive of a friend's accusation, even if it seems unreasonable, but to make every effort to restore the relationship to its normal condition.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Remember two things: i. that everything has always been the same, and keeps recurring, and it makes no difference whether you see the same things recur in a hundred years or two hundred, or in an infinite period; ii. that the longest-lived and those who will die soonest lose the same thing. The present is all that they can give up, since that is all you have, and what you do not have you cannot lose.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Stop wandering about! You aren't likely to read your own notebooks, or ancient histories, or the anthologies you've collected to enjoy in your old age. Get busy with life's purpose, toss aside empty hopes, get active in your own rescue-if you care for yourself at all-and do it while you can.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If what you have seems insufficient to you, then though you possess the world, you will yet be miserable.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"You need to avoid certain things in your train of thought: everything random, everything irrelevant. And certainly everything self-important or malicious. You need to get used to winnowing your thoughts, so that if someone says, \"What are your thinking about?\" you can respond at once (and truthfully) that you are thinking this or thinking that.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Today I escaped anxiety. Or no, I discarded it, because it was within me, in my own perceptions — not outside.","author":"Marcus Aurelius, Meditations"},{"text":"The first and most important field of philosophy is the application of principles such as “Do not lie.” Next come the proofs, such as why we should not lie. The third field supports and articulates the proofs, by asking, for example, “How does this prove it? What exactly is a proof, what is logical inference, what is contradiction, what is truth, what is falsehood?” Thus, the third field is necessary because of the second, and the second because of the first. The most important, though, the one that should occupy most of our time, is the first. But we do just the opposite. We are preoccupied with the third field and give that all our attention, passing the first by altogether. The result is that we lie – but have no difficulty proving why we shouldn’t.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Some people avoid thinking deeply in public, only because they are afraid of coming across as suicidal.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"My advice is really this: what we hear the philosophers saying and what we find in their writings should be applied in our pursuit of the happy life. We should hunt out the helpful pieces of teaching, and the spirited and noble-minded sayings which are capable of immediate practical application—not far-fetched or archaic expressions or extravagant metaphors and figures of speech—and learn them so well that words become works. No one to my mind lets humanity down quite so much as those who study philosophy as if it were a sort of commercial skill and then proceed to live in a quite different manner from the way they tell other people to live.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"Remember that all we have is “on loan” from Fortune, which can reclaim it without our permission—indeed, without even advance notice. Thus, we should love all our dear ones, but always with the thought that we have no promise that we may keep them forever—nay, no promise even that we may keep them for long.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"It is more necessary for the soul to be cured than the body; for it is better to die than to live badly.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"In your actions, don't procrastinate. In your conversations, don't confuse. In your thoughts, don't wander. In your soul, don't be passive or aggressive. In your life, don't be all about business.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"For death remembered should be like a mirror, Who tells us life’s but breath, to trust it error. ― William Shakespeare, Pericles. Act I, Scene i","author":"William Shakespeare"},{"text":"My boyfriends have all been as stoical as queen's guards. They'd been patient, committed, and dispassionate, and I'd had to really debase myself to extract any emotion, either grin or grimace, from them.","author":"Koren Zailckas"},{"text":"Thoroughly convinced of the impossibility of his own suit, a high resolve constrained him not to injure that of another. This is a lover's most stoical virtue, as the lack of it is a lover's most venial sin.","author":"Thomas Hardy"},{"text":"40. The gods either have power or they have not. If they have not, why pray to them? If they have, then instead of praying to be granted or spared such-and-such a thing, why not rather pray to be delivered from dreading it, or lusting for it, or grieving over it? Clearly, if they can help a man at all, they can help him in this way. You will say, perhaps, ‘But all that is something they have put in my own power.’ Then surely it were better to use your power and be a free man, than to hanker like a slave and a beggar for something that is not in your power. Besides, who told you the gods never lend their aid even towards things that do lie in our own power? Begin praying in this way, and you will see. Where another man prays ‘Grant that I may possess this woman,’ let your own prayer be, ‘Grant that I may not lust to possess her.’ Where he prays, ‘Grant me to be rid of such-and-such a one,’ you pray, ‘Take from me my desire to be rid of him.’ Where he begs, ‘Spare me the loss of my precious child,’ beg rather to be delivered from the terror of losing him. In short, give your petitions a turn in this direction, and see what comes.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Submission, when it is submission to the truth — and when the truth is known to be both beautiful and merciful — has nothing in common with fatalism or stoicism as these terms are understood in the Western tradition, because its motivation is different. According to Fakhr ad-Din ar-RazT, one of the great commentators upon the Quran: The worship of the eyes is weeping, the worship of the ears is listening, the worship of the tongue is praise, the worship of the hands is giving, the worship of the body is effort, the worship of the heart is fear and hope, and the worship of the spirit is surrender and satisfaction in Allah.","author":"Fakhr ad-Din ar-Razi, Gai Eaton"},{"text":"Here is your great soul—the man who has given himself over to Fate; on the other hand, that man is a weakling and a degenerate who struggles and maligns the order of the universe and would rather reform the gods than reform himself.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"Philosophy does not promise to secure anything external for man, otherwise it would be admitting something that lies beyond its proper subject-matter. For as the material of the carpenter is wood, and that of statuary bronze, so the subject-matter of the art of living is each person's own life.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"There was a lot of pretense floating around; not just with aunties and all that but with emotions and how people saw you. They had a point. There's a lot to learn from that generation -- the stoic approach. I think it's disgusting how they've been forgotten about in this way. It's the American hippies' fault, they saw an in there, a way of making money out of bad moods. That's all it is most of the time. You can't expect to feel cock-a-hoop every minute of every day. My mam and dad's generation understood this. They were just thankful the bombs had stopped threatening their lives. They just wanted to get on with living.","author":"Mark E. Smith"},{"text":"[A] resistance that dispenses with consolations is always stronger than one which relies on them.","author":"Perry Anderson"},{"text":"Common man's patience will bring him more happiness than common man's power.","author":"Amit Kalantri"},{"text":"he saw and recognised the visible and he sought his place in this world. He did not seek reality; his goal was not on any other side. The world was beautiful when looked at in this way - without any seeking, so simple, so childlike. The moon and stars were beautiful, the brook, the shore, the forest and rock, the goat and the golden beetle, the flower and butterfly were beautiful. It was beautiful and pleasant to go through the world like that, so childlike, so awakened, so concerned with the immediate, without any distrust.","author":"Hermann Hesse"},{"text":"For in this Case, we are not to give Credit to the Many, who say, that none ought to be educated but the Free; but rather to the Philosophers, who say, that the Well-educated alone are free.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"It is impossible to lose everything and still be alive.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"The sun appears to pour itself down, and indeed its light pours in all direction, but the stream does not run out. This pouring is linear extension: that is why its beams are called rays, because they radiate in extended lines. You can see what a ray is if you observe the sun's light entering a dark room through a narrow opening. It extends in a straight line and impacts, so to speak, on any solid body in its path which blocks passage through the air on the other side: it settles there and does not slip off or fall.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"When force of circumstance upsets your equanimity, lose no time in recovering your self-control, and do not remain out of tune longer than you can help. Habitual recurrence to the harmony will increase your mastery of it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The greatest obstacle to living is expectancy, which hangs upon tomorrow and loses today. You are arranging what is in Fortune's control and abandoning what lies in yours.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"When you run up against someone else’s shamelessness, ask yourself this: Is a world without shamelessness possible? No. Then don’t ask the impossible. There have to be shameless people in the world. This is one of them. The same for someone vicious or untrustworthy, or with any other defect. Remembering that the whole world class has to exist will make you more tolerant of its members.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Hour by hour resolve firmly to do what comes to hand with dignity, and with humanity, independence, and justice. Allow your mind freedom from all other considerations. This you can do, if you will approach each action as though it were your last, dismissing the desire to create an impression, the admiration of self, the discontent with your lot. See how little man needs to master, for his days to flow on in quietness and piety: he has but to observe these few counsels, and the gods will ask nothing more.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If you apply yourself to study you will avoid all boredom with life, you will not long for night because you are sick of daylight, you will be neither a burden to yourself nor useless to others, you will attract many to become your friends and the finest people will flock about you.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"Just as the earth that bears the man who tills and digs it, to bear those who speak ill of them, is a quality of the highest respect.","author":"Thiruvalluvar"},{"text":"And here lies the essential difference between Stoicism and the modern-day 'cult of optimism.' For the Stoics, the ideal state of mind was tranquility, not the excitable cheer that positive thinkers usually seem to mean when they use the word, 'happiness.' And tranquility was to be achieved not by strenuously chasing after enjoyable experiences, but by cultivating a kind of calm indifference towards one's circumstances.","author":"Oliver Burkeman"},{"text":"If all emotions are common coin, then what is unique to the good man? To welcome with affection what is sent by fate. Not to stain or disturb the spirit within him with a mess of false beliefs. Instead, to preserve it faithfully, by calmly obeying God – saying nothing untrue, doing nothing unjust. And if the others don’t acknowledge it – this life lived in simplicity, humility, cheerfulness – he doesn’t resent them for it, and isn’t deterred from following the road where it leads: to the end of life. An end to be approached in purity, in serenity, in acceptance, in peaceful unity with what must be.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Why be concerned about others, come to that, when you've outdone your own self? Set yourself a limit which you couldn't even exceed if you wanted to, and say good-bye at last to those deceptive prizes more precious to those who hope for them than to those who have won them. If there were anything substantial in them they would sooner or later bring a sense of fullness; as it is they simply aggravate the thirst of those who swallow them.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"Love sometimes injures. Friendship always benefits, After friendship is formed you must trust, but before that you must judge.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"It does good also to take walks out of doors, that our spirits may be raised and refreshed by the open air and fresh breeze: sometimes we gain strength by driving in a carriage, by travel, by change of air, or by social meals and a more generous allowance of wine.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"Oh, dear me!\" he lamented. \"The raft has floated off and I suppose it's gone down that awful hole by now.\" \"Well, never mind. We're not on it,\" said Snufkin gaily. \"What's a kettle here or there when you're out looking for a comet!","author":"Tove Jansson"},{"text":"Someone has to be stoic, for the sake of, in spite of, and in the face of all those who are, not. Someone, has to be serious.  Someone has to choose to forgo choice, so that there is an option left for others to consider. Everyone can't be, someone.","author":"Justin K. McFarlane Beau"},{"text":"So the life of a philosopher extends widely: he is not confined by the same boundary as are others. He alone is free from the laws that limit the human race, and all ages serve him as though he were a god.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"I fail to remember ever having made an effort — no trace of struggle is detectable in my life, I am the opposite of a heroic nature. To “want” something, to “strive” for something, to have an “end,” a “desire” in mind — I know none of this from my experience. Even at this moment I look out upon my future — a broad future! — as upon a smooth sea: no desire ripples upon it. Not in the least do I want anything to be different from what it is; I myself do not want to be any different ... But thus I have always lived.","author":"Friedrich Nietzsche"},{"text":"A properly educated leader, especially when harassed and under pressure, will know from his study of history and the classics that circumstances very much like those he is encountering have occurred from time to time on this earth since the beginning of history. He will avoid the self-indulgent error of seeing himself in a predicament so unprecedented, so unique, as to justify his making an exception to law, custom or morality in favor of himself. The making of such exceptions has been the theme of public life throughout much of our lifetimes. For twenty years, we've been surrounded by gamesmen unable to cope with the wisdom of the ages. They make exceptions to law and custom in favor of themselves because they choose to view ordinary dilemmas as unprecedented crises.","author":"James B. Stockdale"},{"text":"Even the least of our activities ought to have some end in view.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"To want to know more than is sufficient is a form of intemperance. Apart from which this kind of obsession with the liberal arts turns people into pedantic, irritating, tactless, self-satisfied bores, not learning what they need simply because they spend their time learning things they will never need. The scholar Didymus wrote four thousand works: I should feel sorry him if he had merely read so many useless works.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"[Philosophers] have come to envy the philologist and the mathematician, and they have taken over all the inessential elements in those studies—with the result that they know more about devoting care and attention to their speech than about devoting such attention to their lives.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"Love sometimes injures. Friendship always benefits","author":"Seneca the Younger"},{"text":"No malgastes lo que te queda de vida en conjeturar sobre los demás, a no ser que busques el bien común; pues si te dedicas a imaginar qué hace la gente, por qué, qué dice, que piensa, qué trama, y cosas parecidas, dejarás de observar tu propia conciencia interior.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"I smile to catch the piranhas from swimming out of my mouth.","author":"Evan Mariah Pettit"},{"text":"But Moominmamma was quite unperturbed.  \"Well, well!\" she said, \"it seems to me that our guests are having a very good time.\" \"I hope so,\" replied Moominpappa. \"Pass me a banana, please dear.","author":"Tove Jansson"},{"text":"These...xistential qualms you suffer, they just mean you're truly human. I aked how I might remedy them. \"You don´t remedy them. You live thru them.","author":"David Mitchell"},{"text":"During the Great Depression, the philosophy of grin-and-bear-it became a national coping mechanism.","author":"Maureen Corrigan"},{"text":"Fourteen years without a mother had me believe I could be stoic when I finally met her.","author":"Maria V. Snyder"},{"text":"Quamquam scripsit artem rhetorieam Cleanthes, Chrysippus etiam, sed sic, ut si quis obmutescere concupierit, nihil aliud legere debeat.","author":"Cícero"},{"text":"The Greeks not only face facts. They have no desire to escape from them.","author":"Edith Hamilton"},{"text":"In Tsurani culture, forgiveness was simply a less shameful form of weakness than capitulation.","author":"Raymond E. Feist"},{"text":"Emilio was certainly within his rights not to reveal the sordid details of his childhood even to his friends. Or perhaps especially to his friends, whose good opinion of him, he might feel, would not survive the revelations.","author":"Mary Doria Russell"},{"text":"I've come to the point where I never feel the need to stop and evaluate whether or not I am happy. I'm just 'being', and without question, by default, it works.","author":"Criss Jami"},{"text":"Maximum remedium est irae mora.","author":"Lucius Annaeus Seneca"},{"text":"Il ne fait aucun doute pour moi que la sagesse est le but principal de la vie et c'est pourquoi je reviens toujours aux stoïciens. Ils ont atteint la sagesse, on ne peut donc plus les appeler des philosophes au sens propre du terme. De mon point de vue, la sagesse est le terme naturel de la philosophie, sa fin dans les deux sens du mot. Une philosophie finit en sagesse et par là même disparaît.","author":"Emil Cioran"},{"text":"All Hellenistic schools seem to define [wisdom] in approximately the same terms: first and foremost, as a state of perfect peace of mind. From this viewpoint, philosophy appears as a remedy for human worries, anguish, and misery brought about, for the Cynics, by social constraints and conventions; for the Epicureans, by the quest for false pleasures; for the Stoics, by the pursuit of pleasure and egoistic self-interest; and for the Skeptics, by false opinions. Whether or not they laid claim to the Socratic heritage, all Hellenistic philosophers agreed with Socrates that human beings are plunged in misery, anguish, and evil because they exist in ignorance. Evil is to be found not within things, but in the value judgments with people bring to bear   things. People can therefore be cured of their ills only if they are persuaded to change their value judgments, and in this sense all these philosophies wanted to be therapeutic.","author":"Pierre Hadot"},{"text":"To the wise, peace of mind is the result of being fine with how things are; to the foolish, the result of things being fine.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"It takes a great degree of tolerance, and that of humility, to strongly disagree with someone, and not express your disagreement.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"It takes the whole of life to learn how to live... it takes the whole of life to learn how to die.","author":"Lucius Seneca"},{"text":"He never exhibited rudeness, lost control of himself, or turned violent. No one ever saw him sweat. Everything was to be approached logically and with due consideration, in a calm and orderly fashion but decisively, and with no loose ends.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The world is maintained by change- in the elements and in the things they compose. That should be enough for you; treat it as an axiom.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"There is a limit to the time assigned to you, and if you don't use it to free yourself it will be gone and will never return.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"What is divine deserves our respect because it is good; what is human deserves our affection because it is like us. And our pity too, sometimes, for its inability to tell good from bad- as terrible a blindness as the kind that can't tell white from black.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Don't waste the rest of your time here worrying about other people- unless it affects the common good. It will keep you from doing anything useful.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Each of us lives only now, this brief instant. The rest has been lived already, or is impossible to see.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"It was for the best. So Nature had no choice but to do it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Does anything genuinely beautiful need supplementing? No more than justice does- or truth, or kindness, or humility. Are any of those improved by being praised? Or damaged by contempt? Is an emerald suddenly flawed if no one admires it?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"So there are two reasons to embrace what happens. One is that it's happening to you. It was prescribed for you, and it pertains to you. The thread was spun long ago, by the oldest cause of all.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"But true good fortune is what you make for yourself. Good fortune: good character, good intentions, and good actions.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Today I escaped from anxiety. Or no, I discarded it, because it was within me, in my own perceptions- not outside.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"When faced with people's bad behavior, turn around and ask when you have acted like that. When you saw money as a good, or pleasure, or social position. Your anger will subside as soon as you recognize that they acted under compulsion (what else could they do?)","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"That kindness is invincible, provided it's sincere- not ironic or an act. What can even the most vicious person do if you keep treating him with kindness and gently set him straight","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"When you start to lose your temper, remember: There's nothing manly about rage. It's courtesy and kindness that define a human being- and a man. That's who possesses strength and nerves and guts, not the angry whiners.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"We almost never teach or learn when arguing.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"He who has more money or possessions than you is not necessarily happier than you, happy more often than you, or happy like you.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Intelligent people question everything. Stupid people answer every question.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Most people would rather believe something that is not true about something than accept the fact that they do not understand a thing about that thing.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Most people want more than they have without having made the most of what they have.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"That we can change the shadow of an object without changing the object (by changing the position of the source of light) reminds us that we can change how we feel about a situation or person by changing only how we look at it or them.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"It is a humbling practice to make a mental note whenever your assumption turns out to be wrong.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"We live life passively whenever we are not practicing mindfulness.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Ideally, a Stoic will be oblivious to the services he does for others, as oblivious as a grapevine is when it yields a cluster of grapes to a vintner. He will not pause to boast about the service he has performed but will move on to perform his next service, the way the grape vine moves on to bear more grapes.","author":"William B. Irvine"},{"text":"A truth whispered is not less truthful. And an untruth shouted is not less untruthful.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Some people are lucky to no longer be, and some are unlucky to still be, alive.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Some of our problems came to us; some, we went to them.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Destroying your mirrors leaves your facial blemishes intact.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"For some reason, there is this façade that life should be full of happiness and without its suffering. Which, actually makes us suffer even more. Because when we get sad or something bad happens, we do not only feel bad about the thing itself but we also feel bad because our life is not the way it is supposed to be. Not realizing suffering and sadness is just a part of life and they are inevitable.","author":"Cave Man"},{"text":"You can be invincible, if you enter into no contest in which it is not in your power to conquer.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"The problem with pleasure is that it needs to be intermittent in order to retain its pleasantness.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"It is foolish to give up on yourself. And doubly so to do that before everyone has given up on you.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Fools refuse to truly believe that a thing can be both delicious or pleasurable … and harmful.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"99.99% of fools deny their foolishness. The rest underestimate it.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"When conversing, some people regularly stop talking, not to listen, but to rest their tongues.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"You are indeed a man of sorrows and have suffered much...pray be seated now, here on this chair, and let us leave our sorrows, bitter though they are, locked up in our own hearts, for weeping is cold comfort and does little good.","author":"Homer"},{"text":"Let death and exile and every other thing which appears dreadful be daily before your eyes; but most of all death: and you will never think of anything mean nor will you desire anything extravagantly.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"However one may interpret this culturally, the upshot is the same: people carry within them a great number of wishes to which they react passively and which they hide. Stoicism, in our day, is not strength to overcome wishes, but to hide them. To a patient who, let us say, is interminably rationalizing and justifying this and that, balancing one thing against another as though life were a tremendous market place where all the business is done on paper and tickertape and there are never any  , I sometimes have the inclination in psychotherapy to shout out, “Don't you ever   anything?” But I don't cry out, for it is not difficult to see that on some level the patient does want a good deal; the trouble is he has formulated and reformulated it, until it is the “rattling of dry bones,” as Eliot puts it. Tendencies have become endemic in our culture for our denial of wishes to be rationalized and accepted with the belief that this denial of the wish will result in its being fulfilled. And whether the reader would disagree with me on this or that detail, our psychological problem is the same: it is necessary for us to help the patient achieve some emotional viability and honesty by bringing out his wishes and his capacity to wish. This is not the end of therapy but it is an essential starting point.","author":"Rollo May"},{"text":"Destroying your mirrors hides your ugliness or facial blemishes from only you.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Some of the people who we think care that we hate them do not even care that there are people who love them.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Sometimes you find yourself so grateful that a prayer of yours was not answered that you pray that it be ignored. Just in case it is on the waiting list of prayers to be answered.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"A desired thing often comes with seeds of at least one desire.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"How does a person deal with all the heartache and tragedy that fills their life without becoming insane or committing suicide?","author":"Kilroy J Oldster"},{"text":"When you are unhappy, happy people are disgusting.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Sometimes silence is a sign, not of not knowing what to say, but of knowing when to say what you know.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"All these philosophies [Stoicism,Epicureanism, Pyrronism] have a common failing. They imagine life can be ordered by human reason. Either the mind can devise a way of life that is secure from loss ,or else it can control the emotions so that it can withstand any loss. In fact ,neither how we live nor the emotions we feel can be controlled in this way. Our lives are shaped by chance and our emotions by the body.Much of human life -and much of philosophy - is an attempt to divert ourselves from this fact.","author":"John N. Gray"},{"text":"Rubaiyat Revină-n glasul meu persanul vers Spre a ne aminti că timpul-i un divers Mod de-a urzi avide visuri vane, În taine risipite-n univers. Din nou să spună că țărână-i focul, Țărână-i trupul, și că asta-i jocul: Viața mea și-a ta sunt râu ce curge Necontenit și repede-n tot locul.  Și că impunătorul monument Zidit cu trudă, din trufie, lent, Un vânt fugar e numai, că-n lumina Lui Dumnezeu un veac e un moment. ... Te rog, persană lună, să revii, Și voi, incerte-apusuri aurii. Azi e ieri. Nu ește decât ceilalți. Tărână-i chipul lor. Cu morții-învii.","author":"Jorges Luis Borges"},{"text":"...but if you think that only which is your own to be your own, and if you think that what is another’s, as it really is, belongs to another, no man will ever compel you, no man will hinder you, you will never blame any man, you will accuse no man, you will do nothing involuntarily (against your will), no man will harm you, you will have no enemy, for you will not suffer any harm.","author":"Epicetus"},{"text":"When you are alone, you should call this tranquility and freedom and when you are with many you shouldn’t call this a crowd, or trouble or uneasiness but festival and company and contentedly accept it.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Poverty is greatly exaggerated by sanity.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"We get a taste of death, not when we’re asleep, but when we awake.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Like great ecologists, great pessimists make us see the beauty of death.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"We subconsciously wish that all of the things we hate but our enemies love were harmful.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Admitting that their child is, or can be, more educated than them is the closest most parents are willing to get to admitting that their child is, or can be, smarter or wiser than them.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Imagine smiling after a slap in the face. Then think of doing it twenty-four hours a day.","author":"Markus Zusak"},{"text":"If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Warriors should suffer their pain silently.","author":"Erin Hunter"},{"text":"It is the power of the mind to be unconquerable.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"Complaining does not work as a strategy. We all have finite time and energy. Any time we spend whining is unlikely to help us achieve our goals. And it won't make us happier.","author":"Randy Pausch"},{"text":"Until we have begun to go without them, we fail to realize how unnecessary many things are. We've been using them not because we needed them but because we had them.","author":"Lucius Annaeus Seneca"},{"text":"Life is such unutterable hell, solely because it is sometimes beautiful. If we could only be miserable all the time, if there could be no such things as love or beauty or faith or hope, if I could be absolutely certain that my love would never be returned: how much more simple life would be. One could plod through the Siberian salt mines of existence without being bothered about happiness. Unfortunately the happiness is there. There is always the chance (about eight hundred and fifty to one) that another heart will come to mine. I can't help hoping, and keeping faith, and loving beauty. Quite frequently I am not so miserable as it would be wise to be.","author":"T.H. White"},{"text":"People hide their truest nature. I understood that; I even applauded it. What sort of world would it be if people bled all over the sidewalks, if they wept under trees, smacked whomever they despised, kissed strangers, revealed themselves?","author":"Alice Hoffman"},{"text":"A Stoic is someone who transforms fear into prudence, pain into transformation, mistakes into initiation, and desire into undertaking.","author":"Taleb Nassim Nicholas"},{"text":"Remember, it is not enough to be hit or insulted to be harmed, you must believe that you are being harmed. If someone succeeds in provoking you, realize that your mind is complicit in the provocation. Which is why it is essential that we not respond impulsively to impressions; take a moment before reacting, and you will find it easier to maintain control.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Feeling too much is a hell of a lot better than feeling nothing.","author":"Nora Roberts"},{"text":"How do you defeat terrorism? Don’t be terrorized.","author":"Salman Rushdie"},{"text":"Why should we place Christ at the top and summit of the human race? Was he kinder, more forgiving, more self-sacrificing than  ? Was he wiser, did he meet death with more perfect calmness, than  ? Was he more patient, more charitable, than  ? Was he a greater philosopher, a deeper thinker, than  ? In what respect was he the superior of  ? Was he gentler than  , more universal than  ? Were his ideas of human rights and duties superior to those of  ? Did he express grander truths than  ? Was his mind subtler than  ’s? Was his brain equal to  ’s or  ’s? Was he grander in death – a sublimer martyr than  ? Was he in intelligence, in the force and beauty of expression, in breadth and scope of thought, in wealth of illustration, in aptness of comparison, in knowledge of the human brain and heart, of all passions, hopes and fears, the equal of  , the greatest of the human race?","author":"Robert G. Ingersoll"},{"text":"For what prevents us from saying that the happy life is to have a mind that is free, lofty, fearless and steadfast - a mind that is placed beyond the reach of fear, beyond the reach of desire, that counts virtue the only good, baseness the only evil, and all else but a worthless mass of things, which come and go without increasing or diminishing the highest good, and neither subtract any part from the happy life nor add any part to it? A man thus grounded must, whether he wills or not, necessarily be attended by constant cheerfulness and a joy that is deep and issues from deep within, since he finds delight in his own resources, and desires no joys greater than his inner joys.","author":"Lucius Annaeus Seneca"},{"text":"What do you know of my heart? What do you know of anything but your own suffering. For weeks, Marianne, I've had this pressing on me without being at liberty to speak of it to a single creature. It was forced on me by the very person whose prior claims ruined all my hope. I have endured her exultations again and again whilst knowing myself to be divided from Edward forever. Believe me, Marianne, had I not been bound to silence I could have provided proof enough of a broken heart, even for you.","author":"Jane Austen"},{"text":"Always resignation and acceptance. Always prudence and honour and duty. Elinor, where is your heart?","author":"Jane Austen"},{"text":"The things you think about determine the quality of your mind.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Misfortune nobly born is good fortune.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Regard [a friend] as loyal, and you will make him loyal.","author":"Lucius Annaeus Seneca"},{"text":"Limiting one’s desires actually helps to cure one of fear. ‘Cease to hope … and you will cease to fear.’ … Widely different [as fear and hope] are, the two of them march in unison like a prisoner and the escort he is handcuffed to. Fear keeps pace with hope … both belong to a mind in suspense, to a mind in a state of anxiety through looking into the future. Both are mainly due to projecting our thoughts far ahead of us instead of adapting ourselves to the present.","author":"Lucius Annaeus Seneca"},{"text":"You should … live in such a way that there is nothing which you could not as easily tell your enemy as keep to yourself.","author":"Lucius Annaeus Seneca"},{"text":"Nothing is burdensome if taken lightly, and nothing need arouse one's irritation so long as one doesn't make it bigger than it is by getting irritated.","author":"Lucius Annaeus Seneca"},{"text":"You know yourself what you are worth in your own eyes; and at what price you will sell yourself. For men sell themselves at various prices. This is why, when Florus was deliberating whether he should appear at Nero's shows, taking part in the performance himself, Agrippinus replied, 'Appear by all means.' And when Florus inquired, 'But why do not you appear?' he answered, 'Because I do not even consider the question.' For the man who has once stooped to consider such questions, and to reckon up the value of external things, is not far from forgetting what manner of man he is.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"What really frightens and dismays us is not external events themselves, but the way in which we think about them. It is not things that disturb us, but our interpretation of their significance.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"There will never come a time when I will be able to resist my emotions.","author":"Louise Erdrich"},{"text":"Think of your many years of procrastination; how the gods have repeatedly granted you further periods of grace, of which you have taken no advantage. It is time now to realise the nature of the universe to which you belong, and of that controlling Power whose offspring you are; and to understand that your time has a limit set to it. Use it, then, to advance your enlightenment; or it will be gone, and never in your power again.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"I hear my silence talked of in every lane; The suppression of a cry is itself a cry of pain.","author":"Darshan Singh"},{"text":"If you want to make progress, put up with being perceived as ignorant or naive in worldly matters, don't aspire to a reputation for sagacity. If you do impress others as somebody, don't altogether believe it. You have to realize, it isn't easy to keep your will in agreement with nature, as well as externals. Caring about the one inevitably means you are going to shortchange the other.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Remember to act always as if you were at a symposium. When the food or drink comes around, reach out and take some politely; if it passes you by don't try pulling it back. And if it has not reached you yet, don't let your desire run ahead of you, be patient until your turn comes. Adopt a similar attitude with regard to children, wife, wealth and status, and in time, you will be entitled to dine with the gods. Go further and decline these goods even when they are on offer and you will have a share in the gods' power as well as their company. That is how Diogenes, Heraclitus and philosophers like them came to be called, and considered, divine.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"You will never see me surrender, never see me cry, but you will often see me walk away. Turn around and just leave, without looking back.","author":"Charlotte Eriksson"},{"text":"Soon, you will have forgotten everything.  Soon, everybody will have forgotten you.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Sometimes, even to live is an act of courage.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"The willing are led by fate, the reluctant are dragged.","author":"Cleanthes of Assos"},{"text":"In the evening I came home and read about the Messina earthquake, and how the relief ships arrived, and the wretched survivors crowded down to the water's edge and tore each other like wild beasts in their rage of hunger. The paper set forth, in horrified language, that some of them had been seventy-two hours without food. I, as I read, had also been seventy-two hours without food; and the difference was simply that they thought they were starving.","author":"Upton Sinclair"},{"text":"At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself, \"I have to go to work - as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I'm going to do what I was born for - the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Death devours not only those who have been cooked by old age; it also feasts on those who are half-cooked and even those who are raw.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Being a stoic does not mean being a robot. Being a stoic means remaining calm both at the height of pleasure and the depths of misery.","author":"Abhijit Naskar"},{"text":"We might never rid ourselves of a lingering anxiety regarding our death; this is a kind of tax we pay in return for self-awareness.","author":"Derren Brown"},{"text":"You have the power to strip away many superfluous troubles located wholly in your judgement, and to possess a large room for yourself embracing in thought the whole cosmos, to consider everlasting time, to think of the rapid change in the parts of each thing, of how short it is from birth until dissolution, and how the void before birth and that after dissolution are equally infinite.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Everything worthwhile in your life draws its meaning from the fact you will die.","author":"Derren Brown"},{"text":"That which Fortune has not given, she cannot take away.","author":"Seneca the Younger"},{"text":"Life is how you look at it.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Yes, as my swift days near their goal, 'Tis all that I implore - In life and death, a chainless soul, With courage to endure.","author":"Emily Brontë"},{"text":"When others inspire us, they tend to do so through the clear expression of these sketchy, adumbrated thoughts we ourselves have known but never had the perspicacity for formulate with certainty.","author":"Derren Brown"},{"text":"[I]ndulge the body just so far as suffices for good health. It needs to be treated somewhat strictly to prevent it from being disobedient to the spirit. Your food should appease your hunger, your drink quench your thirst, your clothing keep out the cold, your house be a protection against inclement weather.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"Sometimes we have no luxury of choice. We must do certain things for survival. That should not stop us from doing the things we love.","author":"Malebo Sephodi"},{"text":"It takes courage to speak or react way slower than you think.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Just as I prepared to stand and bow, a woman appeared with a miniature coffee cup in her hand.  She offered it to me.  As I took it, I noticed two things:  Bugs crawling on the ground and the men approving of me by snapping their fingers. I bowed and took a sip of the coffee and almost fainted. I had a cockroach on my tongue. I looked at the peoples' faces and I could not spit it out. My grandmother would have pushed away the grave's dirt and traveled by willpower to show me her face of abject disappointment. I could not bear that. I opened my throat and drank the cup dry. I counted four cockroaches.","author":"Maya Angelou"},{"text":"When you are disturbed by events and lose your serenity, quickly return to yourself and don't stay upset longer than the experience lasts; for you'll have more mastery over your inner harmony by continually returning to it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"You should, I need hardly say, live in such a way that there is nothing which you could not as easily tell your enemy as keep to yourself.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"The supreme ideal does not call for any external aids. It is homegrown, wholly self-developed. Once it starts looking outside itself for any part of itself it is on the way to being dominated by fortune.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"The man who looks for the morrow without worrying over it knows a peaceful independence and a happiness beyond all others. Whoever has said, \"I have lived' receives a windfall every day he gets up in the morning.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"Now this was possible only by a man determining himself entirely *rationally* according to concepts, not according to changing impressions and moods. But as only the maxims of our conduct, not the consequences or circumstances, are in our power, to be capable of always remaining consistent we must take as our object only the maxims, not the consequences and circumstances, and thus the doctrine of virtue is again introduced.” —from_The World as Will and Representation_. Translated from the German by E. F. J. Paye in two volumes: volume I, p. 89","author":"Arthur Schopenhauer"},{"text":"In conformity with this spirit and aim of the Stoa, Epictetus begins with it and constantly returns to it as the kernel of his philosophy, that we should bear in mind and distinguish what depends on us and what does not, and thus should not count on the latter at all. In this way we shall certainly remain free from all pain, suffering, and anxiety. Now what depends on us is the will alone, and here there gradually takes place a transition to a doctrine of virtue, since it is noticed that, as the external world that is independent of us determines good and bad fortune, so inner satisfaction or dissatisfaction with ourselves proceeds from the will. But later it was asked whether we should attribute the names *bonum et malum* to the two former or to the two latter. This was really arbitrary and a matter of choice, and made no difference. But yet the Stoics argued incessantly about this with the Peripatetics and Epicureans, and amused themselves with the inadmissible comparison of two wholly incommensurable quantities and with the contrary and paradoxical judgements arising therefrom, which they cast on one another. An interesting collection of these is afforded us from the Stoic side by the *Paradoxa* of Cicero.\" —from_The World as Will and Representation_. Translated from the German by E. F. J. Paye in two volumes: volume I, pp. 88-89","author":"Arthur Schopenhauer"},{"text":"Show me a man who though sick is happy, who though in danger is happy, who though in prison is happy, and I'll show you a Stoic.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"They did this to me but I have remained who I am. I am tempered. I am able. Inside myself there's an untouched man. If they came back now, and did everything to me again, they would never reach the untouched man. I've passed the exam I've been shirking all my life. I'm a graduate of pain.","author":"John le Carré"},{"text":"The Sage desires only one thing, virtue, and he is cautious about only one thing, vice. He is the same in every circumstance because what is most important lies within him, and not with external events, which are constantly changing.","author":"Donald J. Robertson"},{"text":"Perhaps struggle is all we have because the god of history is an atheist, and nothing about his world is meant to be. So you must wake up every morning knowing that no promise is unbreakable, least of all the promises of waking up at all. This is not despair. These are the preferences of universe itself: verbs over nouns, actions over states, struggle over hope.","author":"Ta Nahesi Coates"},{"text":"[M]aking noble resolutions is not as important as keeping the resolutions you have made already. (Letter XVI)","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"The most fruitful breaks are often those we are or were forced to take by life.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Appreciating what you have is the best cure for missing what you have lost.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"If you haven’t learned something  From periods of suffering, If you haven’t wrung the juices  Of your own pain and drank them  For your own nourishment, You have wasted your experience  And missed the chance  To expand the capacity  For being stronger the next time  That these seasons arrive at your door.","author":"Eric Overby"},{"text":"Soon you will be dead and none of it will matter","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"man was given two ears and one mouth for a reason","author":"Account of The Stoic Zeno by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Haselman"},{"text":"Remind yourself that what you love is mortal … at the very moment you are taking joy in something, present yourself with the opposite impressions. What harm is it, just when you are kissing your little child, to say: Tomorrow you will die, or to your friend similarly: Tomorrow one of us will go away, and we shall not see one another any more?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"I sacrificed much to be where I am today, yet I will sacrifice much more to get to where I need to be someday.","author":"Justus Wiezorek"},{"text":"Part of patience is knowing your truth and staying loyal to it; you just can’t allow your face to betray what an attack on it actually makes you feel.","author":"A.D. Aliwat"},{"text":"Stoicism is designed to be medicine for the soul.","author":"Ryan Holiday"},{"text":"Run down the list of those who felt intense anger at something: the most famous, the most unfortunate, the most hated, the most whatever: Where is all that now? Smoke, dust, legend…or not even a legend. Think of all the examples. And how trivial the things we want so passionately are. An emotional response is a human response, I get it. I too have succumbed to emotion, more often than I care to admit. But it is also a futile response. It isn’t an objectively beneficial response. This is central to Stoicism.","author":"Dan Crenshaw"},{"text":"Be someone who is cool under pressure. Value serenity instead of outrage. It seems that our culture is moving in the wrong direction here. If you are blessed enough to not be on social media, you might be surprised to learn that the angriest, most passionate public figures are rewarded with the most clicks and biggest audiences. Our culture has begun to confuse passion with substance, reward the loudest and angriest voices, and thus incentivize behavior wholly at odds with Stoic wisdom. The number of decibels your voice hits as you scream about how right you are is not necessarily an indicator of how much sense you are making. As a society founded on reason and Western Enlightenment ideals, we must hold ourselves to a higher standard. We have to collectively stop allowing emotion and passion to pass for reason and factual debate.","author":"Dan Crenshaw"},{"text":"The media’s goal is to literally challenge your ability to be still. A tough American, intent on improving upon their current self, is not tricked into an emotional reaction by these headlines. You do not write an angry tweet, you do not hurl an insult. You are cool and measured, and skeptical. You are curious what the agenda of the journalist might be and what facts or context they might be leaving out. You seek out a different story on the same topic from an opposing view, and you find out that many of the claims made in the original story were convincingly debunked. And just like that, you are a Zen master of stillness and Stoicism.","author":"Dan Crenshaw"},{"text":"A shallow reading of a problem begets outrage; a detailed approach to a problem encourages moderation.","author":"Dan Crenshaw"},{"text":"You owe it to yourself and to the world to actively engage with the brief moment you have with this planet. You cannot retreat exclusively into ideas. You must contribute.","author":"Ryan Holiday"},{"text":"Asia and Europe are corners in the Universe; every sea, a drop in the Universe; Mount Athos, a clod of earth in the Universe; every instant of time, a pin-prick of eternity. All things are petty, easily changed, vanishing away. All things come from that other world, starting from that common governing principle, or else are secondary consequences of it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Často sa dopúšťa bezprávia aj ten, kto nič nerobí, nielen ten, kto niečo robí.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Najlepší spôsob obrany je nepodobať sa tým, čo nám ubližujú.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Education teaches us how to make a living, not how to live.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Like a problem, time is nothing but a shadow of thought.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Tell us your secrets.’ [23] ‘I refuse, as this is up to me.’ ‘I will put you in chains.’ ‘What’s that you say, friend? It’s only my leg you will chain, not even God can conquer my will.’ [24] ‘I will throw you into prison.’ ‘Correction – it is my body you will throw there.’ ‘I will behead you.’ ‘Well, when did I ever claim that mine was the only neck that couldn’t be severed?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Halleck came from people who regarded a slight change of facial expression as adequate to convey the pain of a severed limb.","author":"Miles Watson"},{"text":"A still person has the ability to stop, look at a news story or another person’s arguments, and ask objective questions without emotional overreaction or assumptions of ill intent. One is centered, rational, and respected; the other is frantic, unhappy, and intellectually stagnant. Don’t be the latter.","author":"Dan Crenshaw"},{"text":"See? You're using the stoic glacier method.\"  \"Remind me, what's the stoic glacier method?\"  \"It's the slow process of shaping someone's behavior by force of one's own personal stoicism.","author":"Elizabeth Mckenzie"},{"text":"Life is a pilgrimage and a struggle. All we have of time is a moment; the universe is in constant flux; our bodies are fragile; our senses grasp so little; our souls are a mist; the future is a fog; and fame is fleeting.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"There was no meaning in why he was here, but he was, and that was enough.","author":"AkshatThakur"},{"text":"I have, I hold whatever of mine I have ever had. There is no reason for you to suppose me conquered and yourself my conqueror. It is your fortune which has overcome mine. As for those fleeting possessions which change their owners, I know not where they are; what belongs to myself is with me, and ever will be.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"Si len úbohá dušička nesúca mŕtvolu,” ako vravel Epiktetos.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Growth is often the cause or the result of pain.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Really, doesn't everything make sense? There are, of course, things from which we more or less recover, although some of them are too harsh even for saints. But that is no reason to accuse God. Even if there are reasons to doubt him, the fact that he did not arrange the world like a well-ordered parlor is not one of them. It rather speaks in his favor. This used to be much better understood.","author":"Ernst Jünger"},{"text":"A surprising number of people believe that other people can hurt their feelings.","author":"Vincent P. Collins"},{"text":"What progress, you ask, have I made? I have begun to be a friend to myself.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"We love being mentally strong, but we hate situations that allow us to put our mental strength to good use.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Some of the best things that have ever happened to us wouldn’t have happened to us, if it weren’t for some of the worst things that have ever happened to us.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Sick and yet happy, in peril and yet happy, dying and yet happy, in exile and happy, in disgrace and happy.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"We all have problems. Or rather, everyone has at least one thing that they regard as a problem.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"But is life really worth so much? Let us examine this; it's a different inquiry. We will offer no solace for so desolate a prison house; we will encourage no one to endure the overlordship of butchers. We shall rather show that in every kind of slavery, the road of freedom lies open. I will say to the man to whom it befell to have a king shoot arrows at his dear ones [Prexaspes], and to him whose master makes fathers banquet on their sons' guts [Harpagus]: 'What are you groaning for, fool?... Everywhere you look you find an end to your sufferings. You see that steep drop-off? It leads down to freedom. You see that ocean, that river, that well? Freedom lies at its bottom. You see that short, shriveled, bare tree? Freedom hangs from it.... You ask, what is the path to freedom? Any vein in your body.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"True affluence is not needing anything.","author":"Gary Snyder"},{"text":"Whatever happens, happens such as you are either formed by nature able to bear it, or not able to bear it. If such as you are by nature form’d able to bear, bear it and fret not: But if such as you are not naturally able to bear, don’t fret; for when it has consum’d you, itself will perish. Remember, however, you are by nature form’d able to bear whatever it is in the power of your own opinion to make supportable or tolerable, according as you conceive it advantageous, or your duty, to do so.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Death would not surprise us as often as it does, if we let go of the misbelief that newborns are less mortal than the elderly.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"...we can do some historical research to see how our ancestors lived. We will quickly discover that we are living in what to them would have been a dream world that we tend to take for granted things that our ancestors had to live without...","author":"William B. Irvine"},{"text":"Man is mostly a collection of emotions, most of which he would do better not to be feeling.","author":"Neel Burton"},{"text":"Progress daily in your own uncertainty. Live in awareness of the questions.","author":"Bremer Acosta"},{"text":"Life is neither a glorious highlight reel nor a monstrous tragedy. Every day is a good day to live and a good day to die. Every day is also an apt time to learn and express joy and love for the entire natural world. Each day is an apt time to make contact with other people and express empathy for the entire world. Each day is perfect to accept with indifference all aspects of being.","author":"Kilroy J. Oldster"},{"text":"It is not the man who has too little who is poor, but the one who hankers after more.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"Most of us are “living the dream” living, that is, the dream we once had for ourselves.","author":"William B. Irvine"},{"text":"And here are two of the most immediately useful thoughts you will dip into. First that things cannot touch the mind: they are external and inert; anxieties can only come from your internal judgement. Second, hat all these things you see will change almost as you look at them, and then will be no more. Constantly bring to mind all that you yourself have already seen changed. The universe is change: life is judgement.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Seek not for events to happen as you wish but rather wish for events to happen as they do and your life will go smoothly.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"The philosopher's lecture room is a 'hospital': you ought not to walk out of it in a state of pleasure, but in pain; for you are not in good condition when you arrive.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Sine philosophia nemo intrepide potest vivere, nemo secure.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"There are two things that must be rooted out in human beings - arrogant opinion and mistrust. Arrogant opinion expects that there is nothing further needed, and mistrust assumes that under the torrent of circumstance there can be no happiness.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"What would Heracles have been if he had said, \"How am I to prevent a big lion from appearing, or a big boar, or brutal men?\" What care you, I say? If a big boar appears, you will have a greater struggle to engage in; if evil men appear, you will free the world from evil men.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Each of us is impermanent wave of energy folded into the infinite cosmic order. Acknowledgement of the fundamental impermanence of ourselves unchains us from the strictures of living a terrestrial life stuck like a needle vacillating between the magnetic pull of endless desire and the terror of death. Once we achieve freedom from any craving and all desires and we are relieved of all titanic fears, we release ourselves from living in perpetual distress. Once we rid ourselves from any impulse to exist, we discover our true place in the universal order. The composition of our life filament is exactly right when we accept the notion of living and dying with equal stoicism.","author":"Kilroy J. Oldster"},{"text":"It was as if I'd lost some cosmic game of musical chairs; the song had stopped, I was left standing, and there was simply nothing to be dine about it.","author":"Justin Cronin"},{"text":"Saiba que um teto de palha abriga o homem  tão bem quanto o de ouro.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"How could I admit that the All-American Girl's force field of stoicism and self-reliance and do-unto-others-and-keep-smiling wasn't working, wasn't keeping pain and shame and powerlessness away?  From a young age I had learned to get over - to cover my tracks emotionally, to hide or ignore my problems in the belief that they were mine alone to solve. So when exhilarating transgressions required getting over on authority figures, I knew how to do it. I was a great bluffer. And when common, everyday survival in prison required getting over, I could do that too. This is what was approvingly described by my fellow prisoners as 'street-smarts,' as in 'You wouldn't think it to look at her, but Piper's got street-smarts.","author":"Piper Kerman"},{"text":"When you give your items away, don’t keep the excess of your pride.","author":"Bremer Acosta"},{"text":"If you have assumed any character beyond your strength, you have both demeaned yourself ill in that and quitted one which you might have supported.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"At the bar on the Favoritenstrasse, Julius the policeman talked to us about dignity, evolution, the great Darwin and the great Nietzsche. I translated so that my good friend Ulises could understand what he was saying, although I didn’t understand any of it. The prayer of the bones, said Julius. The yearning for health. The virtue of danger. The tenacity of the forgotten. Bravo, said my good friend Ulises. Bravo, said everyone else. The limits of memory. The wisdom of plants. The eye of parasites. The agility of the earth. The merit of the soldier. The cunning of the giant. The hole of the will. Magnificent, said my good friend Ulises in German. Extraordinary.","author":"Roberto Bolaño"},{"text":"Stoical' is the best word to describe her reaction to these compliments, Emma putting up with them as of they were one of my unfortunate foibles.","author":"Carol Lee"},{"text":"All outdoors may be bedlam, provided there is no disturbance within.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"The bigger the family, the bigger the number of corpses it owes life.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Growth is often the parent or the child of pain.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Let whatever appears to be the best be to you an inviolable law. And if any instance of pain or pleasure, glory or disgrace, be set before you, remember that now is the combat, now the Olympiad comes on, nor can it be put off; and that by one failure and defeat honor may be lost or—won.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Once you start learning from your problems, you stop wishing for a life without problems.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"For a delight in bustling about is not industry - it is only the restless energy of a hunted mind. And the state of mind that looks on all activity as tiresome is not true repose, but a spineless inertia.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"Destroying the seeds of disappointment requires you to unexpect the expected.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"[C]ling tooth and nail to the following rule: not to give in to adversity, never to trust prosperity, and always take full not of fortune's habit of behaving just as she pleases, treating her as if she were actually going to do everything it is in her power to do.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"Detente particularmente en cada una de las acciones que haces y pregúntate si la muerte es terrible porque te priva de eso.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If someone in the street were entrusted with your body, you would be furious. Yet you entrust your mind to anyone around who happens to insult you, and allow it to be troubled and confused. Aren’t you ashamed of that?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"The most effective way to understand the dissonance between our thoughts about reality and reality itself, is to consider how many times we've felt like our world is ending and how many times it actually has.","author":"Daniel V Chappell"},{"text":"I began to care a lot less about embarrassment after running into somebody who for months, I feared I would, and realizing afterward that my life was no different after the encounter than before.","author":"Daniel V Chappell"},{"text":"The present is the same for everyone; its loss is the same for everyone; and it should be clear that a brief instant is all that is lost. For you can’t lose either the past or the future; how could you lose what you don’t have?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"We always have a choice as to, not what we hear, but what we listen to.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"The weaker the desire to change, the further away from now is the moment from which we plan on changing.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"For a life spent viewing all the variety, the majesty, the sublimity in things around us can never succumb to ennui: the feeling that one is tired of being, of existing, is usually the result of an idle and inactive leisure.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"[P]leasures, when they go beyond a certain limit, are but punishments.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"Running is a form of practiced stoicism. It means teaching your brain and body to be biochemically comfortable in a state of disrepair.","author":"Matthew Inman"},{"text":"Even in the longest life real living is the least portion thereof.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"Independence and unvarying reliability, and to pay attention to nothing, no matter how fleetingly, except the logos. And to be the same in all circumstances—intense pain, the loss of a child, chronic illness. And to see clearly, from his example, that a man can show both strength and flexibility. His patience in teaching. And to have seen someone who clearly viewed his expertise and ability as a teacher as the humblest of virtues. And to have learned how to accept favors from friends without losing your self-respect or appearing ungrateful. On Apolonius","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If a discrepancy exists between supply and demand, then for the Stoics the prescription for a happy life was to decrease demand, not to increase supply (or production), which the Hedonists saw as the prescription for a happy life.","author":"Tomáš Sedláček"},{"text":"Disturbance comes only from within- from our own perceptions. Everything you see will soon alter and cease to exist","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Is the child or wife of another dead? There is no one who would not say, “This is an accident of mortality.” But if anyone’s own child happens to die, it is immediately, “Alas! how wretched am I!” It should be always remembered how we are affected on hearing the same thing concerning others.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"We often do not, not because we cannot, but because we think so.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"It's with a heavy heart that I assure you that regardless of how lasting your fortune feels, it can be taken from you before you can even think to try to hold on.","author":"Daniel V Chappell"},{"text":"We're never unhappy until we remember why we're supposed to be unhappy.","author":"Daniel V Chappell"},{"text":"A fool is a man who disregards legacy.","author":"Daniel V Chappell"},{"text":"We must become friends of despair if we are to be drawn above it to genuine and heartfelt hope. Far from being  an exercise in morbidity or arrogance, a deepening acquaintance with our  death and with the vanity of human wishes is our worldly hearts a  needed path to perfect health (61).","author":"Robert Campbell Roberts"},{"text":"Christianity is not a therapy for those who wish never to be upset (177).","author":"Robert Campbell Roberts"},{"text":"Love me for my affection, love me even for my weakness; I am satisfied myself. I prefer my feelings to all the fine sentiments of Seneca or Epictetus.","author":"Marie Rabutin-Chantal De Sevigne"},{"text":"Not just that every day more of our life is used up and less and less of it is left, but this too: if we live longer, can we be sure our mind will still be up to understanding the world—to the contemplation that aims at divine and human knowledge? If our mind starts to wander, we’ll still go on breathing, go on eating, imagining things, feeling urges and so on. But getting the most out of ourselves, calculating where our duty lies, analyzing what we hear and see, deciding whether it’s time to call it quits—all the things you need a healthy mind for . . . all those are gone. So we need to hurry. Not just because we move daily closer to death but also because our understanding—our grasp of the world—may be gone before we get there.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"It is human to be angry, but childish to be controlled by anger.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"You can be hurt, not by what others think of you, but by what you think of what they think or you think they think of you.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"A man is as unhappy as he has convinced himself he is.","author":"Seneca"},{"text":"The mind is inclined to zoom in on your problem, or few problems, to an extend that you cannot see your many blessings.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"The probability of something not happening does not decrease as we increase the number of times we worry about the possibility of it happening.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Increasing the strength of our minds is the only way to reduce the difficulty of life.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"It takes patience to nurture patience.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Not even once has life or the weather complained about a human being.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"It is childish to be surprised by something that you knew exists or is possible.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Optimism is an effort.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"When pain comes, it must not derail you from your set virtues. If it does, you have failed to practice your virtues by going with the hype of pain.","author":"Tiisetso Maloma"},{"text":"I’ve let people’s opinions, my own self judgements and many negative things take this life away from me. No more!","author":"Tiisetso Maloma"},{"text":"A man whose mind has completely left childhood behind would not be surprised if he were to walk in on his wife having sex with her father … or with his mother.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Change: nothing inherently bad in the process, nothing inherently good in the result.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Every second is a step away from our mothers’ wombs towards our own tombs.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Most people will leave you with the impression that the main function of our emotions is to cloud our judgement.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"The qualities of stoic self-denial, self-sacrifice for others, patient labour, expiation for past error, willing acceptance of the burdens of life, were for him nobler manifestations of humanity than ostentatious feats of bravery, death-defying deeds of heroism or a life ruled by passions. He was persuaded that moral strength could best be displayed by silent endurance rather than by vehement anger and passionate rebellion.","author":"Alexander Stillmark"},{"text":"We are generally pleased the most by compliments that are insincere.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"That you have just caught success after chasing it for many years does not mean that death will stop chasing you for at least a few seconds.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"If you lose today every-day, you are lost every-day.","author":"Tiisetso Maloma"},{"text":"Tomorrow will take care of itself, so take care of today, otherwise tomorrow will take ill-care of you today – thus losing today.","author":"Tiisetso Maloma"},{"text":"Tomorrow’s worries contaminate the present.","author":"Tiisetso Maloma"},{"text":"What are virtues, if not practiced evenly in both times of joy and in hardships?","author":"Tiisetso Maloma"},{"text":"Once you make a decision and then act on it, you have actually fulfilled the object of the game. This will probably surprise you, but what happens next in the hand after you act is not important. It does not matter what your opponents do next and it's immaterial whether or not you win the hand. The most important thing is that you understand why you're making the play and what goal you're trying to accomplish.","author":"Ken Warren"},{"text":"I value my time so much that undressing is the only thing I am willing to do for sex.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"Having problems is not nearly as tormenting as being had by problems.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"She looks as if she were thinking of something beyond her punishment—beyond her situation: of something not round nor before her.","author":"Charlotte Brontë"},{"text":"What a singularly deep impression her injustice seems to have made on your heart! No ill-usage so brands its record on my feelings. Would you not be happier if you tried to forget her severity, together with the passionate emotions it excited? Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity, or registering wrongs.","author":"Charlotte Brontë"},{"text":"...when I asked him if he forgave me, he answered that he was not in the habit of cherishing the remembrance of vexation; that he had nothing to forgive; not having been offended.","author":"Charlotte Brontë"},{"text":"The older you are, and the faster you walk, the crazier you look.","author":"Mokokoma Mokhonoana"},{"text":"You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.","author":"Marcus Aurelius "},{"text":"Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love ...","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together,but do so with all your heart.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Our life is what our thoughts make it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If someone is able to show me that what I think or do is not right, I will happily change, for I seek the truth, by which no one was ever truly harmed. It is the person who continues in his self-deception and ignorance who is harmed.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself the following question: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinion of himself than on the opinion of others.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself in your way of thinking.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The best revenge is not to be like your enemy.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: the people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous and surly. They are like this because they can't tell good from evil. But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own - not of the same blood and birth, but the same mind, and possessing a share of the divine. And so none of them can hurt me. No one can implicate me in ugliness. Nor can I feel angry at my relative, or hate him. We were born to work together like feet, hands and eyes, like the two rows of teeth, upper and lower. To obstruct each other is unnatural. To feel anger at someone, to turn your back on him: these are unnatural.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"When another blames you or hates you, or people voice similar criticisms, go to their souls, penetrate inside and see what sort of people they are. You will realize that there is no need to be racked with anxiety that they should hold any particular opinion about you.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Do not act as if you were going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over you. While you live, while it is in your power, be good.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Here is a rule to remember in future, when anything tempts you to feel bitter: not \"This is misfortune,\" but \"To bear this worthily is good fortune.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Look well into thyself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up if thou wilt always look.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"How much time he gains who does not look to see what his neighbour says or does or thinks, but only at what he does himself, to make it just and holy.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Nowhere you can go is more peaceful—more free of interruptions—than your own soul. Especially","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"People try to get away from it all—to the country, to the beach, to the mountains. You always wish that you could too. Which is idiotic: you can get away from it anytime you like. By going within. Nowhere you can go is more peaceful—more free of interruptions—than your own soul.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Your mind will be like its habitual thoughts; for the soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Remember how long you’ve been putting this off, how many extensions the gods gave you, and you didn’t use them. At some point you have to recognize what world it is that you belong to; what power rules it and from what source you spring; that there is a limit to the time assigned you, and if you don’t use it to free yourself it will be gone and will never return.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"III. I have often wondered how it should come to pass, that every man loving himself best, should more regard other men's opinions concerning himself than his own. For if any God or grave master standing by, should command any of us to think nothing by himself but what he should presently speak out; no man were able to endure it, though but for one day. Thus do we fear more what our neighbours will think of us, than what we ourselves.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Think not so much of what you lack as of what you have: but of the things that you have, select the best, and then reflect on how eagerly you would have sought them if you did not have them.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The best revenge is not to be like that.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Disgraceful: for the soul to give up when the body is still going strong.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"To stand up straight — not straightened","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"It should be a man's task, says the Imitation, 'to overcome himself, and every day to be stronger than himself.' 'In withstanding of the passions standeth very peace of heart.' 'Let us set the axe to the root, that we being purged of our passions may have a peaceable mind.' To this end there must be continual self-examination. 'If thou may not continually gather thyself together, namely sometimes do it, at least once a day, the morning or the evening. In the morning purpose, in the evening discuss the manner, what thou hast been this day, in word, work, and thought.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"There’s nothing more insufferable than people who boast about their own humility","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Nature did not blend things so inextricably that you can’t draw your own boundaries—place your own well-being in your own hands. It’s quite possible to be a good man without anyone realizing it. Remember that. And this too: you don’t need much to live happily. And just because you’ve abandoned your hopes of becoming a great thinker or scientist, don’t give up on attaining freedom, achieving humility, serving others, obeying God.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"But if anything in thy own disposition gives thee pain, who hinders thee from correcting thy opinion? And even if thou art pained because thou art not doing some particular thing which seems to thee to be right, why dost thou not rather act than complain?- But some insuperable obstacle is in the way?- Do not be grieved then, for the cause of its not being done depends not on thee.- But it is not worth while to live if this cannot be done.- Take thy departure then from life contentedly, just as he dies who is in full activity, and well pleased too with the things which are obstacles.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Do unsavory armpits and bad breath make you angry?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If you are distressed about anything, the pain is not due to the thing but to your own estimate of it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Soon you'll be ashes or bones. A mere name at most - and even that is just a sound, an echo. The things we want in life are empty, stale, trivial.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If you set yourself to your present task along the path of true reason, with all determination, vigour,and good will: if you admit no distraction, but keep your own divinity pure and standing strong, as if you had to surrender it right now; if you grapple this to you, expecting nothing, shirking nothing, but self-content with each present action taken in accordance with nature and a heroic truthfulness in all that you say and mean - then you will lead a good life. And nobody is able to stop you.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength. When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"In no great while you will be no one and nowhere, and nothing that you now behold will be in existence, nor will anyone now alive. For it is in the nature of all things to change and alter and perish, so that others may arise in their turn.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The things ordained for you—teach yourself to be at one with those. And the people who share them with you—treat them with love. With real love.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"recognize the malice, cunning, and hypocrisy that power produces, and the peculiar ruthlessness often shown by people from “good families.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Nothing happens to any man that he is not formed by nature to bear.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Your three components: body, breath, mind. Two are yours in trust; to the third alone you have clear title. If you can cut yourself—your mind—free of what other people do and say, of what you’ve said or done, of the things that you’re afraid will happen, the impositions of the body that contains you and the breath within, and what the whirling chaos sweeps in from outside, so that the mind is freed from fate, brought to clarity, and lives life on its own recognizance—doing what’s right, accepting what happens, and speaking the truth— If you can cut free of impressions that cling to the mind, free of the future and the past—can make yourself, as Empedocles says, “a sphere rejoicing in its perfect stillness,” and concentrate on living what can be lived (which means the present) . . . then you can spend the time you have left in tranquillity. And in kindness. And at peace with the spirit within you.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"الأذى لا يأتيك إلّا من ذاتك. الأشياء بريئة و خاملة و مُحايدة. ليست الأشياء ما يُربكك بل فكرتك عنها.","author":"ماركوس أوريليوس"},{"text":"IN THE morning when thou risest unwillingly, let this thought be present- I am rising to the work of a human being. Why then am I dissatisfied if I am going to do the things for which I exist and for which I was brought into the world?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"23. Keep in mind how fast things pass by and are gone—those that are now, and those to come. Existence flows past us like a river: the “what” is in constant flux, the “why” has a thousand variations. Nothing is stable, not even what’s right here. The infinity of past and future gapes before us—a chasm whose depths we cannot see. So it would take an idiot to feel self-importance or distress. Or any indignation, either. As if the things that irritate us lasted. 24.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"So here is a rule to remember in future, when anything tempts you to feel bitter: not, ‘This is a misfortune,’ but ‘To bear this worthily is good fortune.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Even the least of our activities ought to have some end in view.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The fencer’s weapon is picked up and put down again. The boxer’s is part of him. All he has to do is clench his fist.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The Stoic discovers the model for his virtuous conduct in studying the laws of nature; just as each object, plant, and animal serves its fated role in the larger order, so the human strives to steer his actions in accordance with his unique power, reason, his inner mirror of the logos that governs the universe.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Affect not to set out your thoughts with curious neat language. Be neither a great talker, nor a great undertaker; be one who for his word or actions needs neither an oath, nor any man to be a witness.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Use thyself; as often, as thou seest any man do anything, presently (if it be possible) to say unto thyself, What is this man's end in this his action? But begin this course with thyself first of all, and diligently examine thyself concerning whatsoever thou doest.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"to grumble at anything that happens is a rebellion against Nature, in some part of which are bound up the natures of all other things.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Either teach them better if it be in thy power; or if it be not, remember that for this use, to bear with them patiently, was mildness and goodness granted unto thee.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"where a man can live, there he can also live well. But he must live in a palace;- well then, he can also live well in a palace.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Thou must also take heed of another kind of wandering, for they are idle in their actions, who toil and labour in this life, and have no certain scope to which to direct all their motions, and desires.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The universe, then, is God, of whom the popular gods are manifestations; while legends and myths are allegorical. The soul of man is thus an emanation from the godhead, into whom it will eventually be re-absorbed. The divine ruling principle makes all things work together for good, but for the good of the whole. The highest good of man is consciously to work with God for the common good, and this is the sense in which the Stoic tried to live in accord with nature. In the individual it is virtue alone which enables him to do this; as Providence rules the universe, so virtue in the soul must rule man.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"To live a good life: We have the potential for it. If we learn to be indifferent to what makes no difference.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If you are pained by any external thing, it is not this thing that disturbs you, but your own judgement about it. And it is in your power to wipe out this judgement now. But if anything in your own disposition gives you pain, who hinders you from correcting your opinion? And even if you are pained because you are not doing some particular thing that seems to you to be right, why do you not rather act than complain?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Were you to live three thousand years, or even thirty thousand, remember that the sole life which a man can lose is that which he is living at the moment; and furthermore, that he can have no other life except the one he loses. This means that the longest life and the shortest amount to the same thing. For the passing minute is every man’s equal possession, but what has once gone by is not ours.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"that there is a limit to the time assigned you, and if you don’t use it to free yourself it will be gone and will never return.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"A man should always have these two rules in readiness; the one, to do only whatever the reason of the ruling and legislating faculty may suggest for the use of men; the other, to change thy opinion, if there is any one at hand who sets thee right and moves thee from any opinion. But this change of opinion must proceed only from a certain persuasion, as of what is just or of common advantage, and the like, not because it appears pleasant or brings reputation. Hast","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Of the life of man the duration is but a point, its substance streaming away, its perception dim, the fabric of the entire body prone to decay, and the soul a vortex, and fortune incalculable, and fame uncertain. In a word all the things of the body are as a river, and the things of the soul as a dream and a vapour; and life is a warfare and a pilgrim’s sojourn, and fame after death is only forgetfulness.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"На світанні сам себе попереджуй: \"Нині мені трапиться метушливий, невдячний, зухвалий, хитрий, заздрісний, нетовариський\". Все це сталося їм через незнання того, де добре, а де зло. Я ж розгледів природу і доброго - що воно гарне, і злого - що огидне, та й природу того, хто схибив, - що він мені рідний: не тому, що однієї крові чи з одного сімені, а тому, що причетний до того самого ума, тієї самої божистої частки. Від жодного з цих людей не можу зазнати шкоди, бо до мене нічия гидота не перекинеться. Не можу ні гніватися на родича, ні його ненавидіти: ми ж народжені для спільного діла, як ото двійко ніг, рук, повік, чи як зуби у верхній та нижній щелепі. Тому протидіяти одне одному - неприродно; а обурюватися й сахатися - це ж і є протидія.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"IV. He that sinneth, sinneth unto himself. He that is unjust, hurts himself, in that he makes himself worse than he was before. Not he only that committeth, but he also that omitteth something, is oftentimes unjust.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Another useful point to bear in mind: What qualities has nature given us to counter that defect? As an antidote to unkindness it gave us kindness. And other qualities to balance other flaws.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Hark ye, friend; you have been a burgher of this great city. What matter whether you have lived in it but five years or three? If you have observed the laws of the corporation, the length or shortness of the time makes no difference. Where is the hardship, then, if Nature, that planted you here, orders your removal? You cannot say you are sent off by a tyrant or an unjust judge. No; you quit the stage as fairly as a player does that has his discharge from the master of the revels. But I have only gone through three acts, and not held out till the end of the fifth, you say. Well, but in life three acts make the play entire. He that ordered the first scene now gives the sign for shutting up the last. You are neither accountable for one nor the other.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Death is such as generation is, a mystery of nature; a composition out of the same elements, and a decomposition into the same; and altogether not a thing of which any man should be ashamed,","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Sexual ecstasy is like death. It is one of the secrets of nature’s wisdom.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"One is a careful distinction between things which are in our power and things which are not. Desire and dislike, opinion and affection, are within the power of the will; whereas health, wealth, honour, and other such are generally not so. The Stoic was called upon to control his desires and affections, and to guide his opinion;","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"That which does not make a man worse than he was, also does not make his life worse, nor does it harm him either from without or from within.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Wherein Antoninus recordeth, What and of whom, whether Parents, Friends, or Masters; by their good examples, or good advice and counsel, he had learned:","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Lucilla saw Verus die, and then Lucilla died. Secunda saw Maximus die, and then Secunda died. Epitynchanus saw Diotimus die, and Epitynchanus died. Antoninus saw Faustina die, and then Antoninus died. Such is everything. Celer saw Hadrian die, and then Celer died. And those sharp-witted men, either seers or men inflated with pride, where are they? For instance the sharp-witted men, Charax and Demetrius the Platonist and Eudaemon, and any one else like them. All ephemeral, dead long ago. Some indeed have not been remembered even for a short time, and others have become the heroes of fables, and again others have disappeared even from fables. Remember this then, that this little compound, thyself, must either be dissolved, or thy poor breath must be extinguished, or be removed and placed elsewhere.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Awaken; return to yourself. Now, no longer asleep, knowing they were only dreams, clear-headed again, treat everything around you as a dream.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Take away thy opinion, and then there is taken away the complaint, “I have been harmed.” Take away the complaint, “I have been harmed,” and the harm is taken away.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Consider that everything which happens, happens justly, and if thou observest carefully, thou wilt find it to be so. I do not say only with respect to the continuity of the series of things, but with respect to what is just, and as if it were done by one who assigns to each thing its value. Observe then as thou hast begun; and whatever thou doest, do it in conjunction with this, the being good, and in the sense in which a man is properly understood to be good. Keep to this in every action.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"25. Try how the life of the good man suits thee, the life of him who is satisfied with his portion out of the whole, and satisfied with his own just acts and benevolent disposition.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Nothing is as encouraging as when virtues are visibly embodied in the people around us, when we’re practically showered with them.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"he may not be profound, he is always sincere.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Practice even what seems impossible.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Is any man afraid of change? Why what can take place without change? What then is more pleasing or more suitable to the universal nature? And canst thou take a bath unless the wood undergoes a change? And canst thou be nourished, unless the food undergoes a change? And can anything else that is useful be accomplished without change? Dost thou not see then that for thyself also to change is just the same, and equally necessary for the universal nature? Through","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Give up your thirst for books so that you do not die a grouch.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"B.C.)—Stoicism stressed the search for inner peace and ethical certainty despite the apparent chaos of the external world by emulating in one’s personal conduct the underlying orderliness and lawfulness of nature.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Never wilt your soul, never be just good, simple or unpolished. Manifest more then the body that surrounds yourself.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"III. Do, soul, do; abuse and contemn thyself; yet a while and the time for thee to respect thyself, will be at an end. Every man's happiness depends from himself, but behold thy life is almost at an end, whiles affording thyself no respect, thou dost make thy happiness to consist in the souls, and conceits of other men. IV. Why should any of these things that happen externally, so much distract thee? Give thyself leisure to learn some good thing, and cease roving and wandering to and fro. Thou must also take heed of another kind of wandering, for they are idle in their actions, who toil and labour in this life, and have no certain scope to which to direct all their motions, and desires.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Moreover, to endure labour; nor to need many things; when I have anything to do, to do it myself rather than by others; not to meddle with many businesses; and not easily to admit of any slander.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If you suppose that the things that are not within your power are good or bad for you, then if you suffer a bad thing or the loss of a good thing, you will blame the gods and hate men, too: those who are the cause of the misfortune or the loss, or those who are suspected of being the likely cause; and indeed we do a great injustice when we dwell on such matters. But if we judge only those things that are in our power to be good or bad, there remains no reason either for finding fault with God or standing in a hostile attitude to man.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"1. Our inward power, when it obeys nature, reacts to events by accommodating itself to what it faces—to what is possible. It needs no specific material. It pursues its own aims as circumstances allow; it turns obstacles into fuel. As a fire overwhelms what would have quenched a lamp. What’s thrown on top of the conflagration is absorbed, consumed by it—and makes it burn still higher.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"FROM my grandfather Verus I learned good morals and the government of my temper.  From the reputation and remembrance of my father, modesty and a manly character. From my mother, piety and beneficence, and abstinence, not only from evil deeds, but even from evil thoughts; and further, simplicity in my way of living, far removed from the habits of the rich. From","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"55. The existence of evil does not harm the world. And an individual act of evil does not harm the victim. Only one person is harmed by it—and he can stop being harmed as soon as he decides to.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Every instrument, tool, vessel, if it does that for which it has been made, is well, and yet he who made it is not there. But in the things which are held together by nature there is within and there abides in them the power which made them; wherefore the more is it fit to reverence this power, and to think, that, if thou dost live and act according to its will, everything in thee is in conformity to intelligence. And thus also in the universe the things which belong to it are in conformity to intelligence.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"things: and the vanity of praise, and the inconstancy","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Nothing is more pathetic than people who run around in circles, “delving into the things that lie beneath” and conducting investigations into the souls of the people around them, never realizing that all you have to do is to be attentive to the power inside you and worship it sincerely. To","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"In the morning when thou risest unwillingly, let this thought be present,—I am rising to the work of a human being. Why then am I dissatisfied if I am going to do the things for which I exist and for which I was brought into the world? Or have I been made for this, to lie in the bed-clothes and keep myself warm?—But this is more pleasant.—Dost thou exist then to take thy pleasure, and not at all for action or exertion? Dost thou not see the little plants, the little birds, the ants, the spiders, the bees working together to put in order their several parts of the universe? And art thou unwilling to do the work of a human being, and dost thou not make haste to do that which is according to thy nature?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"ما كان يوماُ جَهلُ المرء بما يدور في رءوس الآخرين سبباً للتعاسة والشقاء . أنما الشقي من لا ينتبه إلى خطراتِ عقلهِ هو ، ولا يـهتدي بهديـه وإرشاده","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"إن خطيئة الرغبة أجدرُ باللوم من خطيئة الغضب . إذ أن الأولُ أشبه بشخصٍ أُذِيَ فاضرَّه الألمُ إلى الغضب ، أما الثاني فإنه هو مصدر نزوته ومنشأ اندفاعته إلى الأثم حين تحدوه الشهوة إلى ارتكاب ما ارتكب","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Detente particularmente en cada una de las acciones que haces y pregúntate si la muerte es terrible porque te priva de eso.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Remember, nothing belongs to you but your flesh and blood—and nothing else is under your control.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"There is but one light of the sun, though it be intercepted by walls and mountains, and other thousand objects. There is but one common substance of the whole world, though it be concluded and restrained into several different bodies, in number infinite. There is but one common soul, though divided into innumerable particular essences and natures. So is there but one common intellectual soul, though it seem to be divided.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The value of attentiveness varies in proportion to its object. You’re better off not giving the small things more time than they deserve.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Run down the list of those who felt intense anger at something: the most famous, the most unfortunate, the most hated, the most whatever: Where is all that now? Smoke, dust, legend…or not even a legend. Think of all the examples. And how trivial the things we want so passionately are.