Background Image
...
Because Your Own Strength Is Unequal To A Task, Do Not Assume It Is Beyond The Powers Of Man.
-Marcus Aurelius
...
Please Wait....
Translating....

Because Your Own Strength

Marcus Aurelius
...
Because Your Own Strength Is Unequal To A Task, Do Not Assume It Is Beyond The Powers Of Man.

Understanding the Quote: "because your own strength is unequal to a task, do not assume..."

This quote by Marcus Aurelius reflects deeply on the theme of strength. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Strength, Men, Tasks, the quote offers insight, emotional clarity, and intellectual inspiration to readers worldwide.

Whether you’re a student exploring new ideas, a leader trying to motivate your team, or someone seeking direction in life — this quote provides value. It resonates because it’s more than words — it’s a bridge between experience and wisdom. It shows how Marcus Aurelius interprets life's core challenges and triumphs.

Lessons From the Quote

This quote teaches resilience and focus. It reminds readers that no matter where they stand in life, reflection and self-awareness lead to growth. Each word has meaning, and when studied, it becomes clear how impactful thoughtful language can be.

About Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius is celebrated for insightful thoughts on strength and men. Their legacy lives on through writings that guide, comfort, and inspire. Discover more on their profile page.

Actionable Takeaways

  • Reflect on how this quote applies to your current life path.
  • Share the message with someone who needs inspiration.
  • Write your thoughts on this quote in a journal or blog post.
  • Use it as a daily affirmation or reminder.

Closing Thoughts

Quotes like this endure because they capture universal truths. They comfort us in solitude and empower us in groups. Carry this quote forward — live by its wisdom, share its message, and keep its essence alive.

Views: 71998
Topic
Strength
Men
Tasks
More From Marcus Aurelius
Everything That Exists Is In A Manner The Seed Of That Which Will Be.
Work
Fate
Manifestation
Practice Really Hearing What People Say. Do Your Best To Get Inside Their Mind.
Practice
People
Mind
You Exist But As A Part Inherent In A Greater Whole. Do Not Live As Though You Had A Thousand Years Before You. The Common Due Impends; While You Live, And While You May, Be Good.
Years
May
Common
Observe Constantly That All Things Take Place By Change, And Accustom Thyself To Consider That The Nature Of The Universe Loves Nothing So Much As To Change The Things Which Are, And To Make New Things Like Them.
Love
Inspirational
Change
To Live Happily Is An Inward Power Of The Soul.
Happiness
Laughter
Philosophical
Accept Whatever Comes To You Woven In The Pattern Of Your Destiny, For What Could More Aptly Fit Your Needs?
Destiny
Woven
Needs
Does A Man Shrink From Change? Why, What Can Come Into Being Save By Change?
Change
Shrinks
God Overrules All Mutinous Accidents, Brings Them Under His Laws Of Fate, And Makes Them All Serviceable To His Purpose.
Fate
Law
Purpose
Each Day Provides Its Own Gifts.
Life
Gratitude
Philosophical
When You Have Trouble Getting Out Of Bed In The Morning, Remember That Your Defining Characteristic-what Defines A Human Being-is To Work With Others.
Morning
Bed
Defining
Remember That Even If You Were To Live For Three Thousand Years, Or Thirty Thousand, You Could Not Lose Any Other Life Than The One You Have, And There Will Be No Other Life After It. So The Longest And The Shortest Lives Are The Same. The Present Moment Is Shared By All Living Creatures, But The Time That Is Past Is Gone Forever. No One Can Lose The Past Or The Future, For If They Don't Belong To You, How Can They Be Taken From You?
Life
Taken
Past
Death, Like Birth, Is One Of Nature's Mysteries, The Combining Of Primal Elements And Dissolving Of The Same Into The Same.
Elements
Birth
Mystery
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.
Justice
Done
Movement
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.
Dream
Dark
Men
It Never Ceases To Amaze Me: We All Love Ourselves More Than Other People, But Care More About Their Opinions Than Our Own.
Love
People
Care
Neither In Writing Nor In Reading Wilt Thou Be Able To Lay Down Rules For Others Before Thou Shalt Have First Learned To Obey Rules Thyself.
Reading
Writing
Able
...the Infallible Man Does Not Exist.
