Background Image
...
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?
-Marcus Aurelius
...
Please Wait....
Translating....

Even The Stoics Agree

Marcus Aurelius
...
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?

Understanding the Quote: "even the stoics agree that certainty is very hard to come at;..."

This quote by Marcus Aurelius reflects deeply on the theme of littles. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Littles, Found, Certainty, 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 littles and found. 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: 45200
Topic
Littles
Found
Certainty
More From Marcus Aurelius
I Seek The Truth...it Is Only Persistence In Self-delusion And Ignorance That Does Harm.
Wisdom
Truth
Ignorance
There Is No Man So Fortunate That There Shall Not Be By Him When He Is Dying Some Who Are Pleased With What Is Going To Happen.
Men
Dying
Happens
He That Dies In Extreme Old Age Will Be Reduced To The Same State With Him That Is Cut Down Untimely.
Cutting
Age
States
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
Love Only What Befalls You And Is Spun For You By Fate.
Love
Fate
Spun
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
Because Your Own Strength Is Unequal To A Task, Do Not Assume It Is Beyond The Powers Of Man.
Strength
Men
Tasks
The Cucumber Is Bitter? Then Throw It Out. There Are Brambles In The Path? Then Go Around. That's All You Need To Know.
Adversity
Needs
Cucumbers
Deem Not Life A Thing Of Consequence. For Look At The Yawning Void Of The Future, And At That Other Limitless Space, The Past.
Life
Future
Past
The Constant Recollection Of Death Is The Test Of Human Conduct.
Death
Dying
Tests
Nothing Happens To Any Man That He Is Not Formed By Nature To Bear.
Nature
Philosophical
Men
Time Is A Kind Of River, An Irresistible Flood Sweeping Up Men And Events And Carrying Them Headlong, One After The Other, To The Great Sea Of Being.
Men
Sea
Rivers
Take Away The Complaint, 'i Have Been Harmed,' And The Harm Is Taken Away.
Taken
Complaining
Harm
Accustom Yourself Not To Be Disregarding Of What Someone Else Has To Say: As Far As Possible Enter Into The Mind Of The Speaker.
Empathy
Mind
Speakers
The Body Of An Actor Can Be Either His Best Friend Or His Worst Enemy.
Worst Enemy
Actors
Body
Let Goodness Go With The Doing.
Letting Go
Goodness
Life Is Short. That's All There Is To Say. Get What You Can From The Present - Thoughtfully, Justly.
Life Is Short
Life Is
The Mind Which Is Free From Passions Is A Citadel, For Man Has Nothing More Secure To Which He Can Fly For Refuge And For The Future Be Inexpugnable . He Then Who Has Not Seen This Is An Ignorant Man: But He Who Has Seen It And Does Not Fly To This Refuge Is Unhappy.
Passion
Men
Ignorant
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?
Common
Harm
Badness
When You Are Offended At Anyone's Fault, Turn To Yourself And Study Your Own Failings. By Attending To Them, You Will Forget Your Anger And Learn To Live Wisely.
Faults
Study
Forget You
Our Wills Are Ours, To Make Them Thine.
Your Mind Will Take On The Character Of Your Most Frequent Thoughts: Souls Are Dyed By Thoughts.
Character
Soul
Mind
Be Not Careless In Deeds, Nor Confused In Words, Nor Rambling In Thought.
Confused
Confusion
Confusing
Cinna Wishes To Seem Poor, And Is Poor
Wish
Poverty
Poor
Both Happiness And Unhappiness Depend On Perception
Perception
Human Nature
Unhappiness
People Exist For One Another.
People
Everything Is Mere Opinion.
Opinion
Mere
Does What's Happened Keep You From Acting With Justice, Generosity, Self-control, Sanity, Prudence, Honesty, Humility, Straightforward Ness, And All 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.
Honesty
Pain
Humility
Everything Is Interwoven, And The Web Is Holy.
Holy
Pantheism
Be Content To Seem What You Really Are.
Philosophical
Loving Yourself
Self Acceptance
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
It Will Suffice Thee To Remember As Concerning Pain ... That The Mind May, By Stopping All Manner Of Commerce And Sympathy With The Body, Still Retain Its Own Tranquility.
Pain
Soul
Mind
I Will March On In The Path Of Nature Till My Legs Sink Under Me, And Then I Shall Be At Rest, And Expire Into That Air Which Has Given Me My Daily Breath.
Air
Legs
Path
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.
Ignorance
Ill Will
Evil
To Refrain From Imitation Is The Best Revenge.
Revenge
Imitation
Refrain
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
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.
Hands
Forgotten
Though Thou Be Destined To Live Three Thousand Years And As Many Myriads Besides, Yet Remember That No Man Loseth Other Life Than That Which He Liveth, Nor Liveth Other Than That Which He Loseth.
Men
Years
Three
Death Smiles At Us All, All A Man Can Do Is Smile Back.
Inspirational
Smile
Uplifting
This Thou Must Always Bear In Mind, What Is The Nature Of The Whole.
Mind
Bears
Whole
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
All That Is From The Gods Is Full Of Providence.