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"To watch the courses of the stars as if you revolved with them. To keep constantly in mind how the elements alter into one another. Thoughts like this wash off the mud of life below.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Honor and revere the gods, treat human beings as they deserve, be tolerant with others and strict with yourself. Remember, nothing belongs to you but your flesh and blood—and nothing else is under your control.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The despicable phoniness of people who say, “Listen, I’m going to level with you here.” What does that mean? It shouldn’t even need to be said. It should be obvious—written in block letters on your forehead. It should be audible in your voice, visible in your eyes, like a lover who looks into your face and takes in the whole story at a glance. A straightforward, honest person should be like someone who stinks: when you’re in the same room with him, you know it. But false straightforwardness is like a knife in the back.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Everywhere, at each moment, you have the option: to accept this event with humility [will]; to treat this person as he should be treated [action]; to approach this thought with care, so that nothing irrational creeps in [perception].","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"things you think about determine the quality of your mind. Your soul takes on the color of your thoughts.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"About what am I now employing my own soul? On every occasion I must ask myself this question, and inquire, What have I now in this part of me which they call the ruling principle? and whose soul have I now,—that of a child, or of a young man, or of a feeble woman, or of a tyrant, or of a domestic animal, or of a wild beast?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"When the longest- and shortest-lived of us dies their loss is precisely equal. For the sole thing of which any of us can be deprived is the present, since this is all we own, and nobody can lose what is not theirs.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"It is peculiar to man to love even those who do wrong. And this happens, if when they do wrong it occurs to you that they are fellow humans and that they do wrong through ignorance and unintentionally, and that soon both of you will die; and above all, that the wrongdoer has done you no harm, for he has not made your ruling faculty worse than it was before.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"To stop talking about what the good man is like, and just be one.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Constantly think of the universe as one living creature, embracing one being and soul; how all is absorbed into the one consciousness of this living creature; how it compasses all things with a single purpose, and how all things work together to cause all that comes to pass, and their wonderful web and texture.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"تمادي في إيذاء ذاتك أيتها النفس .. إن هي إلا لحظة ولن يعود لديك مُتسع لاعتبار ذاتك . الحياةُ لحظة ، ولحظتك الخاصة تُوشكُ علـى النهاية والسعادة تتعلق على تقدير الذات لذاتها ، ومازلت تحرمينها من ذلك وتعلقين سعادتك على الآخرين","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Waste no more time arguing that a good man should be. Be one.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Everything harmonizes with me which is harmonious to thee, O Universe. Nothing for me is too early nor too late, which is in due time for thee. Everything is fruit to me which thy season brings, O Nature: from thee are all things, in thee are all things, to thee all things return.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Is your cucumber bitter? Throw it away. Are there briars in your path? Turn aside. That is enough. Do not go on to say, 'Why were things of this sort ever brought into the world?' The student of nature will only laugh at you; just as a carpenter or a shoemaker would laugh, if you found fault with the shavings and scraps from their work which you saw in the shop. Yet they, at least, have somewhere to throw their litter; whereas Nature has no such out-place. That is the miracle of her workmanship: that in spite of this self-limitation, she nevertheless transmutes into herself everything that seems worn-out or old or useless, and re-fashions it into new creations, so as never to need either fresh supplies from without, or a place to discard her refuse. Her own space, her own materials and her own skill are sufficient for her.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Dig inside yourself. Inside there is a spring of goodness ready to gush at any moment if you keep digging.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"When people treat you ill, blame your conduct, or report anything to your disadvantage, enter into the very soul of them ; examine their understandings, and see of what nature they are. You will be fully convinced that the opinion of such mortals is not worth one troublesome thought. However, you must be kind to them, for nature has made them your relations. Besides, the gods give them all sort of countenance, warn them by dreams and prophecy, and help them to those things they have a mind.","author":"Marcus Aurelius The Meditations by Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"And to behave in a conciliatory way when people who have angered or annoyed us want to make up.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If it is not right, do not do it: if it is not true, do not say it. For let your impulse be in your own power.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Soon earth will cover us all. Then in time earth, too, will change; later, what issues from this change will itself in turn incessantly change, and so again will all that then takes its place, even unto the world's end. to let the mind dwell on these swiftly rolling billows of change and transformation is to know a contempt for all things mortal.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"It’s unfortunate that this has happened. No. It’s fortunate that this has happened and I’ve remained unharmed by it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"III. They seek for themselves private retiring places, as country villages, the sea-shore, mountains; yea thou thyself art wont to long much after such places. But all this thou must know proceeds from simplicity in the highest degree. At what time soever thou wilt, it is in thy power to retire into thyself, and to be at rest, and free from all businesses. A man cannot any whither retire better than to his own soul; he especially who is beforehand provided of such things within, which whensoever he doth withdraw himself to look in, may presently afford unto him perfect ease and tranquillity. By tranquillity I understand a decent orderly disposition and carriage, free from all confusion and tumultuousness. Afford then thyself this retiring continually, and thereby refresh and renew thyself. Let these precepts be brief and fundamental, which as soon as thou dost call them to mind, may suffice thee to purge thy soul throughly, and to send thee away well pleased with those things whatsoever they be, which now again after this short withdrawing of thy soul into herself thou dost return unto. For what is it that thou art offended at? Can it be at the wickedness of men, when thou dost call to mind this conclusion, that all reasonable creatures are made one for another? and that it is part of justice to bear with them? and that it is against their wills that they offend? and how many already, who once likewise prosecuted their enmities, suspected, hated, and fiercely contended, are now long ago stretched out, and reduced unto ashes? It is time for thee to make an end. As for those things which among the common chances of the world happen unto thee as thy particular lot and portion, canst thou be displeased with any of them, when thou dost call that our ordinary dilemma to mind, either a providence, or Democritus his atoms; and with it, whatsoever we brought to prove that the whole world is as it were one city? And as for thy body, what canst thou fear, if thou dost consider that thy mind and understanding, when once it hath recollected itself, and knows its own power, hath in this life and breath (whether it run smoothly and gently, or whether harshly and rudely), no interest at all, but is altogether indifferent: and whatsoever else thou hast heard and assented unto concerning either pain or pleasure? But the care of thine honour and reputation will perchance distract thee? How can that be, if thou dost look back, and consider both how quickly all things that are, are forgotten, and what an immense chaos of eternity was before, and will follow after all things: and the vanity of praise, and the inconstancy and variableness of human judgments and opinions, and the narrowness of the place, wherein it is limited and circumscribed? For the whole earth is but as one point; and of it, this inhabited part of it, is but a very little part; and of this part, how many in number, and what manner of men are they, that will commend thee? What remains then, but that thou often put in practice this kind of retiring of thyself, to this little part of thyself; and above all things, keep thyself from distraction, and intend not anything vehemently, but be free and consider all things, as a man whose proper object is Virtue, as a man whose true nature is to be kind and sociable, as a citizen, as a mortal creature. Among other things, which to consider, and look into thou must use to withdraw thyself, let those two be among the most obvious and at hand. One, that the things or objects themselves reach not unto the soul, but stand without still and quiet, and that it is from the opinion only which is within, that all the tumult and all the trouble doth proceed. The next, that all these things, which now thou seest, shall within a very little while be changed, and be no more: and ever call to mind, how many changes and alterations in the world thou thyself hast already been an eyewitness of in thy time. This world is mere change, and this life, opinion.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The thing itself was no misfortune at all; to endure it and prevail is great good fortune.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Time is like a river made up of the events which hap­pen, and a vi­ol­ent stream; for as soon as a thing has been seen, it is car­ried away, and an­other comes in its place, and this will be car­ried away too.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"BEGIN the morning by saying to thyself, I shall meet with the busy-body, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Soon you will be dead and none of it will matter","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"I learned endurance of labour, and to want little, and to work with my own hands, and not to meddle with other people's affairs, and not to be ready to listen to slander.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"When you need encouragement, think of the qualities the people around you have: this one’s energy, that one’s modesty, another’s generosity, and so on. Nothing is as encouraging as when virtues are visibly embodied in the people around us, when we’re practically showered with them. It’s good to keep this in mind.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"How ridiculous and what a stranger he is who is surprised at anything which happens in life.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"When Theophrastus is comparing sins – so far as they are commonly acknowledged to be comparable – he affirms the philosophic truth that sins of desire are more culpable than sins of passion. For passion’s revulsion from reason at least seems to bring with it a certain discomfort, and a half-felt sense of constraint; whereas sins of desire, in which pleasure predominates, indicate a more self-indulgent and womanish disposition. Both experience and philosophy, then, support the contention that a sin which is pleasurable deserves graver censure than one which is painful. In the one case the offender is like a man stung into an involuntary loss of control by some injustice; in the other, eagerness to gratify his desire moves him to do wrong of his own volition.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Whatever may happen to you, it was prepared for you from all eternity; and the implication of causes was from eternity spinning the thread of your being, and of that which is incident to it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius The Meditations by Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"It is man's peculiar duty to love even those who wrong him.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"All that exists is the seed of what will emerge from it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Is an emerald suddenly flawed if no one admires it?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Do not waste the remainder of thy life in thoughts about others, when thou dost not refer thy thoughts to some object of common utility.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"•\tWhatever anyone does or says, I must be good; just as if the emerald were always saying this: \"Whatever anyone does or says, I must still be emerald, and keep my color.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.","author":"Marcus Aurelius  121-180 AD"},{"text":"The goal that you hope you will one day arrive at after a long and roundabout journey you are able to possess right now, if only you do not deny it to yourself. That is, if you can let go of the past, entrust the future to Providence and redirect the present according to justice and the sacred. To the sacred, so that you welcome what has been given to you, for Nature has brought this to you, and you to it; and to justice, in order that you may speak the truth freely and without distortion, and that you may act in accordance with what is lawful and right. Do not allow yourself to be hindered by the harmful actions, judgments, or the words of another, or by the sensations of the flesh which has formed itself around you. Let the body take care of those. But if, when you have come to the end, having let go of all other things, you honor only your guiding part and the divinity that is within you, and you do not fear ceasing to live so much as you fear never having begun to live in accordance with Nature--then you will be a man who is worth of the Cosmos that created you; and you will cease to live like a stranger in your own land, that is, surprised at unexpected everyday occurrences and wholly distracted by this and that.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Our actions may be impeded by them, but there can be no impeding our intentions or our dispositions. Because we can accommodate and adapt. The mind adapts and converts to its own purposes the obstacle to our acting.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Surely it is an excellent plan, when you are seated before delicacies and choice foods, to impress upon your imagination that this is the dead body of a fish, that the dead body of a bird or a pig; and again, that the Falernian wine is grape juice and that robe of purple a lamb's fleece dipped in a shellfish's blood; and in matters of sex intercourse, that it is the attrition of an entrail and a convulsive expulsion of a mere mucus. Surely these are excellent imaginations, going to the heart of actual facts and penetrating them so as to see the kind of things they really are. You should adopt this practice all through your life, and where things make an impression which is very plausible, uncover their nakedness, see into their cheapness, strip off the profession on which they vaunt themselves. For pride is an arch-seducer of reason, and just when you fancy you are most certainly busy in good works, then you are mostly certainly guilty of imposture.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Begin each day by telling yourself: Today I shall be meeting with interference, ingratitude, insolence, disloyalty, ill-will, and selfishness – all of them due to the offenders’ ignorance of what is good or evil.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now, take what's left and live it properly. What doesn't transmit light creates its own darkness.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"You are a little soul carrying about a corpse, as Epictetus used to say.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"You always own the option of having no opinion. There is never any need to get worked up or to trouble your soul about things you can't control. These things are not asking to be judged by you. Leave them alone.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Do every act of your life as though it were the very last act of your life.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"What we do now echoes in eternity.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Begin each day by telling yourself: Today I shall be meeting with interference, ingratitude, insolence, disloyalty, ill-will, and selfishness – all of them due to the offenders’ ignorance of what is good or evil. But for my part I have long perceived the nature of good and its nobility, the nature of evil and its meanness, and also the nature of the culprit himself, who is my brother (not in the physical sense, but as a fellow creature similarly endowed with reason and a share of the divine); therefore none of those things can injure me, for nobody can implicate me in what is degrading. Neither can I be angry with my brother or fall foul of him; for he and I were born to work together, like a man’s two hands, feet or eyelids, or the upper and lower rows of his teeth. To obstruct each other is against Nature’s law – and what is irritation or aversion but a form of obstruction.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Do not indulge in dreams of having what you have not, but reckon up the chief of the blessings you do possess, and then thankfully remember how you would crave for them if they were not yours.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Perfection of character is this: to live each day as if it were your last, without frenzy, without apathy, without pretence.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future too.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"For it is in your power to retire into yourself whenever you choose.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius "},{"text":"Remember that very little is needed to make a happy life.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Never esteem anything as of advantage to you that will make you break your word or lose your self-respect.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"A man’s worth is no greater than the worth of his ambitions.","author":"Marcus Aurelius Antoninus"},{"text":"Casting aside other things, hold to the precious few; and besides bear in mind that every man lives only the present, which is an indivisible point, and that all the rest of his life is either past or is uncertain. Brief is man's life and small the nook of the earth where he lives; brief, too, is the longest posthumous fame, buoyed only by a succession of poor human beings who will very soon die and who know little of themselves, much less of someone who died long ago.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Receive without conceit, release without struggle.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Don't go on discussing what a good person should be. Just be one.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Your days are numbered. Use them to throw open the windows of your soul to the sun. If you do not, the sun will soon set, and you with it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"It is in your power to withdraw yourself whenever you desire. Perfect tranquility within consists in the good ordering of the mind, the realm of your own.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Just that you do the right thing. The rest doesn't matter. Cold or warm. Tired or well-rested. Despised or honored. Dying...or busy with other assignments. Because dying, too, is one of our assignments in life. There as well: \"To do what needs doing.\" Look inward. Don't let the true nature of anything elude you. Before long, all existing things will be transformed, to rise like smoke (assuming all things become one), or be dispersed in fragments...to move from one unselfish act to another with God in mind. Only there, delight and stillness...when jarred, unavoidably, by circumstances, revert at once to yourself, and don't lose the rhythm more than you can help. You'll have a better grasp of the harmony if you keep going back to it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"How ridiculous and how strange to be surprised at anything which happens in life","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Life is neither good or evil, but only a place for good and evil.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If any man despises me, that is his problem. My only concern is not doing or saying anything deserving of contempt.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Whatever anyone does or says, I must be emerald and keep my colour.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: “I have to go to work — as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was born for — the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?” So you were born to feel “nice”? Instead of doing things and experiencing them? Don’t you see the plants, the birds, the ants and spiders and bees going about their individual tasks, putting the world in order, as best they can? And you’re not willing to do your job as a human being? Why aren’t you running to do what your nature demands? You don’t love yourself enough. Or you’d love your nature too, and what it demands of you.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Humans have come into being for the sake of each other, so either teach them, or learn to bear them.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If someone can prove me wrong and show me my mistake in any thought or action, I shall gladly change. I seek the truth, which never harmed anyone: the harm is to persist in one's own self-deception and ignorance.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Though you break your heart, men will go on as before.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Fire feeds on obstacles","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"For there is no retreat that is quieter or freer from trouble than a man’s own soul, especially when he has within him such thoughts that by looking into them he is immediately in perfect tranquillity; and tranquillity is nothing else than the good ordering of the mind.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Not to be offended with other men's liberty of speech, and to apply myself unto philosophy.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"At some point you have to recognize what world it is that you belong to; what power rules it and from what source you spring; that there is a limit to the time assigned you, and if you don’t use it to free yourself it will be gone and will never return.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Note that everything that happens, happens justly, and if you observe carefully, you will find it to be so, not only with respect to the continuity of the series of things, but with respect to what is just, as if it were done by one who assigns to each thing its value.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"All that comes to pass is as familiar and well known as the rose in spring, and the grape in summer. Of like fashion are sickness, death, calumny, intrigue, and all that gladdens or saddens the foolish.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"He is a fugitive, he who flees from the reason that governs our soicial life; a blind man, he who closes the eyes of his mind; a beggar, he who depends on another and does not possess within himself all that is necessary for life; an abscess on the body of the universe, he who sets himself apart and cuts himself off from the reason of our common nature because he is dissatisfied with what comes to pass; for this is brought about by the same order of nature that brought you too into being.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"to believe those things, which are commonly spoken, by such as take upon them to work wonders, and by sorcerers, or prestidigitators, and impostors; concerning the power of charms, and their driving out of demons, or evil spirits; and the like. Not to keep quails for the game; nor to be mad after such things. Not to be offended with other men's liberty of speech, and to apply myself unto philosophy. Him also I must thank, that ever I heard first Bacchius, then Tandasis and Marcianus, and that I did write dialogues in my youth; and that I took liking to the philosophers' little couch and skins, and such other things, which by the Grecian discipline are proper to those who profess philosophy.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"As for thy thirst after books, away with it with all speed.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Body. Soul. Mind. Sensations: the body. Desires: the soul. Reasoning: the mind. To experience sensations: even grazing beasts do that. To let your desires control you: even wild animals do that—and rutting humans, and tyrants (from Phalaris to Nero . . .). To make your mind your guide to what seems best: even people who deny the gods do that. Even people who betray their country. Even people who do . . . behind closed doors. If all the rest is common coin, then what is unique to the good man? To welcome with affection what is sent by fate. Not to stain or disturb the spirit within him with a mess of false beliefs. Instead, to preserve it faithfully, by calmly obeying God—saying nothing untrue, doing nothing unjust. And if the others don’t acknowledge it—this life lived with simplicity, humility, cheerfulness—he doesn’t resent them for it, and isn’t deterred from following the road where it leads: to the end of life. An end to be approached in purity, in serenity, in acceptance, in peaceful unity with what must be.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"And those who complain and try to obstruct and thwart things—they help as much as anyone. The world needs them as well.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"To love only what happens, what was destined. No greater harmony.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"How cruel it is not to allow a man to strive after the things which appear to them to be suitable to their nature and profitable! And yet in a manner thou dost not allow them to do this, when thou art vexed because they do wrong. For they are certainly moved towards things because they suppose them to be suitable to their nature and profitable to them - But it is not so - Teach them, then, and show them without being angry.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"This is what you deserve. You could be good today. But instead you choose tomorrow.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Reverence that which is best in the universe; and this is that which makes use of all things and directs all things. And in like manner also reverence that which is best in thyself; and this is of the same kind as that. For in thyself also, that which makes use of everything else, is this, and thy life is directed by this.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Thou art an old man; no longer let this be a slave, no longer be pulled by the strings like a puppet to unsocial movements, no longer either be dissatisfied with thy present lot, or shrink from the future. All","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Self-contraction: the mind's requirements are satisfied by doing what we should, and by the calm it brings to us.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Remember: philosophy requires only what your nature already demands.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"These two things be common to the souls, as of God, so of men, and of every reasonable creature, first that in their own proper work hey cannot be hindered by anything: and secondly, that their happiness doth consist in a disposition to, and in the practice of righteousness; and that in these their desire is terminated.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"He who is greedy of credit and reputation after his death, doth not consider, that they themselves by whom he is remembered, shall soon after every one of them be dead; and they likewise that succeed those; until at last all memory, which hitherto by the succession of men admiring and soon after dying hath had its course, be quite extinct.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"You can discard most of the junk that clutters your mind—things that exist only there—and clear out space for yourself: . . . by comprehending the scale of the world . . . by contemplating infinite time . . . by thinking of the speed with which things change—each part of every thing; the narrow space between our birth and death; the infinite time before; the equally unbounded time that follows.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"He who has a vehement desire for posthumous fame does not consider that every one of those who remember him will himself also die very soon; then again also they who have succeeded them, until the whole remembrance shall have been extinguished as it is transmitted through men who foolishly admire and perish. But suppose that those who will remember are even immortal, and that the remembrance will be immortal, what then is this to thee? And I say not what is it to the dead, but what is it to the living? What is praise except indeed so far as it has a certain utility? For thou now rejectest unseasonably the gift of nature, clinging to something else . .","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"He that knoweth not what the world is, knoweth not where he himself is. And he that knoweth not what the world was made for, cannot possibly know either what are the qualities, or what is the nature of the world.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"We are all mere nuggets of incense on the one altar. Some burn down now , some later - there is no difference .","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"keeps in mind that all rational things are related, and that to care for all human beings is part of being human. Which","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Rationality is the quality of seeing past appearances to discern the true nature of things. We call a person rational who is evenhanded and unprejudiced. Equanimity means the calm acceptance of all that exists and all that happens. Magnanimity means greatness of spirit, unmoved by the lure of pleasure, the lust for fame, and the fear of death.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Concentrate every minute like a Roman—like a man—on doing what’s in front of you with precise and genuine seriousness, tenderly, willingly, with justice. And on freeing yourself from all other distractions. Yes, you can—if you do everything as if it were the last thing you were doing in your life, and stop being aimless, stop letting your emotions override what your mind tells you, stop being hypocritical, self-centered, irritable. You see how few things you have to do to live a satisfying and reverent life? If you can manage this, that’s all even the gods can ask of you.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The highest good was the virtuous life. Virtue alone is happiness, and vice is unhappiness. Carrying this theory to its extreme, the Stoic said that there could be no gradations between virtue and vice, though of course each has its special manifestations.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"People try to get away from it all—to the country, to the beach, to the mountains. You always wish that you could too. Which is idiotic: you can get away from it anytime you like. By going within. Nowhere you can go is more peaceful—more free of interruptions—than your own soul. Especially if you have other things to rely on. An instant’s recollection and there it is: complete tranquillity. And by tranquillity I mean a kind of harmony. So keep getting away from it all—like that. Renew yourself. But keep it brief and basic. A quick visit should be enough to ward off all … and send you back ready to face what awaits you.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If they’ve made a mistake, correct them gently and show them where they went wrong. If you can’t do that, then the blame lies with you. Or no one.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Constantly observe who those are whose approval you wish to have, and what ruling principles they possess. For then you will neither blame those who offend involuntarily, nor will you want their approval, if you look to the sources of their opinions and appetites.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Do, soul, do; abuse and contemn thyself; yet a while and the time for thee to respect thyself, will be at an end.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Yes, you can—if you do everything as if it were the last thing you were doing in your life, and stop being aimless, stop letting your emotions override what your mind tells you, stop being hypocritical, self-centered, irritable.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"What am I doing with my soul? Interrogate yourself, to find out what inhabits your so-called mind and what kind of soul you have now. A child’s soul, an adolescent’s, a woman’s? A tyrant’s soul? The soul of a predator—or its prey?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"You are a spirit, bearing the weight of a dead body, as Epictetus used to say.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Think often the connection of all things in the world and their mutual relations, they are arguably intertwined with each other and thus have for each other a mutual friendship, and that under the connection that leads him and the unity of matter","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"III. Hippocrates having cured many sicknesses, fell sick himself and died.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"But cast away the thirst after books, that thou mayest not die murmuring, but cheerfully, truly, and from thy heart thankful to the gods.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If, at some point in your life, you should come across anything better than justice, prudence, self-control, courage—than a mind satisfied that it has succeeded in enabling you to act rationally, and satisfied to accept what’s beyond its control—if you find anything better than that, embrace it without reservations—it must be an extraordinary thing indeed—and enjoy it to the full.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"For a man cannot lose either the past or the future: for what a man has not, how can any one take this from him?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Don’t be irritated at people’s smell or bad breath. What’s the point? With that mouth, with those armpits, they’re going to produce that odor. —But they have a brain! Can’t they figure it out? Can’t they recognize the problem? So you have a brain as well. Good for you. Then use your logic to awaken his. Show him. Make him realize it. If he’ll listen, then you’ll have solved the problem. Without anger.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Finally, in every event which leads you to sorrow, remember to use this principle: that this is not a misfortune, but that to bear it like a brave man is good fortune.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Whatever anyone does or says, I must be a good man. It is as if an emerald, or gold or purple, were always saying: 'Whatever anyone does or says, I must be an emerald and keep my own colour.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"..a man cannot lose a thing if he has it not.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The mind is that which is roused and directed by itself. It makes of itself what it chooses. It makes what it chooses of its own experience.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"How unsound and insincere is he who says, I have determined to deal with thee in a fair way.—What art thou doing, man?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"A prudent governor will not roughly oppose even the superstitions of his people; and though he may wish they were wiser, he will know that he cannot make them so by offending their prejudices.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Her şey düşüncenin verdiği biçimi alır. Ve düşüncenizin kontrolü sizin elinizdedir. Dolayısıyla yargılarınızı ortadan kaldırmaya karar verdiğinizde huzura kavuşursunuz. Tıpkı, burnu dolaşan bir denizcinin sakin suya, dalgasız bir koya erişmesi gibi.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"finally, waiting for death with a cheerful mind, as being nothing else than a dissolution of the elements of which every living being is compounded.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"We live only in the present, in this fleet-footed moment. The rest is lost and behind us, or ahead of us and may never be found. Little of life we know, little the plot of earth on which we dwell, little the memory of even the most famous who have lived, and this memory itself is preserved by generations of little men, who know little about themselves and far less about those who died long ago. (Book 3, Verse 10)","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Inquire of yourself as soon as you wake from sleep, whether it will make any difference to you, if another does what is just and right. It will make no difference.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Consider how quickly all things are dissolved and resolved: the bodies and substances themselves, into the matter and substance of the world: and their memories into the general age and time of the world.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"To be cheerful, and to stand in no need, either of other men's help or attendance, or of that rest and tranquillity, which thou must be beholding to others for. Rather like one that is straight of himself, or hath ever been straight, than one that hath been rectified.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"You say — ‘It’s unfortunate that this has happened to me.’ No. It’s fortunate that this has happened and I’ve remained unharmed by it — not shattered by the present or frightened of the future. It could have happened to anyone. But not everyone could have remained unharmed by it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Death. The end of sense-perception, of being controlled by our emotions, of mental activity, of enslavement to our bodies.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"consider that for whatever purpose each thing has been constituted, for this it has been constituted, and towards this it is carried; and its end is in that towards which it is carried; and where the end is, there also is the advantage and the good of each thing. Now the good for the reasonable animal is society; for that we are made for society has been shown above.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"I am composed of a body and a soul. Things that happen to the body are meaningless. It cannot discriminate among them. Nothing has meaning to my mind except its own actions. Which are within its own control. And it’s only the immediate ones that matter. Its past and future actions too are meaningless.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"And why should we feel anger at the world? As if the world would notice!","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"And why is it so hard when things go against you? If it’s imposed by nature, accept it gladly and stop fighting it. And if not, work out what your own nature requires, and aim at that, even if it brings you no glory.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If the gods have made decisions about me and the things that happen to me, then they were good decisions. (It’s hard to picture a god who makes bad ones.) And why would they expend their energies on causing me harm? What good would it do them—or the world, which is their primary concern? And if they haven’t made decisions about me as an individual, they certainly have about the general welfare. And anything that follows from that is something I have to welcome and embrace. And if they make no decisions, about anything—and it’s blasphemous even to think so (because if so, then let’s stop sacrificing, praying, swearing oaths, and doing all the other things we do, believing the whole time that the gods are right here with us)—if they decide nothing about our lives . . . well, I can still make decisions. Can still consider what it’s to my benefit to do. And what benefits anyone is to do what his own nature requires. And mine is rational. Rational and civic. My city and state are Rome—as Antoninus. But as a human being? The world. So for me, “good” can only mean what’s good for both communities.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"So that we may say, that whatsoever is, is but as it were the seed of that which shall be.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"2. How can our principles become dead, unless the impressions [thoughts] which correspond to them are extinguished? But it is in thy power continuously to fan these thoughts into a flame. I can have that opinion about anything, which I ought to have. If I can, why am I disturbed? The things which are external to my mind have no relation at all to my mind. Let this be the state of thy affects, and thou standest erect. To recover thy life is in thy power. Look at things again as thou didst use to look at them; for in this consists the recovery of thy life.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"De mi padre[144] la gentileza, la firmeza sin oscilación en decisiones previamente analizadas; no vanagloriarse en lo que se considera motivo de honras; ser amigo del esfuerzo y perseverar; prestar oídos a quien tiene algo en bien del común que proponer; no dejarse pervertir al distribuir a cada","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Qui una sola cosa ha valore: trascorrere tutta la vita nella verità e nella giustizia pur trattando con indulgenza i bugiardi e gli ingiusti.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"frenar durante su mandato las aclamaciones y cualquier adulación; ser vigilante de las necesidades del imperio,","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"when I have anything to do, to do it myself rather than by others; not to meddle with many businesses; and not easily to admit of any slander.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"how many things may and do oftentimes follow upon such fits of anger and grief; far more grievous in themselves, than those very things which we are so grieved or angry for.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Ako te uvrijedi nečiji manjak stida, moraš odmah upitati sebe: ''Dakle, je li moguće da na svijetu ne bude besramnika?'' Nije moguće. Dakle, ne traži nemoguće. Taj čovjek samo je jedan od besramnika koji neizbježno postoje na svijetu. Istu misao imaj spremnu za buntovnika, izdajicu i sve druge zlotvore. Spoznaja da takav soj ljudi neophodno mora postojati odmah će te učiniti blažim prema njima kao pojedincima.","author":"Marcus Aurelius, Meditations"},{"text":"Combien il est ridicule de ne point chercher à éviter sa propre méchanceté, ce qui est possible, et de vouloir éviter celle des autres, ce qui ne l’est pas !","author":"Marc Aurèle"},{"text":"Concentrate every minute like a Roman - like a man - on doing what's in front of you with precise and genuine seriousness, tenderly, willingly, with justice.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Стига само да се съсредоточиш в живота, който живееш, тоест в настоящето, ти ще можеш да изживееш оставащото до смъртта време без смут, в добро разположение на духа и настроен доброжелателно към своето божество.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Short then is the time which every man lives, and small the nook of the earth where he lives; and short too the longest posthumous fame...","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"not to busy myself about vain things, and not easily","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"the Imitation of Christ.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"You’ll find that none of the people who make you lose your temper has done anything that might affect your mind for the worse; and outside of the mind there’s nothing that is truly detrimental or harmful for you… After all, you even had the resources, in the form of your ability to think rationally, to appreciate that he was likely to commit that fault, yet you forgot it and are now surprised that he did exactly that.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"36. Don’t let your imagination be crushed by life as a whole. Don’t try to picture everything bad that could possibly happen. Stick with the situation at hand, and ask, “Why is this so unbearable? Why can’t I endure it?” You’ll be embarrassed to answer. Then remind yourself that past and future have no power over you. Only the present—and even that can be minimized. Just mark off its limits. And if your mind tries to claim that it can’t hold out against that … well, then, heap shame upon it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The person who loves reputation supposes that his own good depends on the activities of others; the lover of pleasure finds his own good in being affected by his emotions. But the person who has Intelligence understands the good to be in his own actions.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Some people, when they do someone a favor, are always looking for a chance to call it in. And some aren’t, but they’re still aware of it—still regard it as a debt. But others don’t even do that. They’re like a vine that produces grapes without looking for anything in return. A horse at the end of the race … A dog when the hunt is over … A bee with its honey stored … And a human being after helping others. They don’t make a fuss about it. They just go on to something else, as the vine looks forward to bearing fruit again in season. We should be like that. Acting almost unconsciously.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"HE WHO ACTS UNJUSTLY ACTS IMPIOUSLY.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The mind adapts and converts to its own purposes the obstacle to our acting. The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"conforming of the life to nature (δμολογουμενως τπ ϕυσει ζπν) was the Stoic idea of Virtue.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"When you start to lose your temper, remember: There's nothing manly about rage. It's courtesy and kindness that define a human being- and a man. That's who possesses strength and nerves and guts, not the angry whiners.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"time is fixed for thee, which if thou dost not use for clearing away the clouds from thy mind, it will go and thou wilt go, and it will never return. Every","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"How unsound and insincere is he who says, I have determined to deal with thee in a fair way. What art thou doing man? There is no occasion to give this notice. It will soon show itself by acts. The voice ought to be plainly written on the forehead. Such as a man's character is, he immediately shows it in the eyes, just as he who is beloved forthwith reads everything in the eyes of lovers. The man who is honest and good ought to be exactly like a man who smells strong, so that the bystander as soon as he comes near him must smell whether he choose or not. But the affectation [artificial behavior] of simplicity is like a crooked stick. Nothing is more disgraceful than a wolfish friendship. Avoid this most of all. The good and simple and benevolent show all these things in the eyes, and there is no mistaking.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"that meekness is a thing unconquerable, if it be true and natural, and not affected or hypocritical. For how shall even the most fierce and malicious that thou shalt conceive, be able to hold on against thee, if thou shalt still continue meek and loving unto him; and that even at that time, when he is about to do thee wrong, thou shalt be well disposed, and in good temper, with all meekness to teach him, and to instruct him better?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Start praying like this and you’ll see. Not “some way to sleep with her”—but a way to stop wanting to. Not “some way to get rid of him”—but a way to stop trying. Not “some way to save my child”—but a way to lose your fear. Redirect your prayers like that, and watch what happens.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"What makes for a worthy goal? Not to chase things that are popularly considered good, like pleasures and fame, but to live according to your nature, following reason and benefitting society.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"say to thyself, This day I shalt have to do with an idle curious man, with an unthankful man, a railer, a crafty, false, or an envious man; an unsociable uncharitable man. All these ill qualities have happened unto them, through ignorance of that which is truly good and truly bad. But I that understand the nature of that which is good, that it only is to be desired, and of that which is bad, that it only is truly odious and shameful: who know moreover, that this transgressor, whosoever he be, is my kinsman, not by the same blood and seed, but by participation of the same reason, and of the same divine particle; How can I either be hurt by any of those, since it is not in their power to make me incur anything that is truly reproachful? or","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Turn your attention within, for the fountain of all that is good lies within, and it is always ready to pour forth, if you continually delve in.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"I will not allow things outside my mind to affect my mind. I will not let external events shake and shatter my inner peace. I will not waste my energy on things outside my control","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"In a sense, people are our proper occupation. Our job is to do them good and put up with them. But when they obstruct our proper tasks, they become irrelevant to us—like sun, wind, animals. Our actions may be impeded by them, but there can be no impeding our intentions or our dispositions. Because we can accommodate and adapt. The mind adapts and converts to its own purposes the obstacle to our acting. The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"In everything that you do, pause and ask yourself if death is a dreadful thing because it deprives you of this","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"In the human life time is but an instant, and the substance of it a flux, and the perception dull, and the composition of the whole body subject to putrefaction, and the soul a whirl, and fortune hard to divine, and fame a thing devoid of certainty. And, to say all in a word, everything that belongs to the body is a stream, and what belongs to the soul is a dream and vapor, and life is a warfare and a stranger's sojourn, and after- fame is oblivion. What then can guide a man? One thing and only one, philosophy.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Be your own master, and look at things as a man, as a human being, as a citizen, as a mortal creature.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: “I have to go to work—as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was born for— the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm? —But it’s nicer here. . . . So you were born to feel “nice”? Instead of doing things and experiencing them? Don’t you see the plants, the birds, the ants and spiders and bees going about their individual tasks, putting the world in order, as best they can? And you’re not willing to do your job as a human being? Why aren’t you running to do what your nature demands? —But we have to sleep sometime. . . . Agreed. But nature set a limit on that—as it did on eating and drinking. And you’re over the limit. You’ve had more than enough of that. But not of working. There you’re still below your quota. You don’t love yourself enough. Or you’d love your nature too, and what it demands of you. People who love what they do wear themselves down doing it, they even forget to wash or eat. Do you have less respect for your own nature than the engraver does for engraving, the dancer for the dance, the miser for money or the social climber for status? When they’re really possessed by what they do, they’d rather stop eating and sleeping than give up practicing their arts.  Is helping others less valuable to you? Not worth your effort?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The things you think about determine the quality of your mind. Your soul takes on the color of your thoughts.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"He is so rich, he has no room to shit.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"We must make haste then, not only because we are daily nearer to death, but also because the conception of things and the understanding of them cease first.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"40. The gods either have power or they have not. If they have not, why pray to them? If they have, then instead of praying to be granted or spared such-and-such a thing, why not rather pray to be delivered from dreading it, or lusting for it, or grieving over it? Clearly, if they can help a man at all, they can help him in this way. You will say, perhaps, ‘But all that is something they have put in my own power.’ Then surely it were better to use your power and be a free man, than to hanker like a slave and a beggar for something that is not in your power. Besides, who told you the gods never lend their aid even towards things that do lie in our own power? Begin praying in this way, and you will see. Where another man prays ‘Grant that I may possess this woman,’ let your own prayer be, ‘Grant that I may not lust to possess her.’ Where he prays, ‘Grant me to be rid of such-and-such a one,’ you pray, ‘Take from me my desire to be rid of him.’ Where he begs, ‘Spare me the loss of my precious child,’ beg rather to be delivered from the terror of losing him. In short, give your petitions a turn in this direction, and see what comes.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"How good it is when you have roast meat or suchlike foods before you, to impress on your mind that this is the dead body of a fish, this is the dead body of a bird or pig; and again, that the Falernian wine is the mere juice of grapes, and your purple edged robe simply the hair of a sheep soaked in shell-fish blood! And in sexual intercourse that it is no more than the friction of a membrane and a spurt of mucus ejected.  How good these perceptions are at getting to the heart of the real thing and penetrating through it, so you can see it for what it is! This should be your practice throughout all your life: when things have such a plausible appearance, show them naked, see their shoddiness, strip away their own boastful account of themselves. Vanity is the greatest seducer of reason: when you are most convinced that your work is important, that is when you are most under its spell.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The sexual embrace can only be compared with music and with prayer.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"That which has died falls not out of the universe. If it stays here, it also changes here, and is dissolved into its proper parts, which are elements of the universe and of thyself. And these too change, and they murmur not\".","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Failure to read what is happening in another's soul is not easily seen as a cause of unhappiness: but those who fail to attend the motions of their own soul are necessarily unhappy.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If any man is able to convince me and show me that I do not think or act right, I will gladly change; for I seek the truth by which no man was ever injured. But he is injured who abides in his error and ignorance.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Whatever time you choose is the right time. Not late, not early.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Today I escaped all circumstance, or rather I cast out all circumstance, for it was not outside me, but within my judgements.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"To be like the rock that the waves keep crashing over. It stands unmoved and the raging of the sea falls still around it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Kindness is invincible.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"How soon will time cover all things.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If something is difficult for you to accomplish, do not then think it impossible for any human being; rather, if it is humanly possible and corresponds to human nature, know that it is attainable by you as well.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If anyone can refute me—show me I’m making a mistake or looking at things from the wrong perspective—I’ll gladly change. It’s the truth I’m after, and the truth never harmed anyone. What harms us is to persist in self-deceit and ignorance.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Accustom yourself not to be disregarding of what someone else has to say: as far as possible enter into the mind of the speaker.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"I can control my thoughts as necessary; then how can I be troubled? What is outside my mind means nothing to it. Absorb that lesson and your feet stand firm.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Frequently consider the connection of all things in the Universe. ... Reflect upon the multitude of bodily and mental events taking place in the same brief time, simultaneously in every one of us and so you will not be surprised that many more events, or rather all things that come to pass, exist simultaneously in the one and entire unity, which we call the Universe. ... We should not say ‘I am an Athenian’ or ‘I am a Roman’ but ‘I am a Citizen of the Universe'.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Nothing is more scandalous than a man that is proud of his humility.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"In an expression of true gratitude, sadness is conspicuous only by its absence","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"When you run up against someone else’s shamelessness, ask yourself this: Is a world without shamelessness possible? No. Then don’t ask the impossible. There have to be shameless people in the world. This is one of them. The same for someone vicious or untrustworthy, or with any other defect. Remembering that the whole world class has to exist will make you more tolerant of its members.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Anything in any way beautiful derives its beauty from itself and asks nothing beyond itself. Praise is no part of it, for nothing is made worse or better by praise.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Not to waste time on nonsense. Not to be taken in by conjurors and hoodoo artists with their talk about incantations and exorcism and all the rest of it. Not to be obsessed with quail-fighting or other crazes like that.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"In the morning when thou risest unwillingly, let this thought be present,—I am rising to the work of a human being. Why then am I dissatisfied if I am going to do the things for which I exist and for which I was brought into the world? Or have I been made for this, to lie in the bed-clothes and keep myself warm?—But this is more pleasant.—Dost thou exist then to take thy pleasure, and not at all for action or exertion? Dost thou not see the little plants, the little birds, the ants, the spiders, the bees working together to put in order their several parts of the universe? And art thou unwilling to do the work of a human being, and dost thou not make haste to do that which, is according to thy nature? But it is necessary to take rest also.—It is necessary. However, Nature has fixed bounds to this too: she has fixed bounds to eating and drinking, and yet thou goest beyond these bounds, beyond what is sufficient; yet in thy acts it is not so, but thou stoppest short of what thou canst do. So thou lovest not thyself, for if thou didst, thou wouldst love thy nature and her will. But those who love their several arts exhaust themselves in working at them unwashed and without food; but thou valuest thy own nature less than the turner values the turning art, or the dancer the dancing art, or the lover of money values his money, or the vain-glorious man his little glory. And such men, when they have a violent affection to a thing, choose neither to eat nor to sleep rather than to perfect the things which they care for. But are the acts which concern society more vile in thy eyes and less worthy of thy labor?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Since it is possible that thou mayest depart from life this very moment, regulate every act and thought accordingly.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Let no act be done without a purpose, nor otherwise than according to the perfect principles of art.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Y recuerda que has de tratarles como a hombres, porque son tan humanos como tú y por tanto te resultan tan imprescindibles como la mandíbula inferior lo es para la superior.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"We speak of the sun’s light as “pouring down on us,” as “pouring over us” in all directions. Yet it’s never poured out. Because it doesn’t really pour; it extends. Its beams (aktai) get their name from their extension (ekteinesthai). To see the nature of a sunbeam, look at light as it falls through a narrow opening into a dark room. It extends in a straight line, striking any solid object that stands in its way and blocks the space beyond it. There it remains—not vanishing, or falling away. That’s what the outpouring—the diffusion—of thought should be like: not emptied out, but extended. And not striking at obstacles with fury and violence, or falling away before them, but holding its ground and illuminating what receives it. What doesn’t transmit light creates its own darkness.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"As a horse when he has run, a dog when he has tracked the game, a bee when it has made the honey, so a man when he has done a good act, does not call out for others to come and see, but he goes on to another act, as a vine goes on to produce again the grapes in season.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"No lo hagas, si no conviene; no lo digas si no es verdad.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"In the morning, when you rise unwillingly, let this thought be present: I am rising to the work of a human being. Why then am I dissatisfied if I am going to do the things for which I exist and for which I was brought into the world? Or have I been made for this, to lie under the blankets and keep myself warm? But this is more pleasant. Do you exist then to take your pleasure, and not at all for action or exertion?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Why all this guesswork? You can see what needs to be done. If you can see the road, follow it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"These things thou must always have in mind: What is the nature of the universe, and what is mine—in particular: This unto that what relation it hath: what kind of part, of what kind of universe it is: And that there is nobody that can hinder thee, but that thou mayest always both do and speak those things which are agreeable to that nature, whereof thou art a part.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"For it is according to nature, and nothing is evil which is according to nature.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"But death certainly, and life, honour and dishonour, pain and pleasure, all these things equally happen to good men and bad, being things which make us neither better nor worse. Therefore they are neither good nor evil.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Consider how quickly all things are dissolved and resolved:","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Spend not the remnant of thy days in thoughts and fancies concerning other men, when it is not in relation to some common good, when by it thou art hindered from some other better work.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Everything that happens happens as it should, and if you observe carefully, you will find this to be so.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Forget everything else. Keep hold of this alone and remember it: Each of us lives only now, this brief instant. The rest has been lived already, or is impossible to see. The span we live is small—small","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"And you can also commit injustice by doing nothing.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Do your best to convince them. But act on your own, if justice requires it. If met with force, then fall back on acceptance and peaceability. Use the setback to practice other virtues. Remember that our efforts are subject to circumstances; you weren’t aiming to do the impossible. —Aiming to do what, then? To try. And you succeeded. What you set out to do is accomplished.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"All men die, but that not all men die whining","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"محظوظ ذلك الذي لايخاف ولا يأمل - زينون","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"لا أخاف شيئا ولا آمل في شئ إني حر - كازنتزاكيس","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"To do harm is to do yourself harm. To do an injustice is to do yourself an injustice—it degrades you.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"To the best of my judgment, when I look at the human character I see no virtue placed there to counter justice. But I see one to counter pleasure: self-control.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Now it is true that these may impede my action, but they are no impediments to my affects and disposition, which have the power of acting conditionally and changing: for the mind converts and changes every hindrance to its activity into an aid; and so that which is a hindrance is made a furtherance to an act; and an obstacle on the road helps us along this road.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"To feel affection for people even when they make mistakes is uniquely human. You can do it, if you simply recognize: that they’re human too, that they act out of ignorance, against their will, and that you’ll both be dead before long. And, above all, that they haven’t really hurt you. They haven’t diminished your ability to choose.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Failure to observe what is in the mind of another has seldom made a man unhappy; but those who do not observe the movements of their own minds must of necessity be unhappy.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"No malgastes lo que te queda de vida en conjeturar sobre los demás, a no ser que busques el bien común; pues si te dedicas a imaginar qué hace la gente, por qué, qué dice, que piensa, qué trama, y cosas parecidas, dejarás de observar tu propia conciencia interior.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"And here are two of the most immediately useful thoughts you will dip into. First that things cannot touch the mind: they are external and inert; anxieties can only come from your internal judgement. Second, hat all these things you see will change almost as you look at them, and then will be no more. Constantly bring to mind all that you yourself have already seen changed. The universe is change: life is judgement.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Other people’s mistakes? Leave them to their makers.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Persuade me or prove to me that I am mistaken in thought or deed, and I will gladly change—for it is the truth I seek, and the truth never harmed anyone. Harm comes from persisting in error and clinging to ignorance.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"I was once a fortunate man but at some point fortune abandoned me. But true good fortune is what you make for yourself. Good fortune: good character, good intentions, and good actions.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Wait for it patiently—annihilation or metamorphosis.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"offences which are committed through desire are more blameable than those which are committed through anger. For he who is excited by anger seems to turn away from reason with a certain pain and unconscious contraction; but he who offends through desire, being overpowered by pleasure, seems to be in a manner more intemperate and more womanish in his offences.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Nothing befalls anything which that thing is not naturally made to bear. The same experience befalls another, and he is unruffled and remains unharmed; either because he is unaware that it has happened or because he exhibits greatness of soul. Is it not strange that ignorance and complaisance are stronger than wisdom...?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"XV. Is any man so foolish as to fear change, to which all things that once were not owe their being? And","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Do the things external which fall upon thee distract thee? Give thyself time to learn something new and good, and cease to be whirled around. But then thou must also avoid being carried about the other way. For those too are triflers who have wearied themselves in life by their activity, and yet have no object to which to direct every movement, and, in a word, all their thoughts.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"It is the act of an ill-instructed man to blame others for his own bad condition; it is the act of one who has begun to be instructed, to lay the blame on himself; and of one whose instruction is completed, neither to blame another, nor himself.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Remind yourself too that each of us lives only in the present moment, a mere fragment of time: the rest is life past or uncertain future.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Art thou angry with him whose armpits stink? Art thou angry with him whose mouth smells foul? What good will this danger do thee? He has such a mouth, he has such arm-pits: it is necessary that such an emanation must come from such things- but the man has reason, it will be said, and he is able, if he takes pain, to discover wherein he offends- I wish thee well of thy discovery. Well then, and thou hast reason: by thy rational faculty stir up his rational faculty; show him his error, admonish him. For if he listens, thou wilt cure him, and there is no need of anger.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing, in as much as it, too, demands a from and watchful stance against any unexpected onset","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"So we must have a sense of urgency, not only for the ever closer approach of death, but also because our comprehension of the world and our ability to pay proper attention will fade before we do.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Everywhere and continually it is in your power to be reverently content with your present circumstance, to behave to men who are present with you according to right and to handle skillfully the present impression, that nothing you have not mastered may cross the threshold of the mind.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"You’ve seen that. Now look at this. Don’t be disturbed. Uncomplicate yourself. Someone has done wrong … to himself. Something happens to you. Good. It was meant for you by nature, woven into the pattern from the beginning. Life is short. That’s all there is to say. Get what you can from the present—thoughtfully, justly. Unrestrained moderation.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"that evil must be overcome with good.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Though thou shouldst be going to live three thousand years, and as many times ten thousand years, still remember that no man loses any other life than this which he now lives, nor lives any other than this which he now loses.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Finally, therefore, remember your retreat into this little domain which is yourself, and above all be not disturbed nor on the rack, but be free and look at things as a man, a human being, a citizen, a creature that must die.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The gods live forever and yet they don't seem annoyed at having to put up with human beings and their behavior throughout eternity. And not only put up with but actively care for them. And you—on the verge of death—you still refuse to care for them, although you're one of them yourself.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Is any man afraid of change? Why what can take place without change? What then is more pleasing or more suitable to the universal nature? And canst thou take a bath unless the wood undergoes a change? And canst thou be nourished, unless the food undergoes a change? And can anything else that is useful be accomplished without change?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"that to expect bad men not to do wrong is madness,","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"لكل شيء في الطبيعة دوره في حبكة الكل , حتى النائم وحتى المخرب ..حتى مخلفات الطبيعة وعوارضها الضارة هي نواتج بعدية للنبيل والجميل","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Don’t be anxious. Nature controls it all. And before long you’ll be no one, nowhere.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Reject your sense of injury, and the injury itself disappears.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Do not disturb yourself by thinking of the whole of your life. Do not let your thoughts at once embrace all the various troubles that you may expect to befall you: but on every occasion ask yourself, What is there in this that is intolerable and past bearing? For you will be ashamed to confess. In the next place remember that neither the future nor the past pains you, but only the present. But this is reduced to a very little, if you only circumscribe it and chide your mind, if it is unable to hold out against even this.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Throw away thy books. No longer distract thyself.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"it will help you a great deal to keep the gods in mind as well. What they want is not flattery, but for rational things to be like them. For figs to do what figs were meant to do—and dogs, and bees … and people.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"He who follows reason in all things is both tranquil and active at the same time, and also cheerful and collected.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"What stands in the way becomes the way.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Do nothing against thy will, nor contrary to the community, nor without due examination, nor with reluctancy.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"People seek retreats for themselves in the countryside by the seashore, in the hills, and you too have made it your habit to long for that above all else. But this is altogether unphilosophical, when it is possible for you to retreat into yourself whenever you please; for nowhere can one retreat into greater peace or freedom from care than within one’s own soul, especially when a person has such things within him that he merely has to look at them to recover from that moment perfect ease of mind (and by ease of mind I mean nothing other than having one’s mind in good order). So constantly grant yourself this retreat and so renew yourself; but keep within you concise and basic precepts that will be enough, at first encounter, to cleanse you from all distress and to send you back without discontent to the life to which you will return.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"52. You don’t have to turn this into something. It doesn’t have to upset you. Things can’t shape our decisions by themselves.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Learn to ask of all questions, 'Why are they doing that?' Starting with your own.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"A man without ever the least appearance of anger, or any other passion; able at the same time most exactly to observe the Stoic Apathia, or unpassionateness, and yet to be most tender-hearted: ever of good credit; and yet almost without any noise, or rumour: very learned, and yet making little show.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"27. Treat what you don’t have as nonexistent. Look at what you have, the things you value most, and think of how much you’d crave them if you didn’t have them. But be careful. Don’t feel such satisfaction that you start to overvalue them—that it would upset you to lose them.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"It is a shame when the soul is first to give way in this life, and the body does not give way.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"We live only in the present, in this fleet-footed moment. The rest is lost and behind us, or ahead of us and may never be found. Little of life we know, little the plot of earth on which we dwell, little the memory of even the most famous who have lived, and this memory itself is preserved by generations of little men, who know little about themselves and far less about those who died long ago.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Go on abusing yourself, O my soul! Not long and you will lose the opportunity to show yourself any respect. We have only one life to live, and yours is almost over. Because you have chosen not to respect yourself, you have made your happiness subject to the opinions others have of you. (Book 2, Verse 6)","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Let nothing be done rashly, and at random, but all things according to the most exact and perfect rules of art.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Most of what we say and do is not necessary, and its omission would save both time and trouble. At every step, therefore, a man should ask himself, 'Is this one of the things that are superfluous?' Moreover, not idle actions only but even idle impressions ought to be suppressed; for the unnecessary action will not ensue.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The way to peace is to be content with yourself, honor the light of reason within, live in harmony with others, and be grateful to the gods for the universe and your role in it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Τοῦτο ἔχει ἡ τελειότης τοῦ ἤθους, τὸ πᾶσαν ἡμέραν ὡς τελευταίαν διεξάγειν καὶ μήτε σφύζειν μήτε ναρκᾶν μήτε ὑποκρίνεσθαι.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Souviens toi que chacun ne vit que dans le moment présent, dans l'instant. Le reste, c'est le passé ou un obscur avenir. Petite est donc l'étendue de la vie.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Does a man offend your pride? Remember he will be dead soon, as will you.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly. They are like this because they can’t tell good from evil. But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own—not of the same blood or birth, but the same mind, and possessing a share of the divine.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"No longer wander at hazard; for neither wilt thou read thy own memoirs, nor the acts of the ancient Romans and Hellenes, and the selections from books which thou wast reserving for thy old age. Hasten then to the end which thou hast before thee, and throwing away idle hopes, come to thy own aid, if thou carest at all for thyself, while it is in thy power.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Even if you were destined to live three thousand years, or ten times that long, nevertheless remember that no one loses any life other than the one he lives, or lives any life other than the life he loses. It follows that the longest and the shortest lives are brought to the same state. The present moment is equal for all; so what is passing is equal also; the loss therefore turns out to be the merest fragment of time. No one can lose either the past or the future -- how could anyone be deprived of what he does not possess? So always remember these two things. First, that all things have been of the same kind from everlasting, coming round and round again, and it makes no difference whether one will see the same things for a hundred years, or two hundred years, or for an infinity of time. Second, that both the longest-lived and the earliest to die suffer the same loss. It is only the present moment of which either stands to be deprived: and if indeed this is all he has, he cannot lose what he does not have.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"hold every hour in your grasp. Lay hold of to-day's task, and you will not need to depend so much upon to-morrow's. While we are postponing, life speeds by. Nothing, Lucilius, is ours, except time. We were entrusted by nature with the ownership of this single thing, so fleeting and slippery that anyone who will can oust us from possession.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Let it happen, if it wants, to whatever it can happen to. And what’s affected can complain about it if it wants. It doesn’t hurt me unless I interpret its happening as harmful to me. I can choose not to.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"External things are not the problem. It’s your assessment of them. Which you can erase right now. If the problem is something in your own character, who’s stopping you from setting your mind straight? And if it’s that you’re not doing something you think you should be, why not just do it? —But there are insuperable obstacles. Then it’s not a problem. The cause of your inaction lies outside you. —But how can I go on living with that undone? Then depart, with a good conscience, as if you’d done it, embracing the obstacles too.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Be not querulous, be Content with little, be kind, be free; avoid all superfluity, all vain prattling; be magnanimous.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"It stares you in the face. No role is so well suited to philosophy as the one you happen to be in right now.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"But death and life, honor and dishonor, pain and pleasure—all these things equally happen to good men and bad, being things which make us neither better nor worse. Therefore they are neither good nor evil.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Even if you’re going to live three thousand more years, or ten times that, remember: you cannot lose another life than the one you’re living now, or live another one than the one you’re losing. The longest amounts to the same as the shortest. The present is the same for everyone; its loss is the same for everyone; and it should be clear that a brief instant is all that is lost. For you can’t lose either the past or the future; how could you lose what you don’t have? Remember two things: i. that everything has always been the same, and keeps recurring, and it makes no difference whether you see the same things recur in a hundred years or two hundred, or in an infinite period; ii. that the longest-lived and those who will die soonest lose the same thing. The present is all that they can give up, since that is all you have, and what you do not have, you cannot lose.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Well, then, shall mere glory distract you? Look at the swiftness of the oblivion of all men; the gulf of endless time, behind and before; the hollowness of applause, the fickleness and folly of those who seem to speak well of you, and the narrow room in which it is confined. This should make you pause. For the entire earth is a point in space, and how small a corner thereof is this your dwelling place, and how few and how paltry those who will sing your praises here!","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"When you run up against someone else’s shamelessness, ask yourself this: Is a world without shamelessness possible? No. Then don’t ask the impossible. There have to be shameless people in the world. This is one of them. The same for someone vicious or untrustworthy, or with any other defect. Remembering that the whole class has to exist will make you more tolerant of its members. Another useful point to bear in mind: What qualities has nature given us to counter that defect? As an antidote to unkindness it gave us kindness. And other qualities to balance other flaws. And when others stray off course, you can always try to set them straight, because every wrongdoer is doing something wrong—doing something the wrong way. And how does it injure you anyway? You’ll find that none of the people you’re upset about has done anything that could do damage to your mind. But that’s all that “harm” or “injury” could mean. Yes, boorish people do boorish things. What’s strange or unheard-of about that? Isn’t it yourself you should reproach—for not anticipating that they’d act this way? The logos gave you the means to see it—that a given person would act a given way—but you paid no attention. And now you’re astonished that he’s gone and done it. So when you call someone “untrustworthy” or “ungrateful,” turn the reproach on yourself. It was you who did wrong. By assuming that someone with those traits deserved your trust. Or by doing them a favor and expecting something in return, instead of looking to the action itself for your reward. What else did you expect from helping someone out? Isn’t it enough that you’ve done what your nature demands? You want a salary for it too? As if your eyes expected a reward for seeing, or your feet for walking. That’s what they were made for. By doing what they were designed to do, they’re performing their function. Whereas humans were made to help others. And when we do help others—or help them to do something—we’re doing what we were designed for. We perform our function.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Don’t let your imagination be crushed by life as a whole. Don’t try to picture everything bad that could possibly happen. Stick with the situation at hand, and ask, “Why is this so unbearable? Why can’t I endure it?” You’ll be embarrassed to answer. Then remind yourself that past and future have no power over you. Only the present—and even that can be minimized. Just mark off its limits. And if your mind tries to claim that it can’t hold out against that … well, then, heap shame upon it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"All is change. You yourself are continuously changing and being destroyed bit by bit. So is the whole universe.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Either the gods have no power or they have power. If, then, they have no power, why do you pray to them? But if they have power, why do you not pray for them to give you the faculty of not fearing any of the things that you fear, or of not desiring any of the things that you desire, or not being pained at anything, rather than pray that they should grant this or refuse that? For certainly if they can cooperate with men, they can cooperate for these purposes. But perhaps you will say, the gods have placed this in your power. Well, then, is it not better to use what is in your power like a free man than to desire in a slavish and abject way what is not in your power? And who has told you that the gods do not aid us even in the things that are in our power?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"He who lives in harmony with himself lives in harmony with the universe.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly. They are like this because they can’t tell good from evil. But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own—not of the same blood or birth, but the same mind, and possessing a share of the divine. And so none of them can hurt me. No one can implicate me in ugliness. Nor can I feel angry at my relative, or hate him. We were born to work together like feet, hands, and eyes, like the two rows of teeth, upper and lower. To obstruct each other is unnatural. To feel anger at someone, to turn your back on him: these are obstructions.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"A human being has close kinship with the whole human race -- not a bond of blood or seed, but a community of mind. And you have forgotten this too, that every man's mind is a god and has flowed from that source; that nothing is our own property, but even our child, our body, our very soul have come from that source; that all is as thinking makes it so; that each of us lives only the present moment, and the present moment is all we lose.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"As they that long after figs in winter when they cannot be had; so are they that long after children, before they be granted them.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If thou shouldst live three thousand, or as many as ten thousands of years, yet remember this, that man can part with no life properly, save with that little part of life, which he now lives: and that which he lives, is no other, than that which at every instant he parts with.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"esta adversidad no es un infortunio, mas soportarlo noblemente es una suerte.                               50.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"8. The mind is that which is roused and directed by itself. It makes of itself what it chooses. It makes what it chooses of its own experience.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"selfishness; both of them will do you harm. When you start to lose your temper, remember: There’s nothing manly about rage. It’s courtesy and kindness that define a human being—and a man. That’s who possesses strength and nerves and guts, not the angry whiners.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"not to walk about in the house in my outdoor dress,","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"consider when thou art much vexed or grieved, that man’s life is only a moment, and after a short time we are all laid out dead.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Se buscan retiros en el campo, en la costa y en el monte. Tú también sueles anhelar tales retiros. Pero todo eso es de lo más vulgar, porque puedes, en el momento que te apetezca, retirarte en ti mismo. En ninguna parte un hombre se retira con mayor tranquilidad y más calma que en su propia alma; sobre todo aquel que posee en su interior tales bienes, que si se inclina hacia ellos, de inmediato consigue una tranquilidad total. Y denomino tranquilidad única y exclusivamente al buen orden.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"And moreover, to fear pain is to fear something that’s bound to happen, the world being what it is—and that again is blasphemy.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Chief among these are inappropriate value judgments: the designation as “good” or “evil” of things that in fact are neither good nor evil.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Make for thyself a definition or description of the thing which is presented to thee, so as to see distinctly what kind of a thing it is in its substance, in its nudity, in its complete entirety, and tell thyself its proper name, and the names of the things of which it has been compounded, and into which it will be resolved. For nothing is so productive of elevation of mind as to be able to examine methodically and truly every object which is presented to thee in life, and always to look at things so as to see at the same time what kind of universe this is, and what kind of use everything performs in it, and what value everything has with reference to the whole, and what with reference to man, who is a citizen of the highest city, of which all other cities are like families; what each thing is, and of what it is composed, and how long it is the nature of this thing to endure which now makes an impression on me, and what virtue I have need of with respect to it, such as gentleness, manliness, truth, fidelity, simplicity, contentment, and the rest. Wherefore, on every occasion a man should say: this comes from God; and this is according to the apportionment and spinning of the thread of destiny, and such-like coincidence and chance; and this is from one of the same stock, and a kinsman and partner, one who knows not however what is according to his nature.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The time of a man’s life is as a point; the substance of it ever flowing, the sense obscure; and the whole composition of the body tending to corruption.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"what stands in the way is the way","author":"marcus aurelius"},{"text":"3. Alexander and Caesar and Pompey. Compared with Diogenes, Heraclitus, Socrates? The philosophers knew the what, the why, the how. Their minds were their own. The others? Nothing but anxiety and enslavement.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"真正的美还需要什么吗？不，如同法律一样不需要，如同真理一样不需要，如同善意、谦虚一样不需要。它们中有哪一种是由于称赞才美的，或是由于受贬抑而受损？事实上，即使翡翠[28]不被人称赞，它会变丑吗？黄金、象牙、紫袍、竖琴、短剑、小花、矮树会由于不被人称赞而变丑吗？","author":"马尔库斯·奥勒利乌斯(Aurelius.M.)"},{"text":"alegre e sereno, e não busque a tranquilidade nos outros. Um homem deve se manter ereto, apoiado em si mesmo, e não se valer dos demais como muleta.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Whatever happens to every man, this is for the interest of the universal: this might be sufficient. But further thou wilt observe this also as a general truth, if thou dost observe, that whatever is profitable to any man is profitable also to other men. But let the word profitable be taken here in the common sense as said of things of the middle kind [neither good nor bad].","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The soul becomes dyed with the colours of its thoughts.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"At every instant the objects and events in the world around us bombard us with impressions. As they do so they produce a phantasia, a mental impression. From this the mind generates a perception (hypolepsis), which might best be compared to a print made from a photographic negative. Ideally this print will be an accurate and faithful representation of the original. But it may not be. It may be blurred, or it may include shadow images that distort or obscure the original.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"This day I shalt have to do with an idle curious man, with an unthankful man, a railer, a crafty, false, or an envious man; an unsociable uncharitable man. All these ill qualities have happened unto them, through ignorance of that which is truly good and truly bad.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"一切自身具有美的事物本身便是美的，并且以自身为满足，不把赞美作为自己的一部分。其实，称赞并不能使事物变得更好或更坏。","author":"马尔库斯·奥勒利乌斯(Aurelius.M.)"},{"text":"No malogres la parte de vida que te queda en averiguar vidas ajenas, a no ser que te propongas algún fin útil a la comunidad. Te privas ciertamente de cumplir tu deber al revolver en tu imaginación lo que hace fulano y por qué lo hace, qué dice, qué piensa, qué trama, y otras ocupaciones de esta índole que te distraen de la consideración de tu facultad rectora. Conviene, pues, no ensartar en la cadena de nuestros pensamientos lo que es temerario y vano y, más especialmente, lo fútil y lo malvado. Hay que avezarse, además, a tener sólo ideas tales que si alguien de repente te preguntare, bruscamente: «¿En qué piensas ahora?», pudieras responder al instante, con toda franqueza: «en esto» o «en aquello». Se dejará ver entonces, pronto y evidentemente, que todo lo tuyo es simple, bondadoso, digno de un ser sociable e indiferente a los placeres y, en su conjunto, a las ideas de una vida voluptuosa; un ser que no abriga envidia, celos, desconfianza u otra pasión por la cual te fuera preciso avergonzarte al manifestar que la posee tu ánimo.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"We are each of us stronger than we think.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"It should be a man’s task, says the Imitation, ‘to overcome himself, and every day to be stronger than himself.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If you do the job in a principled way, with diligence, energy and patience, if you keep yourself free of distractions, and keep the spirit inside you undamaged, as if you might have to give it back at any moment– If you can embrace this without fear or expectation–can find fulfillment in what you’re doing now, as Nature intended, and in superhuman truthfulness (every word, every utterance)–then your life will be happy.  No one can prevent that.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Some things hasten to be, and others to be no more. And even whatsoever now is, some part thereof hath already perished. Perpetual fluxes and alterations renew the world, as the perpetual course of time doth make the age of the world (of itself infinite) to appear always fresh and new. In such a flux and course of all things, what of these things that hasten so fast away should any man regard, since among all there is not any that a man may fasten and fix upon? as if a man would settle his affection upon some ordinary sparrow living by him, who is no sooner seen, than out of sight. For we must not think otherwise of our lives, than as a mere exhalation of blood, or of an ordinary respiration of air. For what in our common apprehension is, to breathe in the air and to breathe it out again, which we do daily: so much is it and no more, at once to breathe out all thy respirative faculty into that common air from whence but lately (as being but from yesterday, and to-day), thou didst first breathe it in, and with it, life.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If he have sinned, his is the harm, not mine. But perchance he hath not.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"never realizing that all you have to do is to be attentive to the power inside you and worship it sincerely","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"To-day I have got out of all trouble, or rather I have cast out all trouble, for it was not outside, but within and in my opinions.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"And as for thy life, consider what it is; a wind; not one constant wind neither, but every moment of an hour let out, and sucked in again.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.","author":"Marcus Aurelius "},{"text":"Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love ...","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together,but do so with all your heart.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Our life is what our thoughts make it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If someone is able to show me that what I think or do is not right, I will happily change, for I seek the truth, by which no one was ever truly harmed. It is the person who continues in his self-deception and ignorance who is harmed.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself the following question: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinion of himself than on the opinion of others.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself in your way of thinking.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The best revenge is not to be like your enemy.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: the people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous and surly. They are like this because they can't tell good from evil. But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own - not of the same blood and birth, but the same mind, and possessing a share of the divine. And so none of them can hurt me. No one can implicate me in ugliness. Nor can I feel angry at my relative, or hate him. We were born to work together like feet, hands and eyes, like the two rows of teeth, upper and lower. To obstruct each other is unnatural. To feel anger at someone, to turn your back on him: these are unnatural.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"When another blames you or hates you, or people voice similar criticisms, go to their souls, penetrate inside and see what sort of people they are. You will realize that there is no need to be racked with anxiety that they should hold any particular opinion about you.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Do not act as if you were going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over you. While you live, while it is in your power, be good.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Here is a rule to remember in future, when anything tempts you to feel bitter: not \"This is misfortune,\" but \"To bear this worthily is good fortune.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Look well into thyself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up if thou wilt always look.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"How much time he gains who does not look to see what his neighbour says or does or thinks, but only at what he does himself, to make it just and holy.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If unwilling to rise in the morning, say to thyself, ‘I awake to do the work of a man.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The mind adapts and converts to its own purposes the obstacle to our acting. The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way. 21.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.  Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one. Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one. Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present. Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart. If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it. The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it. Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"لا تُعلّق سعادتك على آرائ الآخرين فيك ولا تضع هناءك في أيديهم. ذلك \" استرقاق \" طوعي و \" مصادرة \" حياة و \" نفي \" خارج الذات. و ما كنت لترضي أيًّا من ذلك لو كنت تعرف إسمه الحقيقي.","author":"ماركوس أوريليوس"},{"text":"The first step: Don’t be anxious. Nature controls it all. And before long you’ll be no one, nowhere—like Hadrian, like Augustus. The second step: Concentrate on what you have to do. Fix your eyes on it. Remind yourself that your task is to be a good human being; remind yourself what nature demands of people. Then do it, without hesitation, and speak the truth as you see it. But with kindness. With humility. Without hypocrisy.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"How many together with whom I came into the world are already gone out of it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Wilt thou, then, my soul, never be good and simple and one and naked, more manifest than the body which surrounds thee?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Ask yourself at every moment, 'Is this necessary?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"In the life of man, his time is but a moment, his being an incessant flux, his senses a dim rushlight, his body a prey of worms, his soul an unquiet eddy, his fortune dark, and his fame doubtful. In short, all that is of the body is as coursing waters, all that is of the soul as dreams and vapours; life a warfare, a brief sojourning in an alien land;and after repute, oblivion. Where, then, can man find the power to guide and guard his steps? In one thing and one alone: the love of knowledge.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Though thou shouldst be going to live three thousand years, and as many times ten thousand years, still remember that no man loses any other life than this which he now lives, nor lives any other than this which he now loses. The longest and shortest are thus brought to the same. For the present is the same to all, though that which perishes is not the same; and so that which is lost appears to be a mere moment.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Everything of the body is a river. Everything of the soul is dream and vapour. Life is war and the abode of a stranger. The only fame after death is oblivion.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"From my Great-grandfather, not to have frequented public schools, and to have had good teachers at home, and to know that on such things a man should spend liberally.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"No matter how good a life you lead, you won’t please everyone. Someone will be glad to see you go.