Men
Doe
Infallible
Remember That What Pulls The Strings Is The Force Hidden Within; There Lies The Power To Persuade, There The Life, - There, If One Must Speak Out, The Real Man.
Life
Real
Self Esteem
Why Should Anyone Be Afraid Of Change? What Can Take Place Without It? What Can Be More Pleasing Or More Suitable To Universal Nature? Can You Take Your Bath Without The Firewood Undergoing A Change? Can You Eat Without The Food Undergoing A Change? And Can Anything Useful Be Done Without Change? Don't You See That For You To Change Is Just The Same, And Is Equally Necessary For Universal Nature?
Change
Done
Baths
Be Cheerful, Also, And Seek Not External Help, Nor The Peace Which Others Give. A Man Must Stand Straight, And Not Be Kept Straight By Others.
Men
Giving
Cheerful
Give Yourself A Gift: The Present Moment.
Giving
Moments
Present Moment
All Those [events In History] Were Such Dramas As We See Now, Only With Different Actors.
Drama
Events
Different
Our Life Is What Our Thoughts Make It. Do Every Act Of Your Life As If It Were Your Last. In A Word, Your Life Is Short. You Must Make The Most Of The Present With The Aid Of Reason And Justice. Since It Is Possible That You May Be Quitting Life This Very Moment, Govern Every Act And Thought Accordingly.
Life
Justice
May
Be Content With What You Are, And Wish Not Change; Nor Dread Your Last Day, Nor Long For It.
Fear
Philosophy
Philosophical
Both Happiness And Unhappiness Depend On Perception
Perception
Human Nature
Unhappiness
He Who Flies From His Master Is A Runaway; But The Law Is Master, And He Who Breaks The Law Is A Runaway. And He Also Who Is Grieved Or Angry Or Afraid, Is Dissatisfied Because Something Has Been Or Is Or Shall Be Of The Things Which Are Appointed By Him Who Rules All Things, And He Is Law, And Assigns To Every Man What Is Fit. He Then Who Fears Or Is Grieved Or Is Angry Is A Runaway.
Men
Law
Fit
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.
Writing
Science
Occupation
You Don't Have To Turn This Into Something. It Doesn't Have To Upset You. Things Can't Shape Our Decisions By Themselves.
Decision
Upset
Shapes
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?
Inspirational
Empathy
Faults
Each Thing Is Of Like Form From Everlasting And Comes Round Again In Its Cycle...
Philosophical
Form
Everlasting
The Universe Is Transformation: Life Is Opinion.
Opinion
Transformation
Life Is
You Have Power Over Your Mind - Not Outside Events. Realize This, And You Will Find Strength.
Inspirational
Motivational
Strength
As Surgeons Keep Their Instruments And Knives Always At Hand For Cases Requiring Immediate Treatment, So Shouldst Thou Have Thy Thoughts Ready To Understand Things Divine And Human, Remembering In Thy Every Act, Even The Smallest, How Close Is The Bond That Unites The Two.
Hands
Knives
Two
Look Deeply. Don't Miss The Inherent Quality And Value Of Everything.
Missing
Quality
Looks
Where Life Is Possible At All, A Right Life Is Possible; Life In A Palace Is Possible; Therefore Even In A Palace A Right Life Is Possible.
Life
Palaces
Life Is
Live With The Gods. And He Does So Who Constantly Shows Them That His Soul Is Satisfied With What Is Assigned To Him.
Soul
Contentment
Doe
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.
Art
Men
Life Is
Men Exist For The Sake Of One Another.
Philosophical
Men
Sake
Whatever May Happen To You Was Prepared For You From All Eternity; And The Implication Of Causes Was From Eternity Spinning The Thread Of Your Being.
Destiny
Causes
May
Consider, For Example, And You Will Find That Almost All The Transactions In The Time Of Vespasian Differed Little From Those Of The Present Day. You There Find Marrying And Giving In Marriage, Educating Children, Sickness, Death, War, Joyous Holidays, Traffic, Agriculture, Flatterers, Insolent Pride, Suspicions, Laying Of Plots, Longing For The Death Of Others, Newsmongers, Lovers, Misers, Men Canvassing Far The Consulship And For The Kingdom; Yet All These Passed Away, And Are Nowhere.