Providence
Be Tolerant With Others And Strict With Yourself.
Tolerance
Strict
Do Not Be Ashamed Of Help.
Helping
Ashamed
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
Things Can Never Touch The Soul, But Stand Inert Outside It, So That Disquiet Can Arise Only From Fancies Within.
Soul
Fancy
Arise
Waste No More Time Arguing What A Good Man Should Be. Be One.
Time
Integrity
Insperational
It Is A Sin To Persue Pleasure As A Good And To Avoid Pain As A Evil.
Pain
Evil
Sin
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
Imagine You Were Now Dead, Or Had Not Lived Before His Moment. Now View The Rest Of Your Life As A Bonus.
Views
Bonus
Rest Of Your Life
He Who Eats My Bread, Does My Will.
Hard Work
Bread
Doe
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
It Is Not Death That A Man Should Fear, But He Should Fear Never Beginning To Live.
Life
Moving On
Death
I Am Called To Man's Labour; Why Then Do I Make A Difficulty If I Am Going Out To Do What I Was Born To Do And What I Was Brought Into The World For?
Men
Going Out
World
Nature Set A Limit On Sleep - As It Did On Eating And Drinking. And Youre Over The Limit. But Not Of Working. There Youre Still Below Your Quota. You Dont Love Yourself Enough. Or Youd 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 And Eat.
Drinking
Love You
Sleep
Nothing Is Worth Doing Pointlessly.
Your Task Is To Stand Straight; Not To Be Held Straight.
Character
Tasks
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
Don't Let Your Imagination To Be Crushed By Life As A Whole. Don't Try To Pictures Everything Bad That Could Possibly Happen. Stick With The Situation At Hand. ...then Remind Yourself That Past And Present Have No Power Over You. Only The Present.
Past
Hands
Imagination
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.
Life
God
Death
In The End, What Would You Gain From Everlasting Remembrance? Absolutely Nothing. So What Is Left Worth Living For? This Alone: Justice In Thought, Goodness In Action, Speech That Cannot Deceive, And A Disposition Glad Of Whatever Comes, Welcoming It As Necessary, As Familiar, As Flowing From The Same Source And Fountain As Yourself.
Justice
Remembrance
Speech
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.
Motivational
Inspirational Running
Track
If You Are Distressed By Something, It Is Due To Your Own Estimate Of It; And You Have The Power To Change It At Will.
Power To Change
Dues
Ifs
The Intelligence Of The Universe Is Social.
Social
Universe
Live Not As Though There Were A Thousand Years Ahead Of You. Fate Is At Your Elbow; Make Yourself Good While Life And Power Are Still Yours.
Life
Kindness
Fate
The Man Who Has A House Everywhere Has A Home Nowhere
Home
Men
House
If It Is Not Right Do Not Do It; If It Is Not True Do Not Say It.
Inspirational
Truth
Honesty
Look Back Over The Past, With Its Changing Empires That Rose And Fell, And You Can Foresee The Future, Too.
War
Philosophical
Future
Are You Distracted By Outward Cares? Then Allow Yourself A Space Of Quiet Wherein You Can Add To Your Knowledge Of The Good And Learn To Curb Your Restlessness. Nowhere Can A Man Find A Quieter Or More Untroubled Retreat Than In His Own Soul. Avail Yourself Often, Then, Of This Retirement, And So Continually Renew Yourself.
Retirement
Space
Soul
Just Consider, My Friend, Whether A Pure Spirit And Virtue Are Anything Other Than Saving Your Life And Being Saved. Perhaps We Need To Discard The Idea Of Longevity And Cease Loving This Life, Instead Committing These Things To God And, Believing That No One Ever Escapes Destiny, To Consider, With That In Mind, How We May Live The Best Possible Life In The Time That Remains.
Life
Believe
Destiny
In Death, Alexander Of Macedon's End Differed No Whit From His Stable-boy's. Either Both Were Received Into The Same Generative Principle Of The Universe, Or Both Alike Were Dispersed Into Atoms.
Boys
Principles
Atoms
God Overrules All Mutinous Accidents, Brings Them Under His Laws Of Fate, And Makes Them All Serviceable To His Purpose.
Fate
Law
Purpose
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.
Art
Fall
Wrestling
Where A Man Can Live, He Can Also Live Well.
Philosophical
Men
Live Well
That Which Had Grown From The Earth, To The Earth, But That Which Has Sprung From Heavenly Seed, Back To The Heavenly Realms Returns. This Is Either A Dissolution Of The Mutual Involution Of The Atoms, Or A Similar Dispersion Of The Unsentient Elements.
Atoms
Elements
Earth
What Doesn't Transmit Light Creates Its Own Darkness.
Light
Darkness
Transmit
Glory Arrives Too Late When It Comes Only To One's Ashes
Ashes
Too Late
Glory
If You Are Pained By Any External Thing, It Is Not This That Disturbs You, But Your Own Judgment About It.
Judgment
Ifs
Death Hangs Over Thee, While Thou Still Live, While Thou May, Do Good.