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"You have the power within you to endure anything, for your mere opinion can render it tolerable, perhaps even acceptable, by regarding it as an opportunity for enlightenment or a matter of duty.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"No more roundabout discussions of what makes a good man. Be one!","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"There is no man so blessed that some who stand by his deathbed won't hail the occasion with delight.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Choose not to be harmed—and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed—and you haven’t been.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"But among the things readiest to hand to which you shall turn, let there be these two: One is that things do not touch the soul, for they are external to its movement, but your anguish only comes from judgments within. The other is that all these things which you see now are changing and will cease to be, and constantly bear in mind how many of these changes you have already witnessed. The universe is transformation. Life is judgement.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"As for others whose lives are not so ordered, he reminds himself constantly of the characters they exhibit daily and nightly at home and abroad, and of the sort of society they frequent; and the approval of such men, who do not even stand well in their own eyes, has no value for him.","author":"Marcus Aurelius Antoninus"},{"text":"God give me patience, to reconcile with what I am not able to change Give me strength to change what I can And give me wisdom to distinguish one from another.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"In this flowing stream, then, on which there is no abiding, what is there of the things which hurry by on which a man would set a high price? It would be just as if a man should fall in love with one of the sparrows which fly by, but it has already passed out of sight.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If the gods have determined about me and about the things which must happen to me, they have determined well, for it is not easy even to imagine a deity without forethought; and as to doing me harm, why should they have any desire towards that? For what advantage would result to them from this or to the whole, which is the special object of their providence? But if they have not determined about me individually, they have certainly determined about the whole at least, and the things which happen by way of sequence in this general arrangement I ought to accept with pleasure and to be content with them.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If you can cut yourself—your mind—free of what other people do and say, of what you’ve said or done, of the things that you’re afraid will happen, the impositions of the body that contains you and the breath within, and what the whirling chaos sweeps in from outside, so that the mind is freed from fate, brought to clarity, and lives life on its own recognizance —doing what’s right, accepting what happens, and speaking the truth— If you can cut free of impressions that cling to the mind, free of the future and the past—can make yourself, as Empedocles says, “a sphere rejoicing in its perfect stillness,” and concentrate on living what can be lived (which means the present) . . . then you can spend the time you have left in tranquillity. And in kindness. And at peace with the spirit within you.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own. If a god appeared to us—or a wise human being, even —and prohibited us from concealing our thoughts or imagining anything without immediately shouting it out, we wouldn’t make it through a single day. That’s how much we value other people’s opinions—instead of our own.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"But death and life, success and failure, pain and pleasure, wealth and poverty, all these happen to good and bad alike, and they are neither noble or shameful—and hence neither good nor bad.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Within ten days you will seem a god to those to whom you are now a beast and an ape, if you will return to your principles and the worship of reason.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Some things are hurrying into existence and others are hurrying out of it and of that which is coming into existence, part is already extinguished. In this flowing stream then, on which there is no abiding, what is there of things which hurry on by on which a man would set a high price. It would be just as if a man should fall in love with one of the sparrows which fly by but has already passed out of sight.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Almost nothing material is needed for a happy life, for he who has understood existence.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Never value the advantages derived from anything involving breach of faith, loss of self-respect, hatred, suspicion, or execration of others, insincerity, or the desire for something which has to be veiled and curtained.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"A man then must stand erect, not be kept erect by others.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Nature would not have overlooked such dangers through failing to recognize them, or because it saw them but was powerless to prevent or correct them. Nor would it ever, through inability or incompetence, make such a mistake as to let good and bad things happen indiscriminately to good and bad alike.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Imperturbabilidad con respecto a lo que acontece como resultado de una causa exterior y justicia en las cosas que se producen por una causa que de ti proviene. Es decir, instintos y acciones que desembocan en el mismo objetivo: obrar de acuerdo con el bien común, en la convicción de que esta tarea es acorde con tu naturaleza","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Ningún suceso te impide ser justo, tener grandeza de ánimo, ser prudente, tener cabeza, no precipitarse, no ser engañoso, tener vergüenza, ser libre y las demás cualidades que si están presentes hacen que la naturaleza obtenga lo que le es propio. Acuérdate en adelante ante cualquier circunstancia que te provoque pena de usar esta máxima, que eso no es desgracia y que por el contrario soportarlo con nobleza es buena fortuna.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"contenting thyself with heroical truth, thou shalt live happily; and","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Will a little fame distract you?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Love that only which happens to thee and is spun with the thread of thy destiny. For what is more suitable? In","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"He could say, it is true, 'either there is a God, and then all is well; or if all things go by chance and fortune, yet mayest thou use thine own providence in those things that concern thee properly; and then art thou well.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Uvježbaj se da misliš samo one misli koje odgovaraju na neočekivano pitanje: ''Što ti se sada mota po mislima?'' kako bi, trenutačno i iskreno mogao reći o čemu je riječ, o ovome ili onome, i tako svojim odgovorom dati izravne dokaze o tome da su sve tvoje misli neskrivene i dobrohotne, misli društvena bića koje ne mari za hirove užitaka ili veća zadovoljstva, za suparništvo, zloću, sumnju ili sve ono što bi, priznanjem, izvuklo rumen na obraze.","author":"Marcus Aurelius, Meditacije"},{"text":"Though you should live three thousand years or as many myriads, yet remember that no man loses any other life than that which now lives, nor lives any other than that which he is now losing. The longest and the shortest lives come to one effect. The present moment is the same for all men, and their loss, therefore, is equal, for it is clear that what they lose in death is but a fleeting instant of time. No man can lose either the past or the future, for how can a man be deprived of what he has not?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"There’s no retreat more peaceful and untroubled than a man’s own mind, and this is especially true of a man who has inner resources which are such that he has only to dip into them to be entirely untroubled","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If it does not harm the community, it does not harm its members. When you think you’ve been injured, apply this rule: If the community isn’t injured by it, neither am I. And if it is, anger is not the answer. Show the offender where he went wrong.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Wherever it is in agreement with nature, the ruling power within us takes a flexible approach to circumstances, always adapting itself easily to both practicality and the given event. It has no favoured material for its work, but sets out on its objects in a conditional way, turning any obstacle into material for its own use. It is like a fire mastering whatever falls into it. A small flame would be extinguished, but a bright fire rapidly claims as its own all that is heaped on it, devours it all, and leaps up yet higher in consequence.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Be not deceived; for thou shalt never live to read thy moral commentaries, nor the acts of the famous Romans and Grecians; nor those excerpta from several books; all which thou hadst provided and laid up for thyself against thine old age. Hasten therefore to an end, and giving over all vain hopes, help thyself in time if thou carest for thyself, as thou oughtest to do.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"1. Not just that every day more of our life is used up and less and less of it is left, but this too: if we live longer, can we be sure our mind will still be up to understanding the world—to the contemplation that aims at divine and human knowledge? If our mind starts to wander, we’ll still go on breathing, go on eating, imagining things, feeling urges and so on. But getting the most out of ourselves, calculating where our duty lies, analyzing what we hear and see, deciding whether it’s time to call it quits—all the things you need a healthy mind for … all those are gone. So we need to hurry. Not just because we move daily closer to death but also because our understanding—our grasp of the world—may be gone before we get there.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"49. It doesn’t bother you that you weigh only x or y pounds and not three hundred. Why should it bother you that you have only x or y years to live and not more? You accept the limits placed on your body. Accept those placed on your time.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"that I was subjected to a ruler and a father who was able to take away all pride from me, and to bring me to the knowledge that it is possible for a man to live in a palace without wanting either guards or embroidered dresses, or torches and statues, and such-like show; but that it is in such a man's power to bring himself very near to the fashion of a private person, without being for this reason either meaner in thought, or more remiss in action, with respect to the things which must be done for the public interest in a manner that befits a ruler.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"All parts of the world, (all things I mean that are contained within the whole world), must of necessity at some time or other come to corruption. Alteration I should say, to speak truly and properly; but that I may be the better understood, I am content at this time to use that more common word.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"a candor affected is a dagger concealed","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"O nada pueden los dioses o tienen poder. Si efectivamente no tienen poder ¿Por qué suplicas? Y si lo tienen, ¿Por qué no les pides precisamente que te concedan el no temer nada de eso ni desear nada de eso, ni afligirte por ninguna de esas cosas, antes que pedirles que no sobrevenga o sobrevenga alguna de esas cosas? Porque sin duda, si pueden colaborar con los hombres tambien en eso pueden colaborar. Pero posiblemente dirás \"En mis manos los dioses depositaron esas cosas\" Entonces ¿No es mejor usar lo que está en tus manos con libertad que disputar con esclavitud y torpeza con lo que no depende de ti?¿Y quién te ha dicho que los dioses no cooperan tampoco en las cosas que dependen de nosotros? Empieza, pues a suplicarles acerca de esas cosas y verás. Este les pide: ¿Como conseguire acostarme con aquellla? / ¿Como dejar de desear acostarme con aquella? ¿Como me puedo librar de este individuo? / Como no desear librarme de el? ¿Como no perder mi hijito? / Como no sentir miedo a perderlo? En suma cambia tus suplicas en este sentido y observa los resultados","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Everything lasts for a day, the one who remembers and the remembered.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"O nada pueden los dioses o tienen poder. Si efectivamente no tienen poder ¿Por qué suplicas? Y si lo tienen, ¿Por qué no les pides precisamente que te concedan el no temer nada de eso ni desear nada de eso, ni afligirte por ninguna de esas cosas, antes que pedirles que no sobrevenga o sobrevenga alguna de esas cosas? Porque sin duda, si pueden colaborar con los hombres tambien en eso pueden colaborar. Pero posiblemente dirás \"En mis manos los dioses depositaron esas cosas\" Entonces ¿No es mejor usar lo que está en tus manos con libertad que disputar con esclavitud y torpeza con lo que no depende de ti?¿Y quién te ha dicho que los dioses no cooperan tampoco en las cosas que dependen de nosotros? Empieza, pues a suplicarles acerca de esas cosas y verás. Este les pide: ¿Cómo conseguiré acostarme con aquellla? / ¿Como dejar de desear acostarme con aquella? ¿Cómo me puedo librar de este individuo? / ¿Cómo no desear librarme de el? ¿Cómo no perder mi hijito? / ¿Cómo no sentir miedo a perderlo?. En suma cambia tus suplicas en este sentido y observa los resultados","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The Stoics regarded speculation as a means to an end and that end was, as Zeno put it, to live consistently omologonuenws zhn or as it was later explained, to live in conformity with nature. This conforming of the life to nature","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"And you can also commit injustice by doing nothing. 6. Objective judgment, now, at this very moment. Unselfish action, now, at this very moment. Willing acceptance—now, at this very moment—of all external events. That’s all you need.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"9. Your ability to control your thoughts—treat it with respect. It’s all that protects your mind from false perceptions—false to your nature, and that of all rational beings. It’s what makes thoughtfulness possible, and affection for other people, and submission to the divine.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"O nada pueden los dioses o tienen poder. Si efectivamente no tienen poder ¿Por qué suplicas? Y si lo tienen, ¿Por qué no les pides precisamente que te concedan el no temer nada de eso ni desear nada de eso, ni afligirte por ninguna de esas cosas, antes que pedirles que no sobrevenga o sobrevenga alguna de esas cosas? Porque sin duda, si pueden colaborar con los hombres tambien en eso pueden colaborar. Pero posiblemente dirás \"En mis manos los dioses depositaron esas cosas\" Entonces ¿No es mejor usar lo que está en tus manos con libertad que disputar con esclavitud y torpeza con lo que no depende de ti?¿Y quién te ha dicho que los dioses no cooperan tampoco en las cosas que dependen de nosotros? Empieza, pues a suplicarles acerca de esas cosas y verás. Este les pide: ¿Cómo conseguiré acostarme con aquellla? / ¿Como dejar de desear acostarme con aquella? ¿Cómo me puedo librar de este individuo? / ¿Cómo no desear librarme de él? ¿Cómo no perder mi hijito? / ¿Cómo no sentir miedo a perderlo?. En suma cambia tus súplicas en este sentido y observa los resultados","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"10. Forget everything else. Keep hold of this alone and remember it: Each of us lives only now, this brief instant. The rest has been lived already, or is impossible to see. The span we live is small—small as the corner of the earth in which we live it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Que lhe resta senão aproveitar o que lhe resta da vida, encadeando uma boa ação à outra, de modo a não permitir o mais breve intervalo entre elas?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Habite en ti la serenidad, la ausencia de necesidad de ayuda externa y de la tranquilidad que procuran otros. Conviene, por consiguiente, mantenerse recto, no enderezado.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Wipe out the imagination. Stop the pulling of the strings. Confine thyself to the present. Understand well what happens either to thee or to another. Divide and distribute every object into the causal (formal) and the material. Think of thy last hour. Let the wrong which is done by a man stay there where the wrong was done. Direct","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"External things are not the problem. It’s your assessment of them. Which you can erase right now. If the problem is something in your own character, who’s stopping you from setting your mind straight?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Practice even what seems impossible. The left hand is useless at almost everything, for lack of practice. But it guides the reins better than the right. From practice.  7.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Confine desire and aversions to things in one's power.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"This may ever be my comfort and security: my understanding, that ruleth over all, will not of itself bring trouble and vexation upon itself.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The things which are ex­ternal to my mind have no re­la­tion at all to my mind.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"I am unhappy, because this has happened to me.” Not so: say, “I am happy, though this has happened to me, because I continue free from pain, neither crushed by the present nor fearing the future.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"For the whole earth is a point, and how small a nook in it is this thy dwelling, and how few are there in it, and what kind of people are they who will praise thee. This then remains: Remember to retire into this little territory of thy own, and above all do not distract or strain thyself, but be free, and look at things as a man, as a human being, as a citizen, as a mortal.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Should not thou rather blame thyself, who, when upon very good grounds of reason, thou mightst have thought it very probable, that such a thing would by such a one be committed, didst not only not foresee it, but moreover dost wonder at it, that such a thing should be.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"He who fears death either fears the loss of sensation or a different kind of sensation. But if you shall have no sensation, neither will you feel any harm; and if you shall acquire another kind of sensation, you will be a different kind of living being and you will not cease to live.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Asia and Europe are corners in the Universe; every sea, a drop in the Universe; Mount Athos, a clod of earth in the Universe; every instant of time, a pin-prick of eternity. All things are petty, easily changed, vanishing away. All things come from that other world, starting from that common governing principle, or else are secondary consequences of it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"To those who ask, Where hast thou seen the gods or how dost thou comprehend that they exist and so worshippest them, I answer, in the first place, they may be seen even with the eyes; in the second place neither have I seen even my own soul and yet I honour it. Thus then with respect to the gods, from what I constantly experience of their power, from this I comprehend that they exist and I venerate them. The safety of life is this, to","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"(Is it a sign of self-respect to regret nearly everything you do?)","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"4. To do harm is to do yourself harm. To do an injustice is to do yourself an injustice—it degrades you.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"With each person you meet, remind yourself that you share a common humanity. You are members of the same family. They may not know this, but you do—so show them by the way you treat them.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"When human nature rebels against Mother Nature, humanity becomes a cancer on the earth. The natures of all things are nested within nature as a whole. When you reject what life gives you, you place yourself in opposition to nature—including your own nature—and so harm yourself.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If there were anything harmful on the other side of death, they would have made sure that the ability to avoid it was within you.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Está cerca que tú te olvides de todo y también lo está que todos te olviden.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"How quickly all things disappear, in the universe the bodies themselves, but in time the remembrance of them; what is the nature of all sensible things, and particularly those which attract with the bait of pleasure or terrify by pain, or are noised abroad by vapoury fame; how worthless, and contemptible, and sordid, and perishable, and dead they are—all this it is the part of the intellectual faculty to observe. To","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Neither must he use himself to cut off actions only, but thoughts and imaginations also, that are unnecessary for so will unnecessary consequent actions the better be prevented and cut off.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"That which is not good for the bee-hive, cannot be good for the bee.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Indifference to external events. And a commitment to justice in your own acts. Which means: thought and action resulting in the common good. What you were born to do.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Thus there are two reasons why you must be content with what happens to you: first because it was for you it came to pass, for you it was ordered and to you it was related, a thread of destiny stretching back to the most ancient causes; secondly because that which has come to each individually is a cause of the welfare and the completion in very truth of the actual continuance of that which governs the Whole.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"My city and my country, as I am Antoninus, is Rome; as I am a man, it is the world.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"the Stoics had always approved of participation in public life, and this stand struck a chord with the Roman aristocracy, whose code of values placed a premium on political and military activity.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Casting aside other things, hold to the precious few; and besides bear in mind that every man lives only the present, which is an indivisible point, and that all the rest of his life is either past or is uncertain.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"You have seen those things, look now at these: do not trouble yourself, make yourself simple. Does a man do wrong? He does wrong to himself. Has some chance befallen you? It is well; from Universal Nature, from the beginning, all that befalls was determined for you and the thread was spun. The sum of the matter is this: life is short; the present must be turned to profit with reasonableness and right. Be sober without effort.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"So must a good ear, and a good smell be ready for whatsoever is either to be heard, or smelt: and a good stomach as indifferent to all kinds of food, as a millstone is, to whatsoever she was made for to grind. As ready therefore must a sound understanding be for whatsoever shall happen. But he that saith, O that my children might live! and, O that all men might commend me for whatsoever I do! is an eye that seeks after green things; or as teeth, after that which is tender.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"All human beings have a share of the logos, and all have roles to play in the vast design that is the world. But this is not to say that all humans are equal or that the roles they are assigned are interchangeable. Marcus, like most of his contemporaries, took it for granted that human society was hierarchical, and this is borne out by the images he uses to describe it. Human society is a single organism, like an individual human body or a tree. But the trunk of the tree is not to be confused with the leaves, or the hands and feet with the head. Our duty to act justly does not mean that we must treat others as our equals; it means that we must treat them as they deserve. And their deserts are determined in part by their position in the hierarchy.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"For in those things that properly belong unto the mind, she cannot be hindered by any man","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Indeed, the application of the adjective “stoic” to a person who shows strength and courage in misfortune probably owes more to the aristocratic Roman value system than it does to Greek philosophers. Stoicism","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Whatever is in any way beautiful hath its source of beauty in itself, and is complete in itself; praise forms no part of it. So it is none the worse nor the better for being praised.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Even if you’re going to live three thousand more years, or ten times that, remember: you cannot lose another life than the one you’re living now, or live another one than the one you’re losing. The longest amounts to the same as the shortest. The present is the same for everyone; its loss is the same for everyone; and it should be clear that a brief instant is all that is lost. For you can’t lose either the past or the future; how could you lose what you don’t have?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"‎\"Begin the morning by saying to thyself, I shall meet with the busy-body, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Do the things external which fall upon thee distract thee? Give thyself time to learn something new and good, and cease to be whirled around.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Your life is what your thoughts make it","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The man of ambition thinks to find his good in the operations of others; the man of pleasure in his own sensations; but the man of understanding in his own actions.","author":"marcus aurelius"},{"text":"...life is a warfare and a stranger's sojourn, and after-fame is oblivion.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"From my great-grandfather: not to have attended schools for the public; to have had good teachers at home, and to realize that this is the sort of thing on which one should spend lavishly.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Live every day as if they last.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Objective judgment, now, at this very moment. Unselfish action, now, at this very moment. Willing acceptance—now, at this very moment—of all external events. That’s all you need.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Retire into thyself. The rational principle which rules has this nature, that it is content with itself when it does what is just, and so secures tranquility.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"True understanding is to see the events of life in this way: 'You are here for my benefit, though rumor paints you otherwise.' And everything is turned to one's advantage when he greets a situation like this: You are the very thing I was looking for. Truly whatever arises in life is the right material to bring about your growth and the growth of those around you. This, in a word, is art-- and this art called 'life' is a practice suitable to both men and gods. Everything contains some special purpose and a hidden blessing; what then could be strange or arduous when all of life is here to greet you like an old and faithful friend?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Hour by hour resolve firmly to do what comes to hand with dignity, and with humanity, independence, and justice. Allow your mind freedom from all other considerations. This you can do, if you will approach each action as though it were your last, dismissing the desire to create an impression, the admiration of self, the discontent with your lot. See how little man needs to master, for his days to flow on in quietness and piety: he has but to observe these few counsels, and the gods will ask nothing more.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"This thing, what is it in itself, in its own constitution? What is its substance and material?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"A Man's life is dyed the color of his imagination.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Be cheerful also, and seek not external help nor the tranquility which others give. A man then must stand erect, not be kept erect by others.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If you do the task before you always adhering to strict reason with zeal and energy and yet with humanity, disregarding all lesser ends and keeping the divinity within you pure and upright, as though you were even now faced with its recall - if you hold steadily to this, staying for nothing and shrinking from nothing, only seeking in each passing action a conformity with nature and in each word and utterance a fearless truthfulness, then the good life shall be yours. And from this course no man has the power to hold you back.","author":"marcus aurelius"},{"text":"Whether you are shivering with cold or too hot, sleepy or wide awake, spoken well of or badly, dying, or doing anything else, do not let it interfere with doing what is right. For whatever causes us to die is also one of life's processes. Even for this, nothing is required of us than to accomplish well the task at hand.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Does the emerald lose its beauty for lack of admiration?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Frightened of change? But what can exist without it? What’s closer to nature’s heart? Can you take a hot bath and leave the firewood as it was? Eat food without transforming it? Can any vital process take place without something being changed?  Can’t you see? It’s just the same with you—and just as vital to nature.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Every man is worth just so much as the things about which he busies himself.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Ambition means tying your well-being to what other people say or do. Self-indulgence means tying it to the things that happen to you. Sanity means tying it to your own actions.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"To read with diligence; not to rest satisfied with a light and superficial knowledge, nor quickly to assent to things commonly spoken","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Death hangs over thee. While thou livest, while it is in thy power, be good.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"That all is as thinking makes it so – and you control your thinking. So remove your judgements whenever you wish and then there is calm - as the sailor rounding the cape finds smooth water and the welcome of a waveless bay.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Never let the future disturb you - you will meet it with the same weapons of reason and mind that, today, guard you against the present...","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Give up your thirst for books, so that you do not die a grouch.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Book 8, #36Do not disturb yourself by picturing your life as a whole; do not assemble in your mind the many and varied troubles which have come to you in the past and will come again in the future, but ask yourself with regard to every present difficulty: 'What is there in this that is unbearable and beyond endurance?' You would be ashamed to confess it! And then remind yourself that it is not the future or what has passed that afflicts you, but always the present, and the power of this is much diminished if you take it in isolation and call your mind to task if it thinks that it cannot stand up to it when taken on its own.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"It is in your own power to maintain the beauty of your soul, or to be a decent human being.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"To live happily is an inward power of the soul.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"That you don’t know for sure it is a mistake. A lot of things are means to some other end. You have to know an awful lot before you can judge other people’s actions with real understanding.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The mind is the ruler of the soul. It should remain unstirred by agitations of the flesh—gentle and violent ones alike. Not mingling with them, but fencing itself off and keeping those feelings in their place. When they make their way into your thoughts, through the sympathetic link between mind and body, don’t try to resist the sensation. The sensation is natural. But don’t let the mind start in with judgments, calling it “good” or “bad.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"That kindness is invincible, provided it’s sincere—not ironic or an act. What can even the most vicious person do if you keep treating him with kindness and gently set him straight—if you get the chance—correcting him cheerfully at the exact moment that he’s trying to do you harm. “No, no, my friend. That isn’t what we’re here for. It isn’t me who’s harmed by that. It’s you.” And show him, gently and without pointing fingers, that it’s so. That bees don’t behave like this—or any other animals with a sense of community. Don’t do it sardonically or meanly, but affectionately—with no hatred in your heart. And not ex cathedra or to impress third parties, but speaking directly. Even if there are other people around.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Use the setback to practice other virtues.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The world is maintained by change—in the elements and in the things they compose. That","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"How ridiculous not to flee from one's own wickedness, which is possible, yet endeavour to flee from another's, which is not.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The student as boxer, not fencer. The fencer’s weapon is picked up and put down again. The boxer’s is part of him. All he has to do is clench his fist.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"You should always look on human life as short and cheap. Yesterday sperm: tomorrow a mummy or ashes.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"consider how much more pain is brought on us by the anger and vexation caused by such acts than by the acts themselves, at which we are angry and vexed. Ninth,","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Your principles have life in them. For how can they perish, unless the ideas that correspond to them are extinguished? And it is up to you to be constantly fanning them into new flame.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"For the sole thing of which any man can be deprived is the present; since this is all he owns, and nobody can lose what is not his.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The fraction of infinity, of that vast abyss of time, allotted to each of us. Absorbed in an instant into eternity. The fraction of all substance, and all spirit. The fraction of the whole earth you crawl about on. Keep all that in mind, and don’t treat anything as important except doing what your nature demands, and accepting what Nature sends you.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The soul of man is thus an emanation from the godhead, into whom it will eventually be re-absorbed. The divine ruling principle makes all things work together for good, but for the good of the whole. The highest good of man is consciously to work with God for the common good, and this is the sense in which the Stoic tried to live in accord with nature. In the individual it is virtue alone which enables him to do this; as Providence rules the universe, so virtue in the soul must rule man.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"in the ways of Nature there is no evil to be found.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Suppose that a god announced that you were going to die tomorrow “or the day after.” Unless you were a complete coward you wouldn’t kick up a fuss about which day it was—what difference could it make? Now recognize that the difference between years from now and tomorrow is just as small.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Consider the past; such great changes of political supremacies. Thou mayest foresee also the things which will be. For they will certainly be of like form, and it is not possible that they should deviate from the order of the things which take place now: accordingly to have contemplated human life for forty years is the same as to have contemplated it for ten thousand years. For what more wilt thou see?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"No honres nunca como tu conveniencia lo que te fuerce en alguna ocasión a infringir la confianza de la que gozas, a dejar a un lado la vergüenza, odiar a alguien, sospechar, maldecir, aparentar, anhelar algo que precisa de muros y cortinajes[217]. Quien escoge su propia inteligencia, el espíritu divino y los ritos propios de su virtud no hace una elección trágica, no se lamenta, no precisará ni de soledad ni de muchedumbre. Y lo más importante, vivirá sin perseguir ni huir. Si hace uso de su alma, encerrada en su cuerpo, durante mayor o menor intervalo de tiempo no le importa nada en absoluto. Porque aunque tenga ya que separarse se alejará tan liberado como si ejecutara alguna otra de las acciones que pueden ejecutarse con decencia y orden, con esta única preocupación durante toda su vida, que su reflexión se ocupe en algo impropio de un animal inteligente y social.","author":"Marco  Aurelio"},{"text":"Human lives are brief and trivial. Yesterday a blob of semen; tomorrow embalming fluid, ash. To pass through this brief life as nature demands. To give it upwithout complaint. Like an olive that ripens and falls. Praising its mother, thanking the tree it grew on.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Frightened of change? But what can exist without it? What’s closer to nature’s heart? Can you take a hot bath and leave the firewood as it was? Eat food without transforming it? Can any vital process take place without something being changed? Can’t you see? It’s just the same with you—and just as vital to nature.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The chief obstacle is that we are quick to be satisfied with ourselves. If we find someone to call us good men, cautious and principled, we acknowledge him. We are not content with a moderate eulogy, but accept as our due whatever flattery has shamelessly heaped upon us. We agree with those who call us best and wisest, although we know they often utter many falsehoods: we indulge ourselves so greatly that we want to be praised for a virtue which is the opposite of our behavior. A man hears himself called ‘most merciful’ while he is inflicting torture.. So it follows that we don’t want to change because we believe we are already excellent.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Put from you the belief that I have been wronged and with it will go the feeling. Reject your sense of injury, and the injury itself disappears.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"I do my duty: other things trouble me not; for they are either things without life, or things without reason, or things that have rambled and know not the way.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"You have a mind? —Yes. Well, why not use it? Isn’t that all you want—for it to do its job?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"A better wrestler. But not a better citizen, a better person, a better resource in tight places, a better forgiver of faults.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"A poor soul burdened with a corpse,' Epictetus calls you.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Everywhere, at each moment, you have the option: • to accept this event with humility • to treat this person as he should be treated • to approach this thought with care, so that nothing irrational creeps in.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"He that sinneth, sinneth unto himself. He that is unjust, hurts himself, in that he makes himself worse than he was before. Not he only that committeth, but he also that omitteth something, is oftentimes unjust.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"A trite but effective tactic against the fear of death: think of the list of people who had to be pried away from life. What did they gain by dying old? In the end, they all sleep six feet under—Caedicianus, Fabius, Julian, Lepidus, and all the rest. They buried their contemporaries, and were buried in turn. Our lifetime is so brief. And to live it out in these circumstances, among these people, in this body? Nothing to get excited about. Consider the abyss of time past, the infinite future. Three days of life or three generations: what’s the difference?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The universe is transformation; life is opinion.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: “I have to go to work—as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was born for—the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm? —But it’s nicer here. . . . So you were born to feel “nice”? Instead of doing things and experiencing them? Don’t you see the plants, the birds, the ants and spiders and bees going about their individual tasks, putting the world in order, as best they can? And you’re not willing to do your job as a human being? Why aren’t you running to do what your nature demands? —But we have to sleep sometime. . . . Agreed. But nature set a limit on that—as it did on eating and drinking. And you’re over the limit. You’ve had more than enough of that. But not of working. There you’re still below your quota. You don’t love yourself enough. Or you’d love your nature too, and what it demands of you. People who love what they do wear themselves down doing it, they even forget to wash or eat. Do you have less respect for your own nature than the engraver does for engraving, the dancer for the dance, the miser for money or the social climber for status? When they’re really possessed by what they do, they’d rather stop eating and sleeping than give up practicing their arts. Is helping others less valuable to you? Not worth your effort?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Whatever happens, happens such as you are either formed by nature able to bear it, or not able to bear it. If such as you are by nature form’d able to bear, bear it and fret not: But if such as you are not naturally able to bear, don’t fret; for when it has consum’d you, itself will perish. Remember, however, you are by nature form’d able to bear whatever it is in the power of your own opinion to make supportable or tolerable, according as you conceive it advantageous, or your duty, to do so.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"striid andWthdraw into yourself. Our master-reason asks no more than to act justly, and thereby to achieve calm.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Give your heart to the trade you have learnt, and draw refreshment from it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Hippocrates cured many illnesses—and then fell ill and died. The Chaldaeans predicted the deaths of many others; in due course their own hour arrived. Alexander, Pompey, Caesar—who utterly destroyed so many cities, cut down so many thousand foot and horse in battle—they too departedthis life. Heraclitus often told us the world would end in fire. But it was moisture that carried him off; he died smeared with cowshit. Democritus was killed by ordinary vermin, Socrates by the human kind. And? You boarded, you set sail, you’ve made the passage. Time to disembark. If it’s for another life, well, there’s nowhere without gods on that side either. If to nothingness, then you no longer have to put up with pain and pleasure, or go on dancing attendance on this battered crate, your body—so much inferior to that which serves it. One is mind and spirit, the other earth and garbage.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Manusia mampu melakukan semua yang Tuhan ingin ia lakukan.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Since it is possible that you might depart from life this very moment, regulate every act and thought accordingly.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The offender needs pity, not wrath; those who must needs be corrected, should be treated with tact and gentleness; and one must be always ready to learn better. 'The best kind of revenge is, not to become like unto them.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Never value anything as profitable that compels you to break your promise, to lose your self-respect, to hate any man, to suspect, to curse, to act the hypocrite, to desire anything that needs walls and curtains:","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The whole universe is change and life itself is but what you deem it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Ambition means tying your well-being to what other people say or do. Self-indulgence means tying it to the things that happen to you. Sanity means tying it to your own actions.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"In everything that you do, pause and ask yourself if death is a dreadful thing because it deprives you of this.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Make for thyself a definition or description of the thing which is presented to thee, so as to see distinctly what kind of a thing it is in its substance, in its nudity, in its complete entirety, and tell thyself its proper name, and the names of the things of which it has been compounded, and into which it will be resolved. For nothing is so productive of elevation of mind as to be able to examine methodically and truly every object which is presented to thee in life, and always to look at things so as to see at the same time what kind of universe this is, and what kind of use everything performs in it, and what value everything has with reference to the whole, and what with reference to man, who is a citizen of the highest city, of which all other cities are like families; what each thing is, and of what it is composed, and how long it is the nature of this thing to endure which now makes an impression on me, and what virtue I have need of with respect to it, such as gentleness, manliness, truth, fidelity, simplicity, contentment, and the rest. ...  If thou workest at that which is before thee, following right reason seriously, vigorously, calmly, without allowing anything else to distract thee, but keeping thy divine part pure, as if thou shouldst be bound to give it back immediately; if thou holdest to this, expecting nothing, fearing nothing, but satisfied with thy present activity according to nature, and with heroic truth in every word and sound which thou utterest, thou wilt live happy. And there is no man who is able to prevent this.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The universe is change, and life mere opinion","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Thou sayest, Men cannot admire the sharpness of thy wits.- Be it so: but there are many other things of which thou canst not say, I am not formed for them by nature. Show those qualities then which are altogether in thy power, sincerity, gravity, endurance of labour, aversion to pleasure, contentment with thy portion and with few things, benevolence, frankness, no love of superfluity, freedom from trifling magnanimity. Dost thou not see how many qualities thou art immediately able to exhibit, in which there is no excuse of natural incapacity and unfitness, and yet thou still remainest voluntarily below the mark? Or art thou compelled through being defectively furnished by nature to murmur, and to be stingy, and to flatter, and to find fault with thy poor body, and to try to please men, and to make great display, and to be so restless in thy mind? No, by the gods: but thou mightest have been delivered from these things long ago. Only if in truth thou canst be charged with being rather slow and dull of comprehension, thou must exert thyself about this also, not neglecting it nor yet taking pleasure in thy dulness.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"All is ephemeral, both what remembers and what is remembered.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"We should remark the grace and fascination that there is even in the incidentals of Nature's processes.. When a loaf of bread,. for instance,. is in the oven,. crack appear in it here and there; and these flaws,. though not intended in the baking,. have a rightness of their own,. and sharpen the appetite..","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"8. It can ruin your life only if it ruins your character. Otherwise it cannot harm you—inside or out.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"That which rules within, when it is according to nature, will always adapt itself easily to that which is possible and is presented to it. For it requires no definite material, in moving toward its purpose, but rather certain conditions; and it makes a material for itself out of that which opposes it, as a great fire lays hold of a mass that would have extinguished a tiny flame: when the fire is strong, it soon appropriates to itself the matter that is heaped on it and consumes it, rising higher by means of this very material.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself, \"I have to go to work - as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I'm going to do what I was born for - the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Do every act of your life as if it were your last.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly. They are like this because they can’t tell good from evil.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Don’t waste the rest of your time here worrying about other people—unless it affects the common good. It will keep you from doing anything useful. You’ll be too preoccupied with what so-and-so is doing, and why, and what they’re saying, and what they’re thinking, and what they’re up to, and all the other things that throw you off and keep you from focusing on your own mind.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"People try to get away from it all—to the country, to the beach, to the mountains. You always wish that you could too. Which is idiotic: you can get away from it anytime you like. By going within. Nowhere you can go is more peaceful—more free of interruptions—than your own soul. Especially if you have other things to rely on. An instant’s recollection and there it is: complete tranquillity. And by tranquillity I mean a kind of harmony. So keep getting away from it all—like that. Renew yourself. But keep it brief and basic. A quick visit should be enough to ward off all  . . .  and send you back ready to face what awaits you. What’s there to complain about? People’s misbehavior? But take into consideration: • that rational beings exist for one another; • that doing what’s right sometimes requires patience; • that no one does the wrong thing deliberately; • and the number of people who have feuded and envied and hated and fought and died and been buried. . . . and keep your mouth shut. Or are you complaining about the things the world assigns you? But consider the two options: Providence or atoms. And all the arguments for seeing the world as a city. Or is it your body? Keep in mind that when the mind detaches itself and realizes its own nature, it no longer has anything to do with ordinary life—the rough and the smooth, either one. And remember all you’ve been taught—and accepted—about pain and pleasure. Or is it your reputation that’s bothering you? But look at how soon we’re all forgotten. The abyss of endless time that swallows it all. The emptiness of all those applauding hands. The people who praise us—how capricious they are, how arbitrary. And the tiny region in which it all takes place. The whole earth a point in space—and most of it uninhabited. How many people there will be to admire you, and who they are. So keep this refuge in mind: the back roads of your self. Above all, no strain and no stress. Be straightforward. Look at things like a man, like a human being, like a citizen, like a mortal. And among the things you turn to, these two: i. That things have no hold on the soul. They stand there unmoving, outside it. Disturbance comes only from within—from our own perceptions. ii. That everything you see will soon alter and cease to exist. Think of how many changes you’ve already seen. “The world is nothing but change. Our life is only perception.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"no matter what anyone says or does, my task is to be good. like gold or emerald or purple repeating to itself, \"no matter what anyone says or does, my task is to be emerald, my color undiminished.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Your mind will take on the character of your most frequent thoughts: souls are dyed by thoughts.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Perfection of character: to live your last day, every day, without frenzy, or sloth, or pretense.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"fame in a world like this is worthless.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Everything is interwoven, and the web is holy; none of its parts are unconnected. They are composed harmoniously, and together they compose the world. One world, made up of all things. One divinity, present in them all.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"A man’s greatness lies not in wealth and station, as the vulgar believe, not yet in his intellectual capacity, which is often associated with the meanest moral character, the most abject servility to those in high places and arrogance to the poor and lowly; but a man’s true greatness lies in the consciousness of an honest purpose in life, founded on a just estimate of himself and everything else, on frequent self-examination, and a steady obedience to the rule which he knows to be right, without troubling himself, as the emperor says he should not, about what others may think or say, or whether they do or do not do that which he thinks and says and does.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"17. Human life. Duration: momentary. Nature: changeable. Perception: dim. Condition of Body: decaying. Soul: spinning around. Fortune: unpredictable. Lasting Fame: uncertain. Sum Up: The body and its parts are a river, the soul a dream and mist, life is warfare and a journey far from home, lasting reputation is oblivion. Then what can guide us? Only philosophy. Which means making sure that the power within stays safe and free from assault, superior to pleasure and pain, doing nothing randomly or dishonestly and with imposture, not dependent on anyone else’s doing something or not doing it. And making sure that it accepts what happens and what it is dealt as coming from the same place it came from. And above all, that it accepts death in a cheerful spirit, as nothing but the dissolution of the elements from which each living thing is composed. If it doesn’t hurt the individual elements to change continually into one another, why are people afraid of all of them changing and separating? It’s a natural thing. And nothing natural is evil.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Jangan mencintai apapun kecuali yang datang padamu, karena adakah yang dapat memenuhi kebutuhanmu dengan lebih tepat?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"From Alexander the Platonic, not frequently nor without necessity to say to any one, or to write in a letter, that I have not leisure; nor continually to excuse the neglect of duties required by our relations to those with whom we live, by alleging urgent occupations.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"All that you pray to reach at some point in the circuit of your life can be yours now - if you are generous to yourself. That is, if you leave all the past behind, entrust the future to Providence, and direct the present solely to reverence and justice. To reverence, so that you come to love your given lot: it was Nature that brought it to you and you to it. To justice, so that you are open and direct in word and action, speaking the truth, observing law and proportion in all you do. You should let nothing stand in your way - not the iniquity of others, not what anyone else thinks or says, still less any sensation of this poor flesh that has accreted round you: the afflicted part must see to its own concern. If, then, when you finally come close to your exit, you have left all else behind and value only your directing mind and the divinity within you, if your fear is not that you will cease to live, but that you never started a life in accordance with nature, then you will be a man worthy of the universe that gave you birth. You will no longer be a stranger in your own country, no longer meet the day's events as if bemused by the unexpected, no longer hang on this or that.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"They seek for themselves private retiring places, as country villages, the sea-shore, mountains; yea thou thyself art wont to long much after such places. But all this thou must know proceeds from simplicity in the highest degree. At what time soever thou wilt, it is in thy power to retire into thyself, and to be at rest, and free from all businesses. A man cannot any whither retire better than to his own soul; he especially who is beforehand provided of such things within, which whensoever he doth withdraw himself to look in, may presently afford unto him perfect ease and tranquillity.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"With respect to pain, then, and pleasure, or death and life, or honour and dishonour, which the universal nature employs equally, whoever is not equally affected is manifestly acting impiously.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Dig deep; the water- goodness- is down there. And as long as you keep digging, it will keep bubbling up","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"It is precisely its unorthodox touches—its intimation of the idea of a personal god, its flashes of vulnerability and pain, its unwavering commitment to virtue above pleasure and to tranquillity above happiness, its unmistakable stamp of an uncompromisingly honest soul seeking the light of grace in a dark world—that lend the work its special power to charm and inspire.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Short-lived are both the praiser and the praised; and the rememberer and the remembered; and all this in a nook of this part of the world; and not even here do all agree; no not anyone with himself; and the whole earth too is a point.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The noblest kind retribution is to become not like your enemy,","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"And indeed he who pursues pleasure as good, and avoids pain as evil, is guilty of impiety.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"To enter others’ minds and let them enter yours.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"How rotten and spurious is the man who says: “I have decided to be straightforward with you.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Thou must be like a promontory of the sea, against which though the waves beat continually, yet it both itself stands, and about it are those swelling waves stilled and quieted.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"refrain from all anger and passion.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"4. It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Love the discipline you know, and let it support you. Entrust","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"73. When you have done a good act and another has received it, why do you look for a third thing besides these, as fools do, either to have the reputation of having done a good act or to obtain a return?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"But Marcus Aurelius knows that what the heart is full of, the man will do. 'Such as thy thoughts and ordinary cogitations are,' he says, 'such will thy mind be in time.' And every page of the book shows us that he knew thought was sure to issue in act. He drills his soul, as it were, in right principles, that when the time comes, it may be guided by them. To wait until the emergency is to be too late.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Consider individuals, survey men in general; there is none whose life does not look forward to the morrow. \"What harm is there in this,\" you ask? Infinite harm; for such persons do not live, but are preparing to live. They postpone everything. Even if we paid strict attention, life would soon get ahead of us; but as we are now, life finds us lingering and passes us by as if it belonged to another, and though it ends on the final day, it perishes every day. But I must not exceed the bounds of a letter, which ought not to fill the reader's left hand. So I shall postpone to another day our case against the hair-splitters, those over-subtle fellows who make argumentation supreme instead of subordinate. Farewell. Letter XLVI - On a New Book by Lucilius I received the book of yours which you promised me. I opened it hastily with the idea of glancing over it at leisure; for I meant only to taste the volume. But by its own charm the book coaxed me into traversing it more at length. You may understand from this fact how eloquent it was;","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If thou workest at that which is before thee, following right reason seriously, vigorously, calmly, without allowing anything else to distract thee, but keeping thy divine part pure, as if thou shouldst be bound to give it back immediately; if thou holdest to this, expecting nothing, fearing nothing, but satisfied with thy present activity according to nature, and with heroic truth in every word and sound which thou utterest, thou wilt live happy. And there is no man who is able to prevent this.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Salvation: to see each thing for what it is— its nature and its purpose. To do only what is right, say only what is true, without holding back. What else could it be but to live life fully— to pay out goodness like the rings of a chain, without the slightest gap.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"You may leave this life at any moment: have this possibility in your mind in all that you do or say or think. Now departure from the world of men is nothing to fear. If gods exist: because they would not involve you in any harm. If they do not exist, or if they have no care for humankind, then what is life to me in a world devoid of gods, or devoid of providence?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Not to be overwhelmed by what you imagine, but just do what you can and should. And","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Remember, too, on every occasion that leads you to vexation to apply this principle: not that this is a misfortune, but that to bear it nobly is good fortune.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"short, know this: Human lives are brief and trivial. Yesterday a blob of semen; tomorrow embalming fluid, ash. To pass through this brief life as nature demands. To give it up without complaint. Like an olive that ripens and falls. Praising its mother, thanking the tree it grew on.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If asked, he would no doubt have responded that “true” slavery is the self-enslavement of the mind to emotion and desire","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"29. Stop whatever you’re doing for a moment and ask yourself: Am I afraid of death because I won’t be able to do this anymore?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Always run to the short way; and the short way is the natural: accordingly say and do everything in conformity with the soundest reason. For such a purpose frees a man from trouble, and warfare, and all artifice and ostentatious display.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"17. If a thing is in your own power, why do you do it? But if it is in the power of another, whom do you blame? The atoms (chance) or the gods? Both are foolish. You must blame nobody. For if you can, correct that which is the cause; but if you cannot do this, correct at least the thing itself; but if you cannot do even this, of what use is it to you to find fault? For nothing should be done without a purpose.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"To pass through this brief life as nature demands. To give it up without complaint. Like an olive that ripens and falls. Praising its mother, thanking the tree it grew on.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"From my governor, to be neither of the green nor of the blue party at the games in the Circus, nor a partisan either of the Parmularius or the Scutarius at the gladiators' fights; from him too I learned endurance of labor, and to want little, and to work with my own hands, and not to meddle with other people's affairs, and not to be ready to listen to slander.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"No thefts of free will reported.”[—Epictetus.]","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"We should remember that even Nature's inadvertence has its own charm, its own attractiveness. The way loaves of bread split open on top in the oven; the ridges are just by-products of the baking, and yet pleasing, somehow: they rouse our appetite without our knowing why. Or how ripe figs begin to burst. And olives on the point of falling: the shadow of decay gives them a peculiar beauty. Stalks of wheat bending under their own weight. The furrowed brow of the lion. Flecks of foam on the boar's mouth. And other things. If you look at them in isolation there's nothing beautiful about them, and yet by supplementing nature they enrich it and draw us in. And anyone with a feeling for nature—a deeper sensitivity—will find it all gives pleasure. Even what seems inadvertent. He'll find the jaws of live animals as beautiful as painted ones or sculptures. He'll look calmly at the distinct beauty of old age in men, women, and at the loveliness of children. And other things like that will call out to him constantly—things unnoticed by others. Things seen only by those at home with Nature and its works.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"To be like the rock that the waves keep crashing over. It stands unmoved and the raging of the sea falls still around it. 49a. —It’s unfortunate that this has happened. No. It’s fortunate that this has happened and I’ve remained unharmed by it—not shattered by the present or frightened of the future. It could have happened to anyone. But not everyone could have remained unharmed by it. Why treat the one as a misfortune rather than the other as fortunate? Can you really call something a misfortune that doesn’t violate human nature? Or do you think something that’s not against nature’s will can violate it? But you know what its will is. Does what’s happened keep you from acting with justice, generosity, self-control, sanity, prudence, honesty, humility, straightforwardness, and all the other qualities that allow a person’s nature to fulfill itself? So remember this principle when something threatens to cause you pain: the thing itself was no misfortune at all; to endure it and prevail is great good fortune.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Take the shortest route, the one that nature planned—to speak and act in the healthiest way. Do that, and be free of pain and stress, free of all calculation and pretension.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"A little flesh, a little breath, and a Reason to rule all – that is myself.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Loss is nothing else but change, and change is Nature's delight.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"He who eats my bread does my will.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The universe is change; life is your perception of it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Observe, in short, how transient and trivial is all mortal life; yesterday a drop of semen, tomorrow a handful of spice or ashes. Spend, therefore, these fleeting moments of earth as Nature would have you spend them, and then go to your rest with a good grace, as an olive falls in its season, with a blessing for the earth.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"You have the power to strip away many superfluous troubles located wholly in your judgement, and to possess a large room for yourself embracing in thought the whole cosmos, to consider everlasting time, to think of the rapid change in the parts of each thing, of how short it is from birth until dissolution, and how the void before birth and that after dissolution are equally infinite.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Self reliance, always. And cheerfulness.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Blame and praise have no true effects.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Do external things distract you? Then make time for yourself to learn something worthwhile; stop letting yourself be pulled in all directions. But make sure you guard against the other kind of confusion. People who labor all their lives but have no purpose to direct every thought and impulse toward are wasting their time—even when hard at work.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Remember how long you have procrastinated, and how consistently you have failed to put to good use you suspended sentence from the gods. It is about time you realized the nature of the universe (of which you are part) and of the pwoer that rules it (to which your art owes its existence). Your days are numbered. Use them to throw open the windows of your soul to the sun. If you do not, the sun will soon set, and you with it. (II.4)","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"La mejor forma de defenderte, es no parecerte al ellos","author":"Marco Aurelio"},{"text":"Jangan pernah menyakiti orang lain dengan perbuatan mau pun kata-kata.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Do not waste what remains of your life in speculating about your neighbours, unless with a view to some mutual benefit. To wonder what so-and-so is doing and why, or what he is saying, or thinking, or scheming – in a word, anything that distracts you from fidelity to the Ruler within you – means a loss of opportunity for some other task.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Whatever this is that I am, it is flesh and a little spirit and an intelligence. Throw away your books; stop letting yourself be distracted. That is not allowed. Instead, as if you were dying right now, despise your flesh. A mess of blood, pieces of bone, a woven tangle of nerves, veins, arteries. Consider what the spirit is: air, and ever the same air, but vomited out and gulped in again every instant. Finally, the intelligence. Think of it this way: You are an old man. Stop allowing your mind to be a slave, to be jerked about by selfish impulses, to kick against fate and the present, and to mistrust the future.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"You have to assemble your life yourself—action by action. And be satisfied if each one achieves its goal, as far as it can. No one can keep that from happening. —But there are external obstacles.… Not to behaving with justice, self-control, and good sense. —Well, but perhaps to some more concrete action. But if you accept the obstacle and work with what you’re given, an alternative will present itself—another piece of what you’re trying to assemble. Action by action.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Give thyself time to learn something new and good, and cease to be whirled around.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Remember how long you have been putting off these things, and how often you have received an opportunity from the gods, and yet do not use it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If you work at that which is before you, following right reason   seriously, vigorously, calmly, without allowing anything else to distract   you, but keeping your divine part pure, as if you should be bound   to give it back immediately; if you hold to this, expecting nothing,   fearing nothing, but satisfied with your present activity according   to nature, and with heroic truth in every word and sound which you   utter, you will live happy. And there is no man who is able to   prevent this.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"We must make haste, then, not only because we are daily nearer to death, but also because the conception of things and the understanding of them cease first.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"And give up your thirst for books, so that you do not die a grouch, but in true grace and heartfelt gratitude to the god","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"It is not fit that I should give myself pain, for I have never intentionally given pain even to another.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The time of a man's life is as a point; the substance of it ever flowing, the sense obscure; and the whole composition of the body tending to corruption. His soul is restless, fortune uncertain, and fame doubtful; to be brief, as a stream so are all things belonging to the body; as a dream, or as a smoke, so are all that belong unto the soul. Our life is a warfare, and a mere pilgrimage. Fame after life is no better than oblivion. What is it then that will adhere and follow? Only one thing, philosophy. And philosophy doth consist in this, for a man to preserve that spirit which is within him, from all manner of contumelies and injuries, and above all pains or pleasures; never to do anything either rashly, or feignedly, or hypocritically: wholly to depend from himself and his own proper actions: all things that happen unto him to embrace contentedly, as coming from Him from whom he himself also came; and above all things, with all meekness and a calm cheerfulness, to expect death, as being nothing else but the resolution of those elements, of which every creature is composed.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"When you deal with irrational animals, with things and circumstances, be generous and straightforward. You are rational; they are not.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"a man when he has done a good act, does not call out for others to come and see, but he goes on to another act, as a vine goes on to produce again the grapes in season.-","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Alexander the Great and his mule driver both died and the same thing happened to both.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The more things you examine in the light of reason, the stronger your reason grows—just as feeding more wood to a fire makes it burn brighter and higher.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"That way you'll see human life for what it is. Smoke. Nothing. Especially when you recall that once things alter they cease to exist through all the endless years to come. Then why such turmoil?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The pomps and glories which he despised were all his; what to most men is an ambition or a dream, to him was a round of weary tasks which nothing but the stern sense of duty could carry him through. And he did his work well.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If our intellectual part is common, the reason also, in respect of which we are rational beings, is common: if this is so, common also is the reason which commands us what to do, and what not to do; if this is so, there is a common law also; if this is so, we are fellow-citizens; if this is so, we are members of some political community; if this is so, the world is in a manner a state.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Thou art a little soul bearing about a corpse, as Epictetus used to say. It is no evil for things to undergo change, and no good for things to subsist in consequence of change.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Let the part of your soul that leads and governs be undisturbed by the movements in the flesh, whether of pleasure or of pain; and let it not unite with them, but let it circumscribe itself and limit those affects to their parts. But when these affects rise up to the mind by virtue of that other sympathy that naturally exists in a body that is all one, then you must not strive to resist the sensation, for it is natural: but do not let the ruling part of itself add to the sensation the opinion that it is either good or bad.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The power which rules within us, when its state is accordant with nature, so acts in every occurrence as easily to adapt itself to all present or possible situations. It requires no set material to work upon, but, under proper reservation, needs but the incitement to pursue, and makes matter for its activities out of every opposition. Even so a fire masters that which is cast upon it, and though a small flame would have been extinguished, your great blaze quickly makes the added fuel its own, consumes it, and grows mightier therefrom.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"30. A philosopher without clothes and one without books. “I have nothing to eat,” says he, as he stands there half-naked, “but I subsist on the logos.” And with nothing to read, I subsist on it too.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"This world is mere change, and this life, opinion.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Do the things external which fall upon thee distract thee? Give thyself time to learn something new and good, and cease to be whirled around. But then thou must also avoid being carried about the other way; for those too are triflers who have wearied themselves in life by their activity, and yet have no object to which to direct every movement, and, in a word, all their thoughts.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Remember, however, that thou art formed by nature to bear everything, with respect to which it depends on thy own opinion to make it endurable and tolerable, by thinking that it is either thy interest or thy duty to do this.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Man must consider, not only that each day part of his life is spent, and that less and less remains to him, but also that, even if he live longer, it is very uncertain whether his intelligence will suffice as heretofore for the understanding of his affairs, and for grasping that knowledge which aims at comprehending things human and divine. When dotage begins, breath, nourishment, fancy, impulse, and so forth will not fail him. But self-command, accurate appreciation of duty, power to scrutinize what strikes his senses, or even to decide whether he should take his departure, all powers, indeed, which demand a well-trained understanding, must be extinguished in him. Let him be up and doing then, not only because death comes nearer every day, but because understanding and intelligence often leave us before we die.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"You have sent a letter to me through the hand of a \"friend\" of yours, as you call him. And in your very next sentence you warn me not to discuss with him all the matters that concern you, saying that even you yourself are not accustomed to do this; in other words, you have in the same letter affirmed and denied that he is your friend.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Because most of what we say and do is not essential. If you can eliminate it, you’ll have more time, and more tranquillity. Ask yourself at every moment, “Is this necessary?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Among the animals which have not reason one life is distributed; but among reasonable animals one intelligent soul is distributed: just as there is one earth of all things which are of an earthy nature, and we see by one light, and breathe one air, all of us that have the faculty of vision and all that have life. All","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"XII. From Claudius Maximus, in all things to endeavour to have power of myself, and in nothing to be carried about; to be cheerful and courageous in all sudden chances and accidents, as in sicknesses: to love mildness, and moderation, and gravity: and to do my business, whatsoever it be, thoroughly, and without querulousness. Whatsoever he said, all men believed him that as he spake, so he thought, and whatsoever he did, that he did it with a good intent. His manner was, never to wonder at anything; never to be in haste, and yet never slow: nor to be perplexed, or dejected, or at any time unseemly, or excessively to laugh: nor to be angry, or suspicious, but ever ready to do good, and to forgive, and to speak truth; and all this, as one that seemed rather of himself to have been straight and right, than ever to have been rectified or redressed; neither was there any man that ever thought himself undervalued by him, or that could find in his heart, to think himself a better man than he. He would also be very pleasant and gracious.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"5. Thou sayest, Men cannot admire the sharpness of thy wits.—Be it so: but there are many other things of which thou canst not say, I am not formed from them by nature. Show those qualities then which are altogether in thy power, sincerity, gravity, endurance of labor, aversion to pleasure, contentment with thy portion and with few things, benevolence, frankness, no love of superfluity, freedom from trifling, magnanimity. Dost thou not see how many qualities thou art immediately able to exhibit, in which there is no excuse of natural incapacity and unfitness, and yet thou still remainest voluntarily below the mark? or art thou compelled through being defectively furnished by nature to murmur, and to be stingy, and to flatter, and to find fault with thy poor body, and to try to please men, and to make great display, and to be so restless in thy mind? No, by the gods; but thou mightest have been delivered from these things long ago. Only if in truth thou canst be charged with being rather slow and dull of comprehension, thou must exert thyself about this also, not neglecting it nor yet taking pleasure in thy dullness.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"For then thou wilt neither blame those who offend involuntarily, nor wilt thou want their approbation, if thou lookest to the sources of their opinions and appetites.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Budi poput krševite obale o koju se neprestance lome valovi. Ona stoji postojano, a oko nje uzavrele vode polako se smiruju.","author":"Marcus Aurelius, Meditacije"},{"text":"5. Every moment think steadily as a Roman and a man to do what thou hast in hand with perfect and simple dignity, and feeling of affection, and freedom, and justice; and to give thyself relief from all other thoughts. And thou wilt give thyself relief, if thou doest every act of thy life as if it were the last, laying aside all carelessness and passionate aversion from the commands of reason, and all hypocrisy, and self-love, and discontent with the portion which has been given to thee.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Change: nothing inherently bad in the process, nothing inherently good in the result.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"So there are two reasons to embrace what happens. One is that it’s happening to you. It was prescribed for you, and it pertains to you. The thread was spun long ago, by the oldest cause of all. The other reason is that what happens to an individual is a cause of well-being in what directs the world—of its well-being, its fulfillment, of its very existence, even. Because the whole is damaged if you cut away anything—anything at all—from its continuity and its coherence. Not only its parts, but its purposes. And that’s what you’re doing when you complain: hacking and destroying.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Truly a rare opportunity was given to Marcus Aurelius of showing what the mind can do in despite of circumstances. Most peaceful of warriors, a magnificent monarch whose ideal was quiet happiness in home life, bent to obscurity yet born to greatness, the loving father of children who died young or turned out hateful, his life was one paradox. That nothing might lack, it was in camp before the face of the enemy that he passed away and went to his own place.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"People out for posthumous fame forget that the Generations To Come will be the same annoying people they know now.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"We must make haste then, not only because we are daily nearer death, but also because the conception of things and the understanding of them cease first.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Real good luck would be to abandon life without ever encountering dishonesty, or hypocrisy, or self-indulgence, or pride. But the “next best voyage” is to die when you’ve had enough. Or are you determined to lie down with evil? Hasn’t experience even taught you that—to avoid it like the plague? Because it is a plague—a mental cancer—worse than anything caused by tainted air or an unhealthy climate. Diseases like that can only threaten your life; this one attacks your humanity.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"-Moja loša sreća kriva je što me to snašlo.-Ne, radije reci: Moja je sreća, što, iako me to snašlo, mogu sve to otrpjeti bez patnje, da me sadašnjica ne zdrobi, i da ne strepim pred budućnošću.","author":"Marcus Aurelius, Meditacije"},{"text":"The present is all that they can give up, since that is all you have, and what you do not have, you cannot lose.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"No longer talk at all about the kind of man that a good man ought to be, but be such.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"It is no evil for things to undergo change, and no good for things to subsist in consequence of change. 43.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Take pleasure in one thing and rest in it, in passing from one social act to another social act, thinking of God.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"To a stone thrown up in the air, there is no evil in falling or good in rising.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Never esteem aught of advantage which will oblige you to break your faith, or to desert your honour; to hate, to suspect, or to execrate any man; to play a part; or to set your mind on anything that needs to be hidden by wall or curtain. He who to all things prefers the soul, the divinity within him, and the sacred cult of its virtues, makes no tragic groan or gesture. He needs neither solitude nor a crowd of spectators; and, best of all, he will live neither seeking nor shunning death. Whether the soul shall use its surrounding body for a longer or shorter space is to him indifferent. Were he to depart this moment he would go as readily as he would do any other seemly and proper action, holding one thing only in life-long avoidance—to find his soul in any case unbefitting an intelligent social being.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Remember how long you’ve been putting this off…At some point you have to recognize what world it is that you belong to; what power rules it and from what source you spring; that there is a limit to the time assigned you, and if you don’t use it to free yourself it will be gone and will never return.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"every man lives the present time only, and loses only this.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"But fortunate means that a man has assigned to himself a good fortune: and a good fortune is good disposition of the soul, good emotions, good actions.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Begin the morning by saying to thyself, I shall meet with the busy-body, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial. All these things happen to them by reason of their ignorance of what is good and evil.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Think of thy last hour. Let the wrong which is done by a man stay there where the wrong was done.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"De Frontón: haber observado a qué grado de envidia, de disimulo y duplicidad llegaron los tiranos, y cómo, casi siempre, esas gentes que llamamos los «patricios» son incapaces de verdadero afecto para los demás.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"a good fortune is good disposition of the soul, good emotions and good actions.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"A rock thrown in the air. It loses nothing by coming down, gained nothing by going up.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Whatever you encounter in life, consider its origin, what it’s made of, what it’s changing into, what it will be like after it’s changed, and that it will come to no harm as a result of changing.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Keep reminding yourself of the way things are connected, of their relatedness. All things are implicated in one another and in sympathy with each other. This event is the consequence of some other one. Things push and pull on each other, and breathe together, and are one.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Inlatura parerea: este inlaturat „am fost vatamat”; inlatura „am fost vatamat” este inlaturat si prejudiciul.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Whom a man might compare to one of those half-eaten wretches, matched in the amphitheatre with wild beasts; who as full as they are all the body over with wounds and blood, desire for a great favour, that they may be reserved till the next day,","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Similarly, man is born for deeds of kindness; and when he has done a kindly action, or otherwise served the common welfare, he has done what he was made for, and has received his quittance.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Si te afliges por alguna causa externa, no es ella lo que te importuna, sino el juicio que tú haces de ella. Y borrar ese juicio, de ti depende. Pero si te aflige algo que radica en tu disposición, ¿Quién te impide rectificar tu criterio?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"There’s only one crop to be reaped from your time on earth, and that is a reverential disposition and socially useful actions.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Think thyself fit and worthy to speak, or to do anything that is according to nature, and let not the reproach, or report of some that may ensue upon it, ever deter thee. If it be right and honest to be spoken or done, undervalue not thyself so much, as to be discouraged from it. As for them, they have their own rational over-ruling part, and their own proper inclination: which thou must not stand and look about to take notice of, but go on straight, whither both thine own particular, and the common nature do lead thee; and the way of both these, is but one.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"undeviating firmness in giving to every man according to his deserts;","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"One is a careful distinction between things which are in our power and things which are not. Desire and dislike, opinion and affection, are within the power of the will; whereas health, wealth, honour, and other such are generally not so.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"When thou art offended with any man's transgression, presently reflect upon thyself; and consider what thou thyself art guilty of in the same kind. As that thou also perchance dost think it a happiness either to be rich, or to live in pleasure, or to be praised and commended, and so of the rest in particular. For this if thou shalt call to mind, thou shalt soon forget thine anger; especially when at the same time this also shall concur in thy thoughts, that he was constrained by his error and ignorance so to do: for how can he choose as long as he is of that opinion? Do thou therefore if thou canst, take away that from him, that forceth him to do as he doth.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Let there be freedom from perturbations with respect to the things which come from the external cause; and let there be justice in the things done by virtue of the internal cause, that is, let there be movement and action terminating in this, in social acts, for this is according to thy nature. Thou","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Entonces, ¿qué es lo que puede escoltamos? Sólo una cosa, la filosofía. Esto es vigilar que el espíritu divino interior esté sin vejación, sin daño, más fuerte que los placeres y los sufrimientos, que no haga nada al azar ni con mentira o fingimiento, que no tenga necesidad de que otro haga o deje de hacer algo. Y además que acepte lo que ocurre y lo que se le ha asignado como algo que viene de allí de donde él vino. Por encima de todo, aguardar la muerte con el pensamiento favorable de que no es otra cosa sino disgregación de los elementos de los que está compuesto cada ser vivo. Si precisamente para los elementos en sí no hay nada terrible en que cada uno se transforme sin interrupción en otro, ¿por qué uno ve con malos ojos la transformación y disgregación de todos? En efecto, se produce según la naturaleza y nada es malo si es según la naturaleza.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Meus caros amigos, os deixo sem revolta nem drama, mas antes de bom grado e tranquilo, já que é esta a vontade da natureza”.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The Stoics aspired to the repression of all emotion, and the Epicureans to freedom from all disturbance; yet in the upshot the one has become a synonym of stubborn endurance, the other for unbridled licence.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"22. No te dejes arrastrar por el torbellino de las pasiones; antes bien, a todo ímpetu del instinto, ofrece lo que de justicia le toca; ante toda aprensión de la fantasía, conserva la facultad de pensar.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"That power which rules us from inside, when it is in its natural state, stands in such a way in relation to whatever may happen that it easily adapts itself at all times both to its own capabilities and what it has been given by fate. For it is not attracted toward one kind of material thing or event but adapts itself to all internal and external limitations, whether those limitations are due to ability or fate. Nevertheless, it converts into usable fuel anything that opposes it, just as fire does when it consumes what is thrown upon it, by which a small fire would have been extinguished. But a blazing fire quickly assimilates to itself whatever is cast upon it, engulfing it as fuel and rising even higher because of it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"14. Even if you’re going to live three thousand more years, or ten times that, remember: you cannot lose another life than the one you’re living now, or live another one than the one you’re losing. The longest amounts to the same as the shortest. The present is the same for everyone; its loss is the same for everyone; and it should be clear that a brief instant is all that is lost. For you can’t lose either the past or the future; how could you lose what you don’t have?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"13. You have a mind? —Yes. Well, why not use it? Isn’t that all you want—for it to do its job?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Someone despises me. That’s their problem. Mine: not to do or say anything despicable. Someone hates me. Their problem. Mine: to be patient and cheerful with everyone, including them. Ready to show them their mistake. Not spitefully, or to show off my own self-control, but in an honest, upright way. Like Phocion (if he wasn’t just pretending). That’s what we should be like inside, and never let the gods catch us feeling anger or resentment. As long as you do what’s proper to your nature, and accept what the world’s nature has in store—as long as you work for others’ good, by any and all means—what is there that can harm you?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"So keep this refuge in mind: the back roads of your self. Above all, no strain and no stress. Be straightforward. Look at things like a man, like a human being, like a citizen, like a mortal. And among the things you turn to, these two: i. That things have no hold on the soul. They stand there unmoving, outside it. Disturbance comes only from within—from our own perceptions. ii. That everything you see will soon alter and cease to exist. Think of how many changes you’ve already seen. “The world is nothing but change. Our life is only perception","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Then remind yourself that past and future have no power over you. Only the present—and even that can be minimized. Just mark off its limits. And if your mind tries to claim that it can’t hold out against that . . . well, then, heap shame upon it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If you seek tranquillity, do less.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"No te distraigan los incidentes exteriores. Desocúpate para aprender algo más de bueno, y cesa de andar girando como una devanadera. Conviene asimismo precaverte de otra clase de extravío. Que desvarían los que, a causa de tantos quehaceres, se hastían de la vida y no tienen blanco alguno al que dirijan todos sus esfuerzos y, en una palabra, sus ideas.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"External things are not the problem. It’s your assessment of them. Which you can erase right now. If the problem is something in your own character, who’s stopping you from setting your mind straight? And if it’s that you’re not doing something you think you should be, why not just do it? —But there are insuperable obstacles. Then it’s not a problem. The cause of your inaction lies outside you.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"7. Nunca juzgues útil para ti mismo lo que tal vez te obligue algún día a quebrantar la palabra dada, a renunciar al pudor, a odiar; recelar, imprecar, disimular, desear lo que sólo puede hacerse a puertas cerradas y tras las cortinas. El hombre que a todo antepusiere su inteligencia, su genio interior y los misterios del culto debido a la gloria de éste, ese hombre no representará una tragedia, no se entregará al llanto, prescindirá de la soledad como de la muchedumbre; y, lo que es más, vivirá sin aprestarse y sin huir de la muerte. No se inquietará por gozar, durante un intervalo más o menos largo de tiempo, de este soplo que rodea su cuerpo. Que, aunque conviniere desprenderse de él al mismo punto, marchará tan ágilmente como haría en cualquiera otra de las funciones de la vida, moderada y decorosamente. La sola cosa que procura durante toda su vida es preservar su inteligencia de una deformación contraria a la naturaleza de un ser inteligente y sociable.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"There is a limit circumscribed to your time - if you do not use it to clear away your clouds, it will be gone, and you will be gone, and the opportunity will not return.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"...because most of what we say and do is not essential. If you can eliminate it, you'll have more time and more tranquillity. Ask yourself at every moment, is this necessary…","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Nature willed the creation of the world. Either all that exists follows logically or even those things to which the world’s intelligence most directs its will are completely random. A source of serenity in more situations than one.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Enquanto não observa o que se passa na mente dos demais, raramente se viu um homem infeliz; aquele, porém, que não observa o que se passa em sua própria mente, será necessariamente infeliz.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If it is not right, do not do it; if it is not true, do not say it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Learn to be indifferent to what makes no difference.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Does what’s happened keep you from acting with justice, generosity, self-control, sanity, prudence, honesty, humility, straightforwardness, and all the other qualities that allow a person’s nature to fulfill itself? So remember this principle when something threatens to cause you pain: the thing itself was no misfortune at all; to endure it and prevail is great good fortune.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Remember too on every occasion which leads thee to vexation to apply this principle: not that this is a misfortune, but that to bear it nobly is good fortune.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Of my grandfather Verus I have learned to be gentle and meek, and to refrain from all anger and passion.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Remind yourself that your task is to be a good human being; remind yourself what nature demands of people. Then do it, without hesitation, and speak the truth as you see it. But with kindness. With humility. Without hypocrisy.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"I am made up of substance and what animates it, and neither one can ever stop existing, any more than it began to. Every portion of me will be reassigned as another portion of the world, and that in turn transformed into another. Ad infinitum. I was produced through one such transformation, and my parents too, and so on back. Ad infinitum. N.B.: Still holds good, even if the world goes through recurrent cycles.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"How quickly all things disappear, in the universe the bodies themselves, but in time the remembrance of them;","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"he is poor, who has need of another, and has not from himself all things that are useful for life.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"16. To live a good life: We have the potential for it. If we can learn to be indifferent to what makes no difference.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"all these things, which thou seest, change immediately and will no longer be; and constantly bear in mind how many of these changes thou hast already witnessed. The","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"always observe how ephemeral and worthless human things are, and what was yesterday a little mucus to-morrow will be a mummy or ashes. Pass then through this little space of time conformably to nature, and end thy journey in content, just as an olive falls off when it is ripe, blessing nature who produced it, and thanking the tree on which it grew.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Dost thou grieve that thou dost weigh but so many pounds, and not three hundred rather? Just as much reason hast thou to grieve that thou must live but so many years, and not longer. For as for bulk and substance thou dost content thyself with that proportion of it that is allotted unto thee, so shouldst thou for time.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Two characteristics shared by gods and men (and every rational creature): i. Not to let others hold you back. ii. To locate goodness in thinking and doing the right thing, and to limit your desires to that. 35.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Begin the morning by saying to thyself, I shall meet with the busy-body, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial. All these things happen to them by reason of their ignorance of what is good and","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Nada más infeliz que el hombre que lo inquiere todo girando de aquí para allá, que escruta, como dice el poeta, «las profundidades de la tierra», que indaga por conjeturas lo que acontece en el alma ajena, sin acabar de entender que le bastaría sólo aplicarse al dios que habita en su interior y venerarle como es debido. Este culto consiste en conservarse puro de pasiones; de temeridad y de disgusto por aquello que procede de los dioses y de los hombres. Porque lo que viene de los dioses es digno de respeto, por ser obra de sí virtuosa; y lo que viene de los hombres nos es caro a causa del parentesco, si bien a veces no deja de ser, en cierto sentido, objeto de compasión, por su ignorancia del bien y del mal, ceguera no menor que la que nos impide poder discernir lo blanco de lo negro.