Children
War
Holiday
A Rational Nature Admits Of Nothing But What Is Serviceable To The Rest Of Mankind.
Human Nature
Mankind
Rational
Nothing Is Worth Doing Pointlessly.
Everything Is Only For A Day, Both That Which Remembers And That Which Is Remembered. Observe Constantly That All Things Take Place By Change, And Accustom Thyself To Consider That The Nature Of The Universe Loves Nothing So Much As To Change The Things Which Are And To Make New Things Like Them. For Everything That Exists Is In A Manner The Seed Of That Which Will Be.
Change
Things Change
Universe
Everything Is Born From Change. ...there Is Nothing Nature Loves More That 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 One That Make Plants And Children? Go Deeper.
Children
Thinking
Plant
Confine Yourself To The Present.
Philosophical
Mindfulness
Everything That Happens, Happens As It Should.
Should
Happens
At Day's First Light Have In Readiness, Against Disinclination To Leave Your Bed, The Thought That "i Am Rising For The Work Of Man."
Work
Men
Light
Aptitude Found In The Understanding And Is Often Inherited. Genius Coming From Reason And Imagination, Rarely.
Philosophical
Vivid Imagination
Understanding
It Is A Shameful Thing For The Soul To Faint While The Body Still Perseveres.
Inspirational
Perseverance
Attitude
Don't Go On Discussing What A Good Person Should Be. Just Be One.
Inspirational
Goes On
Good Person
Letting Go All Else, Cling To The Following Few Truths. Remember That Man Lives Only In The Present, In This Fleeting Instant: All The Rest Of His Life Is Either Past And Gone, Or Not Yet Revealed. This Mortal Life Is A Little Thing, Lived In A Little Corner Of The Earth; And Little, Too, Is The Longest Fame To Come - Dependent As It Is On A Succession Of Fast-perishing Little Men Who Have No Knowledge Even Of Their Own Selves, Much Less Of One Long Dead And Gone.
Letting Go
Truth
Past
Death, Like Birth, Is A Secret Of Nature.
Death
Philosophical
Secret
The Substance Of The Universe Is Obedient And Compliant; And The Reason Which Governs It Has In Itself No Cause For Doing Evil, For It Has No Malice, Nor Does It Do Evil To Anything, Nor Is Anything Harmed By It. But All Things Are Made And Perfected According To This Reason.
Evil
Causes
Doe
Always Take The Short Cut; And That Is The Rational One. Therefore Say And Do Everything According To Soundest Reason.
Cutting
Reason
Rational
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? But They Do Exist, And They Do Care For Humankind: And They Have Put It Absolutely In Man's Power To Avoid Falling Into The True Kinds Of Harm.
Fall
Men
Departure
The Impediment To Action Advances Action. What Stands In The Way Becomes The Way.
Way
Action
Obstacles
Am I Doing Anything? I Do It With Reference To The Good Of Mankind. Does Anything Happen To Me? I Receive It And Refer It To The Gods, And The Source Of All Things, From Which All That Happens Is Derived.
Doe
Source
Mankind
When Forced, As It Seems, By Your Environment To Be Utterly Disquieted, Return With All Speed Into Your Self, Staying In Discord No Longer Than You Must. By Constant Recurrence To The Harmony, You Will Gain More Command Over It.
Self
Return
Gains
There Is No Misfortune, But To Bear It Nobly Is Good Fortune.
Bears
Fortune
Good Fortune
The Controlling Intelligence Understands Its Own Nature, And What It Does, And Whereon It Works.
Doe
Vex Not Thy Spirit At The Course Of Things, They Heed Not Thy Vexations
Vex
Spirit
Courses
Without A Purpose, Nothing Should Be Done.
Purpose
Done
Should
Our Life Is What Our Thoughts Make It.
Inspirational
Life
Change
People Exist For One Another.
People
The Noblest Kind Of Retribution Is Not To Become Like Your Enemy.
Words Of Wisdom
Enemy
Kind
No State Sorrier Than That Of The Man Who Keeps Up A Continual Round, And Pries Into "the Secrets Of The Nether World," As Saith The Poet, And Is Curious In Conjecture Of What Is In His Neighbour's Heart.
Heart
Men
Secret
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.