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"People exist for one another. You can instruct or endure them.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"42. I have no right to do myself an injury. Have I ever injured anyone else if I could avoid it?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The person who lives shortest owns the exact same amount of life as the one who lives longest. For the present is all we have and all we can lose. When we die, we don’t “lose” the past or future—we never owned them.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"That kindness is invincible, provided it’s sincere—not ironic or an act. What can even the most vicious person do if you keep treating him with kindness and gently set him straight—if you get the chance—correcting him cheerfully at the exact moment that he’s trying to do you harm. “No, no, my friend. That isn’t what we’re here for. It isn’t me who’s harmed by that. It’s you.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"goodness—what defines a good person. Keep to it in everything you do.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Nothing that goes on in anyone else’s mind can harm you. Nor can the shifts and changes in the world around you. —Then where is harm to be found? In your capacity to see it. Stop doing that and everything will be fine. Let the part of you that makes that judgment keep quiet even if the body it’s attached to is stabbed or burnt, or stinking with pus, or consumed by cancer. Or to put it another way: It needs to realize that what happens to everyone—bad and good alike—is neither good nor bad.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Look within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up, if you will ever dig.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"What progress, you ask, have I made? I have begun to be a friend to myself.\" That was indeed a great benefit; such a person can never be alone. You may be sure that such a man is a friend to all mankind.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Why should any of these things that happen externally, so much distract thee? Give thyself leisure to learn some good thing, and cease roving and wandering to and fro. Thou must also take heed of another kind of wandering, for they are idle in their actions, who toil and labour in this life, and have no certain scope to which to direct all their motions, and desires.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"every man is worth   just so much as the things are worth about which he busies himself. ","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Precz z książkami! Już nie dawaj się im pociągnąć! Nie wolno! (...) Łaknienie zaś książek precz od siebie rzuć, byś nie umierał wśród narzekań, lecz spokojnie.","author":"Marcus Aurelius Antoninus"},{"text":"Remember how long thou hast already put off these things, and how","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Life is short. That’s all there is to say. Get what you can from the present—thoughtfully, justly. Unrestrained moderation.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Concentrate every minute like a Roman—like a man—on doing what’s in front of you with precise and genuine seriousness, tenderly, willingly, with justice. And on freeing yourself from all other distractions. Yes, you can—if you do everything as if it were the last thing you were doing in your life, and stop being aimless, stop letting your emotions override what your mind tells you, stop being hypocritical, self-centered, irritable.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Maximus was my model for self-control, fixity of purpose, and cheerfulness under ill-health or other misfortunes. His character was an admirable combination of dignity and charm, and all the duties of his station were performed quietly and without fuss. He gave everyone the conviction that he spoke as he believed, and acted as he judged right. Bewilderment or timidity were unknown to him; he was never hasty, never dilatory; nothing found him at a loss. He indulged neither in despondency nor forced gaiety, nor had anger or jealousy any power over him. Kindliness, sympathy, and sincerity all contributed to give the impression of a rectitude that was innate rather than inculcated. Nobody was ever made by him to feel inferior, yet none could have presumed to challenge his pre-eminence. He was also the possessor of an agreeable sense of humour.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Attend to the matter before you, whether it is an opinion or an act or a word. You suffer this justly: for you choose rather to become good tomorrow than to be good today.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Never value anything as profitable that compels you to break your promise, to lose your self-respect, to hate any man, to suspect, to curse, to act the hypocrite, to desire anything that needs walls and curtains: for he who has preferred to everything else his own intelligence and daimon and the worship of its excellence, acts no tragic part, does not groan, will not need either solitude or much company; and, what is chief of all, he will live without either pursuing or flying from death; but whether for a longer or a shorter time he shall have the soul enclosed in the body, he cares not at all: for even if he must depart immediately, he will go as readily as if he were going to do anything else that can be done with decency and order; taking care of this only all through life, that his thoughts abide with the concerns of an intelligent animal and a member of a civil community.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Don’t look down on death, but welcome it. It too is one of the things required by nature. Like youth and old age. Like growth and maturity. Like a new set of teeth, a beard, the first gray hair. Like sex and pregnancy and childbirth. Like all the other physical changes at each stage of life, our dissolution is no different. So this is how a thoughtful person should await death: not with indifference, not with impatience, not with disdain, but simply viewing it as one of the things that happen to us. Now you anticipate the child’s emergence from its mother’s womb; that’s how you should await the hour when your soul will emerge from its compartment.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Such as are your habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of your mind; for the soul is dyed by the thoughts.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"To change your experience, change your opinion. If you’re upset by something outside you, it’s not the thing itself that upsets you, but your opinion of it. And it’s in your power to wipe away that opinion immediately.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The sun appears to pour itself down, and indeed its light pours in all direction, but the stream does not run out. This pouring is linear extension: that is why its beams are called rays, because they radiate in extended lines. You can see what a ray is if you observe the sun's light entering a dark room through a narrow opening. It extends in a straight line and impacts, so to speak, on any solid body in its path which blocks passage through the air on the other side: it settles there and does not slip off or fall.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Everything is only for a day, both that which remembers and that which is remembered.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Enter their minds, and you'll find the judges you're so afraid of—and how judiciously they judge themselves.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Stupidity is expecting figs in winter, or children in old age.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"When you are offended at any man’s fault, immediately turn to yourself and reflect in what manner you yourself have erred:","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Stop drifting. You’re not going to re-read your Brief Comments, your Deeds of the Ancient Greeks and Romans, the commonplace books you saved for your old age. Sprint for the finish. Write off your hopes, and if your well-being matters to you, be your own savior while you can.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"7. Choose not to be harmed—and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed—and you haven’t been.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Time is a river, a violent current of events, glimpsed once and already carried past us, and another follows and is gone.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Some people, when they do someone a favor, are always looking for a chance to call it in. And some aren’t, but they’re still aware of it—still regard it as a debt. But others don’t even do that. They’re like a vine that produces grapes without looking for anything in return. A horse at the end of the race . . . A dog when the hunt is over . . . A bee with its honey stored . . . And a human being after helping others. They don’t make a fuss about it. They just go on to something else, as the vine looks forward to bearing fruit again in season. We should be like that. Acting almost unconsciously. —Yes. Except conscious of it. Because it’s characteristic of social beings that they see themselves as acting socially. And expect their neighbors to see it too! That’s true. But you’re misunderstanding me. You’ll wind up like the people I mentioned before, misled by plausible reasoning. But if you make an effort to understand what I’m saying, then you won’t need to worry about neglecting your social duty.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Accustom yourself to Master tilings of the greatest difficulty, and which you seem to despair of. For if you observe, the Left-hand, tho' for want of Practice, 'tis insignificant to other Business, yet it holds the Bridle better than the Right, because it has been used to it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius, Meditations"},{"text":"Don’t waste the rest of your time here worrying about other people—unless it affects the common good. It will keep you from doing anything useful. You’ll be too preoccupied with what so-and-so is doing, and why, and what they’re saying, and what they’re thinking, and what they’re up to, and all the other things that throw you off and keep you from focusing on your own mind. You need to avoid certain things in your train of thought: everything random, everything irrelevant. And certainly everything self-important or malicious. You need to get used to winnowing your thoughts, so that if someone says, “What are you thinking about?” you can respond at once (and truthfully) that you are thinking this or thinking that. And it would be obvious at once from your answer that your thoughts were straightforward and considerate ones—the thoughts of an unselfish person, one unconcerned with pleasure and with sensual indulgence generally, with squabbling, with slander and envy, or anything else you’d be ashamed to be caught thinking. Someone like that—someone who refuses to put off joining the elect—is a kind of priest, a servant of the gods, in touch with what is within him and what keeps a person undefiled by pleasures, invulnerable to any pain, untouched by arrogance, unaffected by meanness, an athlete in the greatest of all contests—the struggle not to be overwhelmed by anything that happens. With what leaves us dyed indelibly by justice, welcoming wholeheartedly whatever comes—whatever we’re assigned—not worrying too often, or with any selfish motive, about what other people say. Or do, or think. He does only what is his to do, and considers constantly what the world has in store for him—doing his best, and trusting that all is for the best. For we carry our fate with us—and it carries us. He keeps in mind that all rational things are related, and that to care for all human beings is part of being human. Which doesn’t mean we have to share their opinions. We should listen only to those whose lives conform to nature. And the others? He bears in mind what sort of people they are—both at home and abroad, by night as well as day—and who they spend their time with. And he cares nothing for their praise—men who can’t even meet their own standards.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Not the “not” but the “not yet.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Like seeing roasted meat and other dishes in front of you and suddenly realizing: This is a dead fish. A dead bird. A dead pig. Or that this noble vintage is grape juice, and the purple robes are sheep wool dyed with shellfish blood. Or making love—something rubbing against your penis, a brief seizure and a little cloudy liquid. Perceptions like that—latching onto things and piercing through them, so we see what they really are. That’s what we need to do all the time—all through our lives when things lay claim to our trust—to lay them bare and see how pointless they are, to strip away the legend that encrusts them. Pride is a master of deception: when you think you’re occupied in the weightiest business, that’s when he has you in his spell.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Do not disturb yourself by picturing your life as a whole; do not assemble in your mind the many and varied troubles which have come to you in the past and will come again in the future, but ask yourself with regard to every present difficulty: 'What is there in this that is unbearable and beyond endurance?' You would be ashamed to confess it! And then remind yourself that it is not the future or what has passed that afflicts you, but always the present, and the power of this is much diminished if you take it in isolation and call your mind to task if it thinks that it cannot stand up to it when taken on its own.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Every living organism is fulfilled when it follows the right path for its own nature.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"That which is really beautiful has no need of anything; not more than law, not more than truth, not more than benevolence or modesty.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"I was once a fortunate man but at some point fortune abandoned me.  But true good fortune is what you make for yourself. Good fortune: good character, good intentions, and good actions.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"When you arise in the moring, think of what a precious privelege it is to be alive-- to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Men seek retreats for themselves, houses in the country, sea-shores, and mountains; and thou too art wont to desire such things very much. But this is altogether a mark of the most common sort of men, for it is in thy power whenever thou shalt choose to retire into thyself. For nowhere either with more quiet or more freedom from trouble does a man retire than into his own soul, particularly when he has within him such thoughts that by looking into them he is immediately in perfect tranquility; and I affirm that tranquility is nothing else than the good ordering of the mind. Constantly then give to thyself this retreat, and renew thyself; and let thy principles be brief and fundamental, which, as soon as thou shalt recur to them, will be sufficient to cleanse the soul completely, and to send thee back free from all discontent with the things to which thou returnest. For with what art thou discontented? With the badness of men? Recall to thy mind this conclusion, that rational animals exist for one another, and that to endure is a part of justice, and that men do wrong involuntarily; and consider how many already, after mutual enmity, suspicion, hatred, and fighting, have been stretched dead, reduced to ashes; and be quiet at last.- But perhaps thou art dissatisfied with that which is assigned to thee out of the universe.- Recall to thy recollection this alternative; either there is providence or atoms, fortuitous concurrence of things; or remember the arguments by which it has been proved that the world is a kind of political community, and be quiet at last.- But perhaps corporeal things will still fasten upon thee.- Consider then further that the mind mingles not with the breath, whether moving gently or violently, when it has once drawn itself apart and discovered its own power, and think also of all that thou hast heard and assented to about pain and pleasure, and be quiet at last.- But perhaps the desire of the thing called fame will torment thee.- See how soon everything is forgotten, and look at the chaos of infinite time on each side of the present, and the emptiness of applause, and the changeableness and want of judgement in those who pretend to give praise, and the narrowness of the space within which it is circumscribed, and be quiet at last. For the whole earth is a point, and how small a nook in it is this thy dwelling, and how few are there in it, and what kind of people are they who will praise thee.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"What we cannot bear removes us from life; what remains can be borne.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"All men are made one for another: either then teach them better or bear with them.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Life is opinion.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The blazing fire makes flames and brightness out of everything thrown into it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Unhappy am I because this has happened to me.- Not so, but happy am I, though this has happened to me, because I continue free from pain, neither crushed by the present nor fearing the future.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Think of your many years of procrastination; how the gods have repeatedly granted you further periods of grace, of which you have taken no advantage. It is time now to realise the nature of the universe to which you belong, and of that controlling Power whose offspring you are; and to understand that your time has a limit set to it. Use it, then, to advance your enlightenment; or it will be gone, and never in your power again.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"No man is happy who does not think himself so.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"When people injure you, ask yourself what good or harm they thought would come of it. If you understand that, you'll feel sympathy rather than outrage or anger. Your sense of good and evil may be the same as theirs, or near it, in which case you have to excuse them. Or your sense of good and evil may differ from theirs. In which case they're misguided and deserve your compassion. Is that so hard?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"How ridiculous and unrealistic is the man who is astonished at anything that happens in life.","author":"Marcus Aurelius (Emperor of Rome)"},{"text":"It is not the actions of others which trouble us (for those actions are controlled by their governing part), but rather it is our own judgments. Therefore remove those judgments and resolve to let go of your anger, and it will already be gone. How do you let go? By realizing that such actions are not shameful to you.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: ‘I have to go to work—as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was born for—the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?   —But it’s nicer here… So you were born to feel ‘nice’? Instead of doings things and experiencing them? Don’t you see the plants, the birds, the ants and spiders and bees going about their individual tasks, putting the world in order, as best they can? And you’re not willing to do your job as a human being? Why aren’t you running to do what your nature demands?  —But we have to sleep sometime… Agreed. But nature set a limit on that—as it did on eating and drinking. And you’re over the limit. You’ve had more than enough of that. But not of working. There you’re still below your quota. You don’t love yourself enough. Or you’d love your nature too, and what it demands of you. People who love what they do wear themselves down doing it, they even forget to wash or eat. Do you have less respect for your own nature than the engraver does for engraving, the dancer for dance, the miser for money or the social climber for status? When they’re really possessed by what they do, they’d rather stop eating and sleeping than give up practicing their arts.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"All things fade and quickly turn to myth.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"In the morning when thou risest unwillingly, let this thought be present - I am rising to the work of a human being. Why then am I dissatisfied if I am going to do the things for which I exist and for which I was brought into the world?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"All things of the body stream away like a river, all things of the mind are dreams and delusion; life is warfare, and a visit to a strange land; the only lasting fame is oblivion.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Which is recorded of Socrates, that he was able both to abstain from, and to enjoy, those things which many are too weak to abstain from, and cannot enjoy without excess. But to be strong enough both to bear the one and to be sober in the other is the mark of a man who has a perfect and invincible soul.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"In the life of a man, his time is but a moment, his being an incessant flux, his sense a dim rushlight, his body a prey of worms, his soul an unquiet eddy, his fortune dark, his fame doubtful. In short, all that is body is as coursing waters, all that is of the soul as dreams and vapors.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Live out your life in truth and justice, tolerant of those who are neither true nor just.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Human life. Duration: momentary. Nature: changeable. Perception: dim. Condition of Body: decaying. Soul: spinning around. Fortune: unpredictable. Lasting Fame: uncertain. Sum Up: The body and its parts are a river, the soul a dream and mist, life is warfare and a journey far from home, lasting reputation is oblivion.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Time is like a river made up of the events which happen, and a violent stream; for as soon as a thing has been seen, it is carried away, and another comes in its place, and this will be carried away too.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Death is a release from the impressions of the senses, and from desires that make us their puppets, and from the vagaries of the mind, and from the hard service of the flesh.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Anger cannot be dishonest.","author":"Marcus Aurelius "},{"text":"Adapt yourself to the life you have been given; and truly love the people with whom destiny has surrounded you","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Everything - a horse, a vine - is created for some duty... For what task, then, were you yourself created?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"It loved to happen.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"He blind, who cannot see with the eyes of his understanding.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Everyone gets one life. Yours is almost used up, and instead of treating yourself with respect, you have entrusted your own happiness to the souls of others.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"And is there anything preferable to thought itself -- to logic, to understanding? Think of their surefootedness. Their fluent stillness.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Dig deep within yourself, for there is a fountain of goodness ever ready to flow if you will keep digging.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Uma pequena chama seria facilmente extinguida pela ventania do destino, mas quando um fogaréu se torna forte, é capaz de queimar tudo o que lhe atravessa o caminho, consumindo os acasos e se elevando cada vez mais alto em direção ao céu.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Basta con poner tu atención y deseo en ser bueno contigo mismo en cualquier cosa que hagas. Recuerda","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"No man can rob us of our free will.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Endure labour; nor to need many things; when I have anything to do, to do it myself rather than by others; not to meddle with many businesses; and not easily to admit of any slander.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Aprendí de Alejandro el gramático el no censurar; no zaherir a quienes se les fue un barbarismo, un solecismo o cualquier viciosa pronunciación; sino anunciar con maña aquella única palabra que convenía proferir, bajo la forma de una respuesta, de una confirmación o de una deliberación sobre el fondo mismo, no sobre la forma, o por otro medio apropiado de hábil sugerencia.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"How many of them who came into the world at the same time when I did, are already gone out of it? LII.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"De Alejandro el platónico, el no repetir a menudo y sin necesidad, sea de viva voz, sea por escrito, que estoy muy ocupado; y no rechazar así, sistemáticamente, los deberes que las relaciones sociales imponen, pretextando un agobio de quehaceres.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If now you choose what is for your spiritual advantage, hold it fast; if what is for your bodily advantage, admit that it is so chosen, and keep your choice with all modesty.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Give thyself time to learn something new and good, and cease to be whirled around. But then thou must also avoid being carried about the other way.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"U svojim napadajima bijesa neka ti je ova misao pri ruci, jer je blagi spokoj daleko ljudskiji i stoga više muževan. Blagi posjeduju snagu, čvrstoću i hrabrost- ne oni uvrijeđeni i plačljivi. Što je čvršći nadzor nad emocijama, to si bliže moći. Gnjev je znak slabosti, jednako kao i patnja. Oboje su ranjeni, oboje su se predali.","author":"Marcus Aurelius, Meditations"},{"text":"Now to conclude; upon all occasion of sorrow remember henceforth to make use of this dogma, that whatsoever it is that hath happened unto thee, is in very deed no such thing of itself, as a misfortune; but that to bear it generously, is certainly great happiness.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"not to busy myself about vain things, and not easily to believe those things, which are commonly spoken","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"That in this, there is strength and nerves, or vigour and fortitude: whereof anger and indignation is altogether void.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Excava dentro. Dentro está la fuente del bien que puede siempre borbotar de nuevo mientras excaves.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Remember how long you have been putting off things, and how often you have received an opportunity from the gods, and yet not use it. You must now at last perceive that you are part of the universe, and that the universe's existence is an efflux, and that a limit of time is fixed for you, which if you do not use for clearing away the clouds from your mind, it will go and you will go, and it will never return.   Every","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Our task is this: to play our role to the best of our ability, then depart in contentment and gratitude, praying only that that the Playwright is pleased with our performance. Have you read the first book in this series?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Not to be offended with other men's liberty of speech.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Be the stone cliff against which the waves constantly break, standing firm against the fury of the sea.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Auf die Dauer der Zeit nimmt die Seele die Farbe der Gedanken an.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Si len úbohá dušička nesúca mŕtvolu,” ako vravel Epiktetos.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"And as grief doth proceed from weakness, so doth anger. For both, both he that is angry and that grieveth, have received a wound, and cowardly have as it were yielded themselves unto their affections.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Practice the virtues you can show: honesty, gravity, endurance, austerity, resignation, abstinence, patience, sincerity, moderation, seriousness, high-mindedness. Don’t you see how much you have to offer—beyond excuses like “can’t”?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Vanity is the greatest seducer of reason: when you are most convinced your work is important, that is when you are most under its spell.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"that the offences which are committed through desire are more blameable than those which are committed through anger.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"So there are two reasons to embrace what happens. One is that it’s happening to you. It was prescribed for you, and it pertains to you. The thread was spun long ago, by the oldest cause of all. The other reason is that what happens to an individual is a cause of well-being in what directs the world—of its well-being, its fulfillment, of its very existence, even.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Nothing that goes on in anyone else’s mind can harm you. Nor can the shifts and changes in the world around you. —Then where is harm to be found? In your capacity to see it. Stop doing that and everything will be fine.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Speak what you really think, not what you think people want to hear.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Shall I do it? I will; so the end of my action be to do good unto men. Doth anything by way of cross or adversity happen unto me? I accept it, with reference unto the Gods, and their providence; the fountain of all things, from which whatsoever comes to pass, doth hang and depend","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"11. When thou hast been compelled by circumstances to be disturbed in a manner, quickly return to thyself, and do not continue out of tune longer than the compulsion lasts; for thou wilt have more mastery over the harmony by continually recurring to it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"To wait until the emergency is to be too late.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The best way of avenging thyself is not to become like [the wrong-doer].","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Both rate men's praise or blame at their real worthlessness; 'Let not thy peace,' says the Christian, 'be in the mouths of men.' But it is to God's censure the Christian appeals, the Roman to his own soul.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Sudi o sebi sukladno svakoj riječi ili djelu što su u skladu s prirodom i ne dopuštaj da te ikakve i ičije zakašnjele kritike i uvjeravanja odvrate od toga .Ne, ako je to bilo dobro reći ili učiniti, onda se ne odriči vlastita prava. Te druge vodi njihov um i oni se pokoravaju vlastitim porivima. Neka te ništa takvo ne smeta, nastavi ravno naprijed i slijedi vlastitu prirodu kao i prirodu univerzuma - njih dvije kroče jednom i istom stazom.","author":"Marcus Aurelius, Meditacije"},{"text":"37. Disgraceful: that the mind should control the face, should be able to shape and mold it as it pleases, but not shape and mold itself.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Don’t stray, but do what’s right whenever you’re moved to act, and stick with what’s clear and certain whenever you think.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"In order to act well in this world, you must first accept it. Justice, generosity, and gratitude flow from a mind that embraces all things, in harmony with our nature as rational and social beings.  Injustice, selfishness, and fear flow from a mind that complains about and fights against things as they are, straying from reason and society.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Cuando desees alegrar tu corazón, ponte a considerar la ventajosa superioridad de tus compañeros, por ejemplo, la laboriosidad de éste, la circunspección de aquél, la liberalidad de uno y cualquier prerrogativa de otro. Nada nos deleita tanto como los ejemplos de las virtudes que resplandecen en la conducta de los compañeros y nos entran por los ojos como apiñadas en tropel.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"When thou hast been compelled by circumstances to be disturbed in a manner, quickly return to thyself, and do not continue out of tune longer than the compulsion lasts; for thou wilt have more mastery over the harmony by continually recurring to it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"No imagines las cosas ausentes como ya presentes antes bien, selecciona entre las presentes las mas favorables y a la vista de esto, recuerda como las buscarías  si no estuvieran presentes. Pero al mismo tiempo ten precaución, no vaya a ser que por complacerte hasta tal punto en su disfrute te habitúes a sobrestimarlas, de manera que, si alguna vez no estuvieran presentes, pudieras sentirte inquieto","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"You can’t set down rules for others until you have first followed them yourself.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"56. Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now take what’s left and live it properly.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"In a wicked generation, might makes right, violence is praised, and virtue is slandered.” —Hesiod, Works and Days","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Against our will, our souls are cut off from truth.” Truth, yes, and justice, self-control, kindness … Important to keep this in mind. It will make you more patient with other people.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Предметы, преследуя и избегая которые, ты лишаешься мира душевного, не приступают к тебе, но ты некоторым образом сам приступаешь к ним. Пусть смолкнет твое суждение о них – и они лежат недвижимо; а тебя никто не увидит ни преследующим, ни бегущим.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Each morning, remind yourself that this day may be your last. And when you tuck your children into bed at night, remember that they, too, are mortals who someday will die.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"For times when you feel pain: See that it doesn’t disgrace you, or degrade your intelligence—doesn’t keep it from acting rationally or unselfishly. And in most cases what Epicurus said should help: that pain is neither unbearable nor unending, as long as you keep in mind its limits and don’t magnify them in your imagination. And keep in mind too that pain often comes in disguise—as drowsiness, fever, loss of appetite.… When you’re bothered by things like that, remind yourself: “I’m giving in to pain.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Wipe off all idle fancies, and say unto thyself incessantly; Now if I will, it is in my power to keep out of this my soul all wickedness, all lust, and concupiscences, all trouble and confusion.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"No obres como quien ha de vivir diez mil años. Lo irreparable está ya suspendido encima de ti. Mientras vives, mientras es aún posible, sé hombre de bien.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"To change your mind and defer to correction is not to sacrifice your independence; for such an act is your own, in pursuance of your own impulse, your own judgement, and your own thinking.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Don’t bind yourself, with the chains of desire and fear, to things that are outside your sphere of control. This is a matter of sanity.” —Epictetus","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"From Claudius Maximus, in all things to endeavour to have power of myself, and in nothing to be carried about; to be cheerful and courageous in all sudden chances and accidents, as in sicknesses: to love mildness, and moderation, and gravity: and to do my business, whatsoever it be, thoroughly, and without querulousness.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"fix thy mind upon the thing itself; look into it, and remembering thyself, that thou art bound nevertheless to be a good man, and what it is that thy nature requireth of thee as thou art a man, be not diverted from what thou art about, and speak that which seemeth unto thee most just: only speak it kindly, modestly, and without hypocrisy.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"preocuparse de su propio cuerpo con mesura, no como si tuviera apego a la vida, sin llegar al maquillaje pero tampoco desde luego al abandono, de forma que por su propia diligencia precisaba poquísimo de la medicina, de sus medicamentos o ungüentos, de uso interno o externo; ceder","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"That I have such a wife, so obedient,","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"No imagines las cosas ausentes como ya presentes antes bien, selecciona entre las presentes las más favorables y a la vista de esto, recuerda como las buscarías si no estuvieran presentes. Pero al mismo tiempo ten precaución, no vaya a ser que por complacerte hasta tal punto en su disfrute te habitúes a sobrestimarlas, de manera que, si alguna vez no estuvieran presentes, pudieras sentirte inquieto","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"71. It’s silly to try to escape other people’s faults. They are inescapable. Just try to escape your own.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"VIII. Never esteem of anything as profitable, which shall ever constrain thee either to break thy faith, or to lose thy modesty; to hate any man, to suspect, to curse, to dissemble, to lust after anything, that requireth the secret of walls or veils.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Think, let us say, of the times of Vespasian; and what do you see? Men and women busy marrying, bringing up children, sickening, dying, fighting, feasting, chaffering, farming, flattering, bragging, envying, scheming, calling down curses, grumbling at fate, loving, hoarding, coveting thrones and dignities. Of all that life, not a trace survives today. Or come forward to the days of Trajan; again, it is the same; that life, too, has perished. Take a similar look at the records of other past ages and peoples; mark how one and all, after their short-lived strivings, passed away and were resolved into the elements. More especially, recall some who, within your own knowledge, have followed after vanities instead of contenting themselves with a resolute performance of the duties for which they were created. In such cases it is essential to remind ourselves that the pursuit of any object depends for its value upon the worth of the object pursued. If, then, you would avoid discouragement, never become unduly absorbed in things that are not of the first importance.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"on every occasion a man should ask himself, Is this one of the unnecessary things?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"since nothing comes out of nothing, and nothing can be annihilated.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Wherever you go, there you are—the same person, with the same patterns of thought.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Every portion of me will be reassigned as another portion of the world, and that in turn transformed into another. Ad infinitum.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Sixth, consider when thou art much vexed or grieved, that man's life is only a moment, and after a short time we are all laid out dead.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"But death and life, success and failure, pain and pleasure, wealth and poverty, all these happen to good and bad alike, and they are neither noble nor shameful—and hence neither good nor bad.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Prvo - stvari ne mogu dirnuti um: one su izvanjske i nepomične; strepnja može poteći samo iz unutarnje prosudbe. Drugo, da se sve ono što vidiš mijenja još u trenutku dok to promatraš, i zatim nestaje. Neprekidno se podsjećaj da si se i ti, kakva si sebe vidio, već promojenio Univerzum je mijena - život je prosudba.","author":"Marcus Aurelius, Meditacije"},{"text":"To pursue the impossible is madness: but it is impossible for evil men not to do things of this sort.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"قيل لزينون \"أي الملوك أفضل: ملك اليونانيين أم الفرس؟\" قال: \"من ملك شهوته وغضبه","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Repentance is a kind of self-reproof for having neglected something useful; but that which is good must be something useful, and the perfect good man should look after it. But no such man would ever repent of having refused any sensual pleasure. Pleasure then is neither good nor useful.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"الكتابة ارتقاء من الخصوصية إلى العمومية، تحقيق لما هو كامن في العقل، وتحديد لما هو غائم، وتثبيت لما هو هائم. بل هي بحث عن المجهول منن خبايا النفس، ومعرفة بما هو ضائع في تضاعيف الذات.  لست أعرف بالضبط ما أنا أفكر فيه؛ ربما لذلك شرعت في كتابته","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Always bear this in mind; and another thing too, that very little indeed is necessary for living a happy life. And because thou hast despaired of becoming a dialectician and skilled in the knowledge of nature, do not for this reason renounce the hope of being both free and modest, and social and obedient to God.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"As surgeons have ever their knives and instruments at hand for the sudden emergencies of their art, so do you keep ready the principles requisite for understanding things divine and human, and for doing all things, even the least important, in the remembrance of the bond between the two. For in neglecting this, you will scant your duty both to Gods and men.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"everything which belongs to the body is a stream, and what belongs to the soul is a dream","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Remember: Matter. How tiny your share of it. Time. How brief and fleeting your allotment of it. Fate. How small a role you play in it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"7. Don’t be ashamed to need help. Like a soldier storming a wall, you have a mission to accomplish. And if you’ve been wounded and you need a comrade to pull you up? So what?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Close to forgetting it all, close to being forgotten.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Make for yourself a definition or description of the thing that is presented to you, so as to see distinctly what kind of a thing it is in its substance, in its nudity, in its entirety, and tell yourself its proper name and the names of the things of which it has been compounded and into which it will be resolved. For nothing so promotes elevation of mind as the ability to examine methodically and truly every object that is presented to you in life, and always to look at things so as to see at the same time what kind of universe this is, and what kind of use everything performs in it, and what value everything has with reference to the whole, and what with reference to man, who is a citizen of the highest city, of which all other cities are like families; what each thing is, its composition and duration, and what virtue I need bring to it, such as gentleness, manliness, truth, fidelity, simplicity, contentment, and the rest.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The prime principle then in man’s constitution is the social. And the second is not to yield to the persuasions of the body,—for it is the peculiar office of the rational and intelligent motion to circumscribe itself, and never to be overpowered either by the motion of the senses or of the appetites, for both are animal: but the intelligent motion claims superiority, and does not permit itself to be overpowered by the others.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Don't live as though you were going to live a myriad years. Fate is hanging over your head; while you have a life, while you may, become good.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"In all his conversation, far from all inhumanity, all boldness, and incivility, all greediness and impetuosity; never doing anything with such earnestness, and intention, that a man could say of him, that he did sweat about it: but contrariwise, all things distinctly, as at leisure; without trouble; orderly, soundly, and agreeably.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Casting therefore all other things aside, keep thyself to these few, and remember withal that no man properly can be said to live more than that which is now present, which is but a moment of time.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"to conclude the matter, what is even an eternal remembrance? A mere nothing. What then is that about which we ought to employ our serious pains? This one thing, thoughts just, and acts social, and words which never lie, and a disposition which gladly accepts all that happens, as necessary, as usual, as flowing from a principle and source of the same kind.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Call to mind the whole of Substance of which you have a very small portion, and the whole of time whereof a small hair's breadth has been determined for you, and of the chain of causation whereof you are how small a link.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Consider the nature of all worldly sensible things; of those especially, which either ensnare by pleasure, or for their irksomeness are dreadful, or for their outward lustre and show are in great esteem and request, how vile and contemptible, how base and corruptible, how destitute of all true life and being they are.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"الزهو بالخلو من الزهو هو أثقل ضروب الزهو وأصعبها على الاحتمال أثقل الغرور التواضع الزائف","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Every man’s happiness depends from himself, but behold thy life is almost at an end, whiles affording thyself no respect, thou dost make thy happiness to consist in the souls, and conceits of other men.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Remember, however, that you are formed by nature to bear everything whose tolerability depends on your own opinion to make it so, by thinking that it is in your interest or duty to do so.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"[五十一] 爱好虚荣之人把别人的行为作为自己的善；爱好享乐之人把自己的感觉作为善；然而智慧之人却认为惟有自己的行为才是自己的善。","author":"马尔库斯·奥勒利乌斯(Aurelius.M.)"},{"text":"X. Of Catulus, not to contemn any friend's expostulation, though unjust, but to strive to reduce him to his former disposition: freely and heartily to speak well of all my masters upon any occasion, as it is reported of Domitius, and Athenodotus: and to love my children with true affection.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Why all this guesswork? You can see what needs to be done. If you can see the road, follow it. Cheerfully, without turning back. If not, hold up and get the best advice you can. If anything gets in the way, forge on ahead, making good use of what you have on hand, sticking to what seems right. (The best goal to achieve, and the one we fall short of when we fail.)","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"For it is a thing very possible, that a man should be a very divine man, and yet be altogether unknown.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"bear in mind that every man lives only this present time, which is an indivisible point, and that all the rest of his life is either past or it is uncertain.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Think not so much of what thou hast not as of what thou hast: but of the things which thou hast select the best, and then reflect how eagerly they would have been sought, if thou hadst them not. At the same time, however, take care that thou dost not through being so pleased with them accustom thyself to overvalue them, so as to be disturbed if ever thou shouldst not have them.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Short then is the time which every man lives, and small the nook of the earth where he lives; and short too the longest posthumous fame, and even this only continued by a succession of poor human beings, who will very soon die, and who know not even themselves, much less him who died long ago.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"It is in thy power to live free from all compulsion in the greatest tranquillity of mind, even if all the world cry out against thee as much as they choose, and even if wild beasts tear in pieces the members of this kneaded matter which has grown around thee.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"When thou hast assumed these names, good, modest, true, rational, a man of equanimity, and magnanimous, take care that thou dost not change these names; and if thou shouldst lose them, quickly return to them.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Treat what you don’t have as nonexistent. Look at what you have, the things you value most, and think of how much you’d crave them if you didn’t have them. But be careful. Don’t feel such satisfaction that you start to overvalue them—that it would upset you to lose them.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"September 17, 2019 0 Minutes How many after being celebrated by fame have been given up to oblivion; and how many who have celebrated the fame of others have long been dead.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"if thou holdest to this, expecting nothing, fearing nothing, but satisfied with thy present activity according to nature, and with heroic truth in every word and sound which thou utterest, thou wilt live happy. And there is no man who is able to prevent this.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"still remember that no man loses any other life than this which he now lives, nor lives any other than this which he now loses.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"No longer wander at hazard; for neither will you read your own memoirs, nor the acts of the ancient Romans and Hellenes, and the selections from books you were reserving for your old age. Hasten then to your appointed end and, throwing away idle hopes, come to your own aid, if you care at all for yourself, while it is in your power.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"It’s the nature of the universe—all things must change, including you. Embrace it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"There is nothing new: all things are both familiar and short-lived.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"When he speaks of death as a necessary change, and points out that nothing useful and profitable can be brought about without change,","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Be a boxer, not a gladiator, in the way you act on your principles. The gladiator takes up his sword only to put it down again, but the boxer is never without his fist and only has to clinch it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Men seek retreats for themselves, houses in the country, seashores, and mountains; and you, too, are wont to desire such things very much. But this is altogether a mark of the most common sort of men, for it is in your power whenever you choose to retire into yourself. For there is no retreat that is quieter or freer from trouble than a man's own soul, especially when he has within him such thoughts that by looking into them he is immediately in perfect tranquility; and tranquility is nothing else than the good ordering of the mind. Constantly then give to yourself this retreat, and renew yourself; and let your principles be brief and fundamental, which, as soon as you recur to them, will be sufficient to cleanse the soul completely, and to send you back free from all discontent with the the things to which you return.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"These two things then thou must bear in mind; the one, that all things from eternity are of like forms and come round in a circle, and that it makes no difference whether a man shall see the same things during a hundred years or two hundred, or an infinite time; and the second, that the longest liver and he who will die soonest lose just the same. For the present is the only thing of which a man can be deprived, if it is true that this is the only thing which he has, and that a man cannot lose a thing if he has it not.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Disgraceful: that the mind should control the face, should be able to shape and mold it as it pleases, but not shape and mold itself.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If any man is able to convince me and show me that I do not think or act right, I will gladly change; for I seek the truth, by which no man was ever injured. But he is injured who abides in his error and ignorance.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Sayest thou unto that rational part, Thou art dead; corruption hath taken hold on thee? Doth it then also void excrements? Doth it like either oxen, or sheep, graze or feed; that it also should be mortal, as well as the body?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"All is as thinking makes it so. Your mind will take on the character of your most frequent thoughts: souls are dyed by thoughts.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"What is it that we must bestow our care and diligence upon? even upon this only: that our minds and wills be just; that our actions be charitable; that our speech be never deceitful, or that our understanding be not subject to error; that our inclination be always set to embrace whatsoever shall happen unto us, as necessary, as usual, as ordinary, as flowing from such a beginning, and such a fountain, from which both thou thyself and all things are.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"what death is, and the fact that, if a man looks at it in itself, and by the abstractive power of reflection resolves into their parts all the things which present themselves to the imagination in it, he will then consider it to be nothing else than an operation of nature;","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"He often acts unjustly who does not do a certain thing; not only who does a certain thing.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"One man, when he has done a service to another, is ready to set it down to his account as a favor conferred. Another is not ready to do this, but still in his own mind he thinks of the man as his debtor, and he knows what he has done. A third in a manner does not even know what he has done, but he is like a vine which has produced grapes, and seeks for nothing more after it has once produced its proper fruit. As a horse when he has run, a dog when he has tackled the game, a bee when it has made the honey, so a man when he has done a good act does not call out for others to come and see, but he goes on to another act, as a vine goes on to produce again the grapes in season.—Must a man then be one of these, who in a manner act thus without observing it?—Yes.—But this very thing is necessary, the observation of what a man is doing: for, it may be said, it is characteristic of the social animal to perceive that he is working in a social manner, and indeed to wish that his social partner also should perceive it.—It is true that thou sayest, but thou dost not rightly understand what is now said: and for this reason thou wilt become one of those of whom I spoke before, for even they are misled by a certain show of reason. But if thou wilt choose to understand the meaning of what is said, do not fear that for this reason thou wilt omit any social act.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"And how man grasps God, with what part of himself he does so, and how that part is conditioned when he does.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"All things are linked and knitted together, and the knot is sacred, neither is there anything in the world, that is not kind and natural in regard of any other thing, or, that hath not some kind of reference and natural correspondence with whatsoever is in the world besides.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Look at the past with its endless succession of empires, and you see the future.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Pneuma is the power—the vital breath—that animates animals and humans. It is, in Dylan Thomas’s phrase, “the force that through the green fuse drives the flower,” and is present even in lifeless materials like stone or metal as the energy that holds the object together—the","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"i. Nothing can happen to me that isn’t natural. ii. I can keep from doing anything that God and my own spirit don’t approve. No one can force me to.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"why one should pray to a power whose decisions one can hardly hope to influence","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Look at the past—empire succeeding empire—and from that, extrapolate the future: the same thing. No escape from the rhythm of events.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"It doesn’t bother you that you weigh only x or y pounds and not three hundred. Why should it bother you that you have only x or y years to live and not more? You accept the limits placed on your body. Accept those placed on your time.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"When an opponent in the gymnasium gashes us with his nails or bruises our head in a collision, we do not protest or take offence, and we do not suspect him ever afterwards of malicious intent. However, we do regard him with a wary eye; not in enmity or suspicion, yet good-temperedly keeping our distance. So let it be, too, at other times in life; let us agree to overlook a great many things in those who are, as it were, our fellow-contestants. A simple avoidance, as I have said, is always open to us, without either suspicion or ill will.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"And to be the same in all circumstances—intense pain, the loss of a child, chronic illness. And to see clearly, from his example, that a man can show both strength and flexibility.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"I. Remember how long thou hast already put off these things, and how often a certain day and hour as it were, having been set unto thee by the gods, thou hast neglected it. It is high time for thee to understand the true nature both of the world, whereof thou art a part; and of that Lord and Governor of the world, from whom, as a channel from the spring, thou thyself didst flow: and that there is but a certain limit of time appointed unto thee, which if thou shalt not make use of to calm and allay the many distempers of thy soul, it will pass away and thou with it, and never after return.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"As for thyself, thou hast to do with neither. Go thy ways then well pleased and contented: for so is He that dismisseth thee.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"To them that are sick of the jaundice, honey seems bitter; and to them that are bitten by a mad dog, the water terrible; and to children, a little ball seems a fine thing. And why then should I be angry? or do I think that error and false opinion is less powerful to make men transgress, than either choler, being immoderate and excessive, to cause the jaundice; or poison, to cause rage?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"¿Qué hay, pues, que nos pueda llevar a salvamento? Una sola y única cosa: la filosofía. Y ésta consiste en conservar el dios interior sin ultraje ni daño, para que triunfe de placeres y dolores, para que no obre al acaso, y se mantenga lejos de toda falsedad y disimulo, al margen de que se haga o no se haga esto o aquello; además, para que acepte la parte que le tocare en los varios sucesos accidentales e integrantes de su parte, como procedentes de aquel origen de quien procede él mismo; y, en particular, para que aguarde la muerte en actitud plácida, no viendo en ella otra cosa más que la disolución de los elementos de que consta todo ser viviente. Si no hay nada temible para los mismos elementos en esta transformación incesante de uno en otro, ¿por qué temer la transformación y disolución de todas las otras cosas? Esto es conforme con la naturaleza: y nada es malo de cuanto a ella se acomoda","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Not to shrug off a friend’s resentment—even unjustified resentment—but try to put things right.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"lose him. To this end and purpose, let all thy prayer be, and see what will be the event.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"When the object perishes, the pneuma that animated it is reabsorbed into the logos as a whole. This process of destruction and reintegration happens to individual objects at every moment.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: “I have to go to work—as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was born for—the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm? —But it’s nicer here. . . . So you were born to feel “nice”? Instead of doing things and experiencing them?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Now hath pain given thee the foil; thy courage hath failed thee.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"I know the gods exist. . . .—from having felt their power, over and ove","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"From Alexander[B] the grammarian, to refrain from fault-finding, and not in a reproachful way to chide those who uttered any barbarous or solecistic or strange-sounding expression; but dexterously to introduce the very expression which ought to have been used, and in the way of answer or giving confirmation,","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Al despuntar la aurora, hazte estas consideraciones previas: me encontraré con un indiscreto, un ingrato, un insolente, un mentiroso, un envidioso, un insociable.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Wipe out thy imaginations by often saying to thyself: Now it is in my power to let no badness be in this soul, nor desire, nor any perturbation at all; but looking at all things I see what is their nature, and I use each according to its value.—Remember this power which thou hast from nature.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Si la ciudad se perjudica no hay que irritarse con quien la perjudica, por el contrario hay que señalarle qué es lo que le pasó desapercibido.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"What fear is there that thy dogmata, or philosophical resolutions and conclusions, should become dead in thee, and lose their proper power and efficacy to make thee live happy, as long as those proper and correlative fancies, and representations of things on which they mutually depend (which continually to stir up and revive is in thy power,) are still kept fresh and alive? It is in my power concerning this thing that is happened, what soever it be, to conceit that which is right and true. If it be, why then am I troubled?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"and in long illness; and to see clearly in a living example that the same man can be both most resolute and yielding, and not peevish in giving his instruction; and to have had before my eyes a man","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Receive [wealth or prosperity] without arrogance; and be ready to let it go.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"To feel affection for people even when they make mistakes is uniquely human. You can do it, if you simply recognize: that they’re human too, that they act out of ignorance, against their will, and that you’ll both be dead before long.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"To run straight for the finish line, unswerving.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"They are like this because they can’t tell good from evil. But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own—not of the same blood or birth, but the same mind, and possessing a share of the divine.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Μηκέθ ὅλως περὶ τοῦ οἷόν τινα εἶναι τὸν ἀγαθὸν ἄνδρα διαλέγεσθαι, ἀλλὰ εἶναι τοιοῦτον.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"never realizing that all you have to do is to be attentive to the power inside you and worship it sincerely. To worship it is to keep it from being muddied with turmoil and becoming aimless and dissatisfied with nature—divine and human. What is divine deserves our respect because it is good; what is human deserves our affection because it is like us. And our pity too, sometimes, for its inability to tell good from bad","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Some things are rushing into existence, others out of it. Some of what now exists is already gone. Change and flux constantly remake the world, just as the incessant progression of time remakes eternity. We find ourselves in a river. Which of the things around us should we value when none of them can offer a firm foothold?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"26. You’ve seen that. Now look at this. Don’t be disturbed. Uncomplicate yourself. Someone has done wrong … to himself. Something happens to you. Good. It was meant for you by nature, woven into the pattern from the beginning.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Each of us lives only now, in this brief instant. The rest of our life has been lived already, or is impossible to see because it lies in the unknowable future.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Cada ser nació con algún destino, como el caballo y la vid. ¿Te admiras de esto? También el sol nació destinado para una función, así como los otros dioses. Según ello, ¿para qué fuiste tú creado? ¿Para disfrutar? Reflexiona si puede sustentarse este pensamiento.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Is it not plain that the inferior exists for the sake of the superior? But the things which have life are superior to those which have not life, and of those which have life the superior are those which have reason.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The present is the same for everyone; its loss is the same for everyone; and it should be clear that a brief instant is all that is lost. For you can’t lose either the past or the future; how could you lose what you don’t have?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"To the jaundiced honey tastes bitter, and to those bitten by mad dogs water causes fear; and to little children the ball is a fine thing. Why then am I angry? Do you think that a false opinion has less power than the bile in the jaundiced or the poison in someone bitten by a mad dog?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If: this evil is not of my doing, nor the result of it, and the community is not endangered, why should it bother me? Where’s the danger for the community?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"18. The way people behave. They refuse to admire their contemporaries, the people whose lives they share. No, but to be admired by Posterity—people they’ve never met and never will—that’s what they set their hearts on. You might as well be upset at not being a hero to your great-grandfather.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Thou hast already had sufficient experience, that of those many things that hitherto thou hast erred and wandered about, thou couldst not find happiness in any of them. Not in syllogisms, and logical subtilties, not in wealth, not in honour and reputation, not in pleasure. In none of all these. Wherein then is it to be found? In the practice of those things, which the nature of man, as he is a man, doth require. How then shall he do those things? If his dogmata, or moral tenets and opinions (from which all motions and actions do proceed), be right and true.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Todo lo que ocurre, ocurre con razón. Lo descubrirás, si fijamente lo observares. No digo sólo que todo viene en fuerza de las consecuencias, pero también con relación a la justicia, y como si alguien distribuyera a cada cual las recompensas según su merecido. Sigue, pues, observando como has empezado, y todo cuanto hicieres hazlo con la intención de ser un hombre de bien, según la idea específica que suele formarse del hombre recto. Practica esta regla en todas tus acciones.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Men seek retreats for themselves, houses in the country, sea-shores, and mountains; and thou too art wont to desire such things very much. But this is altogether a mark of the most common sort of men, for it is in thy power whenever thou shalt choose to retire into thyself. For nowhere either with more quiet or more freedom from trouble does a man retire than into his own soul, particularly when he has within him such thoughts that by looking into them he is immediately in perfect tranquility; and I affirm that tranquility is nothing else than the good ordering of the mind.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Nothing happens to any man which he is not formed by nature to bear. The same things happen to another, and either because he does not see that they have happened, or because he would show a great spirit, he is firm and remains unharmed. It is a shame then that ignorance and conceit should be stronger than wisdom.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If thou art pained by any external thing, it is not this that disturbs thee, but thy own judgment about it. And it is in thy power to wipe out this judgment now.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Be neither a great talker, nor a great undertaker.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If you want to be able to perform under pressure, you need to learn to play tired.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"People find pleasure in different ways. I find it in keeping my mind clear. In not turning away from people or the things that happen to them. In accepting and welcoming everything I see. In treating each thing as it deserves.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Basta abandonar todo o passado, confiar o futura à providência e dirigir a ação presente para a piedade e a justiça.","author":"Marco Aurélio"},{"text":"结婚、生育、生病、死亡、作战、节庆、经商、务农、谄媚、自吹、猜疑、阴谋、祈求一些人死亡、抱怨自己的遭遇、爱情、储藏、渴望执政官职位和王位。可是他们那样的生活没有在任何地方留下任何痕迹。","author":"马尔库斯·奥勒利乌斯(Aurelius.M.)"},{"text":"毕达戈拉斯派要求清晨昂望天空，以使我们想象星辰始终循着同样的路线，完成着它们同样的工作，想象它们有序、纯洁和坦诚。因为星辰没有任何遮幔。","author":"马尔库斯·奥勒利乌斯(Aurelius.M.)"},{"text":"The idea of a polity in which there is the same law for all, a polity administered with regard to equal rights and equal freedom of speech, and the idea of a government which respects most of all, the freedom of the governed.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"¿Y qué tiene de malo o extraño que la persona sin educación haga cosas propias de un ineducado? Procura que no debas inculparte más a ti mismo por no haber previsto que ése cometería ese fallo, porque tú disponías de recursos suministrados por la razón para cerciorarte de que es natural que ése cometería ese fallo; y a pesar de tu olvido, te sorprendes de su error. Y sobre todo, siempre que censures a alguien como desleal o ingrato, recógete en ti mismo. Porque obviamente tuyo es el fallo si has confiado que tenía tal disposición, que iba a guardarte fidelidad, o si, al otorgarle un favor, no se lo concediste de buena gana, ni de manera que pudiese obtener al punto de tu acción misma todo el fruto.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Toys and fooleries at home, wars abroad: sometimes terror, sometimes torpor, or stupid sloth: this is thy daily slavery.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Get busy with life's purpose, toss aside empty hopes, get active in your own rescue—if you care for yourself at all—and do it while you can.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Better is what benefits","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Sé igual al promontorio contra el que sin interrupción baten las olas. Él permanece quieto mientras que en su derredor sucumben las aguas que bullen. »Soy desgraciado porque me ocurrió eso a mí.« Bien al contrario[271]: »Soy afortunado porque, a pesar de haberme ocurrido eso, permanezco sin pena y no me rompo por el presente ni temo el porvenir.« Porque tal cosa podría haberle sucedido a cualquiera, sin embargo cualquiera no hubiera permanecido sin pena por ello.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Never act without purpose; make sure that all your actions conform to the philosophical principles that constitute the art of living.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"14. Even if you’re going to live three thousand more years, or ten times that, remember: you cannot lose another life than the one you’re living now, or live another one than the one you’re losing. The longest amounts to the same as the shortest. The present is the same for everyone; its loss is the same for everyone; and it should be clear that a brief instant is all that is lost. For you can’t lose either the past or the future; how could you lose what you don’t have? Remember two things: i. that everything has always been the same, and keeps recurring, and it makes no difference whether you see the same things recur in a hundred years or two hundred, or in an infinite period; ii. that the longest-lived and those who will die soonest lose the same thing. The present is all that they can give up, since that is all you have, and what you do not have, you cannot lose.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Just remember: you can endure anything your mind can make endurable, by treating it as in your interest to do so. In your interest, or in your nature.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"We need to master the art of acquiescence. We need to pay attention to our impulses, making sure they don’t go unmoderated, that they benefit others, that they’re worthy of us.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Don’t ever forget these things: The nature of the world. My nature. How I relate to the world. What proportion of it I make up. That you are part of nature, and no one can prevent you from speaking and acting in harmony with it, always.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"No desdeñes la muerte; antes bien, acógela gustosamente, en la convicción de que ésta también es una de las cosas que la naturaleza quiere. Porque cual es la juventud, la vejez, el crecimiento, la plenitud de la vida, el salir los dientes, la barba, las canas, la fecundación, la preñez, el alumbramiento y las demás actividades naturales que llevan las estaciones de la vida, tal es también tu propia disolución. Por consiguiente, es propio de un hombre dotado de razón comportarse ante la muerte no con hostilidad, ni con vehemencia, ni con orgullo, sino aguardarla como una más de las actividades naturales. Y, al igual que tú aguardas el momento en que salga del vientre de tu mujer el recién nacido, así también aguarda la hora en que tu alma se desprenderá de esa envoltura.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"You need to avoid certain things in your train of thought: everything random, everything irrelevant. And certainly everything self-important or malicious. You need to get used to winnowing your thoughts, so that if someone says, “What are you thinking about?” you can respond at once (and truthfully) that you are thinking this or thinking that. And it would be obvious at once from your answer that your thoughts were straightforward and considerate ones—the thoughts of an unselfish person, one unconcerned with pleasure and with sensual indulgence generally, with squabbling, with slander and envy, or anything else you’d be ashamed to be caught thinking.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"32. I am composed of a body and a soul. Things that happen to the body are meaningless. It cannot discriminate among them. Nothing has meaning to my mind except its own actions. Which are within its own control. And it's only the immediate that matter. Its past and future actions too are meaningless.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Men despise one another and flatter one another; and men wish to raise themselves above one another, and crouch before one another.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinions than our own","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If you seek tranquillity, do less.” Or (more accurately) do what’s essential—what the logos of a social being requires, and in the requisite way. Which brings a double satisfaction: to do less, better.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"That which is not good for the beehive cannot be good for the bees.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Think thyself fit and worthy to speak, or to do anything that is according to nature, and let not the reproach, or report of some that may ensue upon it, ever deter thee. If it be right and honest to be spoken or done, undervalue not thyself so much, as to be discouraged from it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"That bees don’t behave like this—or any other animals with a sense of community. Don’t do it sardonically or meanly, but affectionately—with no hatred in your heart. And not ex cathedra or to impress third parties, but speaking directly. Even if there are other people around.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"haber aprendido cómo hay que aceptar las finezas de los amigos, sin dejarse esclavizar por ellas y sin rechazarlas toscamente.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"HE WHO acts unjustly acts impiously. For since the universal nature has made rational animals for the sake of one another to help one another according to their deserts, but in no way to injure one another, he who transgresses her will, is clearly guilty of impiety towards the highest divinity.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"What then is that about which we ought to employ our serious pains? This one thing, thoughts just, and acts social, and words which never lie, and a disposition which gladly accepts all that happens, as necessary, as usual, as flowing from a principle and source of the same kind.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"and to be easy and ready to be reconciled, and well pleased again with them that had offended me, as soon as any of them would be content to seek unto me again.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Reverence: so you’ll accept what you’re allotted. Nature intended it for you, and you for it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"33. It's normal to feel pain in your hands and your feet, if you're using your feet as feet and your hands as hands. And for a human being to feel stress is normal -- if he's living a normal human life. And if it's normal, how can it be bad?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Many lumps of incense on the same altar. One crumbles now, one later, but it makes no difference","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"think little of thy flesh: blood, bones, and a skin; a pretty piece of knit and twisted work, consisting of nerves, veins and arteries; think no more of it, than so. And as for thy life, consider what it is; a wind; not one constant wind neither, but every moment of an hour let out, and sucked in again.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Um período limitado de tempo lhe foi concedido, e se não o aproveitar para limpar as brumas de sua mente, o tempo escorrerá junto com a sua vida, para nunca mais retornar.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"It’s courtesy and kindness that define a human being","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"It can ruin your life only if it ruins your character. Otherwise it cannot harm you—inside or out.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"35. We have various abilities, present in all rational creatures as in the nature of rationality itself. And this is one of them. Just as nature takes every obstacle, every impediment, and works around it—turns it to its purposes, incorporates it into itself—so, too, a rational being can turn each setback into raw material and use it to achieve its goal.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"And whensoever thou findest thyself; that thou art in danger of a relapse, and that thou art not able to master and overcome those difficulties and temptations that present themselves in thy present station: get thee into any private corner, where thou mayst be better able. Or if that will not serve forsake even thy life rather. But so that it be not in passion but in a plain voluntary modest way: this being the only commendable action of thy whole life that thus thou art departed,","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Since it is possible that thou mayest depart from life this very moment, regulate every act and thought accordingly","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Pondera sin cesar cuántos médicos murieron, después de haber tantas veces fruncido el ceño sobre sus enfermos; cuántos astrólogos que reputaban maravilla el predecir la muerte a otros; cuántos filósofos, después de miles de controversias sobre la muerte y la inmortalidad; cuántos príncipes, después de ocasionar la muerte a tantos hombres; cuántos tiranos que, a título de una pretendida inmortalidad, han abusado con pasmosa altivez de su poder sobre las vidas humanas. ¡Cuántas ciudades han muerto, por así decirlo, enteramente: Hélice, Pompeya, Herculano y otras sin número! Pasa revista, uno tras otro, a cuantos tú mismo has conocido. Éste, después de haber prestado sus postreros servicios a aquél, fue colocado él mismo en el lecho fúnebre por otro, y a éste tocó también su turno. ¡Y todo esto en cuán breve tiempo! En una palabra, considera siempre las cosas humanas como efímeras y ruines: lo que era ayer un poco de humor, será mañana momia o ceniza. Esta infinita brevedad del tiempo, vívela, pues, conformándote con la naturaleza y termina tu vida con agrado; al modo que la aceituna, llegada a sazón, cae bendiciendo a la tierra que la sostuvo y dando gracias al árbol que le dio savia.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Justice: so that you’ll speak the truth, frankly and without evasions, and act as you should—and as other people deserve.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Afánate fijamente, a cada hora, como romano y como varón, en hacer lo que tuvieres entre manos, con precisa y sincera gravedad, con amor, libertad y justicia, procurando desasirte de cualquier otra preocupación. Lo conseguirás si ejecutas cada acción de tu vida como si fuere la última, despojada de toda irreflexión y de toda apasionada repugnancia al señorío de la razón, sin falsedad, ni egoísmo, ni displicencia ante las disposiciones del destino. Ya ves cuán pocos son los principios que debes poseer para vivir una vida próspera y temerosa de los dioses. Que los dioses no exigirán otra cosa a quien observare estos preceptos.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"49. To be like the rock that the waves keep crashing over. It stands unmoved and the raging of the sea falls still around it. 49a.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Occupy yourself with few things, says the philosopher, if you would be tranquil. But consider if it would not be better to say, Do what is necessary, and whatever the reason of a social animal naturally requires, and as it requires. For this brings not only the tranquillity that comes from doing well, but also that which comes from doing few things. Since the greatest part of what we say and do is unnecessary, dispensing with such activities affords a man more leisure and less uneasiness. Accordingly on every occasion a man should ask himself, Is this one of the unnecessary things? Now a man should take away not only unnecessary acts, but also unnecessary thoughts so that superfluous acts will not follow after.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"present is the only thing of which a man can be deprived, if it is true that this is the only thing which he has, and that a man cannot lose a thing if he has it not.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Say to yourself in the early morning: I shall meet today ungrateful, violent, treacherous, envious, uncharitable men. All of these things have come upon them through ignorance of real good and ill… I can neither be harmed by any of them, for no man will involve me in wrong, nor can I be angry with my kinsman or hate him; for we have come into the world to work together","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"To live a good life: We have the potential for it. If we can learn to be indifferent to what makes no difference. This is how we learn: by looking at each thing, both the parts and the whole. Keeping in mind that none of them can dictate how we perceive it. They don’t impose themselves on us. They hover before us, unmoving. It is we who generate the judgments—inscribing them on ourselves. And we don’t have to. We could leave the page blank—and if a mark slips through, erase it instantly.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"He poor, that stands in need of another, and hath not in himself all things needful for this life.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"For how could we do what justice requires if we are distracted by things that don’t matter, if we are naive, gullible, inconstant? 11. It’s the pursuit of these things, and your attempts to avoid them, that leave you in such turmoil. And yet they aren’t seeking you out; you are the one seeking them. Suspend judgment about them. And at once they will lie still, and you will be freed from fleeing and pursuing.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: “I have to go to work—as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was born for—the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?” —But it’s nicer here.… So you were born to feel “nice”? Instead of doing things and experiencing them? Don’t you see the plants, the birds, the ants and spiders and bees going about their individual tasks, putting the world in order, as best they can? And you’re not willing to do your job as a human being? Why aren’t you running to do what your nature demands?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"33. How the mind conducts itself. It all depends on that. All the rest is within its power, or beyond its control—corpses and smoke.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"And how trivial the things we want so passionately are.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"In our relationships with others we must work for their collective good, while treating them justly and fairly as individuals.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Kad god pretrpiš bol, budi spreman nositi se s mišlju kako bol nije moralno zlo i ne šteti tvojoj vladajućoj inteligenciji - bol ne može nanijeti štetu ni njezinoj razumskoj, kao ni društvenoj prirodi. Neka ti pomogne Epikurov savjet: ''Bol nije neizdrživa ni beskrajna, sve dok pamtiš njezine granice i ne pretjeruješ s maštarijama.'' Pamti da je mnogo toga nama neugodnoga samo nepoznata analogija boli- mamurluk, na primjer, velika vrućina, gubitak teka. Pa kad se zatekneš da se žališ na išta od toga, reci sebi: Predaješ se boli.","author":"Marcus Aurelius, Meditations"},{"text":"你还要记住，每个人活着只是现在这一很短暂的时间[30]，其他时间不是已经过去，便是处于不可预测之中。实际上，人的一生短暂[31]，他生活的地方也只是地球的一个小角落；即使是身后长久流传的名声也微不足道，那名声靠会很快逝去的可怜的人们一代代相传，他们甚至都未必了解他们自己，更不会了解从前故去的人们。","author":"马尔库斯·奥勒利乌斯(Aurelius.M.)"},{"text":"Things have no hold on the soul. They have no access to it, cannot move or direct it. It is moved and directed by itself alone. It takes the things before it and interprets them as it sees fit.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"I’m going to be meeting with people today who talk too much – people who are selfish, egotistical, ungrateful. But I won’t be surprised or disturbed, for I can’t imagine a world without such people.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"No role is so well suited to philosophy as the one you happen to be in right now.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The world is maintained by change- in the elements and in the things they compose. That should be enough for you; treat it as an axiom.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"To live with the gods.” And to do that is to show them that your soul accepts what it is given and does what the spirit requires—the spirit God gave each of us to lead and guide us, a fragment of himself. Which is our mind, our logos.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"13. Someone despises me. That’s their problem. Mine: not to do or say anything despicable. Someone hates me. Their problem. Mine: to be patient and cheerful with everyone, including them. Ready to show them their mistake. Not spitefully, or to show off my own self-control, but in an honest, upright way.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Fear of death is fear of what we may experience. Nothing at all, or something quite new. But if we experience nothing, we can experience nothing bad. And if our experience changes, then our existence will change with it—change, but not cease.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"the soul does violence to itself when it is overpowered by pleasure or by pain.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"that the death of earth, is water, and the death of water, is air; and the death of air, is fire; and so on the contrary.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Look inward. Don’t let the true nature or value of anything elude you.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"What is it that thou dost stay for? an extinction, or a translation; either of them with a propitious and contented mind. But still that time come, what will content thee? what else, but to worship and praise the Gods; and to do good unto men. To bear with them, and to forbear to do them any wrong. And for all external things belonging either to this thy wretched body, or life, to remember that they are neither thine, nor in thy power.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"for a man to be proud and high conceited, that he is not proud and high conceited, is of all kind of pride and presumption, the most intolerable.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Ons leven is slechts wat onze gedachten ervan maken.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"XXV. Is it not a cruel thing to forbid men to affect those things, which they conceive to agree best with their own natures, and to tend most to their own proper good and behoof? But thou after a sort deniest them this liberty, as often as thou art angry with them for their sins. For surely they are led unto those sins whatsoever they be, as to their proper good and commodity. But it is not so (thou wilt object perchance). Thou therefore teach them better, and make it appear unto them: but be not thou angry with them.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"What’s left for us to prize? I think it’s this: to do (and not do) what we were designed for. That’s the goal of all trades, all arts, and what each of them aims at: that the thing they create should do what it was designed to do. The nurseryman who cares for the vines, the horse trainer, the dog breeder—this is what they aim at. And teaching and education—what else are they trying to accomplish? So that’s what we should prize. Hold on to that, and you won’t be tempted to aim at anything else. And if you can’t stop prizing a lot of other things? Then you’ll never be free—free, independent, imperturbable. Because you’ll always be envious and jealous, afraid that people might come and take it all away from you. Plotting against those who have them—those things you prize. People who need those things are bound to be a mess—and bound to take out their frustrations on the gods. Whereas to respect your own mind—to prize it—will leave you satisfied with your own self, well integrated into your community and in tune with the gods as well—embracing what they allot you, and what they ordain.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Yes. This will be a drama in three acts, the length fixed by the power that directed your creation, and now directs your dissolution. Neither was yours to determine. So make your exit with grace—the same grace shown to you.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"the good for a rational being is community. It was established long ago that we were born for community.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"In the morning, when you rise unwillingly, let this thought be present: I am rising to the work of a human being. Why then am I dissatisfied if I am going to do the things for which I exist and for which I was brought into the world? Or have I been made for this, to lie under the blankets and keep myself warm? But this is more pleasant. Do you exist then to take your pleasure, and not and not at all for action and exertion? Do you not see the little plants, the little birds, the ants, the spiders, the bees working together to put in order their separate parts of the universe? And are you unwilling to do the work of a human being, and do you not make haste to do that which is according to your nature? But it is necessary to take rest also. It is necessary: nature, however has fixed bounds to this, too: she has fixed bounds both to eating and drinking, and yet in your you go beyond these bounds, beyond what is sufficient; yet in your acts it is not so, but you stop short of what you can do. So you do not love yourself, for if you did, you would love your nature and her will. but those who love their several arts exhaust themselves in working at them unwashed and without food; but you value your own nature less than the engraver values the engraving art, or the dancer the dancing art, or the lover of money values his money, or the vainglorious man his little glory. And such men, when they have ardent passion for a thing, choose neither to eat nor to sleep rather than to perfect things that they care for.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"There is a limit to the time assigned to you, and if you don't use it to free yourself it will be gone and will never return.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"to say all in a word, everything which belongs to the body is a stream, and what belongs to the soul is a dream and vapour, and life is a warfare and a stranger’s sojourn, and after-fame is oblivion.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"There were under the early empire two rival schools which practically divided the field between them, Stoicism and Epicureanism.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Há fulanos que quando fazem algum favor a alguém estão logo prontos para lançar no livro de contas o agradecimento devido.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"10. Remorse is annoyance at yourself for having passed up something that’s to your benefit. But if it’s to your benefit it must be good—something a truly good person would be concerned about. But no truly good person would feel remorse at passing up pleasure. So it cannot be to your benefit, or good.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"obsequious courting of the mob","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"wars broke out on all sides. In the east, Vologeses III of Parthia began a long-meditated revolt by destroying a whole Roman Legion and invading Syria (162). Verus was sent off in hot haste to quell this rising; and he fulfilled his trust by plunging into drunkenness","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Always bear this in mind; and another thing too, that very little indeed is necessary for living a happy life.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Wipe off all opinion stay the force and violence of unreasonable lusts and affections: circumscribe the present time examine whatsoever it be that is happened, either to thyself or to another: divide all present objects, either in that which is formal or material think of the last hour. That which thy neighbour hath committed, where the guilt of it lieth, there let it rest. Examine in order whatsoever is spoken. Let thy mind penetrate both into the effects, and into the causes. Rejoice thyself with true simplicity, and modesty; and that all middle things between virtue and vice are indifferent unto thee.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Do not imagine that, if something is hard for you to achieve, it is therefore impossible for any man; but rather consider anything that is humanly possible and appropriate to lie within your own reach too.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"49. Look at the past—empire succeeding empire—and from that, extrapolate the future: the same thing. No escape from the rhythm of events. Which is why observing life for forty years is as good as a thousand. Would you really see anything new?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The Stoic system of physics was materialism with an infusion of pantheism. In contradiction to Plato's view that the Ideas, or Prototypes, of phenomena alone really exist, the Stoics held that material objects alone existed; but immanent in the material universe was a spiritual force which acted through them, manifesting itself under many forms, as fire, aether, spirit, soul, reason, the ruling principle.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"no man loses any other life than this which he now lives, nor lives any other than this which he now loses. The longest and shortest are thus brought to the same. For the present is the same to all, though that which perishes is not the same: and so that which is lost appears to be a mere moment. For a man cannot lose either the past or the future: for what a man has not, how can any one take this from him? These two things then thou must bear in mind: the one, that all things from eternity are of like forms and come round in a circle, and that it makes no difference whether a man shall see the same things during a hundred years or two hundred, or an infinite time; and the second, that the longest liver and he who will die soonest lose just the same. For the present is the only thing of which a man can be deprived, if it is true that this is the only thing which he has, and that a man cannot lose a thing if he has it not.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"47. Suppose that a god announced that you were going to die tomorrow “or the day after.” Unless you were a complete coward you wouldn’t kick up a fuss about which day it was—what difference could it make? Now recognize that the difference between years from now and tomorrow is just as small.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Either teach them better if it be in thy power; or if it be not, remember that for this use, to bear with them patiently, was mildness and goodness granted unto thee.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The highest good of man is consciously to work with God for the common good, and this is the sense in which the Stoic tried to live in accord with nature. In the individual it is virtue alone which enables him to do this; as Providence rules the universe, so virtue in the soul must rule","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Que la divinidad que está en ti sea guía de un ser varonil, respetable, social, romano, de un jefe que se coloca en su puesto como alguien que, liberado, esperara el toque de retreta para escapar de la vida, sin necesidad de un juramento ni de ningún hombre como testigo[213]. Por dentro, radiante[214] sin necesidad de servidumbre o tranquilidad exteriores. Hay que ser recto, no corregido.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself in your way of thinking.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Pero, ¿qué es, en suma, el recuerdo sempiterno? Vaciedad total. ¿Qué es, entonces, lo que debe impulsar nuestro afán? Tan sólo eso: un pensamiento justo, unas actividades consagradas al bien común, un lenguaje incapaz de engañar, una disposición para abrazar todo lo que acontece, como necesario, como familiar, como fluyente del mismo principio y de la misma fuente.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If you care about yourself at all, come to your own aid while there’s still time.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"accept it without arrogance, to let it go with indifference.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Your soul takes on the colour of your thoughts.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"»Hay que soportar el viento de los dioses / y sus trabajos sin queja«[357]","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Two points in the Stoic system deserve special mention. One is a careful distinction between things which are in our power and things which are not. Desire and dislike, opinion and affection, are within the power of the will; whereas health, wealth, honour, and other such are generally not so.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Pero si se hace evidente que no existe nada mejor que el propio espíritu divino que se asienta en ti, que tiene subordinados a su control tus impulsos particulares, que analiza tus representaciones, que se ha apartado de las emociones sensoriales, como decía Sócrates[215], que se ha subordinado a los dioses y que se preocupa de los hombres, si descubres que todo lo demás es menor y de inferior valor que eso, no cedas terreno a ninguna otra cosa, porque si te postras y te inclinas una vez, no podrás ya tranquilamente rendir honor preferente a ese bien que te es particular. No","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"(2) 14. Если бы даже ты рассчитывал прожить три тысячи лет и еще тридцать тысяч, все же ты должен помнить, что никто не лишается другой жизни, кроме той, которую он изживает, и никто не изживает другой жизни, кроме той, которой лишается. Поэтому самая продолжительная жизнь ничем не отличается от самой краткой. Ведь настоящее для всех равно, а следовательно равны и потери – и сводятся они всего-навсего к мгновенью. Никто не может лишиться ни минувшего, ни грядущего. Ибо кто мог бы отнять у меня то, чего я не имею?  Итак, следует помнить о двух истинах. Во-первых: все от века равно самому себе, пребывая в круговороте, и потому вполне безразлично, наблюдать ли одно и то же сто лет, или двести, или же бесконечное время. Во-вторых: наиболее долговечный и умерший, лишь начав жить, теряют, в сущности, одно и то же. Настоящее – вот все, чего можно лишиться, ибо только им и обладаешь, а никто не лишается того, чем не обладает.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"En ninguna parte, en efecto, puede hallar el hombre un retiro tan apacible y tranquilo como en la intimidad de su alma,","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Big drama of existence is not the death but never having began to live","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If anyone can give me good reason to think that I am going astray in my thoughts or my actions, I will gladly change my ways. For I seek the truth, which has never caused harm to anyone; no, the person who is harmed is one who persists in his self-deception and ignorance. 22","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The cucumber is bitter? Then throw it out. There are brambles in the path? Then go around them. That’s all you need to know. Nothing more. Don’t demand to know “why such things exist.” Anyone who understands the world will laugh at you,","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"It can ruin your life only if it ruins your character.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Do what you will. Even if you tear yourself apart, most people will continue doing the same things.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"A person's worth is measured by the worth of what he values.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Do not act as if you had ten thousand years to throw away. Death stands at your elbow. Be good for something while you live and it is in your power.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The things you think about determine the quality of your mind.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Accept whatever comes to you woven in the pattern of your destiny, for what could more aptly fit your needs?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Regain your senses, call yourself back, and once again wake up. Now that you realize that only dreams were troubling you, view this 'reality' as you view your dreams.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Whoever does wrong, wrongs himself; whoever does injustice, does it to himself, making himself evil.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Observe always that everything is the result of change, and get used to thinking that there is nothing Nature loves so well as to change existing forms and make new ones like them.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If you are pained by external things, it is not they that disturb you, but your own judgement of them. And it is in your power to wipe out that judgement now.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The memory of everything is very soon overwhelmed in time.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The happiness of those who want to be popular depends on others; the happiness of those who seek pleasure fluctuates with moods outside their control; but the happiness of the wise grows out of their own free acts.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Or is it your reputation that's bothering you? But look at how soon we're all forgotten. The abyss of endless time that swallows it all. The emptiness of those applauding hands. The people who praise us; how capricious they are, how arbitrary. And the tiny region it takes place. The whole earth a point in space - and most of it uninhabited.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Do not waste what remains of your life in speculating about your neighbors, unless with a view to some mutual benefit. To wonder what so-and-so is doing and why, or what he is saying, or thinking, or scheming—in a word, anything that distracts you from fidelity to the ruler within you—means a loss of opportunity for some other task.","author":"Marcus Aurelius Antonius"},{"text":"Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Confine yourself to the present.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Because a thing seems difficult for you, do not think it impossible for anyone to accomplish.","author":"Marcus Aurelius Antoninus"},{"text":"Death smiles at us all; all we can do is smile back.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Be like the cliff against which the waves continually break; but it stands firm and tames the fury of the water around it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Choose not to be harmed—and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed—and you haven’t been.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Misfortune nobly born is good fortune.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Pass then through this little space of time conformably to nature, and end thy journey in content, just as an olive falls off when it is ripe, blessing nature who produced it, and thanking the tree on which it grew.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"No one can lose either the past or the future - how could anyone be deprived of what he does not possess? ... It is only the present moment of which either stands to be deprived: and if this is all he has, he cannot lose what he does not have.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing, in so far as it stands ready against the accidental and the unforeseen, and is not apt to fall.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Concentrate every minute like a Roman— like a man— on doing what’s in front of you with precise and genuine seriousness, tenderly, willingly, with justice. And on freeing yourself from all other distractions. Yes, you can— if you do everything as if it were the last thing you were doing in your life, and stop being aimless, stop letting your emotions override what your mind tells you, stop being hypocritical, self-centered , irritable. You see how few things you have to do to live a satisfying and reverent life? If you can manage this, that’s all even the gods can ask of you.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Dig within. Within is the wellspring of Good; and it is always ready to bubble up, if you just dig.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Take full account of what Excellencies you possess, and in gratitude remember how you would hanker after them, if you had them not.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Is your cucumber bitter? Throw it away. Are there briars in your path? Turn aside. That is enough. Do not go on and say, \"Why were things of this sort ever brought into this world?\" neither intolerable nor everlasting - if thou bearest in mind that it has its limits, and if thou addest nothing to it in imagination. Pain is either an evil to the body (then let the body say what it thinks of it!)-or to the soul. But it is in the power of the soul to maintain its own serenity and tranquility. . . .","author":"Marcus Aurelius "},{"text":"A man must stand erect, not be kept erect by others.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If worldly things “be but as a dream, the thought is not far off that there may be an awakening to what is real. When he speaks of death as a necessary change, and points out that nothing useful and profitable can be brought about without change, did he perhaps think of the change in a corn of wheat, which is not quickened except it die? Nature’s marvellous power of recreating out of Corruption is surely not confined to bodily things.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"A man when he has done a good act, does not call out for others to come and see, but he goes on to another act, as a vine goes on to produce again the grapes in season.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Thus thou must use to keep thyself to the first motions and apprehensions of things, as they present themselves outwardly; and add not unto them from within thyself through mere conceit and opinion.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Forget everything else. Keep hold of this alone and remember it: Each of us lives only now, this brief instant. The rest has been lived already, or is impossible to see. The span we live is small—small as the corner of the earth in which we live it. Small as even the greatest renown, passed from mouth to mouth by short-lived stick figures, ignorant alike of themselves and those long dead.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Everything you’re trying to reach—by taking the long way round—you could have right now, this moment. If you’d only stop thwarting your own attempts. If you’d only let go of the past, entrust the future to Providence, and guide the present toward reverence and justice. Reverence: so you’ll accept what you’re allotted. Nature intended it for you, and you for it. Justice: so that you’ll speak the truth, frankly and without evasions, and act as you should—and as other people deserve.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Thou must hasten therefore; not only because thou art every day nearer unto death than other, but also because that intellective faculty in thee, whereby thou art enabled to know the true nature of things, and to order all thy actions by that knowledge, doth daily waste and decay: or, may fail thee before thou die.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Each thing has come into existence for a specific purpose, like a horse or a grapevine. Even the sun would say: “I exist for a purpose,” and also the other gods.18 What, then, is your purpose? To feel pleasure? See if the mind will allow such a thought.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"And consider this which is near to thee, this boundless abyss of the past and of the future in which all things disappear. How then is he not a fool who is puffed up with such things or plagued about them and makes himself miserable? for they vex him only for a time, and a short time. Think","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Were you to live three thousand years, or even thirty thousand, remember that the sole life which a man can lose is that which he is living at the moment; and furthermore, that he can have no other life except the one he loses.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Nothing that goes on in anyone else’s mind can harm you. Nor can the shifts and changes in the world around you. —Then where is harm to be found? In your capacity to see it. Stop doing that and everything will be fine. Let the part of you that makes that judgment keep quiet even if the body it’s attached to is stabbed or burnt, or stinking with pus, or consumed by cancer. Or to put it another way: It needs to realize that what happens to everyone—bad and good alike—is neither good nor bad. That what happens in every life—lived naturally or not—is neither natural nor unnatural.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"At what time soever thou wilt, it is in thy power to retire into thyself, and to be at rest, and free from all businesses.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own. If a god appeared to us—or a wise human being, even—and prohibited us from concealing our thoughts or imagining anything without immediately shouting it out, we wouldn’t make it through a single day. That’s how much we value other people’s opinions—instead of our own.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"To read with diligence; not to rest satisfied with a light and superficial knowledge, nor quickly to assent to things commonly spoken of: whom","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The only thing that isn’t worthless: to live this life out truthfully and rightly. And be patient with those who don’t.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Not to be slack and negligent; or loose, and wanton in thy actions; nor contentious, and troublesome in thy conversation; nor to rove and wander in thy fancies and imaginations. Not basely to contract thy soul; nor boisterously to sally out with it, or furiously to launch out as it were, nor ever to want employment.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"When someone seems to have injured you: But how can I be sure? And in any case, keep in mind: • that he’s already been tried and convicted—by himself. (Like scratching your own eyes out.) • that to expect a bad person not to harm others is like expecting fig trees not to secrete juice, babies not to cry, horses not to neigh—the inevitable not to happen. What else could they do—with that sort of character? If you’re still angry, then get to work on that.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"that there is but a certain limit of time appointed unto thee, which if thou shalt not make use of to calm and allay the many distempers of thy soul, it will pass away and thou with it, and never after return. II.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"To be angry at something means you’ve forgotten: That everything that happens is natural. That the responsibility is theirs, not yours. And further . . . That whatever happens has always happened, and always will, and is happening at this very moment, everywhere. Just like this. What links one human being to all humans: not blood, or birth, but mind. And . . . That an individual’s mind is God and of God. That nothing belongs to anyone. Children, body, life itself—all of them come from that same source. That it’s all how you choose to see things. That the present is all we have to live in. Or to lose.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Our life is a warfare, and a mere pilgrimage.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The logos gave you the means to see it—that a given person would act a given way—but you paid no attention. And now you’re astonished that he’s gone and done it. So when you call someone “untrustworthy” or “ungrateful,” turn the reproach on yourself. It was you who did wrong.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"People ask, “Have you ever seen the gods you worship? How can you be sure they exist?” Answers: i. Just look around you. ii. I’ve never seen my soul either. And yet I revere it. That’s how I know the gods exist and why I revere them—from having felt their power, over and over.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"To recover your life is within your power; simply view things again as once you viewed them, for your revival rests in that.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"In order to live in accord with nature, it is necessary to know what nature is; and to this end a threefold division of philosophy is made—into Physics, dealing with the universe and its laws, the problems of divine government and teleology; Logic, which trains the mind to discern true from false; and Ethics, which applies the knowledge thus gained and tested to practical life.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Thus the Stoics arrive at their main thesis. Virtue alone is admirable, virtue is absolutely self-sufficient; the good man needs no help from circumstances, neither sickness nor adversity can harm him; he is a king, a god among men.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"What injures the hive injures the bee.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If you work at that which is before you, following right reason seriously, vigorously, calmly, without allowing anything else to distract you, but keeping your divine part pure, as if you should be bound to give it back immediately; if you hold to this, expecting nothing, fearing nothing, but satisfied with your present activity according to nature, and with heroic truth in every word and sound which you speak, you will live happy. And there is no man who is able to prevent this.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"For nowhere either with more quiet or more freedom from trouble does a man retire than into his own soul, particularly when he has within him such thoughts that by looking into them he is immediately in perfect tranquility; and I affirm that tranquility is nothing else than the good ordering of the mind. Constantly then give to thyself this retreat, and renew thyself; and let thy principles be brief and fundamental, which, as soon as thou shalt recur to them, will be sufficient to cleanse the soul completely, and to send thee back free from all discontent with the things to which thou returnest.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"What’s there to complain about? People’s misbehavior? But take into consideration: that rational beings exist for one another; that doing what’s right sometimes requires patience; that no one does the wrong thing deliberately; and the number of people who have feuded and envied and hated and fought and died and been buried.  … and keep your mouth shut.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Don’t imagine that something is good for you if, in pursuing it, you must break a promise, harm anyone else, lose self-respect, act hypocritically, or hide in shame.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"12. If you do the job in a principled way, with diligence, energy and patience, if you keep yourself free of distractions, and keep the spirit inside you undamaged, as if you might have to give it back at any moment— If you can embrace this without fear or expectation—can find fulfillment in what you’re doing now, as Nature intended, and in superhuman truthfulness (every word, every utterance)—then your life will be happy. No one can prevent that. 13. Doctors keep their scalpels and other instruments handy, for emergencies. Keep your philosophy ready too—ready to understand heaven and earth. In everything you do, even the smallest thing, remember the chain that links them. Nothing earthly succeeds by ignoring heaven, nothing heavenly by ignoring the earth. 14. Stop drifting. You’re not going to re-read your Brief Comments, your Deeds of the Ancient Greeks and Romans, the commonplace books you saved for your old age. Sprint for the finish. Write off your hopes, and if your well-being matters to you, be your own savior while you can.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Be tolerant with others and strict with yourself.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Do not think that what is hard for you to master is humanly impossible; and if it is humanly possible, consider it to be within your reach.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"A wrongdoer is often a man who has left something undone, not always one who has done something.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The time is at hand when you will have forgotten everything; and the time is at hand when all will have forgotten you. Always reflect that soon you will be no one, and nowhere.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Don’t let yourself forget how many doctors have died, furrowing their brows over how many deathbeds. How many astrologers, after pompous forecasts about others’ ends. How many philosophers, after endless disquisitions on death and immortality. How many warriors, after inflicting thousands of casualties themselves. How many tyrants, after abusing the power of life and death atrociously, as if they were themselves immortal. How many whole cities have met their end: Helike, Pompeii, Herculaneum, and countless others. And all the ones you know yourself, one after another. One who laid out another for burial, and was buried himself, and then the man who buried him - all in the same short space of time. In short, know this: Human lives are brief and trivial. Yesterday a blob of semen; tomorrow embalming fluid, ash. To pass through this brief life as nature demands. To give it up without complaint. Like an olive that ripens and falls. Praising its mother, thanking the tree it grew on.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"From the philosopher Catulus, never to be dismissive of a friend's accusation, even if it seems unreasonable, but to make every effort to restore the relationship to its normal condition.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Neither worse then or better is a thing made by being praised.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Observe the movements of the stars as if you were running their courses with them, and let your mind constantly dwell on the changes of the elements into each other. Such imaginings wash away the filth of life on the ground.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts; therefore guard accordingly.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"How unlucky I am that this should happen to me. But not at all. Perhaps, say how lucky I am that I am not broken by what has happened, and I am not afraid of what is about to happen. For the same blow might have stricken anyone, but not many would have absorbed it without capitulation and complaint.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"So you know how things stand. Now forget what they think of you. Be satisfied if you can live the rest of your life, however short, as your nature demands. Focus on that, and don't let anything distract you. You've wandered all over and finally realized that you never found what you were after: how to live. Not in syllogisms, not in money, or fame, or self-indulgence. Nowhere.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"That which is not good for the swarm, neither is it good for the bee. - Book VI, 54.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive-to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Look beneath the surface; let not the several quality of a thing nor its worth escape thee.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Stop wandering about! You aren't likely to read your own notebooks, or ancient histories, or the anthologies you've collected to enjoy in your old age. Get busy with life's purpose, toss aside empty hopes, get active in your own rescue-if you care for yourself at all-and do it while you can.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Remember two things: i. that everything has always been the same, and keeps recurring, and it makes no difference whether you see the same things recur in a hundred years or two hundred, or in an infinite period; ii. that the longest-lived and those who will die soonest lose the same thing. The present is all that they can give up, since that is all you have, and what you do not have you cannot lose.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"You need to avoid certain things in your train of thought: everything random, everything irrelevant. And certainly everything self-important or malicious. You need to get used to winnowing your thoughts, so that if someone says, \"What are your thinking about?\" you can respond at once (and truthfully) that you are thinking this or thinking that.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Everything that happens, happens as it should, and if you observe carefully, you will find this to be so.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Remember how long you’ve been putting this off, how many extensions the gods gave you, and you didn’t use them. At some point you have to recognize what world it is that you belong to; what power rules it and from what source you spring; that there is a limit to the time assigned to you, and if you don’t use it to free yourself it will be gone and will never return.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Do not be ashamed of help.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Never forget that the universe is a single living organism possessed of one substance and one soul, holding all things suspended in a single consciousness and creating all things with a single purpose that they might work together spinning and weaving and knotting whatever comes to pass.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"As far as you can, get into the habit of asking yourself in relation to any action taken by another: \"What is his point of reference here?\" But begin with yourself: examine yourself first.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Kindness is unconquerable, so long as it is without flattery or hypocrisy. For what can the most insolent man do to you, if you contrive to be kind to him, and if you have the chance gently advise and calmly show him what is right...and point this out tactfully and from a universal perspective. But you must not do this with sarcasm or reproach, but lovingly and without anger in your soul.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"No one loses any other life than the one he now lives, nor does one live any other life than that which he will lose.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The happiness and unhappiness of the rational, social animal depends not on what he feels but on what he does; just as his virtue and vice consist not in feeling but in doing.","author":"Marcus Aurelius Antoninus"},{"text":"A man should always have these two rules in readiness. First, to do only what the reason of your ruling and legislating faculties suggest for the service of man. Second, to change your opinion whenever anyone at hand sets you right and unsettles you in an opinion, but this change of opinion should come only because you are persuaded that something is just or to the public advantage, not because it appears pleasant or increases your reputation.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Asia and Europe: tiny corners of the Cosmos. Every sea: a mere drop. Mount Athos: a lump of dirt. The present moment is the smallest point in all eternity. All is microscopic, changeable, disappearing. All things come from that faraway place, either originating directly from that governing part which is common to all, or else following from it as consequences. So even the gaping jaws of the lion, deadly poison, and all harmful things like thorns or an oozing bog are products of that awesome and noble source. Do not imagine these things to be alien to that which you revere, but turn your Reason to the source of all things.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Men exist for the sake of one another.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Whenever you want to cheer yourself up, consider the good qualities of your companions, for example, the energy of one, the modesty of another, the generosity of yet another, and some other quality of another; for nothing cheers the heart as much as the images of excellence reflected in the character of our companions, all brought before us as fully as possible. Therefore, keep these images ready at hand.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"When force of circumstance upsets your equanimity, lose no time in recovering your self-control, and do not remain out of tune longer than you can help. Habitual recurrence to the harmony will increase your mastery of it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Man, what are you talking about? Me in chains? You may fetter my leg but my will, not even Zeus himself can overpower.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"hold every hour in your grasp. Lay hold of to-day's task, and you will not need to depend so much upon to-morrow's. While we are postponing, life speeds by. Nothing, Lucilius, is ours, except time. We were entrusted by nature with the ownership of this single thing, so fleeting and slippery that anyone who will can oust us from possession. What fools these mortals be! They allow the cheapest and most useless things, which can easily be replaced, to be charged in the reckoning, after they have acquired them; but they never regard themselves as in debt when they have received some of that precious commodity, – time! And yet time is the one loan which even a grateful recipient cannot repay.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"And thou wilt give thyself relief, if thou doest every act of thy life as if it were the last, laying aside all carelessness and passionate aversion from the commands of reason, and all hypocrisy, and self-love, and discontent with the portion which has been given to thee.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"It should be a man's task, says the Imitation, 'to overcome himself, and every day to be stronger than himself.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"External things are not the problem. It's your assessment of them. Which you can erase right now.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"And thou wilt give thyself relief, if thou doest every act of thy life as if it were the last,","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Choose not to be harmed—and you won’t feel harmed.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"What is evil to thee does not subsist in the ruling principle of another; nor yet in any turning and mutation of thy corporeal covering. Where is it then? It is in that part of thee in which subsists the power of forming opinions about evils. Let this power then not form such opinions, and all is well. And if that which is nearest to it, the poor body, is burnt, filled with matter and rottenness, nevertheless let the part which forms opinions about these things be quiet, that is, let it judge that nothing is either bad or good which can happen equally to the bad man and the good. For that which happens equally to him who lives contrary to nature and to him who lives according to nature, is neither according to nature nor contrary to nature.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"in an old woman and an old man he will be able to see a certain maturity and comeliness; and the attractive loveliness of young persons he will be able to look on with chaste eyes; and many such things will present themselves, not pleasing to every man, but to him only who has become truly familiar with nature and her works.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"It is royal to do good and to be abused.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"vex not thy spirit at the course of things,they not heed thy vexations.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"A prudent governor will not roughly oppose even the superstitions of his people; and though he may wish that they were wiser, he will know that he cannot make them so by offending their prejudices.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Let the god that is within you be the champion of the being you are.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Even chance is not divorced from nature, from the inweaving and and enfolding of things governed by Providence.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Then consider the Middle (and later the New) Comedy and what it aimed at—gradually degenerating into mere realism and empty technique.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"It is no evil for things to undergo change, and no good for things to subsist in consequence of change.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"This thou must always bear in mind, what is the nature of the whole, and what is my nature, and how this is related to that, and what kind of a part it is of what kind of a whole; and that there is no one who hinders thee from always doing and saying the things which are according to the nature of which thou art a part.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"be not either a man of many words, or busy about too many things.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"To live a good life: We have the potential for it. If we can learn to be indifferent to what makes no difference.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Poverty is the mother of crime.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"First, that all things in the world from all eternity, by a perpetual revolution of the same times and things ever continued and renewed, are of one kind and nature; so that whether for a hundred or two hundred years only, or for an infinite space of time, a man see those things which are still the same, it can be no matter of great moment. And secondly, that that life which any the longest liver, or the shortest liver parts with, is for length and duration the very same, for that only which is present, is that, which either of them can lose, as being that only which they have; for that which he hath not, no man can truly be said to lose.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"That I was not long brought up by the concubine of my father; that I preserved the flower of my youth. That I took not upon me to be a man before my time, but rather put it off longer than I needed. That I lived under the government of my lord and father, who would take away from me all pride and vainglory, and reduce me to that conceit and opinion that it was not impossible for a prince to live in the court without a troop of guards and followers, extraordinary apparel, such and such torches and statues, and other like particulars of state and magnificence; but that a man may reduce and contract himself almost to the state of a private man, and yet for all that not to become the more base and remiss in those public matters and affairs, wherein power and authority is requisite.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Keep reminding yourself of the way things are connected, of their relatedness. All things are implicated in one another and in sympathy with each other. This event is the consequence of some other one. Things push and pull on each other, and breathe together, and are one. The things ordained for you -- teach yourself to be at one with those. And the people who share them with you -- treat them with love. With real love.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Do, soul, do; abuse and contemn thyself; yet a while and the time for thee to respect thyself, will be at an end. Every man's happiness depends from himself, but behold thy life is almost at an end, whiles affording thyself no respect, thou dost make thy happiness to consist in the souls, and conceits of other men.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"For nowhere, either with more quiet or more freedom from trouble, does a man retire than into his own soul, particularly when he has within him such thoughts that by looking into them he is immediately in perfect tranquillity; and I affirm that tranquillity is nothing else than the good ordering of the mind.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Do you have reason? I have. Why then do you not use it? For if reason does its own work, what else could you wish for?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"all things soon pass away and become a mere tale, and complete oblivion soon buries them. And I say this of those who have shone in a wondrous way.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"6. Yes, keep on degrading yourself, soul. But soon your chance at dignity will be gone. Everyone gets one life. Yours is almost used up, and instead of treating yourself with respect, you have entrusted your own happiness to the souls of others.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Virtue alone is happiness, and vice is unhappiness.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Life is a pilgrimage and a struggle. All we have of time is a moment; the universe is in constant flux; our bodies are fragile; our senses grasp so little; our souls are a mist; the future is a fog; and fame is fleeting.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"guarding your freedom each and every hour with kindness, simplicity, and self-respect.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"At best suffer patiently, if thou canst not suffer joyously.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"How ridiculous and what a stranger he is who is surprised at anything that happens in life.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Te embarcaste, hiciste el viaje, llegaste al puerto: ¡desembarca!","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Seek what is conformable to thy nature, and strive towards this, even if it brings no reputation.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"One man after burying another has been laid out dead, and another buries him; and all this in a short time. To conclude, always observe how ephemeral and worthless human things are, and what was yesterday a little mucus, to-morrow will be a mummy or ashes. Pass then through this little space of time conformably to nature, and end thy journey in content, just as an olive falls off when it is ripe, blessing nature who produced it, and thanking the tree on which it grew.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If thou workest at that which is before thee, following right reason seriously, vigorously, calmly, without allowing anything else to distract thee, but keeping thy divine part pure, as if thou shouldst be bound to give it back immediately; if thou holdest to this, expecting nothing, fearing nothing, but satisfied with thy present activity according to nature, and with heroic truth in every word and sound which thou utterest, thou wilt live happy.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"No pointless actions.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If you find something very difficult to achieve yourself, don’t imagine it impossible—for anything possible and proper for another person can be achieved as easily by you.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"In short, know this: Human lives are brief and trivial. Yesterday a blob of semen; tomorrow embalming fluid, ash.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"You can strip away many unnecessary troubles which lie wholly in your own judgement.  And you will immediately make large and wide room for yourself by grasping the whole universe in your thought, contemplating the eternity of time, and reflecting on the rapid change of each thing in every part. How brief the gap from birth to dissolution, how vast the gulf of time before your birth, and an equal infinity after your dissolution.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Why should any of these things that happen externally, so much distract thee?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"And that might be applied to him which is recorded of Socrates, that he was able both to abstain from, and to enjoy, those things which many are too weak to abstain from, and cannot enjoy without excess. But to be strong enough both to bear the one and to be sober in the other is the mark of a man who has a perfect and invincible soul, such as he showed in the illness of Maximus.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Every man's happiness depends from himself, but behold thy life is almost at an end, whiles affording thyself no respect, thou dost make thy happiness to consist in the souls, and conceits of other men.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"For we are made for co-operation, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of the upper and lower teeth. To act against one another then is contrary to nature; and it is acting against one another to be vexed and to turn away.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"How can I either be hurt by any of those, since it is not in their power to make me incur anything that is truly reproachful?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Do not act as if thou wert going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over thee. While thou livest, while it is in thy power, be good.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"A man standing by a spring of clear, sweet water and cursing it. While the fresh water keeps on bubbling up. He can shovel mud into it, or dung, and the stream will carry it away, wash itself clean, remain unstained.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"لاتكن دمية تحركها خيوط الرغبة","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Pride is a master of deception: when you think you’re occupied in the weightiest business, that’s when he has you in his spell. (Compare Crates on Xenocrates.)","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"..Is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"How can I either be hurt by any of those, since it is not in their power to make me incur anything that is truly reproachful? or angry, and ill affected towards him, who by nature is so near unto me?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Be content to seem what you really are.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"What a tiny part of the boundless abyss of time has been allotted to each of us – and this is soon vanished in eternity; what a tiny part of the universal substance and the universal soul; how tiny in the whole earth the mere clod on which you creep. Reflecting on all this, this nothing important other than active pursuit where your own nature leads and passive acceptance of what universal nature brings.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Do not suppose you are hurt, and your complaint ceases; cease your complaint, and you are not hurt” (iv. 7),","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"And I observed that he had overcome all passion for boys;","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Consider that everything is opinion, and opinion is in thy power. Take away then, when thou choosest, thy opinion, and like a mariner, who has doubled the promontory, thou wilt find calm, everything stable, and a waveless bay. Any","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Remember how long thou hast been putting off these things, and how often thou hast received an opportunity from the gods, and yet dost not use it. Thou must now at last perceive of what universe thou art a part, and of what administrator of the universe thy existence is an efflux, and that a limit of time is fixed for thee, which if thou dost not use for clearing away the clouds from thy mind, it will go and thou wilt go, and it will never return.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"2. For every action, ask: How does it affect me? Could I change my mind about it?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Either we should not pray at all, or thus absolutely and freely; and not every one for himself in particular alone.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"And keep in mind too that pain often comes in disguise—as drowsiness, fever, loss of appetite.… When you’re bothered by things like that, remind yourself: “I’m giving in to pain.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Constant awareness that everything is born from change. The knowledge that there is nothing nature loves more than to alter what exists and make new things like it. All that exists is the seed of what will emerge from it. You think the only seeds are the ones that make plants or children? Go deeper.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If this is neither my own badness, nor an effect of my own badness, and the common weal is not injured, why am I troubled about it? And what is the harm to the common weal?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Don’t waste the rest of your time here worrying about other people— unless it affects the common good. It will keep you from doing anything useful. You’ll be too preoccupied with what so-and-so is doing, and why, and what they’re saying, and what they’re thinking, and what they’re up to, and all the other things that throw you off and keep you from focusing on your own mind.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"And so shalt thou confess, if thou dost observe it. For sooner mayst thou find a thing earthly, where no earthly thing is, than find a man that naturally can live by himself alone.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If it be not fitting, do it not. If it be not true, speak it not. Ever maintain thine own purpose and resolution free from all compulsion and necessity","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Ninguém vale mais que as suas ambições","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"for no veil clothes a star.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"En primer lugar, nada hagas sin reflexionar ni sin fin alguno, y en segundo, no lleves otro fin sino el bien de la sociedad.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Whatever happens to every man, this is for the interest of the universal:","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"You could be good today. But instead, you choose tomorrow.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Never esteem of anything as profitable, which shall ever constrain thee either to break thy faith, or to lose thy modesty; to hate any man, to suspect, to curse, to dissemble, to lust after anything, that requireth the secret of walls or veils.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"It is instructive to compare the Meditations with another famous book, the Imitation of Christ. There is the same ideal of self-control in both. It should be a man's task, says the Imitation, 'to overcome himself, and every day to be stronger than himself.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"From Claudius Maximus, in all things to endeavour to have power of myself, and in nothing to be carried about; to be cheerful and courageous in all sudden chances and accidents, as in sicknesses: to love mildness, and moderation, and gravity: and to do my business, whatsoever it be, thoroughly, and without querulousness. Whatsoever he said, all men believed him that as he spake, so he thought, and whatsoever he did, that he did it with a good intent. His manner was, never to wonder at anything; never to be in haste, and yet never slow: nor to be perplexed, or dejected, or at any time unseemly, or excessively to laugh: nor to be angry, or suspicious, but ever ready to do good, and to forgive, and to speak truth; and all this, as one that seemed rather of himself to have been straight and right, than ever to have been rectified or redressed; neither was there any man that ever thought himself undervalued by him, or that could find in his heart, to think himself a better man than he. He would also be very pleasant and gracious.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"In the morning purpose, in the evening discuss the manner, what thou hast been this day, in word, work, and thought.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"I don’t know whether the gods hear and answer our prayers, or not. Either way, why not pray for the strength to let go of your desires and fears? Wouldn’t it be better to be content with what you already have and to fear nothing? Try praying this way—for an inner change, rather than an outer one—and see what happens.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"A person’s worth is measured by the worth of what he values","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Thou canst remove out of the way many useless things among those which disturb thee, for they lie entirely in thy opinion; and thou wilt then gain for thyself ample space by comprehending the whole universe in thy mind, and by contemplating the eternity of time, and observing the rapid change of every several thing, how short is the time from birth to dissolution, and the illimitable time before birth as well as the equally boundless time after dissolution. All","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Of Diognetus, not to busy myself about vain things, and not easily to believe those things, which are commonly spoken, by such as take upon them to work wonders, and by sorcerers, or prestidigitators, and impostors; concerning the power of charms, and their driving out of demons, or evil spirits; and the like.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"37. If you've seen the present, then you've seen everything -- as it's been since the beginning, as it will be forever. The same substance, the same form. All of it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"43. Time is a river, a violent current of events, glimpsed once and already carried past us, and another follows and is gone.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Wie weit bist du in der Erkenntnis, daß keine andere Lebensweise zum Philosophieren so geeignet sei, als die, die du jetzt gerade führst?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"4. MY GREAT-GRANDFATHER To avoid the public schools, to hire good private teachers, and to accept the resulting costs as money well-spent.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"39. Nothing that goes on in anyone else’s mind can harm you. Nor can the shifts and changes in the world around you. —Then where is harm to be found? In your capacity to see it. Stop doing that and everything will be fine. Let the part of you that makes that judgment keep quiet even if the body it’s attached to is stabbed or burnt, or stinking with pus, or consumed by cancer. Or to put it another way: It needs to realize that what happens to everyone—bad and good alike—is neither good nor bad. That what happens in every life—lived naturally or not—is neither natural nor unnatural.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"39. The things ordained for you -- teach yourself to be at one with those. And the people who share them with you -- treat them with love.  With real love.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"It can ruin your life only if it ruins your character. Otherwise it cannot harm you - inside or out","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"si te elevaran en el aire y miraras hacia abajo las cosas humanas y su versatilidad, piensa que las despreciarías al verlas todas al mismo tiempo que las que habitan por todo el aire y la atmósfera[489]. Y que cuantas veces seas elevado verás lo mismo, lo semejante, su brevedad. De eso depende el delirio de grandeza.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If you remove your judgement of anything that seems painful, you yourself stand quite immune to pain. 'What self?' Reason. 'But I am not just reason.' Granted. So let reason cause itself no pain, and if some other part of you is in trouble, it can form its own judgement for itself.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"No more roundabout discussion of what makes a good man. Be one!","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"In themselves, the things of the world have no effect on the mind; they can’t get through to it, they can’t sway it, and they can’t stir it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"animals","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"L'intelligence universelle est sociable","author":"Marc Aurèle"},{"text":"17. El perseguir imposibles es locura. Y es imposible que los malvados no cometan tales acciones.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"no ser tramposo, tener nobleza, aguantar los trabajos, despreciar los placeres, no quejarse de tu destino, necesitar poco, la buena disposición, la liberalidad, la sencillez, no ser charlatán, la grandeza. ¿","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"All things fade and quickly turn to myth: quickly too utter oblivion drowns them. And I am talking of those who shone with some wonderful brilliance: the rest, once they have breathed their last, are immediately ‘beyond sigh, beyond knowledge’. But what in any case is everlasting memory? Utter emptiness.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Alexander the Macedonian and his groom by death were brought to the same state; for either they were received among the same seminal principles of the universe, or they were alike dispersed among the atoms. Consider","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"3. Pointless bustling of processions, opera arias, herds of sheep and cattle, military exercises. A bone flung to pet poodles, a little food in the fish tank. The miserable servitude of ants, scampering of frightened mice, puppets jerked on strings. Surrounded as we are by all of this, we need to practice acceptance. Without disdain. But remembering that our own worth is measured by what we devote our energy to.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"that their happiness doth consist in a disposition to, and in the practice of righteousness;","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"that no one does the wrong thing deliberately;","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Short is the little which remains to thee in life. Live as on a mountain.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Tous nous collaborons à l'accomplissement d'une oeuvre unique, les uns en connaissance de cause et avec intelligence, les autres sans s'en rendre compte","author":"Marc Aurèle"},{"text":"Don't waste the rest of your time here worrying about other people- unless it affects the common good. It will keep you from doing anything useful.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"En tu mano está reavivar continuamente su llama. Puedo","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"All that happens is as habitual and familiar as roses in spring and fruit in the summer. True too of disease, death, defamation, and conspiracy—and all that delights or gives pain to fools.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Each of us lives only now, this brief instant. The rest has been lived already, or is impossible to see.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"One is that things do not touch the soul, for they are external and remain immovable; but our perturbations come only from the opinion which is within. The other is that all these things, which thou seest, change immediately and will no longer be; and constantly bear in mind how many of these changes thou hast already witnessed. The universe is transformation; life is opinion.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Or is it your reputation that’s bothering you? But look at how soon we’re all forgotten. The abyss of endless time that swallows it all. The emptiness of all those applauding hands. The people who praise us—how capricious they are, how arbitrary. And the tiny region in which it all takes place. The whole earth a point in space—and most of it uninhabited","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"existence","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If you can cut free of impressions that cling to the mind, free of the future and the past—can make yourself, as Empedocles says, “a sphere rejoicing in its perfect stillness,” and concentrate on living what can be lived (which means the present) … then you can spend the time you have left in tranquillity. And in kindness. And at peace with the spirit within you.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Ne vois-tu pas que, si les gens de métier s'accommodent jusqu'à un certain point aux goûts des particuliers, ils n'en restent pourtant pas moins attachés à la raison de leur art et ne supportent pas de s'en écarter?","author":"Marc Aurèle"},{"text":"It is in our power to have no opinion about a thing. - Chapter VI, Verse 52.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"It was for the best. So Nature had no choice but to do it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"No matter what anyone says or does, my task is to be good. Like gold or emerald or purple repeating to itself, “No matter what anyone says or does, my task is to be emerald, my color undiminished.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Let death surprise rue when it will, and where it will, I may be a happy man, nevertheless. For he is a happy man, who in his lifetime dealeth unto himself a happy lot and portion. A happy lot and portion is, good inclinations of the soul, good desires, good actions.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Think of the countless changes in which you yourself have bad a part. The whole universe is change, and life is but what you deem it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Ne snatri o posjedovanju onog što nemaš, radije razmišljaju o vrhunskim blagoslovima u onome što posjeduješ i stoga podsjećaj sebe koliko bi ti nedostajali da nisu ondje. No istovremeno, moraš paziti da te vlastito uživanje u njima ne navikne na ovisnost, i tako izbjeći nemir ako ih ponekad nema.","author":"Marcus Aurelius, Meditations"},{"text":"Waste not what remains of life in consideration about others, when it makes not for the common good. Be sure you are neglecting other work if you busy yourself with what such a one is doing and why, with what he is saying, thinking, or scheming. All such things do but divert you from the steadfast guardianship of your own soul. It behoves you, then, in every train of thought to shun all that is aimless or useless, and, above all, everything officious or malignant. Accustom yourself so, and only so, to think, that, if any one were suddenly to ask you, Of what are you thinking-now? you could answer frankly and at once, Of so and so. Then it will plainly appear that you are all simplicity and kindliness, as befits a social being who takes little thought for enjoyment or any phantom pleasure; who spurns contentiousness, envy, or suspicion; or any passion the harbouring of which one would blush to own. For such a man, who has finally determined to be henceforth among the best, is, as it were, a priest and minister of the Gods, using the spirit within him, which preserves a man unspotted from pleasure, unwounded by any pain, inaccessible to all insult, innocent of all evil; a champion in the noblest of all contests—the contest for victory over every passion. He is penetrated with justice; he welcomes with all his heart whatever befalls, or is appointed by Providence. He troubles not often, or ever without pressing public need, to consider what another may say, or do, or design. Solely intent upon his own conduct, ever mindful of his own concurrent part in the destiny of the Universe, he orders his conduct well, persuaded that his part is good. For the lot appointed to every man is part of the law of all things as well as a law for him. He forgets not that all rational beings are akin, and that the love of all mankind is part of the nature of man; also that we must not think as all men think, but only as those who live a life accordant with nature. As for those who live otherwise, he remembers always how they act at home and abroad, by night and by day, and how and with whom they are found in company. And so he cannot esteem the praise of such, for they enjoy not their own approbation.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"27. How cruel—to forbid people to want what they think is good for them. And yet that’s just what you won’t let them do when you get angry at their misbehavior. They’re drawn toward what they think is good for them. —But it’s not good for them. Then show them that. Prove it to them. Instead of losing your temper.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Does anything genuinely beautiful need supplementing? No more than justice does- or truth, or kindness, or humility. Are any of those improved by being praised? Or damaged by contempt? Is an emerald suddenly flawed if no one admires it?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"They seek for themselves private retiring places, as country villages, the sea-shore, mountains; yea thou thyself art wont to long much after such places. But all this thou must know proceeds from simplicity in the highest degree. At what time soever thou wilt, it is in thy power to retire into thyself, and to be at rest, and free from all businesses.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"人们往往寻求退隐，过乡间、海边和山林间的生活，你也曾经希望过那样的生活。然而这样的想法是最为庸俗的，因为你可以随时退隐到你的内心。要知道，任何一个人都不可能比他退隐进自己的心灵更洁静、更闲适；特别是当他内心有这样的要求时，他只需稍许凝思，便可以立即进入宁静之中。我称之为宁静的不是什么别的，就是心灵的有序。因此，你要不断让自己作这种退隐，让自己获得新生。你内心的原则要简洁而彻底，只要遵循它们，便可以立即排除一切烦恼，回过来再想起它们时便不会再感到厌恶。","author":"马尔库斯·奥勒利乌斯(Aurelius.M.)"},{"text":"Look in, let not either the proper quality, or the true worth of anything pass thee, before thou hast fully apprehended it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If a thing is in thy own power, why dost thou do it? But if it is in the power of another, whom dost thou blame? The atoms (chance) or the gods? Both are foolish. Thou must blame nobody. For if thou canst, correct that which is the cause; but if thou canst not do this, correct at least the thing itself; but if thou canst not do even this, of what use is it to thee to find fault? For nothing should be done without a purpose.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinion of himself than on the opinion of others. If then a god or a wise teacher should present himself to a man and bid him to think of nothing and to design nothing which he would not express as soon as he conceived it, he could not endure it even for a single day. So much more respect have we to what our neighbours shall think of us than to what we shall think of ourselves.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"whether half frozen or well warm; whether only slumbering, or after a full sleep; whether discommended or commended thou do thy duty: or whether dying or doing somewhat else; for that also “to die,” must among the rest be reckoned as one of the duties and actions of our lives.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"¡Cuántos de los agasajados con muchos himnos están ya entregados al olvido! ¡Cuántos de los que hicieron esos himnos hace tiempo que están ausentes!","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"So there are two reasons to embrace what happens. One is that it's happening to you. It was prescribed for you, and it pertains to you. The thread was spun long ago, by the oldest cause of all.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Wer nicht weiß, was die Welt ist, der weiß auch nicht, wo er lebt. Wer aber den Zweck ihres Daseins nicht kennt, der weiß weder, wer er selbst, noch was die Welt ist. Wem aber eins von diesen Stücken fehlt, der kann auch wohl seine eigene Bestimmung nicht angeben. In welchem Lichte erscheint dir nun ein Mensch, welcher um den lauten Beifall derer buhlt, die nicht wissen, wo, noch wer sie selbst sind?","author":"Marc Aurel"},{"text":"The other is that all these things, which thou seest, change immediately and will no longer be; and constantly bear in mind how many of these changes thou hast already witnessed. The universe is transformation: life is opinion.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Meditations 9.40. “But those are things the gods left up to me,” protests one voice, to which another responds, “And what makes you think the gods don’t care about what’s up to us?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Death is such as generation is, a mystery of nature; a composition out of the same elements, and a decomposition into the same;","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":" ‘If his mind is filled with nobility, with a grasp of all time, all existence, do you think our human life will mean much to him at all?’ “ ‘How could it?’ he said. “ ‘Or death be very frightening?’ “ ‘Not in the least.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"No te avergüences de recibir ayuda porque tienes delante realizar la tarea que te corresponde como el soldado que ataca una muralla. ¿","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Throw away your books; no longer distract yourself: it is not allowed.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"17. Not to live as if you had endless years ahead of you. Death overshadows you. While you’re alive and able—be good.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Foolish are those who…have no aim to which they can direct every impulse and, indeed, every thought.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"O Nature! from thee are all things, in thee all things subsist, and to thee all tend.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Можеш да премахнеш много излишни безпокойства, които зависят изцяло от твоето мнение така ще си осигуриш едно широко пространство, за да обхванеш с мисълта си цялата вселена, да си представиш без крайната вечност и да се замислиш за бързата промяна която претърпява всичко поотделно — колко кратко е времето от пораждането до разпадането и колко безмерно това преди рождението, както и онова безкрайно, което следва разпадането.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Consider thyself to be dead, and to have completed thy life up to the present time; and live according to nature the remainder which is allowed thee.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Not to wander out of the way, but upon every motion and desire, to perform that which is just: and ever to be careful to attain to the true natural apprehension of every fancy, that presents itself.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Es preciso, pues, aprovechar el tiempo, y ello no solo porque cada instante es un paso más que damos hacia la muerte, sino por el hecho de que antes de morir perdemos la capacidad de concebir las cosas y de prestarles la atención que merecen.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The life of such a man, death can never surprise as imperfect; like an actor, who had to die before the end, or the play itself was over, a man could speak.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"But true good fortune is what you make for yourself. Good fortune: good character, good intentions, and good actions.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Sufrir percances no es una desgracia; en cambio, soportarlos con valor es una virtud meritoria","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Is it not possible that a real man should forget about living a certain number of years, and should not cling to life, but leave it up to the gods, accepting, as women say, that ‘no one can escape his fate,’ and turn his attention to how he can best live the life before him?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"iii. that if you were suddenly lifted up and could see life and its variety from a vast height, and at the same time all the things around you, in the sky and beyond it, you’d see how pointless it is. And no matter how often you saw it, it would be the same: the same life forms, the same life span. Arrogance … about this?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Receive without conceit; release without a struggle.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"El mejor procedimiento para vengarse de los malos es procurar no asemejarse a ellos.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Begin the morning by saying to yourself, I shall meet with the busybody, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial. All these things happen to them by reason of their ignorance of what is good and evil. But I, who have seen the nature of the good that it is beautiful, and of the bad that it is ugly, and the nature of him who does wrong, that it is akin to me, not only of the same blood or seed, but that it participates in the same intelligence and the same portion of the divinity, I can neither be injured by any of them, for no one can fix on me what is ugly, nor can I be angry with my kinsman, nor hate him. For we are made for cooperation, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of the upper and lower teeth. To act against one another then is contrary to nature; and it is acting against one another to be vexed and to turn away.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If you apply yourself to the task before you, following right reason seriously, vigorously, calmly, without allowing anything else to distract you, but keeping your divine part pure, as if you might be bound to give it back immediately; if you hold to this, expecting nothing, fearing nothing, but satisfied with your present activities according to nature, and with heroic truth in every word and sound which you utter, you will live happily. And there is no man who is able to prevent this.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"In the mind that is once truly disciplined and purged, thou canst not find anything, either foul or impure, or as it were festered: nothing that is either servile, or affected: no partial tie; no malicious averseness; nothing obnoxious; nothing concealed.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"See how soon everything is forgotten, and look at the chaos of infinite time on each side of [the present], and the emptiness of applause, and the changeableness and want of judgment in those who pretend to give praise, and the narrowness of the space within which it is circumscribed [and be quiet at last]. For the whole earth is a point, and how small","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"What is this, fundamentally? What is its nature and substance, its reason for being? What is it doing in the world? How long is it here for?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"A straightforward, honest person should be like someone who stinks: when you’re in the same room with him, you know it. But false straightforwardness is like a knife in the back. False friendship is the worst. Avoid it at all costs. If you’re honest and straightforward and mean well, it should show in your eyes. It should be unmistakable.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"And as upon thy face and looks, thy mind hath easily power over them to keep them to that which is grave and decent; so let it challenge the same power over the whole body also.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"To suffer change can be no hurt; as no benefit it is, by change to attain to being. The age and time of the world is as it were a flood and swift current, consisting of the things that are brought to pass in the world. For as soon as anything hath appeared, and is passed away, another succeeds, and that also will presently out of sight.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"And so he will see even the real gaping jaws of wild beasts with no less pleasure than those which painters and sculptors show by imitation; and in an old woman and an old man he will be able to see a certain maturity and comeliness; and the attractive loveliness of young persons he will be able to look on with chaste eyes; and many such things will present themselves, not pleasing to every man, but to him only who has become truly familiar with nature and her works.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"This then remains: Remember to retire into this little territory of thy own, and, above all, do not distract or strain thyself, but be free, at look and things as a man, as a human being, as a citizen, as a mortal.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"this is not a misfortune but that to bear it like a brave man is good fortune","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"For all things fade and turn to fable, and quickly too, utter oblivion covers them like sand.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"XXVIII. And these your professed politicians, the only true practical philosophers of the world, (as they think of themselves) so full of affected gravity, or such professed lovers of virtue and honesty, what wretches be they in very deed; how vile and contemptible in themselves? O man! what ado doest thou keep?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Men exist for the sake of one another. Teach them then or bear with them.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"No difference between here and there: the city that you live in is the world.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Wretched am I, says one, that this has befallen me. Nay, say you, happy I, who, tho’ this has befallen me, can still remain without sorrow, neither broken by the present, nor dreading the future. The like might have befallen any one; but every one could not have remained thus undejected. Why should the event be called a misfortune, rather than this strength of mind a felicity? But, can you call that a misfortune, to a man, which does not frustrate the intention of his nature? Can that frustrate the intention of it, or hinder it to attain its end, which is not contrary to the will or purpose of his nature; What is this will or purpose? Sure you have learned it. Doth this event hinder you to be just, magnanimous, temperate, prudent, cautious of rash assent, free from error, possessed of a sense of honour and modesty, and of true liberty; or from meriting those other characters, which whoever enjoys, hath all his nature requires, as its proper perfection? And then, upon every occasion of sorrow, remember the maxim, that this event is not a misfortune, but the bearing it courageously is a great felicity.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"How do we know that Telauges wasn’t a better man than Socrates? It’s not enough to ask whether Socrates’ death was nobler, whether he debated with the sophists more adeptly, whether he showed greater endurance by spending the night out in the cold, and when he was ordered to arrest the man from Salamis decided it was preferable to refuse, and “swaggered about the streets” (which one could reasonably doubt). What matters is what kind of soul he had. Whether he was satisfied to treat men with justice and the gods with reverence and didn’t lose his temper unpredictably at evil done by others, didn’t make himself the slave of other people’s ignorance, didn’t treat anything that nature did as abnormal, or put up with it as an unbearable imposition, didn’t put his mind in his body’s keeping.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Is my understanding sufficient for this or not? If it is sufficient, I use it for the work as an instrument given by the universal nature. But if it is not sufficient, then either I retire from the work and give way to him who is able to do it better,","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If you suffer distress because of some external cause, it is not the thing itself that troubles you but your judgement about it, and it is within your power to cancel that judgement at any moment.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"A very ridiculous thing it is, that any man should dispense with vice and wickedness in himself, which is in his power to restrain; and should go about to suppress it in others, which is altogether impossible.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Think continually how many physicians have died, after often knitting their foreheads over their patients; how many astrologers after prophesying other men's deaths, as though to die were a great matter; how many philosophers after endless debate on death or survival after death; how many paladins after slaying their thousands; how many tyrants after using their power over men's lives with monstrous arrogance, as if themselves immortal; how many entire cities have, if I may use the term, died, Helice, Pompeii, Herculaneum, and others innumerable. Run over, too, the many also you know of, one after another. One followed this man's funeral and then was himself laid on the bier; another followed him, and all in a little while. This is the whole matter: see always how ephemeral and cheap are the things of man- yesterday, a spot of albumen, tomorrow, ashes or a mummy. Therefore make your passage through this span of time in obedience to Nature and gladly lay down your life, as an olive, when ripe, might fall, blessing her who bare it and grateful to thee which gave it life.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"And to have learned how to accept favors from friends without losing your self-respect or appearing ungrateful.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"When you are disturbed by events and lose your serenity, quickly return to yourself and don't stay upset longer than the experience lasts; for you'll have more mastery over your inner harmony by continually returning to it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"First, do not be upset: all things follow the nature of the Whole, and in a little while you will be no one and nowhere, as is true even of Hadrian and Augustus. Next, concentrate on the matter at hand and see it for what it is. Remind yourself of your duty to be a good man and rehearse what man's nature demands: then do it straight and unswerving, or say what you best think right. Always, though, in kindness, integrity, and sincerity.","author":"- Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"simply and of your own free will, choose the higher and hold fast to that","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"How strangely men act. They will not praise those who are living at the same time and living with themselves; but to be themselves praised by posterity, by those whom they have never seen or ever will see, this they set much value on. But this is very much the same as if you should be grieved because those who have lived before you did not praise you.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Thou art a little soul bearing about a corpse, as Epictetus used to say (I. C. 19). 42. It is no evil for things to undergo change, and no good for things to subsist in consequence of change. 43. Time is like a river made up of the events which happen, and a violent stream; for as soon as a thing has been seen, it is carried away, and another comes in its place, and this will be carried away too.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"And thou wilt give thyself relief if thou doest every act of thy life as if it were the last, laying aside all carelessness and passionate aversion from the commands of reason, and all hypocrisy, and self-love, and discontent with the portion which has been given to thee.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"To conclude, always observe how ephemeral and worthless human things are, and what was yesterday a little mucus tomorrow will be a mummy or ashes.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Casting therefore all other things aside, keep thyself to these few, and remember withal that no man properly can be said to live more than that which is now present, which is but a moment of time. Whatsoever is besides either is already past, or uncertain.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Nothing is so conducive to spiritual growth as this capacity for logical and accurate analysis of everything that happens to us.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"To him they are only sectaries ‘violently and passionately set upon opposition.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"That is not allowed. Instead, as if you were dying right now, despise your flesh. A mess of blood, pieces of bone, a woven tangle of nerves, veins, arteries. Consider what the spirit is: air, and never the same air, but vomited out and gulped in again every instant.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Why all the guesswork? You can see what needs to be done. If you can see the road follow it. Cheerfully, without turning back.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Acquire the contemplative way of seeing how all things change into one another, and constantly attend to it, and exercise thyself about this part of philosophy. For nothing is so much adapted to produce magnanimity. But as to what any man shall say or think about him, or do against him, he never even thinks of it, being himself contented with these two things: (1) with acting justly in what he now does, and (2) being satisfied with what is now assigned to him. He lays aside all distracting and busy pursuits- and desires nothing else - than to do what is right, and accomplish God's will.\" [Book X v. 11]","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"when thou art much vexed or grieved, that man’s life is only a moment, and after a short time we are all laid out dead.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"To my soul: Are you ever going to achieve goodness? Ever going to be simple, whole, and naked—as plain to see as the body that contains you? Know what an affectionate and loving disposition would feel like? Ever be fulfilled, ever stop desiring—lusting and longing for people and things to enjoy? Or for more time to enjoy them? Or for some other place or country—“a more temperate clime”? Or for people easier to get along with. And instead be satisfied with what you have, and accept the present—all of it. And convince yourself that everything is the gift of the gods, that things are good and always will be, whatever they decide and have in store for the preservation of that perfect entity—good and just and beautiful, creating all things, connecting and embracing them, and gathering in their separated fragments to create more like them.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"9. Not to feel exasperated, or defeated, or despondent because your days aren’t packed with wise and moral actions. But to get back up when you fail, to celebrate behaving like a human—however imperfectly—and fully embrace the pursuit that you’ve embarked on.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"36. Don’t let your imagination be crushed by life as a whole. Don’t try to picture everything bad that could possibly happen. Stick with the situation at hand, and ask, “Why is this so unbearable? Why can’t I endure it?” You’ll be embarrassed to answer. Then remind yourself that past and future have no power over you. Only the present—and even that can be minimized. Just mark off its limits. And if your mind tries to claim that it can’t hold out against that … well, then, heap shame upon it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Be not angry neither with him whose breath, neither with him whose arm holes, are offensive. What can he do? such is his breath naturally, and such are his arm holes; and from such, such an effect, and such a smell must of necessity proceed. 'O, but the man (sayest thou) hath understanding in him, and might of himself know, that he by standing near, cannot choose but offend.' And thou also (God bless thee!) hast understanding. Let thy reasonable faculty, work upon his reasonable faculty; show him his fault, admonish him. If he hearken unto thee, thou hast cured him, and there will be no more occasion of anger.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"el haber aprendido cómo hay que aceptar los aparentes favores de los amigos, sin dejarse sobornar por ellos ni rechazarlos sin tacto.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"12. If you do the job in a principled way, with diligence, energy and patience, if you keep yourself free of distractions, and keep the spirit inside you undamaged, as if you might have to give it back at any moment— If you can embrace this without fear or expectation—can find fulfillment in what you’re doing now, as Nature intended, and in superhuman truthfulness (every word, every utterance)—then your life will be happy. No one can prevent that.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Зло коренится для тебя не в руководящем начале других людей и не в превращениях и изменениях твоего тела. – \"Но где же?\". – В твоей способности составлять себе убеждение о зле. Пусть эта способность пребывает в покое даже тогда, когда наиболее ей близкое, ее тело, режут, жгут, когда оно гноится и гниет, т.е. пусть она рассудит, что нет ни добра, ни зла в том, что равно может случиться как с дурным, так и с хорошим человеком. Ведь то, что одинаково может случиться как с живущим в противоречии с природой, так и с живущим согласно ей, то согласно с природой и не идет против нее.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Nicht den Tod sollte man fürchten, sondern daß man nie beginnen wird, zu leben.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"but that a man may reduce and contract himself almost to the state of a private man, and yet for all that not to become the more base and remiss in those public matters and affairs, wherein power and authority is requisite.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Cel care trăiește în armonie cu sine însuși, trăiește în armonie cu universul.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"16. The things you think about determine the quality of your mind. Your soul takes on the color of your thoughts. Color it with a run of thoughts like these:","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Medita en los principios rectores de otros[260], de qué huyen y qué persiguen.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"things?—I was once a fortunate man, but I lost it, I know not how.—But fortunate means that a man has assigned to himself a good fortune: and a good fortune is good disposition of the soul, good emotions, good actions.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Now that thou hast taken these names upon thee of good, modest, true; of emfrwn, sumfrwn, uperfrwn; take heed lest at any times by doing anything that is contrary, thou be but improperly so called, and lose thy right to these appellations. Or if thou do, return unto them again with all possible speed. And remember, that the word emfrwn notes unto thee an intent and intelligent consideration of every object that presents itself unto thee, without distraction. And the word emfrwn a ready and contented acceptation of whatsoever by the appointment of the common nature, happens unto thee. And the word sumfrwn, a super-extension, or a transcendent, and outreaching disposition of thy mind,","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Willingly therefore, and wholly surrender up thyself unto that fatal concatenation, yielding up thyself unto the fates, to be disposed of at their pleasure.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If it is not right, do not do it: if it is not true, do not say it. For let thy efforts beIn everything always observe what the thing is which produces for thee an appearance,","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Contempla il corso degli astri52 immaginando di ruotare con loro e pensa come gli elementi si trasformano continuamente gli uni negli altri. Il pensiero di queste cose, infatti, purifica dalle brutture della vita terrena.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Soon you’ll be ashes, or bones. A mere name, at most—and even that is just a sound, an echo. The things we want in life are empty, stale, and trivial. Dogs snarling at each other. Quarreling children—laughing and then bursting into tears a moment later. Trust, shame, justice, truth—“gone from the earth and only found in heaven.” Why are you still here? Sensory objects are shifting and unstable; our senses dim and easily deceived","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Use thyself even unto those things that thou doest at first despair of. For the left hand we see, which for the most part lieth idle because not used; yet doth it hold the bridle with more strength than the right, because it hath been used unto it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Whatever the nature of the whole does, and whatever serves to maintain it, is good for every part of nature. The world is maintained by change—in the elements and in the things they compose. That should be enough for you; treat it as an axiom.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Everything by which people set so much store in life is emptiness, putrefaction, pettiness; little dogs nipping at one another; little children who laugh as they fight, and then suddenly burst into tears.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"29. Examine cada um dos seus atos, separadamente, e pergunte a si mesmo se a morte deve ser temida por lhe privar de tal ação.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Injustice results as often from not doing as from doing.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"both thou thyself shalt become a new man, and thou shalt begin a new life.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"To feel affection for people even when they make mistakes is uniquely human. You can do it, if you simply recognize: that they’re human too, that they act out of ignorance, against their will, and that you’ll both be dead before long. And, above all, that they haven’t really hurt you. They haven’t diminished your ability to choose.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Always remember what Heraclitus said: 'The death of earth is the birth of water, the death of water is the birth of atmosphere, the death of atmosphere is fire, and conversely.' Remember, too, his image of the man who forgets the way he is going; and: 'They are at variance with that with which they most continuously have converse (Reason which governs the Universe), and the things they meet with every day appear alien to them'; and again: 'We suppose that we act and speak'; and: 'We must not be like children with parents,' that is, accept things simply as we have received them.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"A healthy pair of eyes should see everything that can be seen and not say, “No! Too bright!” (which is a symptom of ophthalmia). A healthy sense of hearing or smell should be prepared for any sound or scent; a healthy stomach should have the same reaction to all foods, as a mill to what it grinds. So too a healthy mind should be prepared for anything. The one that keeps saying, “Are my children all right?” or “Everyone must approve of me” is like eyes that can only stand pale colors, or teeth that can handle only mush.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Kingship: to earn a bad reputation by good deeds.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"You’ve given aid and they’ve received it. And yet, like an idiot, you keep holding out for more: to be credited with a Good Deed, to be repaid in kind. Why?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"I am composed of the formal and the material; and neither of them will perish into non-existence, as neither of them came into existence out of non-existence. Every part of me then will be reduced by change into some part of the universe, and that again will change into another part of the universe, and so on for ever.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Bear in mind that everything that exists is already fraying at the edges, and in transition, subject to fragmentation and to rot. Or that everything was born to die.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"You’ve lived as a citizen in a great city. Five years or a hundred—what’s the difference? The laws make no distinction. And to be sent away from it, not by a tyrant or a dishonest judge, but by Nature, who first invited you in—why is that so terrible? Like the impresario ringing down the curtain on an actor: “But I’ve only gotten through three acts . . . !” Yes. This will be a drama in three acts, the length fixed by the power that directed your creation, and now directs your dissolution. Neither was yours to determine. So make your exit with grace—the same grace shown to you.","author":"Marcus Aurelius Antoninus"},{"text":"Beautiful things of any kind are beautiful in themselves and sufficient to themselves. Praise is extraneous. The object of praise remains what it was—no better and no worse. This applies, I think, even to “beautiful” things in ordinary life—physical objects, artworks. Does anything genuinely beautiful need supplementing? No more than justice does—or truth, or kindness, or humility. Are any of those improved by being praised? Or damaged by contempt? Is an emerald suddenly flawed if no one admires it? Or gold, or ivory, or purple? Lyres? Knives? Flowers? Bushes?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Stop whatever you’re doing for a moment and ask yourself: Am I afraid of death because I won’t be able to do this anymore?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Pride is a master of deception: when you think you’re occupied in the weightiest business, that’s when he has you in his spell.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"—Then where is harm to be found? In your capacity to see it. Stop doing that and everything will be fine.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"It’s time you realized that you have something in you more powerful and miraculous than the things that affect you and make you dance like a puppet. What’s in my thoughts at this moment? Fear? Jealousy? Desire? Feelings like that?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"To read with diligence; not to rest satisfied with a light and superficial knowledge, nor quickly to assent to things commonly spoken of:","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Everything fades so quickly, turns into legend, and soon oblivion covers it. And those are the ones who shone. The rest—“unknown, unasked-for” a minute after death. What is “eternal” fame? Emptiness. Then what should we work for? Only this: proper understanding; unselfish action; truthful speech. A resolve to accept whatever happens as necessary and familiar, flowing like water from that same source and spring.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"And the things which conduce in any way to the commodity of life, and of which fortune gives an abundant supply, he [my father] used without arrogance and without excusing himself; so that when he had them, he enjoyed them without affectation, and when he had them not, he did not want them.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"لا مجد لك بمعزل عن مجد قومك. ما لا يفيد السّرب لا يفيد النحلة. لا مجد لنحلةٍ في خليةٍ منهارة.","author":"ماركوس أوريليوس"},{"text":"When people injure you, ask yourself what good or harm they thought would come of it. If you understand that, you’ll feel sympathy rather than outrage or anger. Your sense of good and evil may be the same as theirs, or near it, in which case you have to excuse them. Or your sense of good and evil may differ from theirs. In which case they’re misguided and deserve your compassion. Is that so hard?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Death is a cessation of the impressions through the senses, and of the pulling of the strings that move the appetites, and of the discursive movements of the thoughts, and of the service to the flesh.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Nothing is more pathetic than people who run around in circles, “delving into the things that lie beneath” and conducting investigations into the souls of the people around them, never realizing that all you have to do is to be attentive to the power inside you and worship it sincerely. To worship it is to keep it from being muddied with turmoil and becoming aimless and dissatisfied with nature—divine and human. What is divine deserves our respect because it is good; what is human deserves our affection because it is like us. And our pity too, sometimes, for its inability to tell good from bad—as terrible a blindness as the kind that can’t tell white from black.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"People who are excited by posthumous fame forget that the people who remember them will soon die too. And those after them in turn. Until their memory, passed from one to another like a candle flame, gutters and goes out.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"ألاّ تصير مثل الذي أساء اليك ، ذلك هو خير انتقام","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"El movimiento de los átomos corre hacia arriba, hacia abajo, circularmente. Pero el curso de la virtud no está sujeto a ninguno de estos giros. Tiene, más bien, un no sé qué divino, de modo que hace su jornada por una órbita difícil e incomprensible.","author":"Marco Aurelio"},{"text":"A key point to bear in mind: The value of attentiveness varies in proportion to its object. You’re better off not giving the small things more time than they deserve.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Things of themselves cannot touch the soul at all. They have no entry to the soul, and cannot turn or move it. The soul alone turns and moves itself, making all externals presented to it cohere with the judgements it thinks worthy of itself.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"No te aficiones más que a lo que te acontezca y a lo que forme la trama de la vida. ¿Pues qué otra cosa podrá serte más oportuna?","author":"Marco Aurelio"},{"text":"ألم يأن لك أن تفهم أن هذا العالم الذي أنت جزءٌ منه و تفهم مدبّر هذا العالم الذي أنت فيضٌ منه؟ ألا تدرك ان هناك حدًا لعمرك, فإذا لم تستغله لتبديد غيومك فسوف يذهب العمر و سوف تذهب و لن تعود الفرصة مرة أخرى؟","author":"ماركوس أوريليوس"},{"text":"Does the emerald lose its beauty for lack of admiration? Does gold, or ivory, or purple? A lyre or a dagger, a rosebud or a sapling?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Stop allowing your mind to be a slave, to be jerked about by selfish impulses, to kick against fate and the present, and to mistrust the future.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The end and object of a rational constitution is, to do nothing rashly, to be kindly affected towards men, and in all things willingly to submit unto the gods. Casting therefore all other things aside, keep thyself to these few, and remember withal that no man properly can be said to live more than that which is now present, which is but a moment of time.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Yes, keep on degrading yourself, soul. But soon your chance at dignity will be gone. Everyone gets one life. Yours is almost used up, and instead of treating yourself with respect, you have entrusted your own happiness to the souls of others.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"People who labor all their lives but have no purpose to direct every thought and impulse toward are wasting their time—even when hard at work.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"When you need encouragement, think of the qualities the people around you have: this one’s energy, that one’s modesty, another’s generosity, and so on. Nothing is as encouraging as when virtues are visibly embodied in the people around us, when we’re practically showered with them. It’s good to keep this in mind.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"De multe ori am fost uimit de faptul ca fiecare, desi se iubeste pe sine insusi mai mult decat pe toti ceilalti, pune totusi mai putin pret pe propria parere despre sine decat pe parerea celorlalti despre el.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"My soul, will you ever be good, simple, individual, bare, brighter than the body that covers you? Will you ever taste the disposition to love and affection? Will you ever be complete and free of need, missing nothing, desiring nothing live or lifeless for the enjoyment of pleasure?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Whatever happens to you has been waiting to happen since the beginning of time. The twining strands of fate wove both of them together: your own existence and the things that happen to you","author":"Marcus Aurelius Meditations translated by Gregory Hays"},{"text":"All things fade into the storied past, and in a little while are shrouded in oblivion.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"We ought to do good to others as simply as a horse runs, or a bee makes honey, or a vine bears grapes season after season without thinking of the grapes it has borne.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"10. Forget everything else. Keep hold of this alone and remember it: Each of us lives only now, this brief instant. The rest has been lived already, or is impossible to see. The span we live is small—small as the corner of the earth in which we live it. Small as even the greatest renown, passed from mouth to mouth by short-lived stick figures, ignorant alike of themselves and those long dead.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Pride is a master of deception: when you think you're occupied in the weightiest business, that's when he has you in his spell.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Treat what you don’t have as nonexistent. Look at what you have, the things you value most, and think of how much you’d crave them if you didn’t have them. But be careful. Don’t feel such satisfaction that you start to overvalue them —that it would upset you to lose them.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"How much time he gains who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks, but only at what he does himself, to make it just and holy.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"For times when you feel pain: See that it doesn’t disgrace you, or degrade your intelligence—doesn’t keep it from acting rationally or unselfishly. And in most cases what Epicurus said should help: that pain is neither unbearable nor unending, as long as you keep in mind its limits and don’t magnify them in your imagination. And keep in mind too that pain often comes in disguise— as drowsiness, fever, loss of appetite. . . . When you’re bothered by things like that, remind yourself: “I’m giving in to pain.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"What am I but a little flesh, a little breath, and the thinking part that rules the whole?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Look at the past—empire succeeding empire—and from that, extrapolate the future: the same thing. No escape from the rhythm of events. Which is why observing life for forty years is as good as a thousand. Would you really see anything new?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Don’t look down on death, but welcome it. It too is one of the things required by nature. Like youth and old age. Like growth and maturity. Like a new set of teeth, a beard, the first gray hair. Like sex and pregnancy and childbirth. Like all the other physical changes at each stage of life, our dissolution is no different. So this is how a thoughtful person should await death: not with indifference, not with impatience, not with disdain, but simply viewing it as one of the things that happen to us. Now you anticipate the child’s emergence from its mother’s womb; that’s how you should await the hour when your soul will emerge from its compartment. Or perhaps you need some tidy aphorism to tuck away in the back of your mind. Well, consider two things that should reconcile you to death: the nature of the things you’ll leave behind you, and the kind of people you’ll no longer be mixed up with. There’s no need to feel resentment toward them—in fact, you should look out for their well-being, and be gentle with them—but keep in mind that everything you believe is meaningless to those you leave behind. Because that’s all that could restrain us (if anything could)—the only thing that could make us want to stay here: the chance to live with those who share our vision. But now? Look how tiring it is—this cacophony we live in. Enough to make you say to death, “Come quickly. Before I start to forget myself, like them.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Take away thy opinion, and then there is taken away the complaint, \"I have been harmed.\" Take away the complaint, \"I have been harmed,\" and the harm is taken away.   That which does not make a man worse than he was, also does not make his life worse, nor does it harm him either from without or from within.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Not to feel exasperated, or defeated, or despondent because your days aren't packed with wise and moral actions. But to get back up when you fail, to celebrate behaving like a human - however imperfectly - and fully embrace the pursuit that you've embarked on.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If you seek tranquillity, do less.” Or (more accurately) do what’s essential—what the logos of a social being requires, and in the requisite way. Which brings a double satisfaction: to do less, better. Because most of what we say and do is not essential. If you can eliminate it, you’ll have more time, and more tranquillity. Ask yourself at every moment, “Is this necessary?” But we need to eliminate unnecessary assumptions as well. To eliminate the unnecessary actions that follow.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"To live a good life: We have the potential for it. If we can learn to be indifferent to what makes no difference. This is how we learn: by looking at each thing, both the parts and the whole. Keeping in mind that none of them can dictate how we perceive it. They don’t impose themselves on us. They hover before us, unmoving. It is we who generate the judgments—inscribing them on ourselves. And we don’t have to. We could leave the page blank—and if a mark slips through, erase it instantly. Remember how brief is the attentiveness required. And then our lives will end. And why is it so hard when things go against you? If it’s imposed by nature, accept it gladly and stop fighting it. And if not, work out what your own nature requires, and aim at that, even if it brings you no glory. None of us is forbidden to pursue our own good.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"When you start to lose your temper, remember: There’s nothing manly about rage. It’s courtesy and kindness that define a human being—and a man. That’s who possesses strength and nerves and guts, not the angry whiners. To react like that brings you closer to impassivity—and so to strength. Pain is the opposite of strength, and so is anger. Both are things we suffer from, and yield to.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"our own worth is measured by what we devote our energy to.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Everything is only for a day, both that which remembers and that which is remembered","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"a limit of time is fixed for thee, which if thou dost not use for clearing away the clouds from thy mind, it will go and thou wilt go, and it will never return.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"In a little while you will have forgotten everything; in a little while everything will have forgotten you.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"We ought to consider not only that our life is daily wasting away and a smaller part of it is left, but also that if a man should live longer, it is quite uncertain whether the understanding will still continue sufficient for the comprehension of things and retain the power of contemplation that strives to acquire the knowledge of the divine and the human. For if he shall begin to fall into dotage, perspiration and nutrition and imagination and appetite and whatever else there is of the kind will not fail; but the power of making use of ourselves, and filling up the measure of our duty, and clearly separating all appearances, and considering whether a man should now depart from life, and whatever else of the kind absolutely requires a disciplined reason, all this is already extinguished. We must make haste then, not only because we are daily nearer to death, but also because the conception of things and the understanding of them cease first.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now take what’s left and live it properly.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Every hour be firmly resolved... to accomplish the work at hand with fitting and unaffected dignity, goodwill, freedom, justice. Banish from your thoughts all other considerations. This is possible if you perform each act as if it were your last, rejecting every frivolous distraction, every denial of the rule of reason, every pretentious gesture, vain show, and whining complaint against the decrees of fate. Do you see what little is required of a man to live a well-tempered and god-fearing life? Obey these precepts, and the gods will ask nothing more (II.5).","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The present moment is the only thing of which anyone can be deprived, at least if this is the only thing he has and he cannot lose what he has not got.