Good Life
Men
Fearless
Observe Always That Everything Is The Result Of A Change, And Get Used To Thinking That There Is Nothing Nature Loves So Well As To Change Existing Forms And To Make New Ones Like Them.
Inspirational
Nature
Healing
Withdraw To The Untroubled Quietude Deep Within The Soul, And Refresh Yourself.
Soul
Deep Within
You Have To Assemble Your Life Yourself - Action By Action.
Action
Life Yourself
Know The Joy Of Life By Piling Good Deed On Good Deed Until No Rift Or Cranny Appears Between Them.
Joy
Rift
Deeds
Not Even The Vicissitudes Of Fortune Are Contrary To Nature Or To The Providential Ordering Of The Universe. It All Flows From The Gods, Who Determine What Is Needed For The Welfare Of The Whole Universe, Of Which You Are A Part.
Flow
Welfare
Fortune
Do Not Consider Anything For Your Interest Which Makes You Break Your Word, Quit Your Modesty Or Inclines You To Any Practice Which Will Not Bear The Light Or Look The World In The Face.
Light
Practice
Principles
If Any Man Can Convince Me And Bring Home To Me That I Do Not Think Or Act Aright, Gladly Will I Change; For I Search After Truth, By Which Man Never Yet Was Harmed. But He Is Harmed Who Abideth On Still In His Deception And Ignorance.
Home
Ignorance
Dark
Remember That All Is Opinion.
Criticism
Opinion
Remember
Failing To Understand The Workings Of One's Own Mind Is Bound To Lead To Unhappiness.
Mind
Failing
Unhappiness
Since You Are An Integral Part Of A Social System, Let Every Act Of Yours Contribute To The Harmonization Of Social Life. Any Action That Is Not Related Directly Or Remotely To This Social Aim Disturbs Your Life, And Destroys Your Unity.
Community
Action
Social
Do What Nature Now Requires. Set Thyself In Motion, If It Is In Thy Power, And Do Not Look About Thee To See If Any One Will Observe It; Nor Yet Expect Plato's Republic: But Be Content If The Smallest Thing Goes On Well, And Consider Such An Event To Be No Small Matter.
Plato
Events
Looks
Look Deep Into The Hearts Of Men, And See What Delights And Disgusts The Wise.
Wise
Heart
Men
Thou Seest How Few Be The Things, The Which If A Man Has At His Command His Life Flows Gently On And Is Divine.
Men
Flow
Divine
Let Thine Occupations Be Few, Saith The Sage, If Thou Wouldst Lead A Tranquil Life.
Life
Sage
Occupation
Think Of The Universal Substance, Of Which Thou Has A Very Small Portion; And Of Universal Time, Of Which A Short And Indivisible Interval Has Been Assigned To Thee; And Of That Which Is Fixed By Destiny, And How Small A Part Of It Thou Art
Art
Destiny
Thinking
Whosoever Does Wrong, Wrongs Himself; Whosoever Does Injustice, Does It To Himself, Making Himself Evil.
Evil
Doe
Injustice
Thou Art A Little Soul Bearing About A Corpse.
Art
Soul
Littles
Every Man's Life Lies Within The Present; For The Past Is Spent And Done With, And The Future Is Uncertain.
Inspirational
Life
Motivational
A Man Should Remove Not Only Unnecessary Acts, But Also Unnecessary Thoughts, For Then Superfluous Activity Will Not Follow.
Men
Unnecessary
Should
And Thou Wilt Give Thyself Relief, If Thou Doest Every Act Of Thy Life As If It Were The Last.
Life
Philosophical
Giving
Be Tolerant With Others And Strict With Yourself.
Tolerance
Strict
No Longer Talk At All About The Kind Of Man That A Good Man Ought To Be, But Be Such
Love
Life
Family
Prize That Which Is Best In The Universe; And This Is That Which Useth Everything And Ordereth Everything.
Prize
Universe
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.
Strong
Men
Perfect
Severally On The Occasion Of Everything That Thou Doest, Pause And Ask Thyself, If Death Is A Dreadful Thing Because It Deprives Thee Of This.
Thee
Occasions
Asks
Keep Yourself Simple, Good, Pure, Serious, And Unassuming; The Friend Of Justice And Godliness; Kindly, Affectionate, And Resolute In Your Devotion To Duty.