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Stop talking about what the good man is like, and just be one.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"In comparing sins (the way people do) Theophrastus says that the ones committed out of desire are worse than the ones committed out of anger: which is good philosophy. The angry man seems to turn his back on reason out of a kind of pain and inner convulsion. But the man motivated by desire, who is mastered by pleasure, seems somehow more self- indulgent, less manly in his sins. Theophrastus is right, and philosophically sound, to say that the sin committed out of pleasure deserves a harsher rebuke than the one committed out of pain. The angry man is more like a victim of wrongdoing, provoked by pain to anger. The other man rushes into wrongdoing on his own, moved to action by desire.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"People look for retreats for themselves, in the country, by the coast, or in the hills. There is nowhere that a person can find a more peaceful and trouble-free retreat than in his own mind. . . . So constantly give yourself this retreat, and renew yourself.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"That to expect bad people not to injure others is crazy. It's to ask the impossible. And to let them behave like that to other people but expect them to exempt you is arrogant--the act of a tyrant.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Forget everything else. Keep hold of this alone and remember it: Each of us lives only now, this brief instant. The rest has been lived already, or is impossible to see.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"It’s silly to try to escape other people’s faults. They are inescapable. Just try to escape your own.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"إذا ما استطاعَ إنسانٌ أن يثبتَ لي أني على خطأ ويبين لي خطئي في أي فكرةٍ أو فعل ، فسوف أُغيِّر نفسي بكل سرور . أن أريدُ إلا الحق ، وهو مطلبٌ لم يضر أي إنسانٍ قط .  إنما الضررُ هو أن يُصرَّ المـرءُ على جهلهِ ويستمر في خداع ذاته .","author":"ماركوس أوريليوس"},{"text":"کمال شخصیت آن است که هر روز را به گونه ای سپری کنیم که انگار آخرین روز زندگانی ماست","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Anger and the sorrow it produces are far more harmful than the things which make us angry.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Do not let the future disturb you, for you will arrive there, if you arrive, with the same reason you now apply to the present.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Art thou angry with him whose armpits stink? Art thou angry with him whose mouth smells foul?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"So other people hurt me? That’s their problem. Their character and actions are not mine. What is done to me is ordained by nature, what I do by my own.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Be not disgusted, nor discouraged, nor dissatisfied, if thou dost not succeed in doing everything according to right principles; but when thou bast failed, return back again, and be content if the greater part of what thou doest is consistent with man's nature, and love this to which thou returnest","author":"Marcus Aurelius "},{"text":"ثورو يقول : \" أن تكون فيلسوفًا لا يعني أن يكون لديك أفكار حاذقة, ولا حتى أن تؤسِس مدرسة؛ بل أن تحب الحكمة بحيث تحيا وفقًا لإملاءاتها, حياة بساطة و إستقلال و سماحة و صدق. أن تكون فيلسوفًا هو أن تحلّ بعض مشكلات الحياة, لا حلًا نظريًا فقط, بل عمليًا أيضًا","author":"ماركوس أوريليوس"},{"text":"All things from eternity are of like forms and come round in a circle.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If all emotions are common coin, then what is unique to the good man? To welcome with affection what is sent by fate. Not to stain or disturb the spirit within him with a mess of false beliefs. Instead, to preserve it faithfully, by calmly obeying God – saying nothing untrue, doing nothing unjust. And if the others don’t acknowledge it – this life lived in simplicity, humility, cheerfulness – he doesn’t resent them for it, and isn’t deterred from following the road where it leads: to the end of life. An end to be approached in purity, in serenity, in acceptance, in peaceful unity with what must be.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Swiftly the remembrance of all things is buried in the gulf of eternity.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"All of us are creatures of a day; the rememberer and the remembered alike.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"strength and honor","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"What else did you expect from helping someone out? Isn’t it enough that you’ve done what your nature demands? You want a salary for it too? As if your eyes expected a reward for seeing, or your feet for walking. That’s what they were made for.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"How good it is, when you have roast meat or suchlike foods before you, to impress on your mind that this is the dead body of a fish, this the dead body of a bird or pig.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Be like a rocky promontory against which the restless surf continually pounds; it stands fast while the churning sea is lulled to sleep at its feet. I hear you say, \"How unlucky that this should happen to me!\" Not at all! Say instead, \"How lucky that I am not broken by what has happened and am not afraid of what is about to happen. The same blow might have struck anyone, but not many would have absorbed it without capitulation or complaint.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Soon you’ll be ashes, or bones. A mere name, at most—and even that is just a sound, an echo. The things we want in life are empty, stale, and trivial. Dogs snarling at each other. Quarreling children—laughing and then bursting into tears a moment later. Trust, shame, justice, truth—“gone from the earth and only found in heaven.” Why are you still here? Sensory objects are shifting and unstable; our senses dim and easily deceived; the soul itself a decoction of the blood; fame in a world like this is worthless. —And so? Wait for it patiently—annihilation or metamorphosis. —And until that time comes—what? Honor and revere the gods, treat human beings as they deserve, be tolerant with others and strict with yourself. Remember, nothing belongs to you but your flesh and blood—and nothing else is under your control.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Meditate upon what you ought to be in body and soul when death overtakes you; meditate on the brevity of life, and the measureless gulf of eternity behind it and before, and upon the frailty of everything material.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Its a dream, a fearful dream, life is","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"…praise does not make anything better or worse.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Today I escaped from anxiety. Or no, I discarded it, because it was within me, in my own perceptions—not outside.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Men seek for seclusion in the wilderness, by the seashore, or in the mountains - a dream you have cherished only too fondly yourself. But such fancies are wholly unworthy of a philosopher, since at any moment you choose you can retire within yourself. Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul; above all, he who possesses resources in himself, which he need only contemplate to secure immediate ease of mind - the ease that is but another word for a well-ordered spirit. Avail yourself often, then, of this retirement, and so continually renew yourself.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Not to assume it’s impossible because you find it hard. But to recognize that if it’s humanly possible, you can do it too.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Your mind will be like its habitual thoughts; for the soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The soul of a man harms itself, first and foremost, when it becomes (as far as it can) a separate growth, a sort of tumour on the universe; because to resent anything that happens is to separate oneself in revolt from Nature, which holds in collective embrace the particular natures of all other things.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"17. To pursue the unattainable is insanity, yet the thoughtless can never refrain from doing so.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Put from you the belief that 'I have been wronged', and with it will go the feeling. Reject your sense of injury, and the injury itself disappears.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Stoics held that material objects alone existed; but immanent in the material universe was a spiritual force which acted through them, manifesting itself under many forms, as fire, aether, spirit, soul, reason, the ruling principle.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Death smiles at us all, all a man can do is smile back.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"At every instant the objects and events in the world around us bombard us with impressions. As they do so they produce a phantasia, a mental impression. From this the mind generates a perception (hypolepsis), which might best be compared to a print made from a photographic negative. Ideally this print will be an accurate and faithful representation of the original. But it may not be. It may be blurred, or it may include shadow images that distort or obscure the original. Chief among these are inappropriate value judgments: the designation as “good” or “evil” of things that in fact are neither good nor evil. For example, my impression that my house has just burned down is simply that—an impression or report conveyed to me by my senses about an event in the outside world. By contrast, my perception that my house has burned down and I have thereby suffered a terrible tragedy includes not only an impression, but also an interpretation imposed upon that initial impression by my powers of hypolepsis. It is by no means the only possible interpretation, and I am not obliged to accept it. I may be a good deal better off if I decline to do so. It is, in other words, not objects and events but the interpretations we place on them that are the problem. Our duty is therefore to exercise stringent control over the faculty of perception, with the aim of protecting our mind from error.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"5. Concentrate every minute like a Roman—like a man—on doing what’s in front of you with precise and genuine seriousness, tenderly, willingly, with justice. And on freeing yourself from all other distractions. Yes, you can—if you do everything as if it were the last thing you were doing in your life, and stop being aimless, stop letting your emotions override what your mind tells you, stop being hypocritical, self-centered, irritable. You see how few things you have to do to live a satisfying and reverent life? If you can manage this, that’s all even the gods can ask of you.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The second discipline, that of action, relates to our relationship with other people. Human beings, for Marcus as for the Stoics generally, are social animals, a point he makes often (e.g., 5.16, 8.59, 9.1). All human beings possess not only a share of the logos but also the ability to use it (that is what makes us human and distinguishes us from other animals). But it would perhaps be more accurate to say that we are participants in the logos, which is as much a process as a substance. Marcus himself more than once compares the world ruled by logos to a city in which all human beings are citizens, with all the duties inherent in citizenship. As human beings we are part of nature, and our duty is to accommodate ourselves to its demands and requirements—“to live as nature requires,” as Marcus often puts it. To do this we must make proper use of the logos we have been allotted, and perform as best we can the functions assigned us in the master plan of the larger, cosmic logos, of which it is a part. This requires not merely passive acquiescence in what happens, but active cooperation with the world, with fate and, above all, with other human beings. We were made, Marcus tells us over and over, not for ourselves but for others, and our nature is fundamentally unselfish. In our relationships with others we must work for their collective good, while treating them justly and fairly as individuals.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Don’t look at things the way wrong-doers do. Don’t look at things as wrong-doers want you too, either. Instead, strive to see things in truth, as they really are.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"To the gods I am indebted for having good grandfathers, good parents, a good sister, good teachers, good associates, good kinsmen and friends, nearly everything good.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"That whenever I felt like helping someone who was short of money, or otherwise in need, I never had to be told that I had no resources to do it with. And that I was never put in that position myself—of having to take something from someone else.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Altogether the interval is small between birth and death; and consider with how much trouble, and in company with what sort of people and in what a feeble body this interval is laboriously passed. Do not then consider life a thing of any value. For look to the immensity of time behind thee, and to the time which is before thee, another boundless space. In this infinity then what is the difference between him who lives three days and him who lives three generations?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Whatever this is that I am, it is flesh and a little spirit and an intelligence. Throw away your books; stop letting yourself be distracted. That is not allowed. Instead, as if you were dying right now, despise your flesh. A mess of blood, pieces of bone, a woven tangle of nerves, veins, arteries. Consider what the spirit is: air, and never the same air, but vomited out and gulped in again every instant. Finally, the intelligence. Think of it this way: You are an old man. Stop allowing your mind to be a slave, to be jerked about by selfish impulses, to kick against fate and the present, and to mistrust the future.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The third discipline, the discipline of will, is in a sense the counterpart to the second, the discipline of action. The latter governs our approach to the things in our control, those that we do; the discipline of will governs our attitude to things that are not within our control, those that we have done to us (by others or by nature). We control our own actions and are responsible for them. If we act wrongly, then we have done serious harm to ourselves (though not, it should be emphasized, to others, or to the logos). By contrast, things outside our control have no ability to harm us. Acts of wrongdoing by a human agent (torture, theft, or other crimes) harm the agent, not the victim. Acts of nature such as fire, illness, or death can harm us only if we choose to see them as harmful. When we do so, we question the benevolence and providence of the logos, and thereby degrade our own logos. This, of course, we must not do. Instead we must see things for what they are (here the discipline of perception is relevant) and accept them, by exercising the discipline of will, or what Epictetus calls (in a phrase quoted by Marcus) “the art of acquiescence.” For if we recognize that all events have been foreseen by the logos and form part of its plan, and that the plan in question is unfailingly good (as it must be), then it follows that we must accept whatever fate has in store for us, however unpleasant it may appear, trusting that, in Alexander Pope’s phrase, “whatever is, is right.” This applies to all obstacles and (apparent) misfortunes, and in particular to death—a process that we cannot prevent, which therefore does not harm us, and which accordingly we must accept willingly as natural and proper.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Anywhere you can lead your life, you can lead a good one.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The world is nothing but change. Our life is only perception.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"to how much envy and fraud and hypocrisy the state of a tyrannous king is subject unto, and how they who are commonly called [Eupatridas Gk.], i.e. nobly born, are in some sort incapable, or void of natural affection.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"that that life which any the longest liver, or the shortest liver parts with, is for length and duration the very same, for that only which is present, is that, which either of them can lose, as being that only which they have; for that which he hath not, no man can truly be said to lose.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If it is not right, do not do it: if it is not true, do not say it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Disgraceful if, in this life where your body does not fail, your soul should fail you first.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"لامجد لك بمعزل عن مجد قومك . مالا يفيد السرب لايفيد النحلة . لامجد لنحلة في خلية منهارة","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"My soul, will you ever be good, simple, individual, bare, brighter than the body covers you? Will you ever taste the disposition to love and affection? Will you ever be complete and free of need, missing nothing, desiring nothing live or lifeless for the enjoyment of pleasure?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The best kind of revenge is, not to become like unto them.' There","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Every soul, the philosopher says, is involuntarily deprived of truth; consequently in the same way it is deprived of justice and temperance and benevolence and everything of the kind. It is most necessary to bear this constantly in mind, for thus thou wilt be more gentle towards all.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Keep before your eyes the swift onset of oblivion, and the abysses of eternity before us and behind; mark how hollow are the echoes of applause, how fickle and undiscerning the judgments of professed admirers, and how puny the arena of human fame. For the entire earth is but a point, and the place of our own habitation but a minute corner in it; and how many are therein who will praise you, and what sort of men are they?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Stick to what's in front of you - idea, action, utterance.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"No random actions, none not based on underlying principles.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"It is circumstances (difficulties) which show what men are. Therefore when a difficulty falls upon you, remember that God, like a trainer of wrestlers, has matched you with a rough young man. For what purpose? you may say. Why, that you may become an Olympic conqueror; but it is not accomplished without sweat. In my opinion no man has had a more profitable difficulty than you have had, if you choose to make use of it as an athlete would deal with a young antagonist.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"I walk in Nature's way until I shall lie down and rest, breathing my last in this from which I draw my daily breath, and lying down on this from which my father drew his vital seed, my mother her blood, my nurse her milk; from which for so many years I am fed and watered day by day; which bears my footstep and my misusing it for so many purposes.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Remember how long thou hast already put off these things, and how often a certain day and hour as it were, having been set unto thee by the gods, thou hast neglected it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Remember this, that very little is needed to make a happy life.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"a ripe mature man, a perfect sound man; one that could not endure to be flattered; able to govern both himself and others.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Let not the future trouble you; for you will come to it, if come you must, bearing with you the same reason which you are using now to meet the present.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"It is high time for thee, to understand that there is somewhat in thee, better and more divine than either thy passions, or thy sensual appetites and affections","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Is any man so foolish as to fear change, to which all things that once were not owe their being? And what is it, that is more pleasing and more familiar to the nature of the universe?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"36. Man, thou hast been a citizen in this great state [the world]: what difference does it make to thee whether for five years [or three]? for that which is conformable to the laws is just for all. Where is the hardship then, if no tyrant nor yet an unjust judge sends thee away from the state, but nature who brought thee into it? the same as if a praetor who has employed an actor dismisses him from the stage. “But I have not finished the five acts, but only three of them.”—Thou sayest well, but in life the three acts are the whole drama; for what shall be a complete drama is determined by him who was once the cause of its composition, and now of its dissolution: but thou art the cause of neither. Depart then satisfied, for he also who releases thee is satisfied","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The ruler must be a philosopher as well as a king; and he must govern unwillingly, because he loves philosophy better than dominion.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Whatever happens to you has been waiting to happen since the beginning of time. The twining strands of fate wove both of them together: your own existence and the things that happen to you.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Does another do me wrong? Let him look to it. He has his own disposition, his own activity. I now have what the universal nature wills me to have; and I do what my nature now wills me to do.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Studying philosophy instills modesty and straightforwardness in your character.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"ناور العقبات ، واتخذ منها وقوداً لفضيلتك ، واسع إلى مقاصدك بتحفظ يخفف عنك صدمة الاخفاق","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Často sa dopúšťa bezprávia aj ten, kto nič nerobí, nielen ten, kto niečo robí.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"My mind. What is it? What am I making of it? What am I using it for? Is it empty of thought? Isolated and torn loose from those around it? Melted into flesh and blended with it, so that it shares its urges?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"I have no right to do myself an injury. Have I ever injured anyone else if I could avoid it?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"They contemn one another, and yet they seek to please one another: and whilest they seek to surpass one another in worldly pomp and greatness, they most debase and prostitute themselves in their better part one to another.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If it doesn't harm your character, how can it harm your life?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Not to be offended with other men's liberty of speech, and to apply myself unto philosophy. Him","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"But by all means bear this in mind, that within a very short time both thou and he will be dead; and soon not even your names will be left behind.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"I am happy, though this has happened to me, because I continue free from pain, neither crushed by the present nor fearing the future","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"thereby gain much leisure, and save much trouble, and therefore at every action a man must privately by way of admonition suggest unto himself, What? may not this that now I go about,","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"For indeed whatsoever proceeds from the gods, deserves respect for their worth and excellency; and whatsoever proceeds from men, as they are our kinsmen, should by us be entertained, with love, always; sometimes, as proceeding from their ignorance, of that which is truly good and bad, (a blindness no less, than that by which we are not able to discern between white and black:) with a kind of pity and compassion also.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Najlepší spôsob obrany je nepodobať sa tým, čo nám ubližujú.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"A man must not only consider how daily his life wasteth and decreaseth, but this also, that if he live long, he cannot be certain, whether his understanding shall continue so able and sufficient, for either discreet consideration, in matter of businesses; or for contemplation: it being the thing, whereon true knowledge of things both divine and human, doth depend.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"That it’s not what they do that bothers us: that’s a problem for their minds, not ours. It’s our own misperceptions. Discard them. Be willing to give up thinking of this as a catastrophe . . . and your anger is gone. How do you do that? By recognizing that you’ve suffered no disgrace. Unless disgrace is the only thing that can hurt you, you’re doomed to commit innumerable offenses—to become a thief, or heaven only knows what else.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Give yourself a gift: the present moment. People out for posthumous fame forget that the Generations To Come will be the same annoying people they know now. And just as mortal. What does it matter to you if they say x about you, or think y?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Men seek retreats for themselves, houses in the country, seashores, and mountains; and thou too art wont to desire such things very much. But this is altogether a mark of the most common sort of men, for it is in thy power whenever thou shalt choose to retire into thyself. For nowhere, either with more quiet or more freedom from trouble, does a man retire than into his own soul, particularly when he has within him such thoughts that by looking into them he is immediately in perfect tranquillity; and I affirm that tranquillity is nothing else than the good ordering of the mind.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"But he that honours a reasonable soul in general, as it is reasonable and naturally sociable, doth little regard anything else: and above all things is careful to preserve his own, in the continual habit and exercise both of reason and sociableness: and thereby doth co-operate with him, of whose nature he doth also participate; God.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"with how little he was satisfied, such as lodging, bed, dress, food, servants;","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"to be grave without affectation: to observe carefully the several dispositions of my friends, not to be offended with idiots, nor unseasonably to set upon those that are carried with the vulgar opinions, with the theorems, and tenets of philosophers: his conversation being an example how a man might accommodate himself to all men and companies; so that though his company were sweeter and more pleasing than any flatterer's cogging and fawning; yet was it at the same time most respected and reverenced:","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If therefore it be a thing external that causes thy grief, know, that it is not that properly that doth cause it, but thine own conceit and opinion concerning the thing: which thou mayest rid thyself of, when thou wilt.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"You have embarked, made the voyage, and come to shore; get out. If indeed to another life, there is no want of gods, not even there. But if to a state without sensation, you will cease to be held by pains and pleasures, and to be a slave to the vessel, which is as much inferior as that which serves it is superior: for the one is intelligence and deity; the other is earth and corruption.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"An unphilosophical but nonetheless effective help to putting death in its place is to run over the list of those who have clung long to life. What did they gain over the untimely dead? In truth, the distance we have to travel is small: and we drag it out with such labor, in such poor company, in such a feeble body. No great thing, then. Look behind you at the huge gulf of time, and another infinity ahead. In this perspective what is the difference between an infant of three days and a Nestor of three generations?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"No hay que censurar a los dioses porque no yerran en nada, ni contra su voluntad ni a propósito. Tampoco a los hombres, porque en nada yerran si no es contra su voluntad. En conclusión no hay que censurar a nadie.","author":"Marco  Aurelio"},{"text":"Disturbance comes only from within- from our own perceptions. Everything you see will soon alter and cease to exist","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If thou art pained by any external thing, it is not this thing that disturbs thee, but thy own judgement about it. And it is in thy power to wipe out this judgement now. But if anything in thy own disposition gives thee pain, who hinders thee from correcting thy opinion? And even if thou art pained because thou art not doing some particular thing which seems to thee to be right, why dost thou not rather act than complain?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"general, and a scarcity of individual healers. It was the doctrine of Marcus Aurelius that most of the ills of life come to us from our own imagination, that it was not in the power of others seriously to interfere with the calm, temperate life of an individual, and that when a fellow being did anything to us that seemed unjust he was acting in ignorance, and that instead of stirring up anger within us it should stir our pity for him. Oftentimes by careful self-examination we should find that the fault was more our own than that of our fellow, and our sufferings were rather from our own opinions than from anything","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"For what is just and good is on my side.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"And here thou must remember, that thy carriage in every business must be according to the worth and due proportion of it, for so shalt thou not easily be tired out and vexed, if thou shalt not dwell upon small matters longer than is fitting.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"It is a shame for the soul to be first to give way in this life, when thy body does not give way.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"For the entire earth is but a point, and the place of your own habitation but a minute corner in it. (...) Remember then to withdraw into the little field of self. Above all, never struggle or strain; but be master of yourself.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Today, I freed myself from trouble. Or rather, I wiped it out—for my trouble was caused by my opinion of things, so I changed the story I was telling myself.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Whatever happens, happens rightly. Watch closely, and you will find this true. In the succession of events there is not mere sequence alone, but an order that is just right, as from the hand of one who dispense to their due.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If you were asked to spell the name Antoninus, would you rap out each letter at the top of voice, and then, if your hearers grew angry, grow angry yourself in turn? Rather, would you not proceed to enumerate the several letters quietly one by one? Well then; remember that here in life every piece of duty is likewise made up of its separate items. Pay careful attention to each of these, without fuss and without returning temper for temper, and so ensure the methodical completion of your task.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"How free from all vanity he carried himself in matter of honour and dignity, (as they are esteemed:) his laboriousness and assiduity, his readiness to hear any man, that had aught to say tending to any common good:","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"How free from all vanity he carried himself in matter of honour and dignity, (as they are esteemed:) his laboriousness and assiduity, his readiness to hear any man, that had aught to say tending to any common good: how generally and impartially he would give every man his due; his skill and knowledge,","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If you seek tranquillity, do less.” Or (more accurately) do what’s essential—what","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The whole Universe is change, and life itself is but what you deem it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"What is not good for the hive is no good for the bee","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"It is ridiculous not to escape from one’s own vices, which is possible, while trying to escape the vices of others, which is impossible.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Reverence the sovereign power over things in the Universe; this is what uses all and marshals all. In like manner, too, reverence the sovereign power in yourself; and this is of one kind with that. For in you also this is what uses the rest, and your manner of living is governed by this.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"He who dreads death, dreads either an extinction of all sense, or dreads a different sort of sensation. If all sense is extinguished, there can be no sense of evil. If a different sort of sense is acquired, you become another sort of living creature; and don’t cease to live.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Remember how long thou hast been putting off these things, and how often thou hast received an opportunity from the gods, and yet thou dost not use it. Thou must now at last perceive of what universe thou art a part, and of what administrator of the universe thy existence is an efflux, and that a limit of time is fixed for thee, which if thou dost not use for clearing away the clouds from thy mind, it will go and thou wilt go, and it will never return.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"(...) you have grown beyond supposing such actions to be either good or bad, and therefore it will be so much the easier to be tolerant of another's blindness.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"You have no assurance that they are doing wrong at all, for the motives of man's actions are not always what they seem. There is generally much to learn before any judgement can be pronounced with certainty on another's doings.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"4. I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinion of himself than on the opinion of others. If then a god or a wise teacher should present himself to a man and bid him to think of nothing and to design nothing that he would not express as soon as he conceived it, he could not endure it even for a single day. So it is clear that we accord much more respect to what our neighbors think of us than to what we think of ourselves.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Constant awareness that everything is born from change. The knowledge that there is nothing nature loves more than to alter what exists and make new things like it. All that exists is the seed of what will emerge from it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Stir up thy mind, and recall thy wits again from thy natural dreams, and visions, and when thou art perfectly awoken, and canst perceive that they were but dreams that troubled thee, as one newly awakened out of another kind of sleep look upon these worldly things with the same mind as thou didst upon those, that thou sawest in thy sleep.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Is any man afraid of change? Why what can take place without change? What then is more pleasing or more suitable to the universal nature? And canst thou take a bath unless the wood undergoes a change? And canst thou be nourished, unless the food undergoes a change? And can anything else that is useful be accomplished without change? Dost thou not see then that for thyself also to change is just the same, and equally necessary for the universal nature?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The universe is flux, life is opinion.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"To undertake nothing: i. at random or without a purpose; ii. for any reason but the common good.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Show by a cheerful look that you don't need the help or comfort of others. Standing up - not propped up.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Labour not as one to whom it is appointed to be wretched, nor as one that either would be pitied, or admired; but let this be thine only care and desire; so always and in all things to prosecute or to forbear, as the law of charity, or mutual society doth require.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The highest good was the virtuous life. Virtue alone is happiness, and vice is unhappiness.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"You could have said of him (as they say of Socrates) that he knew how to enjoy and abstain from things that most people find it hard to abstain from and all too easy to enjoy.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"and shalt respect thy mind only, and that divine part of thine, and this shall be thine only fear,","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"And as for those parts that came from the earth, they shall return unto the earth again; and those that came from heaven, they also shall return unto those heavenly places. Whether it be a mere dissolution and unbinding of the manifold intricacies and entanglements of the confused atoms; or some such dispersion of the simple and incorruptible elements...","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"every man is worth just so much as the things are worth about which he busies himself. In","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Not to live as if you had endless years ahead of you. Death overshadows you. While you’re alive and able—be good.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Let not future things disturb thee, for thou wilt come to them, if it shall be necessary, having with thee the same reason which now thou usest for present things.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"And therefore let thy chief fort and place of defence be, a mind free from passions. A stronger place, (whereunto to make his refuge, and so to become impregnable) and better fortified than this, hath no man. He that seeth not this is unlearned. He that seeth it, and betaketh not himself to this place of refuge, is unhappy.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"To accept it without arrogance, to let it go with indifference. (8.33)","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"This day I did come out of all my trouble. Nay I have cast out all my trouble; it should rather be for that which troubled thee, whatsoever it was, was not without anywhere that thou shouldest come out of it, but within in thine own opinions, from whence it must be cast out, before thou canst truly and constantly be at ease.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The second point is a strong insistence on the unity of the universe, and on man's duty as part of a great whole. Public spirit was the most splendid political virtue of the ancient world, and it is here made cosmopolitan","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"What then, will a little fame distract you? Look at the speed of universal oblivion, the gulf of immeasurable time both before and after, the vacuity of applause, the indiscriminate fickleness of your apparent supporters, the tiny room in which all this is confined. The whole earth is a mere point in space: what a minute cranny within this is your own habitation, and how many and what sort will sing your praises here!","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Out of several poets and comics. 'It will but little avail thee, to turn thine anger and indignation upon the things themselves that have fallen across unto thee. For as for them, they are not sensible of it,","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"¡Ultrájate, ultrájate a ti misma, alma mía! Y no encontrarás luego la ocasión de adquirirte el honor que a ti misma debes. Breve es la vida de todos. La tuya se te pasó casi toda, y no te aprecias cuando, por el contrario, mides tu felicidad por lo que acontece en las almas ajenas.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"We too will inevitably end up where so many eloquent orators have gone, so many distinguished philosophers (Heraclitus, Pythagoras, Socrates), so many heroes of old, and so many generals and tyrants","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Ainda que pudesses viver três mil anos e outras tantas vezes dez mil, ainda assim, lembra-te de que ninguém perde outra vida além da que vive, nem vive outra além da que perde. Consequentemente, o mais longo e o mais curto confluem em um mesmo ponto. O presente, de fato, é igual para todos; o que se perde é também igual, e o que se separa é, evidentemente, um simples instante. Assim, nem o passado nem o futuro podem ser perdidos, porque, o que não se tem, como alguém nos poderia tirar? Tenha sempre presente, portanto, essas duas coisas: uma, que tudo, desde sempre, se apresenta de forma igual e descreve os mesmos círculos, e nada importa que se contemple a mesma coisa durante cem anos, duzentos ou um tempo indefinido; a outra, que o que viveu mais tempo e o que morrerá mais prematuramente, sofrem perda idêntica. Porque somente podemos ser privados do presente, posto que possuímos apenas o presente, e o que não se possui, não se pode perder. 15.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Whatever happens at all happens as it should; you will find this true, if you watch narrowly.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Everything you see will soon alter and cease to exist. Think of how many changes you've already seen. The world is change. Our life is only perception.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If therefore it be a thing external that causes thy grief, know, that it is not that properly that doth cause it, but thine own conceit and opinion concerning the thing:","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"that thou mayest not die murmuring, but cheerfully, truly, and from thy heart thankful to the gods.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Ἕωϑεν προλἐγειν ἑαυτῷ συντεύξομαι περιὲργω, ἀχαρίστῳ, ὑβριστῆ, δολερῷ, βασϰάνω, ἀϰοινωνήτω.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"queda como propio de la persona buena desear y conformarse con lo que le ocurre y estar entrelazado con su destino. Al","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Nothing that goes on in anyone else’s mind can harm you.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"When jarred, unavoidably, by circumstance, revert at once to yourself, and don’t lose the rhythm more than you can help. You’ll have a better group of harmony if you keep on going back to it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"As virtue and wickedness consist not in passion, but in action; so neither doth the true good or evil of a reasonable charitable man consist in passion, but in operation and action.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"也应该认真观察那样一些事物，尽管它们是附属于顺应自然产生的事物而产生的，但是它们也常常包含某种能令人愉悦的方面。例如烘烤的面包就可能有一部分会裂开，那些裂开的部分尽管在某种程度上有违面包师的承诺，但是它们本身却能奇特地刺激食欲。无花果成熟了也会裂开。成熟的油橄榄中接近熟透的会腐烂，但这却会赋予果实一种特殊的美。躬身低垂的谷穗，狮子紧蹙的眉头，野猪嘴里淌出的白沫，以及许多其他事物，若是有人单个地观察那些事物，它们的样子很不好看，但是由于它们附属于顺应自然产生的事物，因而仍然能装饰那些事物，动人心灵。","author":"马尔库斯·奥勒利乌斯(Aurelius.M.)"},{"text":"Si llevas a cabo la tarea presente de acuerdo con la razón recta, con diligencia, con fuerza, con buen ánimo y no te desvías en nada accesorio sino que vigilas que tu espíritu divino permanezca puro como si ya hubiera que devolverlo, si te agarras a eso sin esperar ni evitar nada, sino que te conformas en tu actuación presente a la naturaleza y en lo que dices y declaras a la verdad romana, tendrás una buena vida. Nadie hay que pueda impedírtelo.","author":"Marco  Aurelio"},{"text":"Practice even at the things that you have lost all hope of achieving. For the left hand, though inefficient at everything else through lack of practice, is more powerful than the right when it comes to gripping the bridle; for it has had good practice at that.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If, at some point in your life, you should come across anything better than justice, honesty, self-control, courage—than a mind satisfied that it has succeeded in enabling you to act rationally, and satisfied to accept what’s beyond its control—if you find anything better than that, embrace it without reservations—it must be an extraordinary thing indeed—and enjoy it to the full.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Tres son las relaciones. Una con el recipiente[388] que nos contiene, otra con la causa divina a partir de la cual suceden a todos todas las cosas y otra con quienes convivimos.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"forzoso que sean infelices quienes no siguen de cerca los movimientos de su propia alma.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"And these your professed politicians, the only true practical philosophers of the world, (as they think of themselves) so full","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"When a man has done thee any wrong, immediately consider with what opinion about good or evil he has done wrong. For when thou hast seen this, thou wilt pity him, and wilt neither wonder nor be angry. For either thou thyself thinkest the same thing to be good that he does, or another thing of the same kind. It is thy duty then to pardon him. But if thou dost not think such things to be good or evil, thou wilt more readily be well disposed to him who is in error.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"11. Cuando por la concurrencia de las circunstancias te vieres como desconcertado, vuelve en seguida sobre ti y no te propases fuera de lo justo más tiempo del necesario. Serás tanto más dueño de la armonía de tus actos cuanto más a menudo la recuperes.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"No actues en la idea de que vas a vivir diez mil años. La necesidad ineludible pende sobre ti. Mientras vives, mientras es posible, se virtuoso.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Think continually how many physicians are dead after often contracting their eyebrows over the sick; and how many astrologers after predicting with great pretensions the deaths of others; and how many philosophers after endless discourses on death or immortality; how many heroes after killing thousands; and how many tyrants who have used their power over men’s lives with terrible insolence as if they were immortal; and how many cities are entirely dead, so to speak, Helice and Pompeii and Herculaneum, and others innumerable. Add","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If it’s in your control, why do you do it? If it’s in someone else’s, then who are you blaming? Atoms? The gods? Stupid either way. Blame no one. Set people straight, if you can. If not, just repair the damage. And suppose you can’t do that either. Then where does blaming people get you? No pointless actions.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Dost thou wish to be praised by a man who curses himself thrice every hour? wouldst thou wish to please a man who does not please himself?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"A man cannot any whither retire better than to his own soul;","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"No one can keep you from living as your nature requires. Nothings can happen to you that is not required by Nature.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"no man loses any other life than this which he now lives, nor lives any other than this which he now loses.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"que está enojado se revuelve contra la razón aparentemente con cierta tristeza y encogimiento inconsciente, mientras que el que yerra por apetencia se deja vencer por el placer y aparentemente es más licencioso y femeninamente débil en sus faltas. Con","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Wipe out the imagination. Stop the pulling of the strings. Confine thyself to the present. Understand well what happens either to thee or to another. Divide and distribute every object into the causal [formal] and the material. Think of thy last hour. Let the wrong which is done by a man stay there where the wrong was done","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Wipe out imagination; check desire: extinguish appetite: keep the ruling faculty in its own power.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Our life is what our thoughts make of it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"A man should be upright, not be kept upright.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"You have to assemble your life yourself - action by action. And be satisfied if each one achieves its goal, as far as it can. No one can keep that from happening.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The faults he detects in himself are often such as most men would have no eyes to see. To serve the divine spirit which is implanted within him, a man must 'keep himself pure from all violent passion and evil affection, from all rashness and vanity, and from all manner of discontent, either in regard of the gods or men': or, as he says elsewhere, 'unspotted by pleasure, undaunted by pain.' Unwavering courtesy and consideration are his aims. 'Whatsoever any man either doth or saith, thou must be good;' 'doth any man offend? It is against himself that he doth offend: why should it trouble thee?' The offender needs pity, not wrath; those who must needs be corrected, should be treated with tact and gentleness; and one must be always ready to learn better. 'The best kind of revenge is, not to become like unto them.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Nothing will stand in the way of thy acting justly and soberly and considerately.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If it’s in your control, why do you do it? If it’s in someone else’s control, then who are you blaming? Atoms? The gods? Stupid either way. Blame no one.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"8. Epithets for yourself: Upright. Modest. Straightforward. Sane. Cooperative. Disinterested. Try not to exchange them for others. And if you should forfeit them, set about getting them back. Keep in mind that “sanity” means understanding things—each individual thing—for what they are. And not losing the thread. And “cooperation” means accepting what nature assigns you—accepting it willingly. And “disinterest” means that the intelligence should rise above the movements of the flesh—the rough and the smooth alike. Should rise above fame, above death, and everything like them. If you maintain your claim to these epithets—without caring if others apply them to you or not—you’ll become a new person, living a new life. To keep on being the person that you’ve been—to keep being mauled and degraded by the life you’re living—is to be devoid of sense and much too fond of life. Like those animal fighters at the games—torn half to pieces, covered in blood and gore, and still pleading to be held over till tomorrow … to be bitten and clawed again. Set sail, then, with this handful of epithets to guide you. And steer a steady course, if you can. Like an emigrant to the islands of the blest. And if you feel yourself adrift—as if you’ve lost control—then hope for the best, and put in somewhere where you can regain it. Or leave life altogether, not in anger, but matter-of-factly, straightforwardly, without arrogance, in the knowledge that you’ve at least done that much with your life. And as you try to keep these epithets in mind, it will help you a great deal to keep the gods in mind as well. What they want is not flattery, but for rational things to be like them. For figs to do what figs were meant to do—and dogs, and bees … and people.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Use thyself even unto those things that thou doest at first despair of. For the left hand we see, which for the most part hieth idle because not used; yet doth it hold the bridle with more strength than the right, because it hath been used unto it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Every moment think steadily as a Roman and a man to do what thou hast in hand with perfect and simple dignity, and feeling of affection, and freedom, and justice; and to give thyself relief from all other thoughts. And thou wilt give thyself relief, if thou doest every act of thy life as if it were the last, laying aside all carelessness and passionate aversion from the commands of reason, and all hypocrisy, and self-love, and discontent with the portion which has been given to thee. Thou seest how few the things are, the which if a man lays hold of, he is able to live a life which flows in quiet, and is like the existence of the gods; for the gods on their part will require nothing more from him who observes these things.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Say this to yourself in the morning: Today I shall have to do with meddlers, with the ungrateful, with the insolent, with the crafty, with the envious and the selfish.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"the term of your time is circumscribed, and that unless you use it to attain calm of mind, time will be gone and you will be gone and the opportunity to use it will not be yours again.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Mrk pogled na licu protivan je prirodi, a kad postane uobičajenim, izražajnost počinje umirati ili je već konačno ugasla i ne može je se više užgati. Pokušavaj poštivati tu prosudbu- da je to nešto protivno razumu. U polju moralna ponašanja, ako nestane čak i svijest o pogrešnome, ostaje li za život još imalo razuma?","author":"Marcus Aurelius, Meditations"},{"text":"From Alexander the Platonic, not frequently nor without necessity to say to any one, or to write in a letter, that I have no leisure; nor continually to excuse the neglect of duties required by our relation to those with whom we live, by alleging urgent occupations.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Que seja uma só a sua vontade: a de algo realizar, ou se abster, segundo determina a sua razão de ente integrado à sociedade.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"El sufrimiento, o bien es un mal para el cuerpo (por tanto, que éste lo proclame), o lo es para el alma, a la que es posible preservar su propia serenidad y calma, y no suponer que es un mal. Cualquier juicio, impulso, apetito y rechazo están dentro y ahí no penetra ningún mal.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Whatever any one does or says, I must be good; just as if the gold, or the emerald, or the purple, were always saying this. Whatever any one does or says, I must be emerald and keep my color.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just. Then they will not care how devout you have been. But will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust then you should not want to worship them.  If there are no gods then you will be gone but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of the loves ones.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If he thinks x or y about pleasure and pain (and what produces them), about fame and disgrace, about death and life, then it shouldn’t shock or surprise you when he does x or y.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Hay que reflexionar continuamente en cuántos médicos han muerto tras haber fruncido el entrecejo muchas veces por sus enfermos","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"What is “eternal” fame? Emptiness. Then what should we work for? Only this: proper understanding; unselfish action; truthful speech. A resolve to accept whatever happens as necessary and familiar, flowing like water from that same source and spring.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Muchas veces comete injusticia el que nada hace, no sólo el que hace algo","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Don’t waste the rest of your time here worrying about other people—unless it affects the common good. It will keep you from doing anything useful. You’ll be too preoccupied with what so-and-so is doing, and why, and what they’re saying, and what they’re thinking, and what they’re up to, and all the other things that throw you off and keep you from focusing on your own mind.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"When faced with people's bad behavior, turn around and ask when you have acted like that. When you saw money as a good, or pleasure, or social position. Your anger will subside as soon as you recognize that they acted under compulsion (what else could they do?)","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Look at the thousands of flocks and herds, the thousands of human ceremonies, every sort of voyage in storm or calm, the range of creation, combination, and extinction. Consider too the lives once lived by others long before you, the lives that will be lived after you, the lives lived now among foreign tribes; and how many have never even heard your name, how many will very soon forget it, how many may praise you now but quickly turn to blame. Reflect that neither memory nor fame, nor anything else at all, has any importance worth thinking of.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"ever ready to do good, and to forgive,","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The foolishness of people who are surprised by anything that happens. Like travelers amazed at foreign customs.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Originally tragedies were bought on to remind us of real events, and that such things naturally occur, and that on life's greater stage you must not be vexed at things, which on the stage you find so attractive.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"LII. To them that are sick of the jaundice, honey seems bitter; and to them that are bitten by a mad dog, the water terrible; and to children, a little ball seems a fine thing. And why then should I be angry? or do I think that error and false opinion is less powerful to make men transgress, than either choler, being immoderate and excessive, to cause the jaundice; or poison, to cause rage?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Alexander the Great and his mule driver both died and the same thing happened to both. They were absorbed alike into the life force of the world, or dissolved alike into atoms.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"People who love what they do wear themselves down doing it, they even forget to wash or eat.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"A man must learn a great deal to enable him to pass a correct judgement on another's acts.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"hay que ver siempre lo humano como flor de un día e inconsistente, ayer era una mucosidad, mañana será momia y cenizas. Ese","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Haga o diga alguien lo que quiera, obligado estoy a ser bueno. Como","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"You need to avoid certain things in your train of thought: everything random, everything irrelevant. And certainly everything self-important or malicious. You need to get used to winnowing your thoughts, so that if someone says, “What are you thinking about?” you can respond at once (and truthfully) that you are thinking this or thinking that.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Will either passengers, or patients, find fault and complain, either the one if they be well carried, or the others if well cured? Do they take care for any more than this; the one, that their shipmaster may bring them safe to land, and the other, that their physician may effect their recovery?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Be not ashamed to be helped; for it is thy business to do thy duty like a soldier in the assault on a town. How then, if being lame thou canst not mount up on the battlements alone, but with the help of another it is possible?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Betimes in the morning say to thyself, This day I shalt have to do with an idle curious man, with an unthankful man, a railer, a crafty, false, or an envious man; an unsociable uncharitable man. All these ill qualities have happened unto them, through ignorance of that which is truly good and truly bad.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"»Soy afortunado porque, a pesar de haberme ocurrido eso, permanezco sin pena y no me rompo por el presente ni temo el porvenir.« Porque","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Често си мисли с каква скорост преминава и изчезва всичко съществуващо и раждащо се. Материалната същност като река непрекъснато тече, действителното е в непрестанна промяна, причините - подложени на безброй преобразувания; почти нищо не е устойчиво и толкова близо е зиналата безкрайност на изтеклото и бъдното, в която всичко изчезва. Затова как да не е глупав човекът, който се надува, притеснява или оплаква при тези обстоятелства, сякаш безпокойствието му ще трае кой знае колко време.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"There are two features that are common to the minds of gods, men, and any other rational beings there may be: they are immune to external obstruction, and what they count as good is right thinking and right action, which they make the limit of their desire.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Endeavor to have power of myself, and in nothing to be carried about; to be cheerful and courageous in all sudden chances and accidents, as in sicknesses: to love mildness, and moderation, and gravity: and to do my business, whatsoever it be, thoroughly, and without querulousness.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Whatsoever any man either doth or saith, thou must be good;” “doth any man offend? It is against himself that he doth offend: why should it trouble thee?” The offender needs pity, not wrath; those who must needs be corrected, should be treated with tact and gentleness; and one must be always ready to learn better. “The best kind of revenge is, not to become like unto them.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"No man can hinder thee to live as thy nature doth require. Nothing can happen unto thee, but what the common good of nature doth require.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"¿Consideras, en resumen, que es desgracia del hombre lo que no es desacierto de la naturaleza humana? ¿","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If all the rest is common coin, then what is unique to the good man? To welcome with affection what is sent by fate. Not to stain or disturb the spirit within him with a mess of false beliefs. Instead, to preserve it faithfully, by calmly obeying God—saying nothing untrue, doing nothing unjust. And if the others don’t acknowledge it—this life lived with simplicity, humility, cheerfulness—he doesn’t resent them for it, and isn’t deterred from following the road where it leads: to the end of life. An end to be approached in purity, in serenity, in acceptance, in peaceful unity with what must be.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"¡Cuánta holgura se logra si no se mira lo que el vecino dijo, hizo o pensó, sino lo que hace uno mismo, para que también esta acción sea justa, santa y conforme con el bien! No observes los malos caracteres, sino lleva adelante tu camino hacia el fin, sin mirar acá ni allá, por los lados.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"The winds blow upon the trees, and their leaves fall upon the ground. Then do the trees begin to bud again, and by the spring-time they put forth new branches. So is the generation of men; some come into the world, and others go out of it.' Of these leaves then thy children are. And they also that applaud thee so gravely, or, that applaud thy speeches, with that their usual acclamation,","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Wisdom is knowledge of good and bad; courage is knowledge of what to fear and what not to fear; moderation is knowledge of what to pursue and what to avoid; justice is knowledge of what to give or what not to give others.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"And don’t go expecting Plato’s Republic; be satisfied with even the smallest progress, and treat the outcome of it all as unimportant.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"What do you want, rational minds or irrational?” Rational minds. “What sort of rational minds, calm or disturbed?” Calm. “How can you acquire calm, rational minds?” We already have them. “Really? Then why are you squabbling among yourselves?” —Socrates","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"For every action, ask: How does it affect me? Could I change my mind about it?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"aplicar la anécdota referida a Sócrates[162] de que podía al tiempo abstenerse y disfrutar de aquello por lo que la mayoría en caso de abstinencia se siente débil y en caso de disfrute se dejan llevar; ser fuerte y resistente y en ambas cosas ser sobrio [es","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Progress in Stoicism is not acquiring new faculties or powers but learning to trust and depend on your rational faculty.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"So what should one take seriously? Only the following: a just mind, socially useful actions, speech that only ever tells the truth, and the ability to welcome everything that happens as necessary,","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"if in every particular action thou dost perform what is fitting to the utmost of thy power, let it suffice thee. And who can hinder thee, but that thou mayest perform what is fitting? But there may be some outward let and impediment. Not any, that can hinder thee, but that whatsoever thou dost, thou may do it, justly, temperately, and with the praise of God.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If, at some point in your life, you should come across anything better than justice, prudence, self-control, courage — than a mind satisfied that it has succeeded in enabling you to act rationally, and satisfied to accept what’s beyond its control — if you find anything better than that, embrace it without reservations — it must be an extraordinary thing indeed — and enjoy it to the full.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Everything in any way beautiful has its beauty of itself, inherent and self-sufficient: praise is no part of it.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If any god told thee that thou shalt die to-morrow, or certainly on the day after to-morrow, thou wouldst not care much whether it was on the third day or on the morrow, unless thou wast in the highest degree mean-spirited — for how small is the difference? — So think it no great thing to die after as many years as thou canst name rather than to-morrow.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"I have to go to work—as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was born for—the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Be like a headland: the Waves beat against it continuously, but it stands fast and around it the boiling water dies down.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Don’t cling to possessions and other external things; cling only to the divine spark within you.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Your ability to control your thoughts—treat it with respect. It’s all that protects your mind from false perceptions—false to your nature, and that of all rational beings. It’s what makes thoughtfulness possible, and affection for other people, and submission to the divine.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If you work at that which is before you, following right reason seriously, vigorously, calmly, without allowing anything else to distract you, but keeping your divine part pure, as if you should be bound to give it back immediately; if you hold to this, expecting nothing, fearing nothing, but satisfied with your present activity according to nature, and with heroic truth in every word and sound which you utter, you will live happy. And there is no-one who is able to prevent this.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"We are inherently good. Why, then, are there so many bad people in the world? Because of their upbringing, according to the Stoics: they never grew out of the infantile trap of judging things in terms of pleasure and pain, and so seeking pleasure and avoiding pain became their aims in life. Although it is a natural human tendency to want what is good for oneself, most people mistakenly think that what is good for themselves is pleasure, and that leads them to nonvirtuous behavior. They assent to the wrong propositions.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"A good eye must be good to see whatsoever is to be seen, and not green things only. For that is proper to sore eyes. So must a good ear, and a good smell be ready for whatsoever is either to be heard, or smelt: and a good stomach as indifferent to all kinds of food, as a millstone is, to whatsoever she was made for to grind.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Haz por semejarte al peñasco batido sin cesar por las olas: permanece inmóvil y a su alrededor desmaya la efervescencia de las aguas.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"You must build up your life action by action, and be content if each one achieves its goal as far as possible.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"There’s nothing more insufferable than people who boast about their own humility.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"They seek for themselves private retiring places, as country villages, the sea-shore, mountains; yea thou thyself art wont to long much after such places. But all this thou must know proceeds from simplicity in the highest degree. At what time soever thou wilt, it is in thy power to retire into thyself, and to be at rest, and free from all businesses. A man cannot any whither retire better than to his own soul; he especially who is beforehand provided of such things within, which whensoever he doth withdraw himself to look in, may presently afford unto him perfect ease and tranquillity.... free from all confusion and tumultuousness. Afford then thyself this retiring continually, and thereby refresh and renew thyself. Let these precepts be brief and fundamental, which as soon as thou dost call them to mind, may suffice thee to purge thy soul throughly, and to send thee away well pleased with those things whatsoever they be, which now again after this short withdrawing of thy soul into herself thou dost return unto.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Begin each day by telling yourself: Today I shall be meeting with interference, ingratitude, insolence, disloyalty, ill-will, and selfishness - all of them due to the offenders' ignorance of what is good or evil. But for my part I have long perceived the nature of good and its nobility, the nature of evil and its meanness, and also the nature of the culprit himself, who is my brother (not in the physical sense, but as a fellow-creature similarly endowed with reason and a share of the divine); therefore none of those things can injure me because, for nobody can implicate me in what is degrading.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Propio del hombre es amar incluso a los que tropiezan. Y eso se consigue, en cuanto se te ocurra pensar que son tus familiares, y que pecan por ignorancia y contra su voluntad, y que dentro de poco ambos estareís muerto y que, ante todo, no te dañó puesto que no hizo a tu guia interior peor de lo que era antes","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Does anything genuinely beautiful need supplementing? No more than justice does—or truth, or kindness, or humility. Are any of those improved by being praised? Or damaged by contempt? Is an emerald suddenly flawed if no one admires it? Or gold, or ivory, or purple? Lyres? Knives? Flowers? Bushes?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Keep in mind how fast things pass by and are gone—those that are now, and those to come. Existence flows past us like a river: the “what” is in constant flux, the “why” has a thousand variations. Nothing is stable, not even what’s right here. The infinity of past and future gapes before us—a chasm whose depths we cannot see.","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"XXV. How hast thou carried thyself hitherto towards the Gods? towards thy parents? towards thy brethren? towards thy wife? towards thy children? towards thy masters? thy foster-fathers? thy friends? thy domestics? thy servants? Is it so with thee, that hitherto thou hast neither by word or deed wronged any of them? Remember withal through how many things thou hast already passed, and how many thou hast been able to endure; so that now the legend of thy life is full, and thy charge is accomplished. Again, how many truly good things have certainly by thee been discerned? how many pleasures, how many pains hast thou passed over with contempt? how many things eternally glorious hast thou despised? towards how many perverse unreasonable men hast thou carried thyself kindly, and discreetly?","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"Desde el alba hay que decirse con énfasis a uno mismo: me toparé con el entrometido, con el desagradecido, con el soberbio, con el taimado, con el malicioso, el insociable. Todos","author":"Marcus Aurelius"},{"text":"If anyone tells you that a certain person speaks ill of you, do not make excuses about what is said of you but answer, \"He was ignorant of my other faults, else he would not have mentioned these alone.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power or our will.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Don't just say you have read books. Show that through them you have learned to think better, to be a more discriminating and reflective person. Books are the training weights of the mind. They are very helpful, but it would be a bad mistake to suppose that one has made progress simply by having internalized their contents.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Man is not worried by real problems so much as by his imagined anxieties about real problems","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"How long are you going to wait before you demand the best for yourself and in no instance bypass the discriminations of reason? You have been given the principles that you ought to endorse, and you have endorsed them. What kind of teacher, then, are you still waiting for in order to refer your self-improvement to him? You are no longer a boy, but a full-grown man. If you are careless and lazy now and keep putting things off and always deferring the day after which you will attend to yourself, you will not notice that you are making no progress, but you will live and die as someone quite ordinary.  From now on, then, resolve to live as a grown-up who is making progress, and make whatever you think best a law that you never set aside. And whenever you encounter anything that is difficult or pleasurable, or highly or lowly regarded, remember that the contest is now: you are at the Olympic Games, you cannot wait any longer, and that your progress is wrecked or preserved by a single day and a single event. That is how Socrates fulfilled himself by attending to nothing except reason in everything he encountered. And you, although you are not yet a Socrates, should live as someone who at least wants to be a Socrates.","author":"Epictetus (From Manual 51)"},{"text":"If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Any person capable of angering you becomes your master; he can anger you only when you permit yourself to be disturbed by him.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"He who laughs at himself never runs out of things to laugh at.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Freedom is the only worthy goal in life. It is won by disregarding things that lie beyond our control.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Circumstances don't make the man, they only reveal him to himself.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"People are not disturbed by things, but by the views they take of them.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Other people's views and troubles can be contagious. Don't sabotage yourself by unwittingly adopting negative, unproductive attitudes through your associations with others.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Only the educated are free.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Remember, it is not enough to be hit or insulted to be harmed, you must believe that you are being harmed. If someone succeeds in provoking you, realize that your mind is complicit in the provocation. Which is why it is essential that we not respond impulsively to impressions; take a moment before reacting, and you will find it easier to maintain control.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"You are a little soul carrying around a corpse","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"I laugh at those who think they can damage me. They do not know who I am, they do not know what I think, they cannot even touch the things which are really mine and with which I live.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"To accuse others for one's own misfortune is a sign of want of education. To accuse oneself shows that one's education has begun. To accuse neither oneself nor others shows that one's education is complete.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"First learn the meaning of what you say, and then speak.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"No man is free who is not master of himself.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Nature hath given men one tongue but two ears, that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Τίς εἶναι θέλεις, σαυτῷ πρῶτον εἰπέ: εἶθ' οὕτως ποίει ἃ ποιεῖς. ( .)","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Attach yourself to what is spiritually superior, regardless of what other people think or do. Hold to your true aspirations no matter what is going on around you.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Seek not the good in external things;seek it in yourselves.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"The greater the difficulty, the more glory in surmounting it. Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Most of what passes for legitimate entertainment is inferior or foolish and only caters to or exploits people's weaknesses. Avoid being one of the mob who indulges in such pastimes. Your life is too short and you have important things to do. Be discriminating about what images and ideas you permit into your mind. If you yourself don't choose what thoughts and images you expose yourself to, someone else will, and their motives may not be the highest. It is the easiest thing in the world to slide imperceptibly into vulgarity. But there's no need for that to happen if you determine not to waste your time and attention on mindless pap.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Now is the time to get serious about living your ideals. How long can you afford to put off who you really want to be? Your nobler self cannot wait any longer. Put your principles into practice – now. Stop the excuses and the procrastination. This is your life! You aren’t a child anymore. The sooner you set yourself to your spiritual program, the happier you will be. The longer you wait, the more you’ll be vulnerable to mediocrity and feel filled with shame and regret, because you know you are capable of better. From this instant on, vow to stop disappointing yourself. Separate yourself from the mob. Decide to be extraordinary and do what you need to do – now.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Caretake this moment. Immerse yourself in its particulars. Respond to this person, this challenge, this deed. Quit evasions. Stop giving yourself needless trouble. It is time to really live; to fully inhabit the situation you happen to be in now.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Don't seek to have events happen as you wish, but wish them to happen as they do happen, and all will be well with you.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Do not try to seem wise to others.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Know, first, who you are, and then adorn yourself accordingly.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"God has entrusted me with myself. No man is free who is not master of himself. A man should so live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things. The world turns aside to let any man pass who knows where he is going.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Small-minded people blame others. Average people blame themselves. The wise see all blame as foolishness","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If evil be said of thee, and if it be true, correct thyself; if it be a lie, laugh at it.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"A ship should not ride on a single anchor, nor life on a single hope","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid with regard to external things. Don't wish to be thought to know anything; and even if you appear to be somebody important to others, distrust yourself. For, it is difficult to both keep your faculty of choice in a state conformable to nature, and at the same time acquire external things. But while you are careful about the one, you must of necessity neglect the other","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Preach not to others what they should eat, but eat as becomes you and be silent.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Some things are in our control and others not. Things in our control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever are our own actions. Things not in our control are body, property, reputation, command, and, in one word, whatever are not our actions. The things in our control are by nature free, unrestrained, unhindered; but those not in our control are weak, slavish, restrained, belonging to others. Remember, then, that if you suppose that things which are slavish by nature are also free, and that what belongs to others is your own, then you will be hindered. You will lament, you will be disturbed, and you will find fault both with gods and men. But if you suppose that only to be your own which is your own, and what belongs to others such as it really is, then no one will ever compel you or restrain you. Further, you will find fault with no one or accuse no one. You will do nothing against your will. No one will hurt you, you will have no enemies, and you not be harmed.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"You know yourself what you are worth in your own eyes; and at what price you will sell yourself. For men sell themselves at various prices. This is why, when Florus was deliberating whether he should appear at Nero's shows, taking part in the performance himself, Agrippinus replied, 'Appear by all means.' And when Florus inquired, 'But why do not you appear?' he answered, 'Because I do not even consider the question.' For the man who has once stooped to consider such questions, and to reckon up the value of external things, is not far from forgetting what manner of man he is.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Never depend on the admiration of others. There is no strength in it. Personal merit cannot be derived from an external source. It is not to be found in your personal associations, nor can it be found in the regard of other people. It is a fact of life that other people, even people who love you, will not necessarily agree with your ideas, understand you, or share your enthusiasms. Grow up! Who cares what other people think about you!","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"I must die. Must I then die lamenting? I must be put in chains. Must I then also lament? I must go into exile. Does any man then hinder me from going with smiles and cheerfulness and contentment?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you would be a reader, read; if a writer, write.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"What really frightens and dismays us is not external events themselves, but the way in which we think about them. It is not things that disturb us, but our interpretation of their significance.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"You become what you give your attention to.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you wish to be a writer, write.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Demand not that things happen as you wish, but wish them to happen as they do, and you will go on well.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"We are not disturbed by what happens to us, but by our thoughts about what happens to us.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Events do not just happen, but arrive by appointment.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Remember that you ought to behave in life as you would at a banquet. As something is being passed around it comes to you; stretch out your hand, take a portion of it politely. It passes on; do not detain it. Or it has not come to you yet; do not project your desire to meet it, but wait until it comes in front of you. So act toward children, so toward a wife, so toward office, so toward wealth.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Know you not that a good man does nothing for appearance sake, but for the sake of having done right?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Difficulty shows what men are. Therefore when a difficulty falls upon you, remember that God, like a trainer of wrestlers, has matched you with a rough young man. Why? So that you may become an Olympic conqueror; but it is not accomplished without sweat.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"It is not so much what happens to you as how you think about what happens.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Asked, Who is the rich man? Epictetus replied, “He who is content.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you would cure anger, do not feed it. Say to yourself: 'I used to be angry every day; then every other day; now only every third or fourth day.' When you reach thirty days offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the gods.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Whatever your mission, stick by it as if it were a law and you would be committing sacrilege to betray it.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Just begin, believe me, and you will see the truth of what I’ve been saying.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"No. Instead from school it’s straight off to the theatre, to a gladiatorial game, to an athletic show or the circus. Then from there you come back here, and from here, off you go again, the same people, the same pursuits – [15] you show no serious discipline, concern, or care for yourself.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"remain steadfast in pursuing your mission, always willing to shed distractions.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Some things are within our power while others are not.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"You are but an appearance, and not absolutely the thing you appear to be.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Lead me, Zeus, lead me, Destiny, To the goal I was long ago assigned And I will follow without hesitation. Even should I resist, In a spirit of perversity, I will have to follow nonetheless. [2] Whoever yields to necessity graciously We account wise in God’s ways.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Each time an obstacle arises, remind yourself of this truth. While it may hinder some part of you, it cannot constrain your true self.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"These reasonings have no logical connection: “I am richer than you, therefore I am your superior.” “I am more eloquent than you, therefore I am your superior.” The true logical connection is rather this: “I am richer than you, therefore my possessions must exceed yours.” “I am more eloquent than you, therefore my style must surpass yours.” But you, after all, consist neither in property nor in style.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"End the habit of despising things that are not within your power,","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"I cannot stay in harmony if I let myself become upset by things beyond my control.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Consider first, man, what the matter is, and what your own nature is able to bear. If you would be a wrestler, consider your shoulders, your back, your thighs; for different persons are made for different things.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"No man is free unless he is the master of himself.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"death is nothing to fear in itself, or Socrates would have run from it.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"When you are feeling upset, angry, or sad, don’t blame another for your state of mind.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"A vine cannot behave olively, nor an olive tree vinely – it is impossible, inconceivable.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Every difficulty in life presents us with an opportunity to turn inward and to invoke our own submerged inner resources. The trials we endure can and should introduce us to our strengths...Dig deeply. You possess strengths you might not realize you have. Find the right one. Use it.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"The object of your love is mortal; it is not one of your possessions; it has been given to you for the present, not inseparably nor forever.” (Epictetus, The Discourses)","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"What, then, is your own? The way you live your life.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you’re writing to a friend, grammar will tell you what letters you ought to choose, but as to whether or not you ought to write to your friend, grammar won’t tell you that.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Whatever rules you have adopted, abide by them as laws, and as if you would be impious to transgress them; and do not regard what anyone says of you, for this, after all, is no concern of yours. How long, then, will you delay to demand of yourself the noblest improvements, and in no instance to transgress the judgments of reason? You have received the philosophic principles with which you ought to be conversant; and you have been conversant with them. For what other master, then, do you wait as an excuse for this delay in self-reformation? You are no longer a boy but a grown man. If, therefore, you will be negligent and slothful, and always add procrastination to procrastination, purpose to purpose, and fix day after day in which you will attend to yourself, you will insensibly continue to accomplish nothing and, living and dying, remain of vulgar mind. This instant, then, think yourself worthy of living as a man grown up and a proficient. Let whatever appears to be the best be to you an inviolable law. And if any instance of pain or pleasure, glory or disgrace, be set before you, remember that now is the combat, now the Olympiad comes on, nor can it be put off; and that by one failure and defeat honor may be lost or—won. Thus Socrates became perfect, improving himself by everything, following reason alone. And though you are not yet a Socrates, you ought, however, to live as one seeking to be a Socrates.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you hear that someone is speaking ill of you, instead of trying to defend yourself you should say: ‘He obviously does not know me very well, since there are so many other faults he could have mentioned’.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Não procures que tudo quanto acontece aconteça como desejas, antes deseja que tudo aconteça como de facto acontece. Desse modo serás feliz.","author":"Epicteto"},{"text":"It is better to die poor, while free from fear and grief, than to live surrounded by riches and filled with anxiety.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"[13] But it sometimes comes about that, when we have properly granted certain premisses, certain conclusions are derived from them that, though false, nonetheless follow from them. [14] What am I to do, then? Accept the false conclusion? [15] And how is that possible? Then should I say that I was wrong to accept the premisses? No, this isn’t permissible either. Or say: That doesn’t follow from the premisses? But that again isn’t permissible. [16] So what is one to do in such circumstances? Isn’t it the same as with debts? Just as having borrowed on some occasion isn’t enough to make somebody a debtor, but it is necessary in addition that he continues to owe the money and hasn’t paid off the loan; likewise, our having accepted the premisses isn’t enough to make it necessary for us to accept the inference, but we have to continue to accept the premisses. [","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Whenever distress or displeasure arises in your mind, remind yourself, “This is only my interpretation, not reality itself.” Then ask whether it falls within or outside your sphere of power. And, if it is beyond your power to control, let it go.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Study, not in order to add anything to your knowledge, but to make your knowledge better.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you are praised by others, be skeptical of yourself. For it is no easy feat to hold onto your inner harmony while collecting accolades.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"So in life our first job is this, to divide and distinguish things into two categories: externals I cannot control, but the choices I make with regard to them I do control","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"You should keep learning as long as you are ignorant, – even to the end of your life, if there is anything in the proverb. And the proverb suits the present case as well as any: \"As long as you live, keep learning how to live.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Good luck frees many men from punishment, but no man from fear.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If God had created colours, but not the faculty of vision, colours would have been of little use. [4] Or if God had created vision, but not made sure that objects could be seen, vision would have been worthless. [5] And even if he had made them both, but not created light – [6] then neither would have been of any value. So who contrived this universal accommodation of things to one another? Who fitted the sword to the scabbard and the scabbard to the sword? No one?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you are kissing your child or wife, say that it is a human being whom you are kissing, for when the wife or child dies, you will not be disturbed.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Thus do the more cautious of travellers act. The road is said to be beset by robbers. The traveller will not venture alone, but awaits the companionship on the road of an ambassador, a quaestor or a proconsul. To him he attaches himself and thus passes by in safety. So doth the wise man in the world.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"It is impossible to learn that which one thinks one already knows.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Be sure to foresee whatever can be foreseen by planning. Observe and avoid, long before it happens, anything that is likely to do you harm. To effect this your best assistance will be a spirit of confidence and a mind strongly resolved to endure all things. He who can bear Fortune, can also beware of Fortune. At any rate, there is no dashing of billows when the sea is calm. And there is nothing more wretched or foolish than premature fear. What madness it is to anticipate one's troubles!","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Remember that you must behave as at a banquet. Is anything brought round to you? Put out your hand and take a moderate share. Does it pass by you? Do not stop it. Is it not yet come? Do not yearn in desire toward it, but wait till it reaches you. So with regard to children, wife, office, riches; and you will some time or other be worthy to feast with the gods. And if you do not so much as take the things which are set before you, but are able even to forego them, then you will not only be worthy to feast with the gods, but to rule with them also.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"I can only suppose that you weigh all those negatives against the worth of the show, and choose, in the end, to be patient and put up with it all.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"The man has to learn ‘what each specific thing means’, as Socrates often said, and stop casually applying preconceptions to individual cases.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"[19] ‘My brother shouldn’t have treated me in this way.’ Indeed he shouldn’t, but it’s for him to see to that. For my part, however he treats me, I should conduct myself towards him as I ought. For that is my business, and the rest is not my concern. In this no one can hinder me, while everything else is subject to hindrance.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"But it is within your power to avoid disappointment, by directing your desires to things that are rightfully yours to obtain and control.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Instead of meeting misfortune with groans and tears, I will call upon the faculty especially provided to deal with it.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Some things are up to us and some are not up to us. Our opinions are up to us, and our impulses, desires, aversions – in short, whatever is our own doing. Our bodies are not up to us, nor are our possessions, our reputations, or our public offices. . .","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Whatever your vocation, pursue it wholeheartedly. Consider, choose, and commit.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Taking account of the value of externals, you see, comes at some cost to the value of one's own character.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Any person capable of angering you becomes your master; he can anger you only when you permit yourself to be disturbed by him.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Make it your goal never to fail in your desires or experience things you would rather avoid; try never to err in impulse and repulsion; aim to be perfect also in the practice of attention and withholding judgment.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"In the long run, every man will pay the penalty for his own misdeeds. The man who remembers this will be angry with no one, indignant with no one, revile no one, blame no one, offend no one, hate no one.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Freedom, you see, is having events go in accordance with our will, never contrary to it.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Can we avoid people? How is that possible? And if we associate with them, can we change them? Who gives us that power?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"You can be invincible, if you enter into no contest in which it is not in your power to conquer.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Philosophers say that people are all guided by a single standard. When they assent to a thing, it is because they feel it must be true, when they dissent, it is because they feel something isn't true, and when they suspend judgement, it is because they feel that the thing is unclear.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"at any one time, whereas the conjunctive proposition ‘Both it is day and it is night’ is false at any moment. 8. As you are careful … at the same time: E.g. by ‘strutting’ or otherwise walking in an inappropriate manner, or engaging in undignified thoughts or daydreams. 9. Don’t embrace marble statues: Outdoors, naked, in cold weather: a bizarre and showy kind","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Destroy desire completely for the present. For if you desire anything which is not in our power, you must be unfortunate","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"As long as you honour material things, direct your anger at yourself rather than the thief or adulterer.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"No hagas que tu felicidad dependa de lo que no depende de ti","author":"Epícteto"},{"text":"If then you desire (aim at) such great things remember that you must not (attempt to) lay hold of them with a small effort;","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you keep yourself calm, poised and dignified, [10] if you observe rather than are observed, if you don’t envy people with greater success, don’t let externals disconcert you – if you do all this, what more do you need?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Seek at once, therefore, to be able to say to every unpleasing semblance, “You are but a semblance and by no means the real thing.” And then examine it by those rules which you have; and first and chiefly by this: whether it concerns the things which are within our own power or those which are not; and if it concerns anything beyond our power, be prepared to say that it is nothing to you.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"What is the product of virtue? Tranquillity.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"the World turns aside to let any man pass who knows where he is going.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"İnsanın zaten bildiğini sandığı şeyi öğrenmesi imkansızdır.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Stop judging the things that fate brings you as “good” or “evil”; only judge your own thoughts, desires, and actions as good or evil. If you suppose events to be good or evil in themselves, when life doesn’t go as you wish you will inevitably blame the Author.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"When you are feeling upset, angry, or sad,” Epictetus said, “don’t blame another for your state of mind. Your condition is the result of your own opinions and interpretations. . . . “When anyone provokes you, remember that it is actually your own opinion provoking you. It is not the person who insults or attacks you who torments your mind, but the view you take of these things.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"So what oppresses and scares us? It is our own thoughts, obviously.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"When a young man was boasting in the theater and saying, I am wise, for I have conversed with many wise men; Epictetus said, I also have conversed with many rich men, but I am not rich.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Behold the birth of tragedy: when idiots come face to face with the vicissitudes of life.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Remind yourself that what you love is mortal … at the very moment you are taking joy in something, present yourself with the opposite impressions. What harm is it, just when you are kissing your little child, to say: Tomorrow you will die, or to your friend similarly: Tomorrow one of us will go away, and we shall not see one another any more?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you have assumed any character beyond your strength, you have both demeaned yourself ill in that and quitted one which you might have supported.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Freedom is not attained through the satisfaction of desires, but through the suppression of desires.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Whenever you act from clear judgment, doing what needs to be done, do not worry about what others will think—even if the whole world might misunderstand you.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Rahatsız edici bir sorunun sakin bir şekilde üstesinden gelmek, benim içsel huzurum için ödediğim bedeldir. Kaygı ve endişeden özgür kalmam için ödediğim şeydir; işe yaramaz bir şey için değil.