Simple
Justice
Serious
Take It That You Have Died Today, And Your Life's Story Is Ended; And Henceforward Regard What Future Time May Be Given You As Uncovenanted Surplus, And Live It Out In Harmony With Nature.
Life
Future
Stories
When You Find An Unwillingness To Rise Early In The Morning, Endeavor To Rouse Your Faculties, And Act Up To Your Kind, And Consider That You Have To Do The Business Of A Man; And That Action Is Both Beneficial And The End Of Your Being.
Morning
Men
Action
The Constant Recollection Of Death Is The Test Of Human Conduct.
Death
Dying
Tests
There Is Change In All Things. You Yourself Are Subject To Continual Change And Some Decay, And This Is Common To The Entire Universe.
Change
Decay
Common
Natural Ability Without Education Has More Often Raised A Man To Glory And Virtue Than Education Without Natural Ability.
Inspirational
Education
Learning
Man Must Be Arched And Buttressed From Within, Else The Temple Wavers To The Dust.
Strength
Men
Dust
All Men Are Made One For Another: Either Then Teach Them Better Or Bear With Them.
Patience
Men
Tolerance
To Live Each Day As Though One's Last, Never Flustered, Never Apathetic, Never Attitudinizing - Here Is The Perfection Of Character.
Life
Character
Perfection
Live Your Life As If You Are Ready To Say Goodbye To It At Any Moment, As If The Time Left For You Were Some Pleasant Surprise.
Goodbye
Live Your Life
Pleasant Surprises
He Who Lives In Harmony With Himself Lives In Harmony With The Universe.
Happiness
Peace
Philosophical
Treat With Utmost Respect Your Power Of Forming Opinions, For This Power Alone Guards You Against Making Assumptions That Are Contrary To Nature And Judgments That Overthrow The Rule Of Reason.
Opinion
Assumption
Judgment
...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.
Men
Sole
Deprived
My True Self Is Free. I Cannot Be Contained.
Self
True Self
If Thou Workest At That Which Is Before Thee ... 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.
Men
Able
Sound
The Rottenness Of The Matter Which Is The Foundation Of Everything!
Foundation
Matter
They Know Not How Many Things Are Signified By The Words Stealing, Sowing, Buying, Keeping Quiet, Seeing What Ought To Be Done; For This Is Not Effected By The Eyes, But By Another Kind Of Vision.
Eye
Vision
Sowing
Why Should Any Of These Things That Happen Externally Distract Thee? Give Thyself Leisure To Learn Some Good Thing: Cease Roving To And Fro.
Giving
Roving
Leisure
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.
Perfect
Mind
Desire
Life Is Short. Do Not Forget About The Most Important Things In Our Life, Living For Other People And Doing Good For Them.
Life Is Short
People
Important
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 ... Then Make That Day Count!
Thinking
Breathe
Enjoy
When Pain Is Unbearable It Destroys Us; When It Does Not It Is Bearable.
Hurt
Pain
Doe
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 Earth.
Philosophy
Doctors
Heaven
Vex Not Thy Spirit At The Course Of Things; They Heed Not Thy Vexation. How Ludicrous And Outlandish Is Astonishment At Anything That May Happen In Life.
Life
Acceptance
Vex
The Main Thing We Were Made For Is To Work With Others.
Made
Take Away The Complaint, 'i Have Been Harmed,' And The Harm Is Taken Away.
Taken
Complaining
Harm
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 Ever Was Truly Harmed. Harmed Is The Person Who Continues In His Self-deception And Ignorance.
Truth
Ignorance
Thinking
Think Of All The Years Passed By In Which You Said To Yourself "i'll Do It Tomorrow," And How The Gods Have Again And Again Granted You Periods Of Grace Of Which You Have Not Availed Yourself. It Is Time To Realize That You Are A Member Of The Universe, That You Are Born Of Nature Itself, And To Know That A Limit Has Been Set To Your Time. Use Every Moment Wisely, To Perceive Your Inner Refulgence, Or 'twill Be Gone And Nevermore Within Your Reach.
Procrastination
Thinking
Years
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.
Powerful
Puppets
Miraculous
Put It Out Of The Power Of Truth To Give You An Ill Character. If Anybody Reports You Not To Be An Honest Man Let Your Practice Give Him The Lie.
Lying
Character
Men
How Ridiculous Not To Flee From One's Own Wickedness, Which Is Possible, Yet Endeavor To Flee From Another's Which Is Not.
Self Improvement
Wickedness
Ridiculous
Understand However That Every Man Is Worth Just So Much As The Things Are Worth About Which He Busies Himself.
Men
Every Man
The Honest And Good Man 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.
Strong
Men
Bystanders
A Great Estate Is A Great Disadvantage To Those Who Do Not Know How To Use It, For Nothing Is More Common Than To See Wealthy Persons Live Scandalously And Miserably; Riches Do Them No Service In Order To Virtue And Happiness; Therefore 'tis Precept And Principle, Not An Estate, That Makes A Man Good For Something.
Men
Order
Principles
Keep Reminding Yourself Of The Way Things Are Connected, Of Great 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.
Together
Events
Way
No Longer Let Thy Breathing Only Act In Concert With The Air Which Surrounds Thee, But Let Thy Intelligence Also Now Be In Harmony With The Intelligence Which Embraces All Things. For The Intelligent Power Is No Less Diffused In All Parts And Pervades All Things For Him Who Is Willing To Draw It To Him Than The Aërial Power For Him Who Is Able To Respire It.
Intelligent
Air
Breathing
Look Within. Within Is The Fountain Of Good, And It Will Ever Bubble Up, If Thou Wilt Ever Dig.
Inspirational
Philosophical
Self Confidence
The Best Revenge Is Not To Be Like Your Enemy.
Revenge
Enemy
Best Revenge
The Intelligence Of The Universe Is Social.
Social
Universe
Doth Perfect Beauty Stand In Need Of Praise At All? Nay; No More Than Law, No More Than Truth, No More Than Loving Kindness, Nor Than Modesty.
Beauty
Kindness
Law
My Only Fear Is Doing Something Contrary To Human Nature - The Wrong Thing, The Wrong Way, Or At The Wrong Time.
Way
Human Nature
Wrong Time
To A Rational Being It Is The Same Thing To Act According To Nature And According To Reason.
Reason
Rational
Everything Is Banal In Experience, Fleeting In Duration, Sordid In Content; In All Respects The Same Today As Generations Now Dead And Buried Have Found It To Be.
Generations
Fleeting
Duration
Remember That Very Little Is Needed To Make A Happy Life.
Inspirational
Life
Happiness
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.
Ignorance
Men
Stronger
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.
Self Esteem
Independence
Self Determination
After All, What Does Fame Everlasting Mean? Mere Vanity.
Vanity
Fame
Everlasting
There Is Nothing Happens To Any Person But What Was In His Power To Go Through With.
Philosophical
Persons
Happens
If Souls Survive Death For All Eternity, How Can The Heavens Hold Them All? Or For That Matter, How Can The Earth Hold All The Bodies That Have Been Buried In It? The Answers Are The Same. Just As On Earth, With The Passage Of Time, Decaying And Transmogrified Corpses Make Way For The Newly Dead, So Souls Released Into The Heavens, After A Season Of Flight, Begin To Break Up, Burn, And Be Absorbed Back Into The Womb Of Reason, Leaving Room For Souls Just Beginning To Fly. This Is The Answer For Those Who Believe That Souls Survive Death.
Death
Believe
Heaven
Live Each Day As If It Be Your Last.
Time
Each Day
Lasts
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.
Rivers
Events
Violent
All Things From Eternity Are Of Like Forms And Come Round In Circle.
Circles
Eternity
Form
The True Joy Of Humankind Is In Doing That Which Is Most Proper To Our Nature; And The First Property Of People Is To Be Kindly Affected Towards Them That Are Of One Kind With Ourselves.
True Joy
People
Community
If Any Man Despises Me, That Is His Problem. My Only Concern Is Not Doing Or Saying Anything Deserving Of Contempt.
Men
Problem
Despise
Look At Everything That Exists, And Observe That It Is Already In Dissolution And In Change, And As It Were Putrefaction Or Dispersion, Or That Everything Is So Constituted By Nature As To Die.