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Cilvēks necieš no notikumiem, bet gan no to interpretācijas. (Epiktēts, 50–135.g.)","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Whoever then has knowledge of good things, would know how to love them; but how could one who cannot distinguish good things from evil and things indifferent from both have power to love?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"When you desire something outside your sphere of power, you set yourself up for disappointment","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you have nothing better to do than praise me for it, then my speech was a failure.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"endurance of labour, and to want little, and to work with my own hands, and not to meddle with other people's affairs, and not to be ready to listen to slander.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Continually remind yourself that you are a mortal being, and someday will die. This will inspire you not to waste precious time in fruitless activities, like stewing over grievances and striving after possessions.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"When therefore we are hindered, or disturbed, or grieved, let us never attribute it to others, but to ourselves; that is, to our own principles. An uninstructed person will lay the fault of his own bad condition upon others. Someone just starting instruction will lay the fault on himself. Some who is perfectly instructed will place blame neither on others nor on himself.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"You must be one man, either good or bad. You must cultivate either your own ruling faculty or externals, and apply yourself either to things within or without you; that is, be either a philosopher, or one of the vulgar.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Continually remind yourself that you are a mortal being, and someday will die.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"How do I handle chance impressions, naturally or unnaturally? Do I respond to them as I should, or don’t I?∗ Do I tell externals that they are nothing to me?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you want to be respected, start by respecting yourself.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"that you never be unfortunate or unhappy, but free, unrestricted and unrestrained; in sympathy with God’s rule, which you submit to cheerfully; at odds with no one, no one’s accuser; able in all sincerity to speak Cleanthes’ line: ‘Lead me, Zeus, lead me, Destiny.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"A boxer derives the greatest advantage from his sparring partner – and my accuser is my sparring partner. He trains me in patience, civility and even temper.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"O senhor de si mesmo é aquele que possui o poder de conservar ou repelir as coisas desejadas ou não desejadas.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"which would you rather have—money to share with others, or loyal and honest friends?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"For what else is tragedy than the perturbations ([Greek: pathae]) of men who value externals exhibited in this kind of poetry?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Wisdom's seat is higher; she trains not the hands, but is mistress of our minds.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If a man, said Epictetus, opposes evident truths, it is not easy to find arguments by which we shall make him change his opinion. But this does not arise either from the man's strength or the teacher's weakness; for when the man, though he has been confuted, is hardened like a stone, how shall we then be able to deal with him by argument?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"It is not wisdom that contrives arms, or walls, or instruments useful in war; nay, her voice is for peace, and she summons all mankind to concord. It is not she, I maintain, who is the artisan of our indispensable implements of daily use. Why do you assign to her such petty things? You see in her the skilled artisan of life. The other arts, it is true, wisdom has under her control; for he whom life serves is also served by the things which equip life. But wisdom's course is toward the state of happiness; thither she guides us, thither she opens the way for us. She shows us what things are evil and what things are seemingly evil; she strips our minds of vain illusion. She bestows upon us a greatness which is substantial, but she represses the greatness which is inflated, and showy but filled with emptiness; and she does not permit us to be ignorant of the difference between what is great and what is but swollen; nay, she delivers to us the knowledge of the whole of nature and of her own nature. She discloses to us what the gods are and of what sort they are; what are the nether gods, the household deities, and the protecting spirits; what are the souls which have been endowed with lasting life and have been admitted to the second class of divinities, where is their abode and what their activities, powers, and will.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"No person is free who is not master of themselves.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"The Good stands before us like an archer’s target. Evil is not a thing in itself but a missing of the mark, an arrow gone astray.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"It’s something like going on an ocean voyage. What can I do? Pick the captain, the boat, the date, and the best time to sail. [11] But then a storm hits. Well, it’s no longer my business; I have done everything I could. It’s somebody else’s problem now – namely the captain’s. [12] But then the boat actually begins to sink. What are my options? I do the only thing I am in a position to do, drown – but fearlessly, without bawling or crying out to God, because I know that what is born must also die.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"For my part, I can say, ‘bring what challenge you please and I will turn it to good account: bring illness, death, poverty, slander, a judgement of death: they will all be converted to advantage by my wand of Hermes.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Never call yourself a philosopher, nor talk a great deal among the unlearned about theorems, but act conformably to them. Thus, at an entertainment, don’t talk how persons ought to eat, but eat as you ought.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Know, first, who you are; and then adorn yourself accordingly.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Do not say of anything “I have lost it,” but rather, “I have given it back.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Working within our sphere of control, we are naturally free, independent, and strong. Beyond that sphere, we are weak, limited, and dependent.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you act rashly, without regard to consequences, you may defeat your purposes.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Everything is estimated by the standard of its own good. The vine is valued for its productiveness and the flavour of its wine, the stag for his speed. We ask, with regard to beasts of burden, how sturdy of back they are; for their only use is to bear burdens. If a dog is to find the trail of a wild beast, keenness of scent is of first importance; if to catch his quarry, swiftness of foot; if to attack and harry it, courage. In each thing that quality should be best for which the thing is brought into being and by which it is judged. And what quality is best in man? It is reason; by virtue of reason he surpasses the animals, and is surpassed only by the gods. Perfect reason is therefore the good peculiar to man; all other qualities he shares in some degree with animals and plants. Man is strong; so is the lion. Man is comely; so is the peacock. Man is swift; so is the horse. I do not say that man is surpassed in all these qualities. I am not seeking to find that which is greatest in him, but that which is peculiarly his own. Man has body; so also have trees. Man has the power to act and to move at will; so have beasts and worms. Man has a voice; but how much louder is the voice of the dog, how much shriller that of the eagle, how much deeper that of the bull, how much sweeter and more melodious that of the nightingale! What then is peculiar to man? Reason. When this is right and has reached perfection, man's felicity is complete. Hence, if everything is praiseworthy and has arrived at the end intended by its nature, when it has brought its peculiar good to perfection, and if man's peculiar good is reason; then, if a man has brought his reason to perfection, he is praiseworthy and has readied the end suited to his nature. This perfect reason is called virtue, and is likewise that which is honourable.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"It is not your concern by what means something returns to the Source from which it came.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Most of us would be seized with fear if our bodies went numb, and would do everything possible to avoid it, yet we take no interest at all in the numbing of our souls.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Do you think freedom is something good?’ ‘The greatest good of all.’ ‘Can anyone in possession of the greatest good be unhappy or unfortunate?’ ‘No.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"The first and most important field of philosophy is the application of principles such as “Do not lie.” Next come the proofs, such as why we should not lie. The third field supports and articulates the proofs, by asking, for example, “How does this prove it? What exactly is a proof, what is logical inference, what is contradiction, what is truth, what is falsehood?” Thus, the third field is necessary because of the second, and the second because of the first. The most important, though, the one that should occupy most of our time, is the first. But we do just the opposite. We are preoccupied with the third field and give that all our attention, passing the first by altogether. The result is that we lie – but have no difficulty proving why we shouldn’t.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"A guide, on finding a man who has lost his way, brings him back to the right path—he does not mock and jeer at him and then take himself off. You also must show the unlearned man the truth, and you will see that he will follow. But so long as you do not show it him, you should not mock, but rather feel your own incapacity.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"When a youth was giving himself airs in the Theatre and saying, 'I am wise, for I have conversed with many wise men,' Epictetus replied, 'I too have conversed with many rich men, yet I am not rich!’.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Don't hope that events will turn out the way you want, welcome events in whichever way they happen: this is the path to peace.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Difficulty shows what men are.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid with regard to external things. Don't wish to be thought to know anything; and even if you appear to be somebody important to others, distrust yourself.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"What would have become of Hercules do you think if there had been no lion, hydra, stag or boar - and no savage criminals to rid the world of? What would he have done in the absence of such challenges?  Obviously he would have just rolled over in bed and gone back to sleep. So by snoring his life away in luxury and comfort he never would have developed into the mighty Hercules.  And even if he had, what good would it have done him? What would have been the use of those arms, that physique, and that noble soul, without crises or conditions to stir into him action?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"It is more necessary for the soul to be cured than the body; for it is better to die than to live badly.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"There is but one way to tranquility of mind and happiness, and that is to account no external things thine own, but to commit all to God.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"It is better to do wrong seldom and to own it, and to act right for the most part, than seldom to admit that you have done wrong and to do wrong often.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Imagine for yourself a character, a model personality, whose example you determine to follow, in private as well as in public.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Whoever is going to listen to the philosophers needs a considerable practice in listening.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"We must not believe the many, who say that only free people ought to be educated, but we should rather believe the philosophers who say that only the educated are free.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you wish to be good, first believe that you are bad.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Do not afflict others with anything that you yourself would not wish to suffer. if you would not like to be a slave, make sure no one is your slave. If you have slaves, you yourself are the greatest slave, for just as freedom is incompatible with slavery, so goodness is incompatible with hypocrisy.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Is freedom anything else than the right to live as we wish? Nothing else.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Epictetus being asked how a man should give pain to his enemy answered, By preparing himself to live the best life that he can.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Do not try to seem wise to others. If you want to live a wise life, live it on your own terms and in your own eyes.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"To Epictetus, all external events are determined by fate, and are thus beyond our control, but we can accept whatever happens calmly and dispassionately. Individuals, however, are responsible for their own actions which they can examine and control through rigorous self-discipline. Suffering arises from trying to control what is uncontrollable, or from neglecting what is within our power. As part of the universal city that is the universe, human beings have a duty of care to all fellow humans. The person who followed these precepts would achieve happiness.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Remember that you must behave as at a banquet. Is anything brought round to you? Put out your hand, and take a moderate share. Does it pass you? Do not stop it. Is it not come yet? Do not yearn in desire towards it, but wait till it reaches you. So with regard to children , wife, office, riches; and you will some time or other be worthy to feast with the gods. And if you do not so much as take the things which are set before you, but are able even to forego them, then you will not only be worthy to feast with the gods, but to rule with them also. For, by thus doing, Diogenes and Heraclitus, and others like them, deservedly became divine, and were so recognized.","author":"Epictetus Epictetus"},{"text":"Don't live by your own rules, but in harmony with nature","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"We suffer not from the events in our lives but from our judgement about them.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"The essence of philosophy is that a man should so live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"When any person harms you, or speaks badly of you, remember that he acts or speaks from a supposition of its being his duty. Now, it is not possible that he should follow what appears right to you, but what appears so to himself. Therefore, if he judges from a wrong appearance, he is the person hurt, since he too is the person deceived. For if anyone should suppose a true proposition to be false, the proposition is not hurt, but he who is deceived about it. Setting out, then, from these principles, you will meekly bear a person who reviles you, for you will say upon every occasion, \"It seemed so to him.\" ....","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"What concerns me is not the way things are, but the way people think things are.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"God save me from fools with a little philosophy—no one is more difficult to reach.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If they are wise, do not quarrel with them; if they are fools, ignore them.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Sickness is a problem for the body, not the mind — unless the mind decides that it is a problem. Lameness, too, is the body's problem, not the mind's. Say this to yourself whatever the circumstance and you will find without fail that the problem pertains to something else, not to you.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Men are disturbed not by the things that happen, but by their opinion of the things that happen.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"What saith Antisthenes? Hast thou never heard?— It is a kingly thing, O Cyrus, to do well and to be evil spoken of.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Circumstances do not rise to meet our expectations. Events happen as they do. People behave as they are. Embrace what you actually get.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Asked how a man should best grieve his enemy, Epictetus replied, \"By setting himself to live the noblest life himself.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Be happy when you find that doctrines you have learned and analysed are being tested by real events. If you’ve succeeded in removing or reducing the tendency to be mean and critical, or thoughtless, or foul-mouthed, or careless, or nonchalant; if old interests no longer engage you, at least not to the same extent; then every day can be a feast day – today because you acquitted yourself well in one set of circumstances, tomorrow because of another.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Is then the fruit of a fig-tree not perfect suddenly and in one hour, and would you possess the fruit of a man's mind in so short a time and so easily?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Some things are in our control and others not. Things in our control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever are our own actions. Things not in our control are body, property, reputation, command, and, in one word, whatever are not our own actions.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Who, then, is the invincible human being? One who can be disconcerted by nothing that lies outside the sphere of choice.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Above all, remember that the door stands open. Be not more fearful than children; but as they, when they weary of the game, cry, \"I will play no more,\" even so, when thou art in the like case, cry, \"I will play no more\" and depart. But if thou stayest, make no lamentation.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you choose, you are free; if you choose, you need blame no man—accuse no man. All things will be at once according to your mind and according to the Mind of God.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"The gods do not exists, and even if they exist they do not trouble themselves about people, and we have nothing in common with them. The piety and devotion to the gods that the majority of people invoke is a lie devised by swindlers and con men and, if you can believe it, by legislators, to keep criminals in line by putting the fear of God into them.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Adopt new habits yourself: consolidate your principles by putting them into practice.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Tell yourself what you want to be, then act your part accordingly.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Free is the person who lives as he wishes and cannot be coerced, impeded or compelled, whose impulses cannot be thwarted, who always gets what he desires and never has to experience what he would rather avoid.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Never praise or blame people on common grounds; look to their judgements exclusively. Because that is the determining factor, which makes everyone's actions either good or bad.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"We should realize that an opinion is not easily formed unless a person says and hears the same things every day and practises them in real life.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"It is possible to learn the will of nature from the things in which we do not differ from each other. For example, when someone else's little slave boy breaks his cup we are ready to say, “It's one of those things that just happen.” Certainly, then, when your own cup is broken you should be just the way you were when the other person's was broken. Transfer the same idea to larger matters. Someone else's child is dead, or his wife. There is no one would not say, “It's the lot of a human being.” But when one's own dies, immediately it is, “Alas! Poor me!” But we should have remembered how we feel when we hear of the same thing about others.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Isn’t reading a kind of preparation for life?’  But life is composed of things other than books. It is as if an athlete, on entering the stadium, were to complain that he’s not outside exercising.This was the goal of your exercise, of your weights, your practice ring and your training partners.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"It is impossible to begin to learn that which one thinks one already knows.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you have assumed a character beyond your strength, you have both played a poor figure in that, and neglected one that is within your powers.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"What you shun enduring yourself, attempt not to impose on others. You shun slavery- beware enslaving others! If you can endure to do that, one would think you had been once upon a time a slave yourself. For vice has nothing in common with virtue, nor Freedom with slavery.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Let your will to avoid have no concern with what is not in man's power; direct it only to things in man's power that are contrary to nature.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Friend, lay hold with a desperate grasp, ere it is too late, on Freedom, on Tranquility, on Greatness of soul!","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"The knowledge of what is mine and what is not mine, what I can and cannot do. I must die. But must I die bawling? I must be exiled; but is there anything to keep me from going with a smile, calm and self-composed?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you wish it, you are free; if you wish it, you’ll find fault with no one, you’ll cast blame on no one, and everything that comes about will do so in accordance with your own will and that of God.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"For what else is tragedy than the portrayal in tragic verse of the sufferings of men who have attached high value to external things? [27]","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Protect what belongs to you at all costs; don't desire what belongs to another.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"For I am not Eternity, but a human being—a part of the whole, as an hour is part of the day. I must come like the hour, and like the hour must pass!","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Control thy passions lest they take vengeance on thee.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"He who is discontented with what he has, and with what has been granted to him by fortune, is one who is ignorant of the art of living, but he who bears that in a noble spirit, and makes reasonable use of all that comes from it, deserves to be regarded as a good man.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"I must die; so must I die groaning too?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Make a bad beginning and you’ll contend with troubles ever after.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If a person gave your body to any stranger he met on his way, you would certainly be angry. And do you feel no shame in handing over your own mind to be confused and mystified by anyone who happens to verbally attack you? 29.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Difficulties are things that show a person what they are.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Ask not that events should happen as you will, but let your will be that events should happen that you will have peace.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"For determining the rational and the irrational, we employ not only our estimates of the value of external things, but also the criterion of that which is in keeping with one's own character. (Book I.2, 17p)","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"People are strange, they neither wish to live nor die.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"The fear of death stems from the view that it is fearful.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Whenever externals are more important to you than your own integrity, then be prepared to serve them the remainder of your life.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"When any person does ill by you, or speaks ill of you, remember that he acts or speaks from an impression that it is right for him to do so. Now it is not possible that he should follow what appears right to you, but only what appears so to himself. Therefore, if he judges from false appearances, he is the person hurt, since he, too, is the person deceived. For if anyone takes a true proposition to be false, the proposition is not hurt, but only the man is deceived. Setting out, then, from these principles, you will meekly bear with a person who reviles you, for you will say upon every occasion, “It seemed so to him.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"I have a bad neighbour – bad, that is, for himself. For me, though, he is good: he exercises my powers of fairness and sociability.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If someone handed your body over to a passerby, you would be annoyed. Aren’t you ashamed that you hand over your mind to anyone around, for it to be upset and confused if the person insults you?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If a person gave your body to any stranger he met on his way, you would certainly be angry. And do you feel no shame in handing over your own mind to be confused and mystified by anyone who happens to verbally attack you?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Avoid banquets which are given by strangers and by ignorant persons.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"But shall he argue, indeed, and then not take pains to avoid conducting himself recklessly and at haphazard in an argument? And if he does not, how will he any longer be the sort of man we think he is? (...) Let them show that he will be able, and all these speculations become mere superfluity, they were absurd and inconsistent with our preconception of the good man.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Thus Epicurus also, when he designs to destroy the natural fellowship of mankind, at the same time makes use of that which he destroys. For what does he say? ‘Be not deceived, men, nor be led astray, nor be mistaken: there is no natural fellowship among rational animals; believe me. But those who say otherwise, deceive you and seduce you by false reasons.’—What is this to you? Permit us to be deceived. Will you fare worse, if all the rest of us are persuaded that there is a natural fellowship among us, and that it ought by all means to be preserved? Nay, it will be much better and safer for you. Man, why do you trouble yourself about us? Why do you keep awake for us? Why do you light your lamp? Why do you rise early? Why do you write so many books, that no one of us may be deceived about the gods and believe that they take care of men; or that no one may suppose the nature of good to be other than pleasure? For if this is so, lie down and sleep, and lead the life of a worm, of which you judged yourself worthy: eat and drink, and enjoy women, and ease yourself, and snore. And what is it to you, how the rest shall think about these things, whether right or wrong? For what have we to do with you? You take care of sheep because they supply us with wool and milk, and last of all with their flesh. Would it not be a desirable thing if men could be lulled and enchanted by the Stoics, and sleep and present themselves to you and to those like you to be shorn and milked? For this you ought to say to your brother Epicureans: but ought you not to conceal it from others, and particularly before every thing to persuade them, that we are by nature adapted for fellowship, that temperance is a good thing; in order that all things may be secured for you? Or ought we to maintain this fellowship with some and not with others? With whom then ought we to maintain it? With such as on their part also maintain it, or with such as violate this fellowship? And who violate it more than you who establish such doctrines? What then was it that waked Epicurus from his sleepiness, and compelled him to write what he did write?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"But my nose is running!' What do you have hands for, idiot, if not to wipe it? 'But how is it right that there be running noses in the first place?' Instead of thinking up protests, wouldn't it be easier just to wipe your nose?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Be careful to leave your sons [and daughters] well instructed rather than rich, for the hopes of the instructed are better than the wealth of the ignorant.\"  [in brackets: though I have only sons, I am--of course--someone's daughter]","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Maak er van meet af aan een goede gewoonte van tegen elke pijnlijke indruk van buitenaf te zeggen: 'Jij bent niet meer dan een indruk! Jij bent heel anders dan je je voordoet!","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Regularly ask yourself, “How are my thoughts, words, and deeds affecting my friends, my spouse, my neighbor, my child, my employer, my subordinates, my fellow citizens? Am I doing my part to contribute to the spiritual progress of all with whom I come in contact?” Make it your business to draw out the best in others by being an exemplar yourself.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Kein Mensch, der in Furcht oder Sorge oder Chaos lebt, ist frei, aber wer sich von Sorgen, Furcht und Chaos befreit, wird dadurch auch aus der Sklaverei befreit.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Every habit and faculty is confirmed and strengthened by the corresponding actions, that of walking by walking, that of running by running. If you wish to be a good reader, read; if you wish to be a good writer, write. If you should give up reading for thirty days one after the other, and be engaged in something else, you will know what happens. So also if you lie in bed for ten days, get up and try to take a rather long walk, and you will see how wobbly your legs are. In general, therefore, if you want to do something, make a habit of it; if you want not to do something, refrain from doing it, and accustom yourself to something else instead.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Hãy vứt ngay đi cái gì không phải của ta. Hãy thanh lọc các ý kiến của bạn để cái gì không thuộc về bạn sẽ không bám lấy bạn, đừng có dính vào đó và cũng đừng đau khổ khi người ta tước bỏ của bạn cái thứ không thuộc về bạn đó.","author":"Epictete"},{"text":"Idiot, that’s his concern – don’t concern yourself with other people’s business. It’s his problem if he receives you badly.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Doesn’t it seem to you that acting against one’s will, under protest and compulsion, is tantamount to being a slave?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"But until he succeeds in suppressing his lust and anxiety, how is he really free?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"To pay homage to beauty is to admire Nature; to admire Nature is to worship God.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"I was born to fly wherever I like, to live in the open air, to sing whenever I want. You take all this away from me and then say, “What’s wrong with you?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Whenever misfortune befalls you, ask yourself how you would react if it were someone else in the same situation.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Apropos of which, Diogenes says somewhere that one way to guarantee freedom is to be ready to die.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you are praised by others, be skeptical of yourself.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If anyone tells you that a certain person speaks ill of you, do not make excuses about what is said of you but answer, \"He was ignorant of my other faults, else he would not have mentioned these alone.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power or our will.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Don't just say you have read books. Show that through them you have learned to think better, to be a more discriminating and reflective person. Books are the training weights of the mind. They are very helpful, but it would be a bad mistake to suppose that one has made progress simply by having internalized their contents.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Man is not worried by real problems so much as by his imagined anxieties about real problems","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"How long are you going to wait before you demand the best for yourself and in no instance bypass the discriminations of reason? You have been given the principles that you ought to endorse, and you have endorsed them. What kind of teacher, then, are you still waiting for in order to refer your self-improvement to him? You are no longer a boy, but a full-grown man. If you are careless and lazy now and keep putting things off and always deferring the day after which you will attend to yourself, you will not notice that you are making no progress, but you will live and die as someone quite ordinary.  From now on, then, resolve to live as a grown-up who is making progress, and make whatever you think best a law that you never set aside. And whenever you encounter anything that is difficult or pleasurable, or highly or lowly regarded, remember that the contest is now: you are at the Olympic Games, you cannot wait any longer, and that your progress is wrecked or preserved by a single day and a single event. That is how Socrates fulfilled himself by attending to nothing except reason in everything he encountered. And you, although you are not yet a Socrates, should live as someone who at least wants to be a Socrates.","author":"Epictetus (From Manual 51)"},{"text":"If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Any person capable of angering you becomes your master; he can anger you only when you permit yourself to be disturbed by him.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"He who laughs at himself never runs out of things to laugh at.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Freedom is the only worthy goal in life. It is won by disregarding things that lie beyond our control.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Circumstances don't make the man, they only reveal him to himself.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"People are not disturbed by things, but by the views they take of them.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Other people's views and troubles can be contagious. Don't sabotage yourself by unwittingly adopting negative, unproductive attitudes through your associations with others.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Only the educated are free.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Remember, it is not enough to be hit or insulted to be harmed, you must believe that you are being harmed. If someone succeeds in provoking you, realize that your mind is complicit in the provocation. Which is why it is essential that we not respond impulsively to impressions; take a moment before reacting, and you will find it easier to maintain control.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"You are a little soul carrying around a corpse","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"I laugh at those who think they can damage me. They do not know who I am, they do not know what I think, they cannot even touch the things which are really mine and with which I live.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"To accuse others for one's own misfortune is a sign of want of education. To accuse oneself shows that one's education has begun. To accuse neither oneself nor others shows that one's education is complete.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"First learn the meaning of what you say, and then speak.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"No man is free who is not master of himself.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Nature hath given men one tongue but two ears, that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Τίς εἶναι θέλεις, σαυτῷ πρῶτον εἰπέ: εἶθ' οὕτως ποίει ἃ ποιεῖς. ( .)","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Attach yourself to what is spiritually superior, regardless of what other people think or do. Hold to your true aspirations no matter what is going on around you.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Seek not the good in external things;seek it in yourselves.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"REST.—If a man should be able to assent to this doctrine as he ought, that we are all sprung from God in an especial manner, and that God is the father both of men and of gods, I suppose that he would never have any ignoble or mean thoughts about himself. But if Cæsar (the emperor) should adopt you, no one could endure your arrogance; and if you know that you are the son of Zeus, will you not be elated?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"for your part, do not desire to be a general, or a senator, or a consul, but to be free; and the only way to this is a disregard of things which lie not within our own power.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Consider when, on a voyage, your ship is anchored; if you go on shore to get water you may along the way amuse yourself with picking up a shellish, or an onion. However, your thoughts and continual attention ought to be bent towards the ship, waiting for the captain to call on board; you must then immediately leave all these things, otherwise you will be thrown into the ship, bound neck and feet like a sheep. So it is with life. If, instead of an onion or a shellfish, you are given a wife or child, that is fine. But if the captain calls, you must run to the ship, leaving them, and regarding none of them. But if you are old, never go far from the ship: lest, when you are called, you should be unable to come in time.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"But first consider how much more sparing and patient of hardship the poor are than we.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Is it not the same distance to God everywhere?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"People feel disturbed not by things, but by the views they take of them.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If I show you, that you lack just what is most important and necessary to happiness, that hitherto your attention has been bestowed on everything rather than that which claims it most; and, to crown all, that you know neither what God nor Man is—neither what Good or Evil is: why, that you are ignorant of everything else, perhaps you may bear to be told; but to hear that you know nothing of yourself, how could you submit to that? How could you stand your ground and suffer that to be proved? Clearly not at all. You instantly turn away in wrath. Yet what harm have I done to you? Unless indeed the mirror harms the ill-favoured man by showing him to himself just as he is; unless the physician can be thought to insult his patient, when he tells him:—\"Friend, do you suppose there is nothing wrong with you? why, you have a fever. Eat nothing to-day, and drink only water.\" Yet no one says, \"What an insufferable insult!\" Whereas if you say to a man, \"Your desires are inflamed, your instincts of rejection are weak and low, your aims are inconsistent, your impulses are not in harmony with Nature, your opinions are rash and false,\" he forthwith goes away and complains that you have insulted him.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Always remember what is your own and what is not, and you’ll never be troubled. [","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"grammar will tell you how to write; but whether to write or not, grammar will not tell.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"What makes for freedom and fluency in the practice of writing? Knowledge of how to write. The same goes for the practice of playing an instrument. It follows that, in the conduct of life, there must be a science to living well.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Only consider at what price you sell your own will: if for no other reason, at least for this, that you sell it not for a small sum.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"At feasts, remember that you are entertaining two guests, body and soul. What you give to the body, you presently lose; what you give to the soul, you keep for ever.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"When something happens, the only thing in your power is your attitude toward it; you can either accept it or resent it.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"All philosophy lies in two words, sustain and abstain.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If then all things that grow, nay, our own bodies, are thus bound up with the whole, is not this still truer of our souls? And if our souls are bound up and in contact with God, as being very parts and fragments plucked from Himself, shall He not feel every movement of theirs as though it were His own, and belonging to His own nature?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"we should put our trust not in the crowd, who say that only free men can be educated, but rather in the philosophers, who say that none but the educated can be free.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"greatness of reason is measured not by height or length, but by the quality of its judgements.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Wherefore it is a shame for man to begin and to leave off where the brutes do. Rather he should begin there, and leave off where Nature leaves off in us: and that is at contemplation, and understanding, and a manner of life that is in harmony with herself. See then that ye die not without being spectators of these things.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Seek not for events to happen as you wish but rather wish for events to happen as they do and your life will go smoothly.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"I'll show you that I’m master.’ —How will you do that? Zeus has set me free. Do you really suppose that he would allow his own son to be turned into a slave? You’re master of my carcass, take that.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"What would Heracles have been if he had said, \"How am I to prevent a big lion from appearing, or a big boar, or brutal men?\" What care you, I say? If a big boar appears, you will have a greater struggle to engage in; if evil men appear, you will free the world from evil men.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"You only have to doze a moment, and all is lost. For ruin and salvation both have their source inside you.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"حين يُقاخِرٌ شخصٌ بأَنَّهُ يستطيع أن يفهم كتابات كريسبوس ويفسرها، فقل لنفسك: «لو لم تكن كتابات كريسبوس غامضة لما وجد هذا الشخص ما يفتخر به. ولكن ماذا أريد أنا؟ أريد أن أفهم الطبيعة وأتّبعها؛ لذا أتساءل من الذي يفسّر الطبيعة، وأسمع أن كريسبوس يفسرها، فألجأ إليه، فلا أفهم كتاباته, فألتمس من يفسرها.» ليس ثمة حتى الآن ما يدعو إلى الفخر. ولكن عندما أعثر على المفسر يبقى أن أعمل بالتعاليم. هذا وحده هو مدعاة الفخر، أما إذا أعجبت بمجرد التفسير فلن أعدو أن أكون لغويا لا فيلسوفا، اللهم إلا أنني بدلا من أن أفسّر هومر أفسّر كريسبوس. إذا طلب مني أحدٌ إذن أن أقرأ له كريسبوس، فإنني أحمرٌ خجلا إذا فشلت في أن تكون أفعالي متناغمة مع كتاباته.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"secondly, what the nature of God is. Whatever that nature is discovered to be, the man who would please and obey Him must strive with all his might to be made like unto him. If the Divine is faithful, he also must be faithful; if free, he also must be free; if beneficent, he also must be beneficent; if magnanimous, he also must be magnanimous. Thus as an imitator of God must he follow Him in every deed and word.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Suppose I should say to a wrestler, 'Show me your muscle'. And he should answer me, 'See my dumb-bells'. Your dumb-bells are your own affair; I want to see the effect of them.  \"Take the treatise 'On Choice', and see how thoroughly I have perused it. I am not asking about this, O slave, but how you act in choosing and refusing, how you manage your desires and aversions, your intentions and purposes, how you meet events -- whether you are in harmony with nature's laws or opposed to them. If in harmony, give me evidence of that, and I will say you are progressing; if the contrary, you may go your way, and not only comment on your books, but write some like them yourself; and what good will it do you?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Man, the rational animal, can put up with anything except what seems to him irrational; whatever is rational is tolerable.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"As you travel the path of philosophy, be content to be considered plain or even foolish. Do not strive to be celebrated for anything. If you are praised by others, be skeptical of yourself. For it it is no easy feat to hold onto your inner harmony while collecting accolades. When grasping for one, you are likely to drop the other.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"You are the one who knows yourself - which is to say, you know how much you are worth in your own estimation, and therefore at what price you will sell yourself; because people sell themselves at different rates.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"In prosperity it is very easy to find a friend; but in adversity it is most difficult of all things.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"For I am not everlasting, but a human being, a part of the whole as an hour is a part of the day. Like an hour I must come, and like an hour pass away.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"A person who rarely leaves home, who doesn’t converse with, praise, and encourage others, will not attract friends.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If any of you are serious about being a friend, rid yourself of such attitudes, condemn them and drive them out of your mind. [35] That way, you won’t be hard on yourself, or be forever fighting, second-guessing and tormenting yourself. [36] And then you will be in a condition to befriend others – forming easy and natural relationships with like-minded people, but capable too of treating unenlightened souls with sympathy and indulgence, remembering that they are ignorant or mistaken about what’s most important. Never be harsh, remember Plato’s dictum: ‘Every soul is deprived of the truth against its will.’83","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Happiness is commonly mistaken for passively experienced pleasure or leisure. That conception of happiness is good only as far as it goes. The only worthy object of all our efforts is a flourishing life. True happiness is a verb. It’s the ongoing dynamic performance of worthy deeds. The flourishing life, whose foundation is virtuous intention, is something we continually improvise, and in doing so our souls mature. Our life has usefulness to ourselves and to the people we touch.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Anytus and Meletus can kill me, but they cannot harm me,’50 he says, and: ‘If it pleases the gods, so be it.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"We are disturbed not by what happens to us, but by our thoughts about what happens.","author":"Epictetus The Philosopher"},{"text":"Proper preparation for the future consists of forming good personal habits.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you wish to have peace and contentment, release your attachment to all things outside your control. This is the path of freedom and happiness.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Some things are up to us, and some things are not up to us.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"So, if you have not been invited to a party, it is because you haven’t paid the price of the invitation. It costs social engagement, conversation, encouragement, and praise. If you are not willing to pay this price, do not be upset when you don’t receive an invitation.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"¿Cómo se lo que va a pasar? Mi tarea es utilizar lo que ocurra con diligencia y habilidad.","author":"Epicteto"},{"text":"Show them where they go wrong and you will find that they’ll reform. But unless they see it, they are stuck with nothing better than their usual opinion as their practical guide.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If a friend tells you that someone has criticized or insulted you, say, “They must not know about my other faults, or they would have pointed out those, too.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Rufus43 used to say, ‘If you have nothing better to do than praise me for it, then my speech was a failure.’ He used to address us in such a way as to make everyone sitting there suppose that someone had informed on them – that’s how well he intuited the truth, and how vividly he evoked for each one of us our private faults.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"I, personally, was never kept from something I wanted, nor had forced upon me something I was opposed to. How did I manage it? I submitted my will to God. He wants me to be sick – well, then, so do I. He wants me to choose something. Then I choose it. He wants me to desire something, I desire it. He wants me to get something, I want the same; or he doesn’t want me to get it, and I concur.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"We get angry because we put too high a premium on things that they can steal. Don’t attach such value to your clothes, and you won’t get angry with the thief who takes them.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"keep your language free of obscenities. Do not dip into the gutter in search of cheap laughs.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Nadie puede herirte si tú no lo consientes. Sólo te lastimarán si crees que has sido lastimado. De esta manera no le guardarás rencor a tu prójimo, ya que tú serás quien controle cada sensación que pueda provocarse por la actitud de este.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"ask yourself how Socrates or Zeno","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you are praised by others, be skeptical of yourself. For it is no easy feat to hold onto your inner harmony while collecting accolades. When grasping for one, you are likely to drop the other.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Loss and sorrow are only possible with respect to things we own.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Pain too is just a scary mask: look under it and you will see. The body sometimes suffers, but relief is never far behind.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"And who can give to another the things which he has not himself?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"La manera en la que evaluamos un insulto, crítica o desprecio ajeno afecta en gran medida al perjuicio que este nos acaba ocasionando. Un individuo no provocará daño alguno sobre ti al menos que tú lo desees; habrá logrado lastimarte desde el preciso momento en el que te consideras lastimado.","author":"Epicteto"},{"text":"If reason tells you a pleasure is wholesome and harmless, you may enjoy it in moderation. But take care not to let your happiness gradually become dependent on it.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"if you know you are in the right, why fear those who misjudge you?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"if anyone should tell you that a particular person has spoken critically of you, don’t bother with excuses or defenses. Just smile and reply, “I guess that person doesn’t know about all my other faults. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have mentioned only these.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"You are invincible if nothing outside the will can disconcert you.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Manual para una vida feliz","author":"Epicteto y Pierre Hadot"},{"text":"There is nothing more inspiring than a speaker who makes clear to his audience that he has need of them.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"What else is freedom but the power to live our life the way we want? ‘Nothing.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Many people who have progressively lowered their personal standards in an attempt to win social acceptance and life’s comforts bitterly resent those of philosophical bent who refuse to compromise their spiritual ideals and who seek to better themselves.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If a man has reported to you, that a certain person speaks ill of you, do not make any defense to what has been told you: but reply, The man did not know the rest of my faults, for he would not have mentioned these only.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"You should be especially careful when associating with one of your former friends or acquaintances not to sink to their level; otherwise you will lose yourself. If you are troubled by the idea that ‘He’ll think I’m boring and won’t treat me the way he used to,’ remember that everything comes at a price. It isn’t possible to change your behavior and still be the same person you were before.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Here are thieves and robbers and tribunals: and they that are called tyrants, who deem that they have after a fashion power over us, because of the miserable body and what appertains to it. Let us show them that they have power over none.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Wherever I go it will be well with me, for it was well with me here, not on account of the place, but of my judgments which I shall carry away with me, for no one can deprive me of these; on the contrary, they alone are my property, and cannot be taken away, and to possess them suffices me wherever I am or whatever I do.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"When a man is proud because he can understand and explain the writings of Chrysippus, say to yourself, if Chrysippus had not written obscurely, this man would have had nothing to be proud of.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Do not seek for things to happen the way you want them to; rather, wish that what happens happen the way it happens: then you will be happy.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Let silence be your general rule; or say only what is necessary and in few words.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"As for us, we behave like a herd of deer. When they flee from the huntsman's feathers in affright, which way do they turn? What haven of safety do they make for? Why, they rush upon the nets! And thus they perish by confounding what they should fear with that wherein no danger lies. . . . Not death or pain is to be feared, but the fear of death or pain. Well said the poet therefore:—   Death has no terror; only a Death of shame!","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Take care not to hurt the ruling faculty of your mind. If you were to guard against this in every action, you should enter upon those actions more safely.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Remember from now on whenever something tends to make you unhappy, draw on this principle: 'This is no misfortune; but bearing with it bravely is a blessing.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"So don't make a show of your philosophical learning to the uninitiated, show them by your actions what you have absorbed.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"He who exercises wisdom, exercises the knowledge which is about God.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"When you do anything from a clear judgment that it ought to be done, never shun the being seen to do it, even though the world should make a wrong supposition about it; for, if you don’t act right, shun the action itself; but, if you do, why are you afraid of those who censure you wrongly?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Men are disturbed not by things, but by the view which they take of them.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"There is a time and place for diversion and amusements, but you should never allow them to override your true purposes.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Never say about anything, I have lost it, but only I have given it back.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Remember that you must behave in life as at a dinner party. Is anything brought around to you? Put out your hand and take your share with moderation. Does it pass by you? Don’t stop it. Is it not yet come? Don’t stretch your desire towards it, but wait till it reaches you. Do this with regard to children, to a wife, to public posts, to riches, and you will eventually be a worthy partner of the feasts of the gods. And if you don’t even take the things which are set before you, but are able even to reject them, then you will not only be a partner at the feasts of the gods, but also of their empire.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Don’t seek that all that comes about should come about as you wish, but wish that everything that comes about should come about just as it does, and then you’ll have a calm and happy life.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you have an earnest desire towards philosophy, prepare yourself from the very first to have the multitude laugh and sneer, and say, \"He is returned to us a philosopher all at once; \"and \"Whence this supercilious look?\" Now, for your part, do not have a supercilious look indeed; but keep steadily to those things which appear best to you, as one appointed by God to this particular station. For remember that, if you are persistent, those very persons who at first ridiculed will afterwards admire you. But if you are conquered by them, you will incur a double ridicule.","author":"Epictetus Epictetus"},{"text":"For where you find unrest, grief, fear, frustrated desire, failed aversion, jealousy and envy, happiness has no room for admittance. And where values are false, these passions inevitably follow.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Men are disturbed not by the things which happen, but by the opinions about the things:","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Restrict yourself to choice and refusal; and exercise them carefully, with discipline and detachment.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"It is not events that disturb people, it is their judgements concerning them.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Freedom is not procured by a full enjoyment of what is desired, but by controlling the desire.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you pin your hopes on things outside your control, taking upon yourself things which rightfully belong to others, you are liable to stumble, fall, suffer, and blame both gods and men. But if you focus your attention only on what is truly your own concern, and leave to others what concerns them, then you will be in charge of your interior life. No one will be able to harm or hinder you. You will blame no one, and have no enemies.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Nothing great comes into being all at once, for that is not the case even with a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me now, ‘I want a fig,’ I’ll reply, ‘That takes time.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"To admonish is better than to reproach for admonition is mild and friendly, but reproach is harsh and insulting; and admonition corrects those who are doing wrong, but reproach only convicts them.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Reading should serve the goal of attaining peace; if it doesn’t make you peaceful, what good is it?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Fortify yourself with contentment for this is an impregnable fortress.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"It is better to die of hunger having lived without grief and fear, than to live with a troubled spirit, amid abundance","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"These reasonings are unconnected: \"I am richer than you, therefore I am better\"; \"I am more eloquent than you, therefore I am better.\" The connection is rather this: \"I am richer than you, therefore my property is greater than yours;\" \"I am more eloquent than you, therefore my style is better than yours.\" But you, after all, are neither property nor style.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Tentative efforts lead to tentative outcomes. Therefore, give yourself fully to your endeavors. Decide to construct your character through excellent actions and determine to pay the price of a worthy goal. The trials you encounter will introduce you to your strengths. Remain steadfast...and one day you will build something that endures: something worthy of your potential.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Either God wants to abolish evil, and cannot; or he can, but does not want to.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Men are not afraid of things, but of how they view them.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Even as the Sun doth not wait for prayers and incantations to rise, but shines forth and is welcomed by all: so thou also wait not for clapping of hands and shouts and praise to do thy duty; nay, do good of thine own accord, and thou wilt be loved like the Sun.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Men are disturbed not by things, but by the views which they take of things. Thus death is nothing terrible, else it would have appeared so to Socrates. But the terror consists in our notion of death, that it is terrible. When, therefore, we are hindered, or disturbed, or grieved let us never impute it to others, but to ourselves; that is, to our own views. It is the action of an uninstructed person to reproach others for his own misfortunes; of one entering upon instruction, to reproach himself; and of one perfectly instructed, to reproach neither others or himself.","author":"Epictetus Epictetus"},{"text":"Appearances to the mind are of four kinds. Things either are what they appear to be; or they neither are, nor appear to be; or they are, and do not appear to be; or they are not, and yet appear to be. Rightly to aim in all these cases is the wise man's task.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"It is our attitude toward events, not events themselves, which we can control. Nothing is by its own nature calamitous -- even death is terrible only if we fear it.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"An ignorant person is inclined to blame others for his own misfortune. To blame oneself is proof of progress. But the wise man never has to blame another or himself.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"No great thing is created suddenly.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you want to make progress, put up with being perceived as ignorant or naive in worldly matters, don't aspire to a reputation for sagacity. If you do impress others as somebody, don't altogether believe it. You have to realize, it isn't easy to keep your will in agreement with nature, as well as externals. Caring about the one inevitably means you are going to shortchange the other.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"So you wish to conquer in the Olympic Games, my friend? And I, too... But first mark the conditions and the consequences. You will have to put yourself under discipline; to eat by rule, to avoid cakes and sweetmeats; to take exercise at the appointed hour whether you like it or not, in cold and heat; to abstain from cold drinks and wine at your will. Then, in the conflict itself you are likely enough to dislocate your wrist or twist your ankle, to swallow a great deal of dust, to be severely thrashed, and after all of these things, to be defeated.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Remember to act always as if you were at a symposium. When the food or drink comes around, reach out and take some politely; if it passes you by don't try pulling it back. And if it has not reached you yet, don't let your desire run ahead of you, be patient until your turn comes. Adopt a similar attitude with regard to children, wife, wealth and status, and in time, you will be entitled to dine with the gods. Go further and decline these goods even when they are on offer and you will have a share in the gods' power as well as their company. That is how Diogenes, Heraclitus and philosophers like them came to be called, and considered, divine.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Your happiness depends on three things, all of which are within your power: your will, your ideas concerning the events in which you are involved, and the use you make of your ideas.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"-….when things seem to have reached that stage, merely say “I won’t play any longer”, and take your departure; but if you stay, stop lamenting.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Give me by all means the shorter and nobler life, instead of one that is longer but of less account!","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"It is unrealistc to expect people to see you as you see yourself.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Freedom is secured not by the fulfilling of men's desires, but by the removal of desire.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"No great thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"On the occasion of every accident that befalls you, remember to turn to yourself and inquire what power you have for turning it to use.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"You may fetter my leg, but Zeus himself cannot get the better of my free will.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"The more we value things outside our control, the less control we have.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Control thy passions lest they take vengence on thee. ~ Epictetus","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Nature hath given men one tongue but two ears, that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"-Who are those people by whom you wish to be admired? Are they not these whom you are in the habit of saying that they are mad? What then? Do you wish to be admired by the mad?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If someone speaks badly of you, do not defend yourself against the accusations, but reply; \"you obviously don't know about my other vices, otherwise you would have mentioned these as well","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"No person is free who is not master of himself.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If any be unhappy, let him remember that he is unhappy by reason of himself alone. For God hath made all men to enjoy felicity and constancy of good.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Remember to act always as if you were at a symposium. When the food or drink comes around, reach out and take some politely; if it passes you by don't try to pulling it back. And if it has not reached you yet, don't let your desire run ahead of you, be patient until your turn comes.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If someone in the street were entrusted with your body, you would be furious. Yet you entrust your mind to anyone around who happens to insult you, and allow it to be troubled and confused. Aren’t you ashamed of that?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Check your passions that you may not be punished by them.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"You're not yet Socrates, but you can still live as if you want to be him.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"you’re unable to make someone change his views, recognize that he is a child, and clap as he does. Or if you don’t care to act in such a way, you have only to keep quiet.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"First to those universal principles I have spoken of: these you must keep at command, and without them neither sleep nor rise, drink nor eat nor deal with men: the principle that no one can control another's will, and that the will alone is the sphere of good and evil.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"None of these things are foretold to me; but either to my paltry body, or property, or reputation, or children, or wife. But to me all omens are lucky, if I will. For whichever of these things happens, it is in my control to derive advantage from it.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you win the adoration of others by pretending to be someone you’re not, you may gain celebrity or high office—but you will lose out on the fulfillment of a life best-suited to your attributes and abilities.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"It is one thing to put bread and wine away in a store-room, and quite another to eat them. What is eaten is digested and distributed around the body, to become sinews, flesh, bones, blood, a good complexion, sound breathing. What is stored away is ready at hand, to be sure, to be taken out and displayed whenever you wish, but you derive no benefit from it, except that of having the reputation of possessing it. [","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"We must consider what is the time for singing, what the time for play, and in whose presence: what will be unsuited to the occasion; whether our companions are to despise us, or we to despise ourselves: when to jest, and whom to mock at: and on what occasion to be conciliatory and to whom: in a word, how one ought to maintain one's character in society. Wherever you swerve from any of these principles, you suffer loss at once; not loss from without, but issuing from the very act itself.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"He did not say, 'Define me envy', and then, when the man defined it, 'You define it ill, for the terms of the definition do not correspond to the subject defined.' Such phrases are technical and therefore tiresome to the lay mind, and hard to follow, yet you and I cannot get away from them. We are quite unable to rouse the ordinary man's attention in a way which will enable him to follow his own impressions and so arrive at admitting or rejecting this or that. And therefore those of us who are at all cautious naturally give the subject up, when we become aware of this incapacity; while the mass of men, who venture at random into this sort of enterprise, muddle others and get muddled themselves, and end by abusing their opponents and getting abused in return, and so leave the field. But the first quality of all in Socrates, and the most characteristic, was that he never lost his temper in argument, never uttered anything abusive, never anything insolent, but bore with abuse from others and quieted strife.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"The husbandman deals with land; physicians and trainers with the body; the wise man with his own Mind.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Whoever then would be free, let him wish nothing, let him decline nothing, which depends on others; else he must necessarily be a slave.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Never say of anything that I've lost it, only that Ive given it back.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Who is a friend?\" his answer was, \"A second self (alter ego).","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Tis true I know what evil I shall do but passion overpowers the better council.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"For sheep don’t throw up the grass to show the shepherds how much they have eaten; but, inwardly digesting their food, they outwardly produce wool and milk. Thus, therefore, do you likewise not show theorems to the unlearned, but the actions produced by them after they have been digested. 47.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"End the habit of despising things that are not within your power, and apply your aversion to things that are within your power.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"First say to yourself what you would be;and then do what you have to do.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Asked, Who is the rich man? Epictetus replied, \"He who is content.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"When you are offended at any man's fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings. Then you will forget your anger.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Is this all the habit you acquired when you studied philosophy, to look to others and to hope for nothing from yourself and your own acts? Lament therefore and mourn, and when you eat be fearful that you will have nothing to eat to-morrow. Tremble for your wretched slaves, lest they should steal, or run away, or die. Live in this spirit, and never cease to live so, you who never came near philosophy, except in name, and disgraced its principles so far as in you lies, by showing them to be useless and unprofitable to those who take them up.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"When, therefore, you see anyone eminent in honors, or power, or in high esteem on any other account, take heed not to be hurried away with the appearance, and to pronounce him happy; for, if the essence of good consists in things in our own control, there will be no room for envy or emulation. But, for your part, don’t wish to be a general, or a senator, or a consul, but to be free;","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Be careful to leave your sons well instructed rather than rich, for the hopes of the instructed are better than the wealth of the ignorant","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Once I was liable to the same mistakes, but, thanks to God, no longer …’ Well, isn’t it just as worthwhile to have devoted and applied yourself to this goal as to have read or written fifty pages?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"When a youth was giving himself airs in the Theatre and saying, \"I am wise, for I have conversed with many wise men,\" Epictetus replied, \"I too have conversed with many rich men, yet I am not rich!","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If, on the other hand, we read books entitled On Impulse not just out of idle curiosity, but in order to exercise impulse correctly; books entitled On Desire and On Aversion so as not to fail to get what we desire or fall victim to what we would rather avoid; and books entitled On Moral Obligation in order to honour our relationships and never do anything that clashes or conflicts with this principle; then we wouldn’t get frustrated and grow impatient with our reading.  Instead we would be satisfied to act accordingly. And rather than reckon, as we are used to doing, ‘How many lines I read, or wrote, today,’ we would pass in review how ‘I applied impulse today the way the philosophers recommend","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Yes, but my nose is running.’ Then what do you have hands for, you slave?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"You would fain be victor at the Olympic Games, you say. Yes, but weigh the conditions, weigh the consequences; then and then only, lay to your hand-if it be for your profit. You must live by rule, submit to diet, abstain from dainty meats, exercise your body perforce at stated hours, in heat or in cold; drink no cold water, nor, it may be, wine. In a word, you must surrender yourself wholly to your trainer, as though to a physician.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"of all things, the greatest, and most important, and most all-embracing, is this society in which human beings and God are associated together. From this are derived the generative forces to which not only my father and grandfather owe their origin, but also all beings that are born and grow on the earth, and especially rational beings, [5] since they alone are fitted by nature to enter into communion with the divine, being bound to God through reason.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Você deve se submeter à disciplina, comer de acordo, não tocar em doces, treinar debaixo de rigores, numa hora fixa, no calor e no frio, não beber água muito gelada, nem vinho, a não ser quando receber a ordem de fazer isso; você deve se entregar completamente ao seu treinador assim como o faria com o seu médico e depois, quando chega a hora da competição, você deve se arriscar a se machucar e algumas vezes ter a sua mão deslocada, torcer o tornozelo, engolir um bocado de areia, algumas vezes ser fustigado, e junto com isso tudo, ser derrotado. Quando você considerou tudo isto muito bem, então ingresse numa trajetória de atleta, se você ainda o desejar.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"For as long as the Source entrusts something to your hands, treat it as something borrowed, like a traveller at an inn.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"only judge your own thoughts, desires, and actions as good or evil.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"And then we’ll be emulating Socrates,* once we’re able to write hymns of praise in prison.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"But prove to me that one who holds inferior judgments can prevail over a man who is superior in his judgments. You never will prove it, nor anything like it; for the law of nature and of god is this: Let the better always be superior to the worse… Thus I, too, lost my lamp to a thief because the thief was better at keeping awake than I. But he bought a lamp at the price of being a thief, a rogue, and a brute. That seemed to him a good bargain.  \tEpictetus","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"When you attend the games, do not get emotionally invested in the rivalry. Wish only that the best team or athlete wins. Avoid the extremes of elation at a win and devastation at a loss.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"But if you try to avoid what you cannot control—sickness, poverty, death—you will inflict useless mental suffering upon yourself.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you have a favorite cup, remember that it is only a cup that you prefer—if it is broken, you can bear it.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"What am I to do? Death is on my trail, and life is fleeting away; teach me something with which to face these troubles. Bring it to pass that I shall cease trying to escape from death, and that life may cease to escape from me. Give me courage to meet hardships; make me calm in the face of the unavoidable. Relax the straitened limits of the time which is allotted me. Show me that the good in life does not depend upon life's length, but upon the use we make of it; also, that it is possible, or rather usual, for a man who has lived long to have lived too little. Say to me when I lie down to sleep: \"You may not wake again!\" And when I have waked: \"You may not go to sleep again!\" Say to me when I go forth from my house: \"You may not return!\" And when I return: \"You may never go forth again!\" You are mistaken if you think that only on an ocean voyage there is a very slight space between life and death. No, the distance between is just as narrow everywhere. It is not everywhere that death shows himself so near at hand; yet everywhere he is as near at hand.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"It is not the events but our viewpoint toward events that is the determining factor. We ought to be more concerned about removing wrong thoughts from the mind than removing tumors and abscesses from the body.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"La conclusión final de esta filosofía es que el bien y el mal se relacionan exclusivamente con nuestra prohairesis, es decir: con nuestro libre albedrío, por lo que no dependen de las cosas externas o circunstanciales. En otras palabras, somos nuestro propio bien y nuestro propio mal, más allá de las circunstancias, puesto que la facultad de elegir en nuestro libre albedrío. Somos nosotros los que elegimos. Tenemos la facultad de elegir entre el bien y el mal y, por lo tanto, somos responsables por nuestro propio Destino ya que el mismo está en nuestras propias manos. No así la Fatalidad, que es lo que \"nos sucede\" y que responde a causas externas fuera de nuestro control, mientras que al Destino lo vamos construyendo con las cosas que hacemos suceder porque las elegimos. [Prólogo de Denes Martos]","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"And when you ask your employee to do something, remember that she may not do as you wish. But giving her the power to upset you does no good for either of you.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If anyone tells you that such a person speaks ill of you, don’t make excuses about what is said of you, but answer: “ He does not know my other faults, else he would not have mentioned only these.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If anything except the honourable is good, we shall be hounded by greed for life, and by greed for the things which provide life with its furnishings, – an intolerable state, subject to no limits, unstable. The only good, therefore, is that which is honourable, that which is subject to bounds.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"What’s odd in asserting that what’s bad for anything is what runs contrary to its nature? You say it for everything else, why make humanity the sole exception?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Muista, että olet näyttelijä näytelmässä, joka on ohjaajan tahdon mukainen. Jos hän haluaa lyhyen näytelmän, se on lyhyt, jos pitkän, se on pitkä. Jos hän haluaa sinun näyttelevän kerjäläistä, pidä huoli, että näyttelet senkin roolin lahjakkaasti. Tee samoin, jos hän haluaa sinun näyttelevän raajarikkoa, virkamiestä tai maallikkoa. Sinun tehtäväsi on näytellä hyvin annettu rooli, mutta roolin valitseminen on toisen tehtävä.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"it is no easy feat to hold onto your inner harmony while collecting accolades. When grasping for one, you are likely to drop the other.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"When you are feeling upset, angry, or sad, don’t blame another for your state of mind. Your condition is the result of your own opinions and interpretations.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"It’s like weaving: the weaver does not make the wool, he makes the best use of whatever wool he’s given.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Yes, but what good will all this do me when a child of mine dies, or if my brother, or I myself, have to die or be tortured?’ [19] Nothing. Because that’s not why you came, not why you took your seat in front of me, not the reason you sometimes sacrificed sleep to study by lamplight.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If anyone tells you that a certain person speaks ill of you, do not make excuses about what is said of you, but answer: “He was ignorant of my other faults, else he would not have mentioned these alone.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"It was thus an excellent reply that the woman made when she wanted to send a boatload of provisions to the exiled Gratilla;* for when someone said to her, ‘Domitian will merely confiscate them,’ she replied, ‘Better that he should take them away than that I should fail to send them.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"And can you be forced by anyone to desire something against your will? ‘No.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you do not wish to be prone to anger, do not feed the habit; give it nothing which may tend its increase.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Pidä silmiesi edessä joka päivä kuolema ja maanpako ja kaikki kauheana näyttäytyvä, ennen kaikkea kuolema. Silloin et koskaan ajattele mitään matalamielistä etkä himoitse mitään likaa.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Every difficulty in life presents us with an opportunity to turn inward and to invoke our own submerged inner resources. The trials we endure can and should introduce us to our strengths.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Act in this way regarding spouses, children, honors, offices, and wealth, and you will become worthy to feast with the gods. More than this—if you abstain from the rich desserts that come your way, passing them on to others, you will become worthy to rule with the gods. This was the way of Diogenes and Heraclitus, and they are now venerated as divine.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"In this body, this universe, this community, it is inevitable that each of us faces some such event. [28] Your job, then, is to appear before the court, say what you have to say and make the best of the situation. [29] Then the judge declares you guilty. ‘I wish you well, judge. I did my part, you can decide if you did yours.’ Because the judge runs a risk too, don’t forget.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Remind yourself, “What upsets this person is their opinion of what has happened. Another in the same circumstance, taking a different perspective, would react quite differently.”   Do not share these thoughts with the grieving person. Sympathize with them—even cry with them. Your tears will be outward, not inward.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Don’t look for it in externals; it isn’t in the body, and, if you doubt me, just look at Myron or Ophellius. It isn’t in wealth, look at Croesus, or look at the rich of today: you’ll see how unhappy they are.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"For sheep don't throw up the grass to show the shepherds how much they have eaten; but, inwardly digesting their food, they outwardly produce wool and milk.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"There is no shame in making an honest effort.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"As a man, casting off worn out garments taketh new ones, so the dweller in the body, entereth into ones that are new.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"It is a universal law — have no illusion — that every creature alive is attached to nothing so much as to its own self-interest.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you want to improve, you must be content to be thought foolish and stupid.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Freedom is not archived by satisfying desire, but by eliminating it.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Whenever anyone criticizes or wrongs you, remember that they are only doing or saying what they think is right. They cannot be guided by your views, only their own; so if their views are wrong, they are the ones who suffer insofar as they are misguided.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Crows pick out the eyes of the dead, when the dead have no longer need of them; but flatterers mar the soul of the living, and her eyes they blind.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"When you do anything from a clear judgment that it ought to be done, never shrink from being seen to do it, even though the world should misunderstand it; for if you are not acting rightly, shun the action itself; if you are, why fear those who wrongly censure you?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Never say that I have taken it, only that I have given it back.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"For it is not death or pain that is to be feared, but the fear of pain or death.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"When someone is properly grounded in life, they shouldn't have to look outside themselves for approval.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"First say to yourself what you would be, and then do what you have to do.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"no man is free until he s a master of himself!!","author":"epictitus"},{"text":"There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Some young women confuse their self-worth with their ability to attract the attention of men, and so pour all their energies into makeup, clothing, and jewelry. If only they realized that virtue, honor, and self-respect are the marks of a true beauty.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"The condition and characteristic of an uninstructed person is this: he never expects from himself profit (advantage) nor harm, but from externals. The condition and characteristic of a philosopher is this: he expects all advantage and all harm from himself.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Philosophy does not promise to secure anything external for man, otherwise it would be admitting something that lies beyond its proper subject-matter. For as the material of the carpenter is wood, and that of statuary bronze, so the subject-matter of the art of living is each person's own life.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"this is your business—to act well the given part, but to choose it belongs to another.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"An uninstructed person will lay the fault of his own bad condition upon others. Someone just starting instruction will lay the fault on himself. Some who is perfectly instructed will place blame neither on others nor on himself.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Sick and yet happy, in peril and yet happy, dying and yet happy, in exile and happy, in disgrace and happy.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"People with a strong physical constitution can tolerate extremes of hot and cold; people of strong mental health can handle anger, grief, joy and the other emotions.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"No one is ever unhappy because of someone else.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you wish your house to be well managed, imitate the Spartan Lycurgus. For as he did not fence his city with walls, but fortified the inhabitants by virtue and preserved the city always free;35 so do you not cast around (your house) a large court and raise high towers, but strengthen the dwellers by good-will and fidelity and friendship, and then nothing harmful will enter it, not even if the whole band of wickedness shall array itself against it.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Keep the prospect of death, exile and all such apparent tragedies before you every day – especially death – and you will never have an abject thought, or desire anything to excess.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Man is troubled not by events, but by the meaning he gives to them.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"You ought to realize, you take up very little space in the world as a whole—your body, that is; in reason, however, you yield to no one, not even to the gods, because reason is not measured in size but sense. So why not care for that side of you, where you and the gods are equals?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you ever happen to turn your attention to externals, for the pleasure of any one, be assured that you have ruined your scheme of life. Be contented, then, in everything, with being a philosopher; and if you with to seem so likewise to any one, appear so to yourself, and it will suffice you.","author":"Epictetus Epictetus"},{"text":"What are we to do, then? To make the best of what lies within our power, and deal with everything else as it comes. ‘How does it come, then?’ As God wills.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"These reasonings have no logical connection: \"I am richer than you; therefore I am your superior.\" \"I am more eloquent than you; therefore I am your superior.\" The true logical connection is rather this: \"I am richer than you; therefore my possessions must exceed yours.\" \"I am more eloquent than you; therefore my style must surpass yours.\" But you, after all, consist in neither property nor in style.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"On the occasion of every accident (event) that befalls you, remember to turn to yourself and inquire what power you have for turning it to use.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Älä pyri siihen, että kaikki tapahtuisi kuten haluat, vaan halua kaiken tapahtuvan niin kuin se tapahtuu. Silloin elämäsi on tasaista virtaa.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Don’t you want to be free of all that? [33] ‘But how can I do it?’ You’ve often heard how – you need to suspend desire completely, and train aversion only on things within your power. You should dissociate yourself from everything outside yourself – the body, possessions, reputation, books, applause, as well as office or lack of office. Because a preference for any of them immediately makes you a slave, a subordinate, and prone to disappointment.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"I cannot call somebody ‘hard-working’ knowing only that they read and write. Even if ‘all night long’ is added, I cannot say it – not until I know the focus of all this energy.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"I am richer than you, therefore my property is greater than yours;” “I am more eloquent than you, therefore my style is better than yours.” But you, after all, are neither property nor style.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Whatever moral rules you have deliberately proposed to yourself. abide by them as they were laws, and as if you would be guilty of impiety by violating any of them. Don’t regard what anyone says of you, for this, after all, is no concern of yours.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Men are disturbed, not by things, but by the principles and notions which they form concerning things. Death,","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"People are not disturbed by things, but by the view they take of them.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"The man has to learn ‘what each specific thing means’, as Socrates often said, and stop casually applying preconceptions to individual cases. This is the cause of everyone’s troubles, the inability to apply common preconceptions to particulars. Instead the opinions of men as to what is bad diverge.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"It is better to starve to death in a calm and confident state of mind than to live anxiously amidst abundance. And","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"When we blather about trivial things, we ourselves become trivial, for our attention gets taken up with trivialities. You become what you give your attention to.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Be discriminating about what images and ideas you permit into your mind. If you yourself don’t choose what thoughts and images you expose yourself to, someone else will, and their motives may not be the highest.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"It is the act of an ill-instructed man to blame others for his own bad condition; it is the act of one who has begun to be instructed, to lay the blame on himself; and of one whose instruction is completed, neither to blame another, nor himself.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Try to enjoy the great festival of life with other men.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Do not wish that all things will go well with you, but that you will go well with all things.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Dès qu’une image viendra te troubler l’esprit, pense à te dire : « Tu n’es qu’image, et non la réalité dont tu as l’apparence. » Puis, examine-la et soumets-la à l’épreuve des lois qui règlent ta vie : avant tout, vois si cette réalité dépend de nous ou n’en dépend pas ; et si elle ne dépend pas de nous, sois prêt à dire : « Cela ne me regarde pas. »","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"It is the nature of the wise to resist pleasures, but the foolish to be a slave to them.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"And where there is ignorance, there is also want of learning and instruction in essentials.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you wish to be a writer; write! Send quote to a friend Epictetus (50-120) Greek philosopher.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Philosophy does not claim to secure for us anything outside our control. Otherwise it would be taking on matters that do not concern it. For as wood is the material of the carpenter, and marble that of the sculptor, so the subject matter of the art of life is the life of the self.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you must be affected by other people's misfortunes, show them pity instead of contempt. Drop this readiness to hate and take offence.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"The philosopher's lecture room is a 'hospital': you ought not to walk out of it in a state of pleasure, but in pain; for you are not in good condition when you arrive.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"There are two things that must be rooted out in human beings - arrogant opinion and mistrust. Arrogant opinion expects that there is nothing further needed, and mistrust assumes that under the torrent of circumstance there can be no happiness.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Understand what words you use first, then use them.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"You are a little soul carrying a dead body, as Epictetus said.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"[23] Our situation is like that at a festival.* Sheep and cattle are driven to it to be sold, and most people come either to buy or to sell, while only a few come to look at the spectacle of the festival, to see how it is proceeding and why, and who is organizing it, and for what purpose. [24] So also in this festival of the world. Some people are like sheep and cattle and are interested in nothing but their fodder; for in the case of those of you who are interested in nothing but your property, and land, and slaves, and public posts, all of that is nothing more than fodder. [25] Few indeed are those who attend the fair for love of the spectacle, asking, ‘What is the universe, then, and who governs it? No one at all? [26] And yet when a city or household cannot survive for even a very short time without someone to govern it and watch over it, how could it be that such a vast and beautiful structure could be kept so well ordered by mere chance and good luck? [27] So there must be someone governing it. What sort of being is he, and how does he govern it? And we who have been created by him, who are we, and what were we created for? Are we bound together with him in some kind of union and interrelationship, or is that not the case?’ [28] Such are the thoughts that are aroused in this small collection of people; and from then on, they devote their leisure to this one thing alone, to finding out about the festival before they have to take their leave. [29] What comes about, then? They become an object of mockery for the crowd, just as the spectators at an ordinary festival are mocked by the traders; and even the sheep and cattle, if they had sufficient intelligence, would laugh at those who attach value to anything other than fodder!","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Is you naturally entitled, then, to a good father? No, only to a father. Is","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Prefer enduring satisfaction to immediate gratification.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Follow your principles as though they were laws. Do not worry if others criticize or laugh at you, for their opinions are not your concern.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Lucky is the man who dies at work.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"In banquets remember that you entertain two guests, body and soul: and whatever you shall have given to the body you soon eject: but what you shall have given to the soul, you keep always.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself which are externals not under my control, and which have to do with the choices I actually control. Where then do I look for good and evil? Not to uncontrollable externals, but within myself to the choices that are my own...","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"These reasonings do not cohere: I am richer than you, therefore I am better than you; I am more eloquent than you, therefore I am better than you. On the contrary these rather cohere, I am richer than you, therefore my possessions are greater than yours: I am more eloquent than you, therefore my speech is superior to yours. But you are neither possession nor speech.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you seek Truth, you will not seek to gain a victory by every possible means; and when you have found Truth, you need not fear being defeated.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Who then is invincible? The one who cannot be upset by anything outside their reasoned choice.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Don't put your purpose in one place and expect to see progress made somewhere else.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"As the sun does not wait for prayers and incantations tob e induced to rise, but immediately shines and is saluted by all, so do you also not wait for clappings of hands and shouts of praise tob e induced to do good, but be a doer of good voluntarily and you will be beloved as much as the sun.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Concerning the Gods, there are those who deny the very existence of the Godhead; others say that it exists, but neither bestirs nor concerns itself not has forethought far anything. A third party attribute to it existence and forethought, but only for great and heavenly matters, not for anything that is on earth. A fourth party admit things on earth as well as in heaven, but only in general, and not with respect to each individual. A fifth, of whom were Ulysses and Socrates, are those that cry: -- I move not without Thy knowledge!","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"We cannot choose our external circumstances, but we can always choose how we respond to them","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Man, what are you talking about? Me in chains? You may fetter my leg but my will, not even Zeus himself can overpower.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Neither should a ship rely on one small anchor, nor should life rest on a single hope.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"So what oppresses and scares us? It is our own thoughts, obviously, What overwhelms people when they are about to leaves friends, family, old haunts and their accustomed way of life? Thoughts.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Those who are well constituted in the body endure both heat and cold: and so those who are well constituted in the soul endure both anger and grief and excessive joy and the other affects.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"A city is not adorned by external things, but by the virtue of those who dwell in it.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"[Do not get too attached to life] for it is like a sailor's leave on the shore and at any time, the captain may sound the horn, calling you back to eternal darkness.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Very little is needed for everything to be upset and ruined, only a slight lapse in reason.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If someone tried to take control of your body and make you a slave, you would fight for freedom. Yet how easily you hand over your mind to anyone who insults you. When you dwell on their words and let them dominate your thoughts, you make them your master.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Men are disturbed not by the things which happen, but by the opinion about the things.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Caretake this moment. Immerse yourself in its particulars. Respond to this person, this challenge, this deed. Quit the evasions. Stop giving yourself needless trouble. It is time to really live; to fully inhabit the situation you happen to be in now. You are not some disinterested bystander. Participate. Exert yourself.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"For even sheep do not vomit up their grass and show to the shepherds how much they have eaten; but when they have internally digested the pasture, they produce externally wool and milk. Do you also show not your theorems to the uninstructed, but show the acts which come from their digestion.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Why do you want to read anyway – for the sake of amusement or mere erudition? Those are poor, fatuous pretexts.  Reading should serve the goal of attaining peace; if it doesn’t make you peaceful, what good is it?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Everyone's life is a warfare, and that long and various.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Men are disturbed, not by things, but by the principles and notions which they form concerning things.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If thy brother wrongs thee, remember not so much his wrong-doing, but more than ever that he is thy brother.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Remind thyself that he whom thou lovest is mortal — that what thou lovest is not thine own; it is given thee for the present, not irrevocably nor for ever, but even as a fig or a bunch of grapes at the appointed season of the year","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"You will do the greatest services to the state, if you shall raise not the roofs of the houses, but the souls of the citizens: for it is better that great souls should dwell in small houses than for mean slaves to lurk in great houses.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"What then, is it not possible to be free from faults? It is not possible; but this is possible: to direct your efforts incessantly to being faultess. For we must be content if by never remitting this attention we shall escape at least a few errors. When you have said \"Tomorrow I will begin to attend,\" you must be told that you are saying this: \"Today I will be shameless, disregardful of time and place, mean;it will be in the power of others to give me pain, today I will be passionate and envious. See how many evil things you are permitting yourself to do. If it is good to use attention tomorrow, how much better is it to do so today? If tomorrow it is in your interest to attend, much more is it today, that you may be able to do so tomorrow also, and may not defer it again to the third day.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"The philosopher's school, ye men, is a surgery: you ought not to go out of it with pleasure, but with pain. For you are not in sound health when you enter.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"We are at the mercy of whoever wields authority over the things we either desire or detest. If you would be free, then, do not wish to have, or avoid, things that other people control, because then you must serve as their slave.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Whoever then would be free, let him wish for nothing, let him decline nothing, which depends on others; else he must necessarily be a slave.","author":"Epictetus Epictetus"},{"text":"What upsets people is not things themselves but their judgments about the things. For example, death is nothing dreadful (or else it would have appeared dreadful to Socrates), but instead the judgment about death that it is dreadful—that is what is dreadful. So when we are thwarted or upset or distressed, let us never blame someone else but rather ourselves, that is, our own judgments. An uneducated person accuses others when he is doing badly; a partly educated person accuses himself, an educated person accuses neither someone else nor himself.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"لا تقل «فقدتّة» ... قل «رددثه». فهل يُهِمُك بوساطة من استردٌ منك الواهبٌ ما أعطى؟!","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Act Well the Part That Is Given to You We are like actors in a play. The divine will has assigned us our roles in life without consulting us. Some of us will act in a short drama, others in a long one. We might be assigned the part of a poor person, a cripple, a distinguished celebrity or public leader, or an ordinary private citizen. Although we can’t control which roles are assigned to us, it must be our business to act our given role as best as we possibly can and to refrain from complaining about it. Wherever you find yourself and in whatever circumstances, give an impeccable performance. If you are supposed to be a reader, read; if you are supposed to be a writer, write.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Your aim should be to view the world as an integrated whole, to faithfully incline your whole being toward the highest good, and to adopt the will of nature as your own.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Since I can get greatness of soul and nobility from myself, why should I look to get a farm, or money, or some office, from you? I will not be so insensible of what I already own.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Consider how we apply the idea of freedom to animals. [25] There are tame lions that people cage, raise, feed and take with them wherever they go. Yet who will call such a lion free? The easier its life, the more slavish it is. No lion endowed with reason and discretion would choose to be one of these pet specimens.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"[Epictetus] believes that God gave man the means to fulfill all his obligations; that these means are within his power, that happiness is attained through what we are capable of, this being the reason God gave them to us. Our mind cannot be forced to believe what is false, nor our will compelled to love something that makes it unhappy. These two powers are therefore free, and it is through them that we can become perfect.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Never say about anything, “I have lost it,” but instead, “I have given it back.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"30. *Appropriate actions are largely set by our social relationships. In the case of one’s father, this involves looking after him, letting him have his way in everything, and not making a fuss if he is abusive or violent. “But what if he’s a bad father? ” Do you think you have a *natural affinity only to a good father? “No, just to a father.” Suppose your brother treats you badly. In that case, maintain your fraternal relationship to him. Don’t think about why he behaves that way but about what you need to do to keep your will in harmony with nature. No one else, in fact, will harm you without your consent; you will be harmed only when you think you are being harmed. So make a habit of studying your social relationships – with neighbors, citizens, or army officers – and then you will discover the appropriate thing to do.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Who are you, and how did you get here? It was God brought you into the world, who showed you the light, gave you the people who support you, gave you reason and perception. And he brought you into the world as a mortal, to pass your time on earth with a little endowment of flesh, to witness his design and share for a short time in his feast and celebration. [105] So why not enjoy the feast and pageant while it’s given you to do so; then, when he ushers you out, go with thanks and reverence for what you were privileged for a time to see and hear.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"لا تقل أبدًا إني فيلسوف، ولا تكثر الحديث بين الجهال عن نظرياتك، بل بيّنها بالأفعال. فإذا كنت في وليمة فلا تقل كيف ينبغي الأكل بل كل كما ينبغي ... وإذا دار أي حديث بين الجهّال حول أي نظريات فلسفية فالزم الصمت دائمًا؛ فثمة خطرٌ كبيرٌ بأن تقيء في الحال ما لم تهضمه. وعندما يأتي اليومٌ الذي يقال لك فيه: إنك لا تعرف شيئًا، فلا يثير ذلك غضبك ولا سخطك - فثق عندئذٍ أنك قد وضعت قدمك على بداية طريق الحكمة. ذلك أنه حتى الخراف لا تقيء عشبها لكي نُريَ الرعاةً كم أكلت؛ بل عندما تهضم الكلأ داخلها فإنها تخرجه صوفاا ولبنا، أنت أيضًا لا تُظهر النظريات للجهال بل الأفعال الناتجة عن النظريات بعد أن يتم هضمّها.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"No, I want to keep celebrating.’ [106] Yes, just as initiates want the mysteries to continue, or crowds at the Olympic Games want to see more contestants. But the festival is over; leave and move on, grateful for what you’ve seen, with your self-respect intact. Make room for other people, it’s their turn to be born, just as you were born, and once born they need a place to live, along with the other necessities of life. If the first people won’t step aside, what’s going to happen? Don’t be so greedy. Aren’t you ever satisfied? Are you determined to make the world more crowded still?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Whoever wants to be free, therefore, let him not want or avoid anything that is up to others. Otherwise he will necessarily be a slave.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Our master is anyone who has the power to implement or prevent the things that we want or don’t want. Whoever wants to be free, therefore, should wish for nothing or avoid nothing that is up to other people.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Begin therefore with little things. A little oil is spilled, a little wine is stolen: say, “This is the price of tranquility; this is the price of not being upset.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"being attached in this way to any number of things, we’re weighed down by them and dragged down. [16] That is why, if the weather prevents us from sailing, we sit there in a state of anxiety, constantly peering around. ‘What wind is this?’ The North Wind. And what does it matter to us and to him? ‘When will the West Wind blow?’ When it so chooses, my good friend, or rather, when Aeolus chooses; for God hasn’t appointed you to be controller of the winds, he has appointed Aeolus. [17] What are we to do, then? To make the best of what lies within our power, and deal with everything else as it comes.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"And yet how can their business compare in importance to ours? If you could see them at Rome, you would find that they do nothing all day but vote on a resolution, then huddle together a while to deliberate about grain, land or some other means to make a living. [10] Is it the same thing to receive a petition that reads, ‘Please allow me to export a bit of grain,’ and ‘Please learn from Chrysippus how the universe is governed, and what place the rational creature has in it; find out, too, who you are, and what constitutes your good and your evil’?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Remember that you are an actor in a drama of such sort as the author chooses, - if short, then in a short one; if long, then in a long one. If it be his pleasure that you should enact a poor man, see that you act it well; or a cripple, or a ruler, or a private citizen. For this is your business, to act well the given part; but to choose it, belongs to another.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"هل فُضّل عليك غيرك في دعوةٍ إلى وليمة؛ أو في تكريم: أو اجتماع مجلس؟ إذا كانت هذه الأشياء خيرّا فإن عليك أن تّغبط مَن نالها. أمّا إذا كانت شرا فلا تحزن لأنك لم تَنلها. واعلم أنك لا يمكن أن يُسمح لك بمنافسة الآخرين في الأشياء الخارجية دون أن تستخدم نفس الوسائل للحصول عليها. وإلا فكيف يمكن لامرئ لا يترد على أبواب أي كان ولا يلازمه ولا يتملّقه أن يحظى منه بما يحظى به من يفعل هذه الأشياء؟ إنك لمجحف وجشع إذا كنت تتخلى عن دفع الثمن الذي تُباع به هذه الأشياء، وتريد أن تحصل عليها بالمجان. حسنٌء بكم الخس؟ بأوبول مثلًا؟ فإذا حظيّ بالخس دافعٌ الأوبول وأحجمتَ أنت عن الدفع وعُدْت من غير خسٌ، فلا تحسبٌ أنه حظيّ بأيّ أفضلية عليك؛ فإن لديه الخس ولديك الأوبول الذي لم تدفعه. كذلك الأمر في حالتنا هذه؛ أنت لم تُدْعَ إلى وليمة مثل هذا الشخص؛ لأنّك لم تدفع له الثمن الذي يُباع به العّشاء؛ إنه يُباع بالإطراء، يُباع بالتزلّف. أَسْدِ إليه الثمن إذا كان في ذلك مصلحتك. أمّا إذا أردت أن تحتفظ بالثمن وتحظى بالشيء في آن معًا فأنت جشعٌ وأحمق. أتظن أنك لم تفز بشيء في مقابل العشاء الذي فاتك؟ بل فزت حقا، فزت بإعفائك من تملق من لا تريد أن تتملقه، وإعفائك من تحمل فظاظة الحُجّاب على بابه.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"This is the road that leads to liberty, the only road that delivers us from slavery: finally to be able to say, with meaning: Lead me, Zeus, lead me, Destiny, to the goal I was long ago assigned","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"At first, keep quiet and count the days when you were not angry: \"I used to be angry every day, then every other day: next every two, next every three days!\" and if you succeed in passing thirty days, sacrifice to the Gods in thanksgiving.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"What did I lack then, anyway?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"This is God's signal to you: if you want, you are free; if you want, you will blame no one, you will accuse no one - if you want, everything will happen according to plan, yours as well as God's.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"ليس عليك أن تُكثر من حضور المباريات. فإذا شاءت الظروف أن تكون هناك فلا تُبدِ حرصًا تجاه أي طرفٍ أكثر من حرصك على نفسك! أي أردٍ الأشياء أن تكون ما تكونه فحَسب، وأن يفوز الذي يفوز فحَسُب. فهكذا تَسْلّم من أي متاعب. ولكن امتنِعُ تمامًا عن الهتاف والسخرية والانفعالات العنيفة. وعندما تنصرف لا تُكثر من التعليق على ما حدث.،وعلى مالا يُسَهُمٌ في صلاح حالك، وإلا بدا من حديثك أنك مأخوذ بالمشهد أكثر من اللائق.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"I have to die. If it is now, well then I die now; if later, then now I will take my lunch, since the hour for lunch has arrived – and dying I will tend to later.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"such is Death, a greater change, from what now is, not to what is not, but to what is not now. \"Shall I then no longer be?\" Not so; thou wilt be; but something different, of which the World now hath need. For thou too wert born not when thou chosest, but when the World had need of thee.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"إذا حاولت أن تضطلع بِدَورٍ يتجاوز قدراتك. فأنت لا تخزي نفسك فيه فحسب، بل تصرفها أيضًا عما كانت قادرةً على أدائه.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Gustavo Solivellas dice: \"Make the best use of what's in your power and take the rest as it happens\" (Epictetus)","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Gustavo Solivellas dice: \"No es lo que te ocurre, sino cómo reaccionas lo que importa\" (Epíteto)","author":"Epicteto"},{"text":"If you now neglect things and are lazy and are always making delay after delay and set one day after another as the day for paying attention to yourself, then without realizing it you will make no progress but will end up a non-philosopher all through life and death. So decide now that you are worthy of living as a full-grown man who is making progress, and make everything that seems best to be a law that you cannot go against. And if you meet with any hardship or anything pleasant or reputable or disreputable, then remember that the contest is now . . . and you cannot put things off anymore and that your progress is made or destroyed by a single day and a single action.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"The world turns aside to let any man pass who knows where he is going","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If someone tried to take control of your body and make you a slave, you would fight for freedom. Yet, how easily you hand over your mind to anyone who insults you.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Throw him in jail.’ What jail? The one he is in already, since he is there against his will; and if he is there against his will then he is imprisoned.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Si alguien te hiciere saber que un inviduo habla mal de ti, no te defiendas, ni refutes lo que haya dicho, sino que responde: «Aquel que ha dicho aquello de mí, ignora sin duda otros defectos, de lo contrario no habría dicho sólo estos.»","author":"Epicteto"},{"text":"Instead of acting on impulse, take a step back—wait till the enchantment fades and you can see things as they are.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"What does it mean to be getting an education? It means learning to apply natural preconceptions to particular cases as nature prescribes, and distinguishing what is in our power from what is not.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Put up with being laughed at on occasion; look around you, and give yourself a good shaking to find out who you really are.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Liberty is lost unless we despise those things which put the yoke upon our necks.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"sophistical questions, so we ought to exercise ourselves","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you resist it a whole month, offer God a sacrifice, because the vice begins to weaken from day one, until it is wiped out altogether.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"No es razonar con coherencia decir: «Soy más rico que tú, por lo tanto soy mejor que tú; soy más brillante que tú, entonces soy superior a ti». Para razonar más coherentemente es preciso decir: «Soy más rico que tú, pues mis bienes son mayores que los tuyos; soy más brillante que tú, pues mis discursos tienen mayor valor que los tuyos». Ya que tú no eres, ciertamente, ni riqueza, ni elocuación.","author":"Epicteto"},{"text":"So why not care for that side of you, where you and the gods are equals?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"I’m in difficulty, lord, and pitiable: no one cares about me, no one helps me; I’m the object of universal scorn.’ [49] Is that the witness you are going to bear, making a mockery of God’s summons, when he honoured you and judged you worthy to be his public spokesman?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Un signo cierto de un espíritu incapaz es el de ocuparse mucho tiempo en el cuidado del cuerpo, así mismo como en el ejercicio, la bebida, el comer y en otras necesidades corporales. Estas cosas no deben ser lo principal, sino lo accesorio de nuestra vida.","author":"Epicteto"},{"text":"No one has power over our principles, and what other people do control we don’t care about.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Desire to become pure, and, once pure, you will be at ease with yourself, and comfortable in the company of God.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"At a feast, taking the largest helping may be good for your appetite, but sharing generously is good for the spirit of the celebration. In this case, honoring your hosts and fellow guests should be valued above sating your hunger.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"They made you responsible only for what is in your power – the proper use of impressions.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"So why take on the burden of matters which you cannot answer for? You are only making unnecessary problems for yourself.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Don’t let the force of the impression when first it hits you knock you off your feet; just say to it, ‘Hold on a moment; let me see who you are and what you represent.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"But what says Socrates?—\"One man finds pleasure in improving his land, another his horses. My pleasure lies in seeing that I myself grow better day by day.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"And as proof that he has delivered them to you, bring your preconceptions to bear. Bring the arguments of philosophers. Bring what you’ve often heard, and often said yourself; what you’ve read, and what you’ve practised.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"So – a true philosopher is under no obligation to respect vulgar opinion as to what is religious or irreligious, what is just or unjust. What dishonour he brings on philosophers in general if he did! That’s not what you learned here.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"So when we are frustrated, angry or unhappy, never hold anyone except ourselves – that is, our judgements – accountable.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Никто не свободен, если он не господин самому себе.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Seeing that our birth involves the blending of these two things—the body, on the one hand, that we share with animals, and, on the other hand, rationality and intelligence, that we share with the gods—most of us incline to this former relationship, wretched and dead though it is, while only a few to the one that is divine and blessed.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Don’t hope that events will turn out the way you want, welcome events in whichever way they happen: this is the path to peace.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Faithfulness is the antidote to bitterness and confusion.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Put away the fear of death, and however much thunder and lightning you have to face, you will find the mind capable of remaining calm and composed regardless.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"In time, you will grow to be confident that there is not a single impression that you will not have the moral means to tolerate.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"28. If a person gave your body to any stranger he met on his way, you would certainly be angry. And do you feel no shame in handing over your own mind to be confused and mystified by anyone who happens to verbally attack you?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Be free from grief not through insensibility like the irrational animals, nor through want of thought like the foolish, but like a man of virtue by having reason as the consolation of grief.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Stop honouring externals, quit turning yourself into the tool of mere matter, or of people who can supply you or deny you those material things.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Those proficient praise no one, blame no one, and accuse no one. They say nothing concerning their self as being anybody or knowing anything.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"It has been ordained that there be summer and winter, abundance and dearth, virtue and vice, and all such opposites for the harmony of the whole, and (Zeus) has given each of us a body, property, and companions.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"You will never have to experience defeat if you avoid contests whose outcome is outside your control.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Disease is an impediment to the body, but not to the will, unless the will itself chooses. Lameness is an impediment to the leg, but not to the will. And add this reflection on the occasion of everything that happens; for you will find it an impediment to something else, but not to yourself.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"It is always our choice whether or not we wish to pay the price for life's rewards. And often it is best for us not to pay the price, for the price might be our integrity.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Never say of anything that I've lost it, only that I've given it back.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"The wise person knows it is fruitless to project hopes and fears on the future. This only leads to forming melodramatic representations in your mind and wasting time.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"CIRCUMSTANCES DON’T MAKE THE MAN, THEY ONLY REVEAL HIM TO HIMSELF","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"What is death? A \"tragic mask.\" Turn it and examine it. See, it does not bite. The poor body must be separated from the spirit either now or later, as it was separated from it before. Why, then, are you troubled, if it be separated now? for if it is not separated now, it will be separated afterward. Why? That the period of the universe may be completed, for it has need of the present, and of the future, and of the past. What is pain? A mask. Turn it and examine it. The poor flesh is moved roughly, then, on the contrary, smoothly. If this does not satisfy you, the door is open: if it does, bear. For the door ought to be open for all occasions; and so we have no trouble.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"You journey to Olympia to see the work of Phidias; and each of you holds it a misfortune not to have beheld these things before you die. Whereas when there is no need even to take a journey, but you are on the spot, with the works before you, have you no care to contemplate and study these?   Will you not then perceive either who you are or unto what end you were born: or for what purpose the power of contemplation has been bestowed on you?   \"Well, but in life there are some things disagreeable and hard to bear.\"   And are there none at Olympia? Are you not scorched by the heat? Are you not cramped for room? Have you not to bathe with discomfort? Are you not drenched when it rains? Have you not to endure the clamor and shouting and such annoyances as these? Well, I suppose you set all this over against the splendour of the spectacle and bear it patiently. What then? have you not received greatness of heart, received courage, received fortitude? What care I, if I am great of heart, for aught that can come to pass? What shall cast me down or disturb me? What shall seem painful? Shall I not use the power to the end for which I received it, instead of moaning and wailing over what comes to pass?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"That Socrates should ever have been so treated by the Athenians!\"  Slave! why say \"Socrates\"? Speak of the thing as it is: That ever then the poor body of Socrates should have been dragged away and haled by main force to prision! That ever hemlock should have been given to the body of Socrates; that that should have breathed its life away!—Do you marvel at this? Do you hold this unjust? Is it for this that you accuse God? Had Socrates no compensation for this? Where then for him was the ideal Good? Whom shall we hearken to, you or him? And what says he?   \"Anytus and Melitus may put me to death: to injure me is beyond their power.\"   And again:—   \"If such be the will of God, so let it be.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"What upsets people is not things themselves but their judgements about these things.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"But to be hanged—is that not unendurable?\" Even so, when a man feels that it is reasonable, he goes off and hangs himself.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"For in this Case, we are not to give Credit to the Many, who say, that none ought to be educated but the Free; but rather to the Philosophers, who say, that the Well-educated alone are free.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Epictetus has had a long-standing resonance in the United States; his uncompromising moral rigour chimed in well with Protestant Christian beliefs and the ethical individualism that has been a persistent vein in American culture. His admirers ranged from John Harvard and Thomas Jefferson in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau in the nineteenth. More recently, Vice-Admiral James Stockdale wrote movingly of how his study of Epictetus at Stanford University enabled him to survive the psychological pressure of prolonged torture as a prisoner of war in Vietnam between 1965 and 1973. Stockdale’s story formed the basis for a light-hearted treatment of the moral power of Stoicism in Tom Wolfe’s novel A Man in Full (1998).52","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Finally, when he crowns it off by becoming a senator, then he becomes a slave in fine company, then he experiences the poshest and most prestigious form of enslavement.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"When then any man assents to that which is false, be assured that he did not intend to assent to it as false, for every soul is unwillingly deprived of the truth, as Plato says; but the falsity seemed to him to be true.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Don't concern yourself with other people's business. It's his problem if he receives you badly. And you cannot suffer for another person's fault. So don't worry about the behavior of other.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"So if you like doing something, do it regularly; if you don't like doing something, make a habit of doing something different.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"In literature, too, it is not great achievement to memorize what you have read while not formulating an opinion of your own.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Why are you pestering me, pal? My own evils are enough for me.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"The soul is like the bowl of water, with the soul's impressions like the rays of light that strike the water. Now, if the water is disturbed, the light appears to be disturbed together with it — though of course it is not. So when someone loses consciousness, it is not the person's knowledge and virtues that are impaired, it is the breath that contains them. Once the breath returns to normal, knowledge and the virtues are restored to normal also.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"No one can steal your peace of mind unless you let them.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Demand not that events should happen as you wish; but wish them to happen as they do happen, and you will go on well.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Disease is an impediment to the body, but not to the will, unless the will itself chooses. Lameness is an impediment to the leg, but not to the will. And add this reflection on the occasion of everything that happens; for you will find it an impediment to something else, but not to yourself. X","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Death is not dreadful or else it would have appeared dreadful to Socrates.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"For if we had any sense, what else should we do, both in public and in private, than sing hymns and praise the deity, and recount all the favours that he has conferred!","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"But only if I identify with my will can I be someone’s friend – or son, or father – in the true sense, because only then will my self-interest be served by remaining loyal, honest, patient, tolerant and supportive, and by maintaining my social relations.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Where are you going to find serenity and independence – in something free, or something enslaved?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Find satisfaction in following your philosophy. If you want to be respected, start by respecting yourself.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If a person gave your body to any stranger he met on is way, you would certainly be angry. And do you feel no shame in handing over your own mind to be confused and mystified by anyone who happens to verbally attack you?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"the gods I am indebted for having good grandfathers, good parents, a good sister, good teachers, good associates, good kinsmen and friends, nearly everything good.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you wish to be rich, you should know that it is neither a good thing nor at all in your power: but if you wish to be happy, you should know that it is both a good thing and in your power, for the one is a temporary loan of fortune, and happiness comes from the will.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Find your significance within yourself. Within your own sphere of power—that is where you have the greatest consequence.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"First, tell yourself what you want to be, then act your part accordingly.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"A bad person’s character cannot be trusted, it’s weak and indecisive, easily won over by different impressions at different times.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Give me by all means the shorter and nobler life, instead of one that is longer but of less account!","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"But I’ll get money, and then share it.” If you can acquire riches without losing your honor and self-respect, then do it. But if you lose what is dearest to you, no amount of money can make up for it.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"the Oracle at Delphi—once threw a man out of the temple for abandoning his friend.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Who is there left for me to fear, and over what has he control? Not what is in my power, because no one controls that except myself. As for what is not in my power, in that I take no interest.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"The people before whom you bow and tremble – when I meet them, I treat them as if they were slaves.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"has any of you such power as Socrates had, in all his intercourse with men, of winning them over to his own convictions?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Be the same person in public as in private.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Speak only what is useful and beneficial.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Furthermore the true Cynic must know that he is sent as a Messenger from God to men, to show unto them that as touching good and evil they are in error; looking for these where they are not to be found, nor ever bethinking themselves where they are.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Refuse to participate in gossip—tearing down, inflating, and judging other people.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If any be unhappy, let him remember that he is unhappy by reason of himself alone. For God hath made all men to enjoy felicity and constancy of good. CXXIII","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"What is my position in society?” The one best suited to your talents, which you can hold with honor. Each person has a vital role in society; you are important right where you are. But if you lose your honor in striving for greater (perceived) significance, you become useless.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"When you see a person weeping in sorrow either when a. child goes abroad or when he is dead, or when the man has lost his property, take care that the appearance do not hurry you away with it, as if he were suffering in external things. But straightway make a distinction in your own mind, and be in readiness to say, it is not that which has happened that afflicts this man, for it does not afflict another, but it is the opinion about this thing which afflicts the man. So far as words then do not be unwilling to show him sympathy, and even if it happens so, to lament with him. But take care that you do not. lament internally also.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"You do not seem to realize that the mind is subject only to itself. It alone can control it, [13] which shows the force and justice of God’s edict: the strong shall always prevail over the weak.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Just ask whether they put their self-interest in externals or in moral choice. [27] If it’s in externals, you cannot call them friends, any more than you can call them trustworthy, consistent, courageous or free. You cannot even call them human beings, if you think about it. [28] Because it is no human frame of mind that makes people snap at others and insult them, or take to the marketplace the way bandits take to the desert or mountains,∗ and behave like bandits in court; or that turns them into depraved lechers and adulterers; or is responsible for all other crimes that people commit against each other.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Do not laugh loudly and obnoxiously.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you would improve, be content to be thought foolish and dull with regard to externals. Do not desire to be thought to know anything; and though you should appear to others to be somebody, distrust yourself. For be assured, it is not easy at once to keep your will in harmony with nature and to secure externals; but while you are absorbed in the one, you must of necessity neglect the other. XIV","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"This World is one great City, and one if the substance whereof it is fashioned: a certain period indeed there needs must be, while these give place to those; some must perish for others to succeed; some move and some abide: yet all is full of friends--first God, then Men, whom Nature hath bound by ties of kindred each to each.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Philosophy’s purpose is to illuminate the ways our soul has been infected by unsound beliefs, untrained tumultuous desires, and dubious life choices and preferences that are unworthy of us. Self-scrutiny applied with kindness is the main antidote.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Avoid taking oaths","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"No man can rob us of our Will—no man can lord it over that!","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If someone turned your body over to just any person who happened to meet you, you would be angry. But are you not ashamed that you turn over your own faculty of judgment to whoever happens along, so that if he abuses you it is upset and confused?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"There is nothing more inspiring than a speaker who makes clear to his audience that he has need of them. [37] Tell me – has anyone who has ever heard you read or discourse felt self-remorse as a result, or experienced self-realization, or afterwards left thinking, ‘The philosopher touched a nerve there; I can’t go on acting as I have’?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"26. The will of nature may be learned from those things in which we don’t distinguish from each other. For example, when our neighbor’s boy breaks a cup, or the like, we are presently ready to say, “These things will happen.” Be assured, then, that when your own cup likewise is broken, you ought to be affected just as when another’s cup was broken. Apply this in like manner to greater things. Is the child or wife of another dead? There is no one who would not say, “This is a human accident.” but if anyone’s own child happens to die, it is presently, “Alas I how wretched am I!” But it should be remembered how we are affected in hearing the same thing concerning others.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If some pleasure is promised to you and it seductively calls to you, step back and give yourself some time before mindlessly jumping at it. Dispassionately turn the matter over in your mind: Will this pleasure bring but a momentary delight, or real, lasting satisfaction? It makes a difference in the quality of our life and the kind of person we become when we learn how to distinguish between cheap thrills and meaningful, lasting rewards.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you want not just peace and contentment, but power and wealth too, you may forfeit the former in seeking the latter, and will lose your freedom and happiness along the way. Whenever distress or displeasure arises in your mind, remind yourself, “This is only my interpretation, not reality itself.” Then ask whether it falls within or outside your sphere of power. And, if it is beyond your power to control, let it go.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"When anyone provokes you, remember that it is actually your own opinion provoking you. It is not the person who insults or attacks you who torments your mind, but the view you take of these things. Do not be fooled by how things first appear. With time and greater perspective, you can regain inner peace.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If it pleases the gods, so be it.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Tradition has it that late in life Epictetus retired from teaching introduction and withdrew to the peace and quiet of family life, under conditions imposed by old age: that is, he became a parent by adopting rather than fathering a child, and took into his home a female servant to serve as a kind of surrogate mother to the child and domestic servant for himself. That he had absented himself from family life for so long shows that he regarded philosophy as a jealous mistress who demanded practically all his time and attention, which family life would not allow. That this renunciation of family life represented a real sacrifice is suggested by the fact that he took to it immediately upon retiring. He evidently thought he had earned the comforts of home after devoting most of his life to improving the lives of others – the successive generations of students who had passed through his school. We have no more news of Epictetus beyond this. After creating this version of a family he was evidently content to settle into it and live out the balance of his years in obscurity.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Now is the time to get serious about living your ideals. Once you have determined the spiritual principles you wish to exemplify, abide by these rules as if they were laws, as if it were indeed sinful to compromise them. Don’t mind if others don’t share your convictions. How long can you afford to put off who you really want to be? Your nobler self cannot wait any longer. Put your principles into practice—now. Stop the excuses and the procrastination. This is your life! You aren’t a child anymore. The sooner you set yourself to your spiritual program, the happier you will be. The longer you wait, the more you will be vulnerable to mediocrity and feel filled with shame and regret, because you know you are capable of better. From this instant on, vow to stop disappointing yourself. Separate yourself from the mob. Decide to be extraordinary and do what you need to do—now.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Be confident in everything outside the will, and cautious in everything under the will’s control.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Whether human affairs are directed by Fate’s unalterable necessity, or by chance, is a question. The wisest of philosophers disagree on this point. [Epicureans] insist that heaven is unconcerned with our birth and death – is unconcerned, in fact, with human beings generally – with the result that good people often suffer while wicked people thrive. [The Stoics] disagree, maintaining that although things happen according to fate, this depends not on the movement of the planets but on the principles and logic of natural causality. This school concedes to us the freedom to choose our own lives. Once the choice is made, however, the Stoics warn that the subsequent sequence of events cannot be altered. With regard to practical matters they maintain that popular ideas of good and bad are wrong: many people who appear to be in dire circumstances are actually happy provided they deal with their situation bravely; others, regardless of how many possessions they have, are miserable, because they do not know how to use the gifts of fortune wisely.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Tell us your secrets.’ [23] ‘I refuse, as this is up to me.’ ‘I will put you in chains.’ ‘What’s that you say, friend? It’s only my leg you will chain, not even God can conquer my will.’ [24] ‘I will throw you into prison.’ ‘Correction – it is my body you will throw there.’ ‘I will behead you.’ ‘Well, when did I ever claim that mine was the only neck that couldn’t be severed?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"In any events, however seemingly dire, there is nothing to prevent us from searching for its hidden opportunity. It is a failure of the imagination not to do so. But to seek out the opportunity in situations requires a great deal of courage, for most people around you will persist in interpreting events in the grossest terms: success or failure, good or bad, right or wrong. These simplistic, polarized categories obscure more creative—and useful—interpretations of events that are far more advantageous and interesting! The wise person knows it is fruitless to project hopes and fears on the future. This only leads to forming melodramatic representations in your mind and wasting time. At the same time, one shouldn’t passively acquiesce to the future and what it holds. Simply doing nothing does not avoid risk, but heightens it.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"But what master, I wonder, do you yourself serve? Money? Women? Boys? The emperor or one of his subordinates? It has to be one of them, or you wouldn’t fret about such things.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Times relieves the foolish from sorrow, but reason relieves the wise","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"And yet, while there is only the one thing we can care for and devote ourselves to, we choose instead to care about and attach ourselves to a score of others: to our bodies, to our property, to our family, friends and slaves.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"And yet, while there is only the one thing we can care for and devote ourselves to, we choose instead to care about and attach ourselves to a score of others: to our bodies, to our property, to our family, friends and slaves. [15] And, being attached to many things, we are weighed down and dragged along with them.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Transfer caution to the will and the functions of the will, and the mere wish will bring with it the power of avoidance. But if we direct it at what is outside us and is none of our responsibility, wanting instead to avoid what’s in the control of others, we are necessarily going to meet with fear, upset and confusion.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you take care of it and identify with it, you will never be blocked or frustrated; you won’t have to complain, and never will need to blame or flatter anyone.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"the ability to make good use of impressions","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Make the best use of what is in our power, and treat the rest in accordance with its nature. And what is its nature? However God decides.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"The first task of the person who wishes to live wisely is to free himself or herself from the confines of self-absorption.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"What is death? A scary mask. Take it off – see, it doesn’t bite.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"The most serious misfortune for a busy man who is overwhelmed by his possessions is, that he believes men to be his friends when he himself is not a friend to them, and that he deems his favours to be effective in winning friends, although, in the case of certain men, the more they owe, the more they hate.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"What disturbs men's minds is not events but their judgements on events: For instance, death is nothing dreadful, or else Socrates would have thought it so. No, the only dreadful thing about it is men's judgement that it is dreadful. And so when we are hindered, or disturbed, or distressed, let us never lay the blame on others, but on ourselves, that is, on our own judgements. To accuse others for one's own misfortunes is a sign of want of education; to accuse oneself shows that one's education has begun; to accuse neither oneself nor others shows that one's education is complete.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Two elements are combined in our creation, the body, which we have in common with the beasts; and reason and good judgement, which we share with the gods. Most of us tend toward the former connection, miserable and mortal though it is, whereas only a few favour this holy and blessed alliance.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"When someone is properly grounded in life, they shouldn’t have to look outside themselves for approval.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you wish to be free, do not desire anything that depends on another, lest you make them your master.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If the Divine is faithful, he also must be faithful; if free, he also must be free; if beneficent, he also must be beneficent; if magnanimous, he also must be magnanimous. Thus as an imitator of God must he follow Him in every deed and word.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Friends, wait for God. When He gives the signal, and releases you from this service, then depart to Him. But for the present, endure to dwell in the place wherein He has assigned you your post. Short indeed is the time of your habitation, and easy to those that are thus minded. What tyrant, what robber, what tribunals have any terrors for those who thus esteem the body and all that belong to it as of no account?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Conduct yourself in all matters, grand and public or small and domestic, in accordance with the laws of nature. Harmonizing your will with nature should be your utmost ideal.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"When you are feeling upset, angry, or sad,” Epictetus said, “don’t blame another for your state of mind. Your condition is the result of your own opinions and interpretations. . . .","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Never call yourself a philosopher, nor talk a great deal among the unlearned about theorems, but act conformably to them. Thus, at an entertainment, don’t talk how persons ought to eat, but eat as you ought. For remember that in this manner Socrates also universally avoided all ostentation. And when persons came to him and desired to be recommended by him to philosophers, he took and recommended them, so well did he bear being overlooked. So that if ever any talk should happen among the unlearned concerning philosophic theorems, be you, for the most part, silent. For there is great danger in immediately throwing out what you have not digested. And, if anyone tells you that you know nothing, and you are not nettled at it, then you may be sure that you have begun your business. For sheep don’t throw up the grass to show the shepherds how much they have eaten; but, inwardly digesting their food, they outwardly produce wool and milk. Thus, therefore, do you likewise not show theorems to the unlearned, but the actions produced by them after they have been digested.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"And the way to be free is to let go of anything that is not within your control.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"It isn't death, pain, exile or anything else you care to mention that accounts for the way we act, only our opinion about death, pain and the rest.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you have assumed a character above your strength, you have both acted in this matter in an unbecoming way, and you have neglected that which you might have fulfilled.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Nothing important comes into being overnight; even grapes and figs need time to ripen. If you say that you want a fig now, I will tell you to be patient. First, you must allow the tree to flower, then put forth fruit; then you have to wait until the fruit is ripe. So if the fruit of a fig tree is not brought to maturity instantly or in an hour, how do you expect the human mind to come to fruition, so quickly and easily?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"That is the way things are weighed and disagreements settled — when standards are established. Philosophy aims to test and set such standards. And the wise man is advised to make use of their findings right way.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"It is the act of an ill-instructed man to blame others for his own bad condition; it is the act of one who has begun to be instructed, to lay blame on himself; and of one whose instruction is completed, neither to blame another, nor himself.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"He wants what he cannot have, and does not want what he can't refuse — and isn't aware of it. He doesn't know the difference between his own possessions and others'. Because, if he did, he would never be thwarted of disappointed. Or nervous.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"We aren't filled with fear except by things that are bad; and not by them, either, as long as it is in our power to avoid them.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"I want to die, even though I don't have to.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"You'd have a better chance persuading someone to change their sexual orientation than reaching people who have rendered themselves so deaf and blind.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"People are ready to acknowledge some of their faults, but will admit to others only with reluctance.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Does anyone bathe hastily? Do not say that they do it ill, but hastily. Does anyone drink much wine? Do not say that they do ill, but that they drink a great deal. For unless you perfectly understand their motives, how should you know if they act ill? Thus you will not risk yielding to any appearances except those you fully comprehend.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Faced with pain, you will discover the power of endurance. If you are insulted, you will discover patience. In time, you will grow to be confident that there is not a single impression that you will not have the moral means to tolerate.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Don’t explain your philosophy. Embody it.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"I have learned to see that whatever comes about is nothing to me if it lies beyond the sphere of choice.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Happiness and freedom begin with a clear understanding of one principle: Some things are within our control, and some things are not. It is only after you have faced up to this fundamental rule and learned to distinguish between what you can and can’t control that inner tranquility and outer effectiveness become possible.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"In short, we do not abandon any discipline for despair of ever being the best in it.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Les feuilles tombent, la figue sèche, remplace la figue fraîche, le raisin sec la grappe mûre, voilà selon toi des paroles de mauvaise augure ! Mais il n’y a là que la transformation d’états antérieurs en d’autres ; il n’y a pas de destruction, mais un aménagement et une disposition bien réglée. L’émigration n’est qu’un petit changement. La mort en est un plus grand, mais il ne va pas de l’être actuel au non-être, mais au non-être de l’être actuel. Alors ne serais-je plus ? Tu ne seras pas ce que tu es mais autre chose dont le monde aura alors besoin.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Let whatever appears to be the best be to you an inviolable law. And if any instance of pain or pleasure, glory or disgrace, be set before you, remember that now is the combat, now the Olympiad comes on, nor can it be put off; and that by one failure and defeat honor may be lost or—won.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Remember then that if you think the things which are by nature slavish to be free, and the things which are in the power of others to be your own, you will be hindered, you will lament, you will be disturbed, you will blame both gods and men: but if you think that only which is your own to be your own, and if you think that what is another's, as it really is, belongs to another, no man will ever compel you, no man will hinder you, you will never blame any man, you will accuse no man, you will do nothing involuntarily (against your will), no man will harm you, you will have no enemy, for you will not suffer any harm. If","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Another person will not hurt you without your cooperation; you are hurt the moment you believe yourself to be.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Who are these people whose admiration you seek? Aren’t they the ones you are used to describing as mad? Well, then, is that what you want – to be admired by lunatics?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you are told that such an one speaks ill of you, make no defense against what was said, but answer, \"He surely knows not my other faults, else he would not have mentioned these only!","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Man is disturbed not by things, but by the views he takes of them.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"What, for instance, does it mean to be insulted? [29] Stand by a rock and insult it, and what have you accomplished? If someone responds to insult like a rock, what has the abuser gained with his invective? If, however, he has his victim’s weakness to exploit, then his efforts are worth his while.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"And what else can I do, lame old man that I am, than sing the praise of God? If I were a nightingale, I would perform the work of a nightingale, and if I were a swan, that of a swan. But as it is, I am a rational being, and I must sing the praise of God. This is my work, and I accomplish it, and I will never abandon my post for as long as it is granted to me to remain in it; and I invite all of you to join me in this same song.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If what philosophers say of the kinship of God and Man be true, what remains for men to do but as Socrates did:—never, when asked one's country, to answer, \"I am an Athenian or a Corinthian,\" but \"I am a citizen of the world.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Geef me de moed om alles te accepteren wat niet in mijn vermogen ligt, de kracht om alles te veranderen wat wel in mijn vermogen ligt, en de wijsheid om tussen die twee te onderscheiden.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Goodness exists independently of our conception of it. The good is out there and it always has been out there, even before we began to exist.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Well, then, biting, kicking, wanton imprisonment and beheading – is that what our nature entails? No; rather, acts of kindness, cooperation and good will. And so, whether you like it or not, a person fares poorly whenever he acts like an insensitive brute.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"When did anger, however, ever teach someone to play music or pilot a ship?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Whenever you see someone holding political power, set against it the fact that you yourself have no need of power. Whenever you see someone wealthy, observe what you have instead of that. For if you have nothing in its place, you are in a miserable state; but if you have the absence of the need to have wealth, realize that you have something greater and much more valuable. One man has a beautiful wife, you have the absence of longing for a beautiful wife. Do you think these are little things? How much would these very people – the wealthy, the powerful, the ones who live with beautiful women – pay for the ability to look down on wealth and power and those very women whom they adore and get?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Content yourself with being a lover of wisdom, a seeker of the truth. Return and return again to what is essential and worthy. Do not try to seem wise to others. If you want to live a wise life, live it on your own terms and in your own eyes.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"For as wood is the material of the carpenter, and marble that of the sculptor, so the subject matter of the art of life is the life of the self.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Show me someone untroubled with disturbing thoughts about illness, danger, death, exile or loss of reputation. By all the gods, I want to see a Stoic!","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"The soul stands on unassailable ground, if it has abandoned external things; it is independent in its own fortress; and every weapon that is hurled falls short of the mark. Fortune has not the long reach with which we credit her; she can seize none except him that clings to her. Let us then recoil from her as far as we are able. This will be possible for us only through knowledge of self and of the world of Nature. The soul should know whither it is going and whence it came, what is good for it and what is evil, what it seeks and what it avoids, and what is that Reason which distinguishes between the desirable and the undesirable, and thereby tames the madness of our desires and calms the violence of our fears. Some men flatter themselves that they have checked these evils by themselves even without the aid of philosophy; but when some accident catches them off their guard, a tardy confession of error is wrung from them. Their boastful words perish from their lips when the torturer commands them to stretch forth their hands, and when death draws nearer!","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Consciousness of its weakness will keep you from tackling difficult subjects.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"But when he comes in thunder and lightning brandishing these things, and I show fear in response, in effect I have been brought face to face with my master, just like a runaway slave.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"So-and-so’s son died.’ (‘The question’). Answer: ‘Since it’s nothing he can control, it isn’t bad.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"It is difficult circumstances that show real men.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If, however, I liberate myself from my master – which is to say, from the emotions that make my master frightening – what troubles can I have? No man is my master any longer.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Consider when, on a voyage, your ship is anchored; if you go on shore to get water you may along the way amuse yourself with picking up a shellfish, or an onion. However, your thoughts and continual attention ought to be bent towards the ship, waiting for the captain to call on board; you must then immediately leave all these things, otherwise you will be thrown into the ship, bound neck and feet like a sheep. So it is with life. If, instead of an onion or a shellfish, you are given a wife or child, that is fine.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"But it’s not right of Zeus to do this.’ Why? Because he made you tough and proud, removed the stigma of evil from these circumstances and made it possible for you to be happy despite them? Or because he left the door open when things finally don’t agree with you? Friend, take advantage of it, and stop blaming God.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Settle on the type of person you want to be and stick to it, whether alone or in company.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Let man be pleased with whatever has pleased God; let him marvel at himself and his own resources for this very reason, that he cannot be overcome, that he has the very powers of evil subject to his control, and that he brings into subjection chance and pain and wrong by means of that strongest of powers – reason. Love reason! The love of reason will arm you against the greatest hardships.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"As the fire-lights in harbors by a few pieces of dry wood raises a great flame and give sufficient help to ships which are wandering on the sea; so also an illustrious man in a state which is tempest-tossed, while he is himself satisfied with a few things does great services to his citizens.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you wish to have peace and contentment, release your attachment to all things outside your control.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Externals include the body and its members, as well as material goods. If you grow attached to any of them as if they were your own, you will incur the penalties prescribed for a thief.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"It’s a living soul I want one of you to show me, the soul of a person willing to work with, and never criticize, either God or a fellow human being. One who will never fail, or have experiences he does not want; who will never give in to anger, jealousy or the desire to dominate others.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you decide to do something, don’t shrink from being seen doing it, even if the majority of people disapprove. If you’re wrong to do it, then you should shrink from doing it altogether; but if you’re right, then why worry how people will judge you?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Nothing important comes into being overnight; even grapes or figs need time to ripen. If you say that you want a fig now, I will tell you to be patient. First, you must allow the tree to flower, then put forth fruit; then you have to wait until the fruit is ripe. [8] So if the fruit of a fig tree is not brought to maturity instantly or in an hour, how do you expect the human mind to come to fruition, so quickly and easily?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"I will define him simply as someone set on becoming a god rather than a man.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"These inferences are invalid: “I am richer than you, therefore I am better than you,” and “I am more eloquent than you, therefore I am better than you.” But the following inferences are more cogent: “I am richer than you, therefore my property is better than yours,” or “I am more eloquent than you, therefore my diction is better than yours.” But you yourself are neither property nor diction.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"People are not disturbed by things themselves, but by the views they take of those things.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Things and people are not what we wish them to be nor what they seem to be. They are what they are.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"I am richer than you, therefore my wealth is superior to yours’; and ‘I am a better speaker, therefore my diction is better than yours.’ But you are neither wealth nor diction.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"We have two ears and one mouth-so that we can listen twice as much as we speak","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"For it is always true that to whatever point the perfecting of anything leads us, progress is an approach towards this point.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"It is not reasonings that are wanted now for there are books stuffed full of stoical reasonings. What is wanted, then? The man who shall apply them; whose actions may bear testimony to his doctrines. Assume this character for me, that we may no longer make use in the schools of the examples of the ancients, but may have some examples of our own.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"A person’s worth, after all, is not found in possessions or style.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If someone, says Epictetus, refuses to accept what is patently obvious, it is not easy to find arguments to use against him that could cause him to change his mind.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"There is one road to peace and happiness (keep the thought near by morning, noon and night): renunciation of externals;","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"But if with trembling and lamentation you seek not to fall into that which you avoid, tell me how you are improving.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"When you are alone, you should call this tranquility and freedom and when you are with many you shouldn’t call this a crowd, or trouble or uneasiness but festival and company and contentedly accept it.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"A fool cannot be convinced or even compelled to renounce his folly.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"But I want power and renown so that I may help other people,” you say. What do you mean by “help”? Can you really give them happiness and satisfaction—things that are in their own spheres of power, not yours?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Você deseja vencer nos Jogos Olímpicos? Eu também, pelos deuses, porque é uma coisa boa. Mas considere os primeiros passos que conduzem a isto, e as consequências, e depois, mãos à obra! Você deve se submeter à disciplina, comer de acordo, não tocar em doces, treinar debaixo de rigores, numa hora fixa, no calor e no frio, não beber água muito gelada, nem vinho, a não ser quando receber a ordem de fazer isso; você deve se entregar completamente ao seu treinador assim como o faria com o seu médico e depois, quando chega a hora da competição, você deve se arriscar a se machucar e algumas vezes ter a sua mão deslocada, torcer o tornozelo, engolir um bocado de areia, algumas vezes ser fustigado, e junto com isso tudo, ser derrotado.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Where does the good lie? ‘In the will.’ And evil? ‘Also in the will.’ And things neither good nor bad – ‘… lie in whatever is external to the will.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"When you have him as your leader, and conform your will and desire to his, what fear of failure can you have?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"In every affair consider what precedes and what follows, and then undertake it. Otherwise you will begin with spirit, indeed, careless of the consequences, and when these are developed, you will shamefully desist. “I would conquer at the Olympic Games.” But consider what precedes and what follows, and then, if it be for your advantage, engage in the affair. You must conform to rules, submit to a diet, refrain from dainties; exercise your body, whether you choose it or not, at a stated hour, in heat and cold; you must drink no cold water, and sometimes no wine—in a word, you must give yourself up to your trainer as to a physician. Then, in the combat, you may be thrown into a ditch, dislocate your arm, turn your ankle, swallow an abundance of dust, receive stripes [for negligence], and, after all, lose the victory. When you have reckoned up all this, if your inclination still holds, set about the combat. Otherwise, take notice, you will behave like children who sometimes play wrestlers, sometimes gladiators, sometimes blow a trumpet, and sometimes act a tragedy, when they happen to have seen and admired these shows. Thus you too will be at one time a wrestler, and another a gladiator; now a philosopher, now an orator; but nothing in earnest. Like an ape you mimic all you see, and one thing after another is sure to please you, but is out of favor as soon as it becomes familiar. For you have never entered upon anything considerately; nor after having surveyed and tested the whole matter, but carelessly, and with a halfway zeal. Thus some, when they have seen a philosopher and heard a man speaking like Euphrates[3]—though, indeed, who can speak like him?—have a mind to be philosophers, too. Consider first, man, what the matter is, and what your own nature is able to bear. If you would be a wrestler, consider your shoulders, your back, your thighs; for different persons are made for different things. Do you think that you can act as you do and be a philosopher, that you can eat, drink, be angry, be discontented, as you are now? You must watch, you must labor, you must get the better of certain appetites, must quit your acquaintances, be despised by your servant, be laughed at by those you meet; come off worse than others in everything—in offices, in honors, before tribunals. When you have fully considered all these things, approach, if you please—that is, if, by parting with them, you have a mind to purchase serenity, freedom, and tranquillity. If not, do not come hither; do not, like children, be now a philosopher, then a publican, then an orator, and then one of Caesar’s officers. These things are not consistent. You must be one man, either good or bad. You must cultivate either your own reason or else externals; apply yourself either to things within or without you—that is, be either a philosopher or one of the mob.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"[24] In a piece of embossed silverware, what is best: the silver or the workmanship? The substance of the hand is mere flesh, but what is important is the works that the hand produces. [25] Now, appropriate actions are of three kinds:* first, those relating to mere existence, secondly, those relating to existence of a particular kind, and thirdly, those that are themselves principal duties. And what are those? [26] Fulfilling one’s role as a citizen, marrying, having children, honouring God, taking care of one’s parents, and, in a word, having our desires and aversions, and our motives to act and or not to act, as each of them ought to be, in accordance with our nature. And what is our nature? [27] To be people who are free, noble-minded, and self-respecting. For what other animal blushes; what other animal has a sense of shame? [28] Pleasure should be subordinated to these duties as a servant, as an attendant,* so as to arouse our zeal, so as to ensure that we consistently act in accord with nature.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"No, it is events that give rise to fear -- when another has the power over them or can prevent them, that person becomes able to inspire fear. How is the fortress destroyed? Not by iron or fire, but by judgments... here is where we must begin, and it is from this front that we must seize the fortress and throw out tyrants.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Take the example of a public speaker. He is confident that he has written a good speech, he has committed the thing to memory, and can deliver it smoothly. Still he agonizes, [6] because it’s not enough for him to be competent, he also hungers for the crowd’s approval.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"As the sun does not wait for prayers and incantations to be induced to rise, but immediately shines and is saluted by all: so do you also not wait for clappings of hands, and shouts and praise to be induced to do good, but be a doer of good voluntarily, and you will be beloved as much as the sun.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"What do we value? Externals. What do we look after? Externals. [12] So of course, we are going to experience fear and nervousness.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Now is the time to get serious about living your ideals. How long can you afford to put off who you really want to be? Your nobler self cannot wait any longer. Put your principles into practice – now. Stop the excuses and the procrastination. This is your life! You aren’t a child anymore. The sooner you set yourself to your spiritual program, the happier you will be. The longer you wait, the more you’ll be vulnerable to mediocrity and feel filled with shame and regret, because you know you are capable of better. From this instant on, vow to stop disappointing yourself. Separate yourself from the mob. Decide to be extraordinary and do what you need to do – now.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Men are disturbed not by things, but by the views which they take of things.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"The whole point of learning is to live out the teachings.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"when we love, hate or fear such things, then the people who administer them are bound to become our masters.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"With every accident, ask yourself what abilities you have for making a proper use of it. If you see an attractive person, you will find that self-restraint is the ability you have against your desire. If you are in pain, you will find fortitude. If you hear unpleasant language, you will find patience. And thus habituated, the appearances of things will not hurry you away along with them.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Caretake this moment. Immerse yourself in its particulars. Respond to this person, this challenge, this deed. Quit the evasions. Stop giving yourself needless trouble. It is time to really live; to fully inhabit the situation you happen to be in now. You are not some disinterested bystander. Participate. Exert yourself. Respect your partnership with providence. Ask yourself often, How may I perform this particular deed such that it would be consistent with and acceptable to the divine will? Heed the answer and get to work. When your doors are shut and your room is dark, you are not alone. The will of nature is within you as your natural genius is within. Listen to its importunings. Follow its directives. As concerns the art of living, the material is your own life. No great thing is created suddenly. There must be time. Give your best and always be kind.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Do not worry if others criticize or laugh at you, for their opinions are not your concern.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"People who are ignorant of philosophy blame others for their own misfortunes. Those who are beginning to learn philosophy blame themselves. Those who have mastered philosophy blame no one.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Approach life as your own Olympic Games—","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"When you feel burning desire for something that appears pleasureful, you are like a person under a spell. Instead of acting on impulse, take a step back—wait till the enchantment fades and you can see things as they are.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"So in the field of assent you cannot be hindered or obstructed. ‘Evidently.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"When we are invited to a banquet, we take what is put before us. If someone should order the host to serve him fish or pastries, he would seem eccentric. But out in the world, we ask the gods for things they do not give us─even though there are many things they have given us.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Whenever a challenge arises, turn inward and ask what power you can exercise in the situation. If you meet temptation, use self-control; if you meet pain, use fortitude; if you meet revulsion, use patience. In this way, you will overcome life’s challenges, rather than be overcome by them.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Treasure Your Mind, Cherish Your Reason, Hold to Your Purpose Don’t surrender your mind. If someone were to casually give your body away to any old passerby, you would naturally be furious. Why then do you feel no shame in giving your precious mind over to any person who might wish to influence you? Think twice before you give up your own mind to someone who may revile you, leaving you confused and upset.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Do your best to rein in your desire. For if you desire something that isn’t within your own control, disappointment will surely follow; meanwhile, you will be neglecting the very things that are within your control that are worthy of desire.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you meet temptation, use self-control; if you meet pain, use fortitude; if you meet revulsion, use patience.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"For you will learn by experience that it’s true: the things that men admire and work so hard to get prove useless to them once they’re theirs.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Don’t just say you have read books. Show that through them you have learned to think better, to be a more discriminating and reflective person. Books are the training weights of the mind. They are very helpful, but it would be a bad mistake to suppose that one has made progress simply by having internalized their contents.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"For what else are tragedies but the ordeals of people who have come to value externals, tricked out in tragic verse?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Men are disturbed, not by things, but by the principles and notions","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Our possessions should be suited to our bodies and lives, just as our shoes are suited to our feet. Could you run better if your shoes were larger than your feet, or gold-plated and diamond studded? Of course not. Once you let your appetite exceed what is necessary and useful, desire knows no bounds.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"The reason why I lost my lamp was that the thief was superior to me in vigilance. He paid however this price for the lamp, that in exchange for it he consented to become a thief: in exchange for it, to become faithless.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Let death and exile and every other thing which appears dreadful be daily before your eyes; but most of all death: and you will never think of anything mean nor will you desire anything extravagantly.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"It is not things that trouble us, but our judgements about things.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Not in our power are all the elements which constitute our environment, such as wealth, health, reputation, social prestige, power, the lives of those we love, and death. In our power are our thinking, our intentions, our desires, our decisions. These make it possible for us to control ourselves and to make of ourselves elements and parts of the universe of nature. This knowledge of ourselves makes us free in a world of dependencies. This superiority of our powers enables us to live in conformity with nature.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"What would have become of Hercules, do you think, if there had been no lion, hydra, stag or boar – and no savage criminals to rid the world of? [33] What would he have done in the absence of such challenges? Obviously he would have just rolled over in bed and gone back to sleep. So by snoring his life away in luxury and comfort he never would have developed into the mighty Hercules.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"the same thing, really, that we all want: to live in peace, to be happy, to do as we like and never be foiled or forced to act against our wishes.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"[8] Yet if we place the good in right choice, the preservation of our relationships itself becomes a good. And besides, he who gives up certain external things achieves the good through that. [9] ‘My father’s depriving me of money.’ But he isn’t causing you any harm. ‘My brother is going to get the greater share of the land.’ Let him have as much as he wishes. He won’t be getting any of your decency, will he, or of your loyalty, or of your brotherly love? [10] For who can disinherit you of possessions such as those? Not even Zeus; nor would he wish to, but rather he has placed all of that in my own power, even as he had it himself, free from hindrance, compulsion, and restraint.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"No te dejes apartar de tu deber por cualquier reflexión vana que de ti pueda hacer el mundo necio, porque en tu poder no están sus censuras, y, por consiguiente, no deben importarte nada","author":"Epicteto"},{"text":"Bring on whatever difficulties you like, Zeus; I have resources and a constitution that you gave me by means of which I can do myself credit whatever happens.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"[14] It is in accordance with this plan of action above all that one should train oneself. As soon as you leave the house at break of day, examine everyone whom you see, everyone whom you hear, and answer as if under questioning. What did you see? A handsome man or beautiful woman? Apply the rule. Does this lie within the sphere of choice, or outside it? Outside. Throw it away. [15] What did you see? Someone grieving over the death of his child? Apply the rule. Death is something that lies outside the sphere of choice. Away with it. You met a consul? Apply the rule. What kind of thing is a consulship? One that lies outside the sphere of choice, or inside? Outside. Throw that away too, it doesn’t stand the test. Away with it; it is nothing to you. [16] If we acted in such a way and practised this exercise from morning until night, we would then have achieved something, by the gods. [17] But as things are, we’re caught gazing open-mouthed at every impression that comes along, and it is only in the schoolroom that we wake up a little, if indeed we ever do. Afterwards, when we go outside, if we see someone in distress, we say, ‘He’s done for,’ or if we see a consul, exclaim, ‘A most fortunate man’; if an exile, ‘Poor wretch!’; if someone in poverty, ‘How terrible for him; he hasn’t money enough to buy a meal.’ [18] These vicious judgements must be rooted out, then; that is what we should concentrate our efforts on. For what is weeping and groaning? A judgement. What is misfortune? A judgement. What is civil strife, dissension, fault-finding, accusation, impiety, foolishness? [19] All of these are judgements and nothing more, and judgements that are passed, moreover, about things that lie outside the sphere of choice, under the supposition that such things are good or bad. Let someone transfer these judgements to things that lie within the sphere of choice, and I guarantee that he’ll preserve his peace of mind, regardless of what his circumstances may be. [20] The mind is rather like a bowl filled with water, and impressions are like a ray of light that falls on that water. [21] When the water is disturbed, the ray of light gives the appearance of being disturbed, but that isn’t really the case. [22] So accordingly, whenever someone suffers an attack of vertigo, it isn’t the arts and virtues that are thrown into confusion, but the spirit in which they’re contained; and when the spirit comes to rest again, so will they too.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Small-minded people habitually reproach others for their own misfortunes. Average people reproach themselves. Those who are dedicated to a life of wisdom understand that the impulse to blame something or someone is foolishness, that there is nothing to be gained in blaming, whether it be others or oneself.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Now I am being called upon for some purpose. I answer the call determined to observe the right limits; to act with restraint, but also with confidence, devoid of desire or aversion towards externals.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Care for your body as needed, but put your main energies and efforts into cultivating your mind.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"It is not reasonings that are wanted now,' he says, 'for there are books stuffed full of stoical reasonings. What is wanted, then? The man who shall apply them; whose actions may bear testimony to his doctrines. Assume this character for me, that we may no longer make use in the schools of the examples of the ancients, but may have some examples of our own.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"In short, if we observe, we shall find that the animal man is pained by nothing so much as by that which is irrational; and, on the contrary, attracted to nothing so much as to that which is rational.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"There are things that are within our power, and things that fall outside our power. Within our power are our own opinions, aims, desires, dislikes—in sum, our own thoughts and actions. Outside our power are our physical characteristics, the class into which we were born, our reputation in the eyes of others, and honors and offices that may be bestowed on us.   Working within our sphere of control, we are naturally free, independent, and strong. Beyond that sphere, we are weak, limited, and dependent. If you pin your hopes on things outside your control, taking upon yourself things which rightfully belong to others, you are liable to stumble, fall, suffer, and blame both gods and men. But if you focus your attention only on what is truly your own concern, and leave to others what concerns them, then you will be in charge of your interior life. No one will be able to harm or hinder you. You will blame no one, and have no enemies.  If you wish to have peace and contentment, release your attachment to all things outside your control. This is the path of freedom and happiness. If you want not just peace and contentment, but power and wealth too, you may forfeit the former in seeking the latter, and will lose your freedom and happiness along the way.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"I am prepared to show you that you have resources and a character naturally strong and resilient; show me in return what grounds you have for being peevish and malcontent.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Epictetus is not superior to Socrates; but if he is not inferior, this is enough for me; for I shall never be a Milo, and yet I do not neglect my body; nor shall I be a Croesus, and yet I do not neglect my property; nor, in a word, do we neglect looking after anything because we despair of reaching the highest degree.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"I hope death overtakes me when I’m occupied solely with the care of my character, in an effort to make it passionless, free, unrestricted and unrestrained.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Because I have no natural gifts, shall I on that account give up my discipline? Far be it from me! Epictetus will not be better than Socrates, but if only I am not worse, that suffices me. For I shall not be a Milo, either, and yet I do not neglect my body, nor a Croesus, and yet I do not neglect my property, nor, in a word, is there any other field in which we give up the appropriate discipline merely from despair of attaining the highest.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"reconciliation. Remember that you are friends, you’ve known each for other a long time, and the relationship is worth keeping.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Remember that you must behave in life as at a dinner party. Is anything brought around to you? Put out your hand and take your share with moderation. Does it pass by you? Don’t stop it. Is it not yet come? Don’t stretch your desire towards it, but wait till it reaches you.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"It is better to live with one free man and to be without fear and free, than to be a slave with many.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"It betrays a lack of an interior life when a person is overly focused on bodily things—whether indulging in food and drink, exercising to exhaustion, or spending excessive time on grooming. Care for your body as needed, but put your main energies and efforts into cultivating your mind.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"From this instant, then, choose to act like the worthy and capable person you are. Follow unwaveringly what reason tells you is the best course.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Remember that you are an actor in a drama, of such a kind as the author pleases to make it. If short, of a short one; if long, of a long one.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Every moment think steadily as a Roman and a man to do what thou hast in hand with perfect and simple dignity, and feeling of affection, and freedom, and justice; and to give thyself relief from all other thoughts.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Thus Socrates became perfect, improving himself by everything. attending to nothing but reason. And though you are not yet a Socrates, you ought, however, to live as one desirous of becoming a Socrates. 51.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Whenever someone helps or hinders you, or praises or criticizes you, remember that they see you only through the lens of their own impressions. If they act or speak from a warped perspective, they hurt themselves—not you.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Here is the primary means of training yourself: as soon as you leave in the morning, subject whatever you see or hear to close study. Then formulate answers as if they were posing questions.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Work, therefore to be able to say to every harsh appearance, “You are but an appearance, and not absolutely the thing you appear to be.” And then examine it by those rules which you have, and first, and chiefly, by this: whether it concerns the things which are in our own control, or those which are not; and, if it concerns anything not in our control, be prepared to say that it is nothing to you.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Let someone transfer these opinions to the workings of the will, and I personally guarantee his peace of mind, no matter what his outward circumstances are like.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Do not say of anything “I have lost it,” but rather, “I have given it back.” Has your wife died? You have given her back. Has your child died? You have given him back. Have you lost your home? You have given it back. “But,” you may retort, “a bad person took it.” It is not your concern by what means something returns to the Source from which it came. For as long as the Source entrusts something to your hands, treat it as something borrowed, like a traveller at an inn.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"The soul is like a bowl of water, with the soul’s impressions like the rays of light that strike the water. [21] Now, if the water is disturbed, the light appears to be disturbed together with it – though of course it is not.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Is there smoke in the house? If it’s not suffocating, I will stay indoors; if it proves too much, I’ll leave. Always remember – the door is open.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Remember, it is not enough to be hit or insulted to be harmed, you must believe that you are being harmed. If someone succeeds in provoking you, realize that your mind is complicit in the provocation. Which is why it is essential that we not respond impulsively to impressions; take a moment before reacting, and you will find it is easier to maintain control.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"No greater thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig; if you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Syyttää toisia omasta onnettomuudestansa on sivistymättömyyden merkki; syyttää itseänsä on sivistyksen alkeiden ilmaus, olla syyttämättä muita ja itseänsä on näyte ihmisen sivistyksestä.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"It is for you to arrange your priorities; but whatever you decide to do, don’t do it resentfully, as if you were being imposed on.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"At a feast, do not give a speech about how everyone should eat. Only eat as you should. Socrates never made a spectacle of himself or put on an air of authority. In philosophical conversations, follow his example—stay mostly silent; ask questions and listen intently. If anyone calls you ignorant and says you know nothing, be sure that you are now a true student of philosophy.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"If you commit to philosophy, be prepared at once to be laughed at and made the butt of many snide remarks, like, ‘Suddenly there’s a philosopher among us!’ and ‘What makes him so pretentious now?’ Only don’t be pretentious: just stick to your principles as if God had made you accept the role of philosopher. And rest assured that, if you remain true to them, the same people who made fun of you will come to admire you in time; whereas, if you let these people dissuade you from your choice, you will earn their derision twice over.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Because when you engage in the same things as the masses, you lower yourself to their level.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Those are the reflections you should recur to morning and night. Start with things that are least valuable and most liable to be lost – things such as a jug or a glass – and proceed to apply the same ideas to clothes, pets, livestock, property; then to yourself, your body, the body’s parts, your children, your siblings and your wife. [112] Look on every side and mentally discard them. Purify your thoughts, in case of an attachment or devotion to something that doesn’t belong to you and will hurt to have wrenched away. [113] And as you exercise daily, as you do at the gym, do not say that you are philosophizing (admittedly a pretentious claim), but that you are a slave presenting your emancipator;14 because this is genuine freedom that you cultivate.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"An ignorant person is one who is tossed about between elation and despair by external forces and events.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Kun korppi koikkuu onnettomuutta ennustaen, älköön se näky sinua säikäyttäkö, vaan heti selitä ja sano itsellesi: tuo ei aavista mitään minulle, vaan ehkä raukalle ruumiilleni tai vähäpätöisille varoilleni tai mukamalle maineelleni tai lapsilleni tai vaimolleni. Minulle ennustaa kaikki onnea, jos minä tahdon, sillä mitä hyvänsä niistä tapahtuneekin, on minun vallassani käyttää sitä hyödykseni.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"You must realize that death and illness are bound to overtake us whatever it is we’re doing. They overtake the farmer at the plough, the sailor at the helm; [6] what do you want to be doing when they come upon you? Because you have to be doing something when you go; and if you can find anything better than this to be doing, then do it by all means.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"We can familiarize ourselves with the will of nature by calling to mind our common experiences. When a friend breaks a glass, we are quick to say, ‘Oh, bad luck.’ It’s only reasonable, then, that when a glass of your own breaks, you accept it in the same patient spirit. Moving on to graver things: when somebody’s wife or child dies, to a man we all routinely say, ‘Well, that’s part of life.’ But if one of our own family is involved, then right away it’s ‘Poor, poor me!’ We would do better to remember how we react when a similar loss afflicts others.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Did you ever see me any way but with a smile on my face, ready to obey any orders that you had for me?","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Whatever is enough is abundant in the eyes of virtue.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Don’t demand that things happen as you wish, but wish that they happen as they do happen, and you will go on well.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"One person likes tending to his farm, another to his horse; I like to daily monitor my self-improvement.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Don't just say you have read books. Show that through them you have learned to think better, to be a more discriminating and reflective person. Books are the training weights of the mind. They are very helpful, but it would be a bad mistake to suppose that one has made progress simply by having internalized their contents.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"who is your master? Whoever has authority over anything that you’re anxious to gain or avoid.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"إلام تنتظر حتى تنتدب نفسك لأجل المراتب ولا تحيد عن حدود العقل؟ لقد تلقيت النظريات التي ينبغي الإمام بها وألممت بها. أي معلّم آخر إذن ما زلت ترتقبه حتى تُحيلَ إليه مهمة تقويم ذاتك؟ أنت لم تعُد صبيا لقد كبرت. فإذا بقيت مهملًا كسولا، وما تنفك تسوّف وتماطل وترجئ اليوم الذي ستنتبه فيه إلى نفسك، فلن تراوح وستظل جهولًا في حياتك وفي مماتك. الآن إذن اعتبر نفسّك جديرًا بالعيش كراشدٍ وسالك على درت الفلسفة، وخذ كل ما تراه حقا واجعله قانونا صلبا لا يقبل الانتهاك. فإذا عرض لك عارض من ألم أو لذة أو مجْدٍ أو شين فتذكّر أن النزال الآن، الأوليمبياد الآن ولا يمكن أن تؤجل، وبانكسارة واحدة وتخاذلٍ واحد يذهب الفوز أو يأتي. هكذا بلغ سقراط الكمال؛ مقوَّمًا نفسه بكل وسيلة؛ غيرَ مُصغ إلى شيء سوى العقل، ورغم أنك لست سقراطًا بعد فإنه ينبغي عليك أن تعيش كمن يطمح أن يكون سقراطًا.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"For it is indeed pointless and foolish to seek to get from another what one can get from oneself. [32] Since I can get greatness of soul and nobility of mind from myself, shall I seek to get a patch of land from you, or a bit of money, or some public post? Heaven forbid! I won’t overlook my own resources in such a manner. [33] But if someone is abject and cowardly, what on earth can one do for him except write letters for him as though on behalf of a corpse, ‘Do please grant us the corpse of this man and a pint of his miserable blood’; [34] for in truth such a person is merely a corpse and a pint of blood, and nothing more. If he amounted to anything more, he would realize that no one suffers misfortune because of the actions of another.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Such was, and is, and will be the nature of the universe, and it isn’t possible that things should come into being in any other way than they do at present; and not only have human beings participated in the process of change and transformation along with all the other creatures that live on the earth, but also those beings that are divine, and, by Zeus, even the four elements, which are changed and transformed upwards and downwards, as earth becomes water, and water air, and air is transformed in turn into ether. If someone endeavours to turn his mind towards these things, and to persuade himself to accept of his own free will what must necessarily come about, he will live a very balanced and harmonious life.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Most people are impulsive, however, and having committed to the thing, they persist, just making more confusion for themselves and others until it all end in mutual recrimination.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Supprime donc en toi toute aversion pour ce qui ne dépend pas de nous et, cette aversion, reporte-la sur ce qui dépend de nous et n’est pas en accord avec la nature. Quant au désir, pour le moment, supprime-le complètement. Car si tu désires une chose qui ne dépend pas de nous, tu ne pourras qu’échouer, sans compter que tu te mettras dans l’impossibilité d’atteindre ce qui est à notre portée et qu’il est plus sage de désirer. Borne-toi à suivre tes impulsions, tes répulsions, mais fais-le avec légèreté, de façon non systématique et sans effort excessif.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"understand that every event is indifferent and nothing to you, of whatever sort it may be; for it will be in your power to make a right use of it, and this no one can hinder.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"To-day, when the crisis calls you, will you go off and display your recitation and harp on, 'How cleverly I compose dialogues'? Nay, fellow man, make this your object, 'Look how I fail not to get what I will. Look how I escape what I will to avoid. Let death come and you shall know; bring me pains, prison, dishonour, condemnation.' This is the true field of display for a young man come from school. Leave those other trifles to other men; let no one ever hear you say a word on them, do not tolerate any compliments upon them; assume the air of being no one and of knowing nothing. Show that you know this only, how not to fail and how not to fall.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"When you find your direction, check to make sure that it is the right one.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"People find particular things, however, frightening; and it's when someone is able to threaten or entice us with those that the man himself becomes frightening.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Happiness and freedom begin with a clear understanding of one principle: Some things are within our control, and some things are not.","author":"Epictetus"},{"text":"Aye, but to debase myself thus were unworthy of me.\" \"That,\" said Epictetus, \"is for you to consider, not for me. You know yourself what you are worth in your own eyes

Great stuff.