Looks
Dies
Dispersion
‎"begin The Morning By Saying To Thyself, I Shall Meet With The Busy-body, The Ungrateful, Arrogant, Deceitful, Envious, Unsocial
Morning
Ungrateful
Arrogant
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?'
Past
Mind
Endurance
As Thou Thyself Art A Component Part Of A Social System, So Let Every Act Of Thine Be A Component Part Of Social Life. Whatever Act Of Thine That Has No Reference, Either Immediately Or Remotely, To A Social End, This Tears Asunder Thy Life, And Does Not Allow It To Be One, And It Is Of The Nature Of A Mutiny, Just As When In A Popular Assembly A Man Acting By Himself Stands Apart From The General Agreement.
Art
Men
Tears
Even While A Thing Is In The Act Of Coming Into Existence, Some Part Of It Has Already Ceased To Be.
Existence
Nothing Proceeds From Nothingness, As Also Nothing Passes Away Into Non-existence.
Passing Away
Existence
Non Existence
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.
Men
Littles
Gods Will
Take Me And Cast Me Where You Will; I Shall Still Be Possessor Of The Divinity Within Me, Serene And Content.
Divinity
Serene
Take Me
People Generally Despise Where They Flatter, And Cringe To Those They Would Gladly Overtop; So That Truth And Ceremony Are Two Things.
Two
People
Flattery
Enough Of This Wretched Life And Murmuring And Apish Tricks. Why Art Thou Disturbed? What Is There New In This? What Unsettles Thee? Is It The Form Of The Thing? Look At It. Or Is It The Matter? Look At It. But Besides These There Is Nothing. Towards The Gods, Then, Now Become At Last More Simple And Better. It Is The Same Whether We Examine These Things For A Hundred Years Or Three.
Art
Simple
Years
How Soon Will Time Cover All Things.
All Things
Think On This Doctrine, - That Reasoning Beings Were Created For One Another's Sake; That To Be Patient Is A Branch Of Justice, And That Men Sin Without Intending It.
Thinking
Men
Justice
When You Have Been Compelled By Circumstances To Be Disturbed In Any Manner, Quickly Return To Yourself, And Do Not Continue Out Of Tune Longer Than The Compulsion Lasts. You Will Have Increasing Control Over Your Own Harmony By Continually Returning To It.
Over You
Lasts
Return
Do Not Expect Plato's Ideal Republic; Be Satisfied With Even The Smallest Step Forward, And Consider This No Small Achievement.
Plato
Achievement
Republic
A Lucky Chance Is Constant In Nothing But Inconstancy.
Luck
Chance
Constant
Be Mindful At All Times Of The Following: The Nature Of The Whole Universe, The Nature Of The Part That Is Me, The Relation Of The One To The Other, The One So Vast, The Other So Small.
Relation
All Time
Following
The Art Of Living Is More Like Wrestling Than Dancing.
Life
Art
Philosophical
Every Instant Of Time... Is A Pinprick Of Eternity.
Inspirational
Life
Positive
It Doesn't Hurt Me Unless I Interpret Its Happening As Harmful To Me. I Can Choose Not To.
Hurt
Hurt Me
Happenings
He That Dies In Extreme Old Age Will Be Reduced To The Same State With Him That Is Cut Down Untimely.
Cutting
Age
States
Remember That Neither The Future Nor The Past Pains Thee, But Only The Present. But This Is Reduced To A Very Little, If Thou Only Circumscribest It, And Chidest Thy Mind, If It Is Unable To Hold Out Against Even This.
Pain
Past
Mind
Consider That Everything Is Opinion, And Opinion Is In Thy Power.
Opinion
Depart Then Satisfied, For He Also Who Releases Thee Is Satisfied.
Release
Thee
Satisfied
It Is The Act Of A Madman To Pursue Impossibilities .
Madmen
Pursue
Impossibility
How Very Near Us Stand The Two Vast Gulfs Of Time, The Past And The Future, In Which All Things Disappear.
Time
Past
Two
Get Rid Of The Judgement ... Get Rid Of The 'i Am Hurt,' You Are Rid Of The Hurt Itself.
Hurt
Judgement
I Am Hurt
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. . . .
Pain
Attitude
Thinking
Where Any Work Can Be Done Conformably To The Reason Which Is Common To Gods And Men, There We Have Nothing To Fear; For Where We Are Able To Get Profit By Means Of The Activity Which Is Successful And Proceeds According To Our Constitution, There No Harm Is To Be Suspected.
Mean
Successful
Men
There Is No Man So Blessed That Some Who Stand By His Deathbed Won't Hail The Occasion With Delight.
Blessed
Men
Dying
No Matter What Anyone Says Or Does, My Task Is To Be Emerald, My Color Undiminished.
Color
Doe
Tasks
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.
Morning
Hate
Real
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.
Hate
Voice
People
If I And My Two Children Cannot Move The Gods, The Gods Must Have Their Reasons.
Children
Moving
Two
What Is Not Good For The Swarm Is Not Good For The Bee.
Freedom
Bees And Honey
Honey Bee
"sweep Me Up And Send Me Where You Please." For There I Will Retain My Spirit, Tranquil And Content, As Long As It Can Feel And Act In Harmony With Its Own Nature. Is A Change Of Place Enough Reason For My Soul To Become Unhappy And Worn, For Me To Become Depressed, Humbled, Cowering, And Afraid? Can You Discover Any Reasons For This?
Change
Long
Soul
Your Task Is To Stand Straight; Not To Be Held Straight.
Character
Tasks
Everything Is In A State Of Metamorphosis. Thou Thyself Art In Everlasting Change And In Corruption To Correspond; So Is The Whole Universe.
Art
Metamorphosis
Corruption
Here Is The Rule To Remember In The Future, When Anything Tempts You To Be Bitter: Not, 'this Is A Misfortune' But 'to Bear This Worthily Is Good Fortune.'
Adversity
Bitterness
Bears
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.
Letting Go
Gone
Action
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.
Home
Character
Eye
All That Happens Is As Usual And Familiar As The Rose In Spring And The Crop In Summer.
Summer
Spring
Rose
Within Ten Days Thou Wilt Seem A God To Those To Whom Thou Art Now A Beast And An Ape, If Thou Wilt Return To Thy Principles And The Worship Of Reason.
Art
Atheism
Principles
Even The Stoics Agree That Certainty Is Very Hard To Come At; That Our Assent Is Worth Little, For Where Is Infallibility To Be Found?
Littles
Found
Certainty
All Things Are The Same, Familiar In Enterprise, Momentary In Endurance, Coarse In Substance. All Things Now Are As They Were In The Day Of Those Whom We Have Buried.
Endurance
Substance
Buried
Think Nothing Profitable To You Which Compels You To Break A Promise, To Lose Your Self Respect, To Hate Any Person, To Curse, To Act The Hypocrite.
Hate
Hypocrite
Thinking
Dig Within. There Lies The Wellspring Of Good.
Wise
Lying
Wellspring
It Were Well To Die If There Be Gods, And Sad To Live If There Be None.
Death
If There Is A God
Wells
Reverence The Gods, And Help Men. Short Is Life.
Men
Helping
Help Me
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.
Dream
Reality
Views
My Being Consists Of Matter And Form, That Is, Of Soul And Body; Annihilation Will Reach Neither Of Them, For They Were Never Produced Out Of Nothing. The Consequence Is, That Every Part Of Me Will Serve To Make Something In The World; And This Again Will Change Into Another Part Through An Infinite Succession Of Change. This Constant Method Of Alteration Gave Me My Being, And My Father Before Me, And So On To Eternity Backward: For I Think I May Speak Thus, Even Though The World Be Confined Within Certain Determinate Periods.
Father
Thinking
Soul And Body
If Thou Canst See Sharp, Look And Judge Wisely, Says The Philosopher.
Judging
Looks
Philosopher
I Seek The Truth...it Is Only Persistence In Self-delusion And Ignorance That Does Harm.
Wisdom
Truth
Ignorance
Either An Ordered Universe Or A Medley Heaped Together Mechanically But Still An Order; Or Can Order Subsist In You And Disorder In The Whole! And That, Too, When All Things Are So Distinguished And Yet Intermingled And Sympathetic.
Science
Order
Together
So Much Worse Are The Consequences Of Anger Than Its Causes.
Causes
Consequence
Trending Author
Alastair Campbell
Ashton Kutcher
Chris Hemsworth
Adolf Loos
James Cagney
Anita Brookner
Category
Information