Death
May
Thee
The Whole Universe Is Change And Life Itself Is But What You Deem It
Change
Spiritual
Whole
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
All Is As Thinking Makes It So
Thinking
Reflect Often Upon The Rapidity With Which All Existing Things, Or Things Coming Into Existence, Sweep Past Us And Are Carried Away.
Past
Existence
Carried Away
Try To Live The Life Of The Good Man Who Is More Than Content With What Is Allocated To Him.
Live Life
Men
Good Man
When You Are Annoyed At Someone's Mistake, Immediately Look At Yourself And Reflect How You Also Fail; For Example, In Thinking That Good Equals Money, Or Pleasure, Or A Bit Of Fame. By Being Mindful Of This You'll Quickly Forget Your Anger, Especially If You Realize That The Person Was Under Stress, And Could Do Little Else. And, If You Can, Find A Way To Alleviate That Stress.
Mistake
Stress
Thinking
Life Is Neither Good Or Evil, But Only A Place For Good And Evil.
Inspirational
Life
Philosophical
What Does Not Benefit The Hive Is No Benefit To The Bee.
Doe
Benefits
Bees
When You Have Done A Good Deed That Another Has Had The Benefit Of, Why Do You Need A Third Reward-as Fools Do-praise For Having Done Well Or Looking For A Favor In Return.
Needs
Done
Benefits
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
All Those [events In History] Were Such Dramas As We See Now, Only With Different Actors.
Drama
Events
Different
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
One Of The Recurring Themes In Marcus' Handbook Is Leadership's Responsibility To Work Intelligently With What It Is Given And Not Waste Time Fantasizing About A World Of Flawless People And Perfect Choices.
Responsibility
People
Perfect
Remember That The Sole Life Which A Man Can Lose Is That Which He Is Living At The Moment.
Men
Remember
Sole
Look To The Essence Of A Thing, Whether It Be A Point Of Doctrine, Of Practice, Or Of Interpretation.
Essence
Practice
Doctrine
Whosoever Does Wrong, Wrongs Himself; Whosoever Does Injustice, Does It To Himself, Making Himself Evil.
Evil
Doe
Injustice
To Her Who Gives And Takes Back All, To Nature, The Man Who Is Instructed And Modest Says, Give What Thou Wilt; Take Back What Thou Wilt. And He Says This Not Proudly, But Obediently And Well Pleased With Her.
Men
Giving
Give And Take
Prize That Which Is Best In The Universe; And This Is That Which Useth Everything And Ordereth Everything.
Prize
Universe
The Secret Of All Victory Lies In The Organization Of The Non-obvious.
Success
Lying
Military
When The Sovereign Spirit Within Us Is True To Nature, It Stands Poised And Ready To Adjust To Every Change In Circumstances And To Seize Each New Opportunity. It Doesn't Approach An Object With Prejudice Or Preconception, But Handles Each Thing Dispassionately Before Embracing It And, If Necessary, Finds Advantage In What Opposes It. It Is Like Fire In This Regard. Whereas A Feeble Flame Might Suffocate Under A Pile Of Dry Sticks, A Robust Fire Consumes Everything It Touches. The More Objects Of Any Kind Heaped On It, The Higher It Rises, The Hotter It Burns.
Opportunity
Fire
Flames
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.
Soul
Needs
Asking
Keep Constantly In Mind In How Many Things You Yourself Have Witnessed Changes Already. The Universe Is Change, Life Is Understanding.
Change
Life Changing
Understanding
We Are The Other Of The Other
A Person's Life Is What Their Thoughts Make It.
Life Is
Persons
All Is Ephemeral - Fame And The Famous As Well.
Ephemeral
Reputation
Dignity
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
Dwell On The Beauty Of Life. Watch The Stars, And See Yourself Running With Them.
Life
Beauty
Running
Observe Constantly That All Things Take Place By Change.
Change
Things Change
All Things
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
Love
Men
Return Back
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.
People
Purpose
Impulse
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
Opportunity
Clouds
Gone
Snow Endures But For A Season, And Joy Comes With The Morning.
Morning
Snow
Joy
Is Your Cucumber Bitter? Throw It Away. Are There Briars In Your Path? Turn Aside. That Is Enough. Do Not Go On And Ay, 'why Were Things Of This Sort Ever Brought Into The World?'
Goes On
World
Cucumbers
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. Set People Straight, If You Can. If Not, Just Repair The Damage.
Stupid
People
Atoms
The Memory Of Everything Is Very Soon Overwhelmed In Time.
Memories
Overwhelmed
The Whole Universe Is Change And Life Itself Is But What You Deem It - Either Gratefully Better Than Or Bitterly Worse Than Something Else That You Alone Choose.
Gratitude
Whole
Universe
Consider In What Condition Both In Body And Soul A Man Should Be When He Is Overtaken By Death; And Consider The Shortness Of Life, The Boundless Abyss Of Time Past And Future, The Feebleness Of All Matter.
Men
Past
Soul
Leave The Wrong Done By Another Where The Wrong Arose.
Advice
Done
This Is The Chief Thing: Be Not Perturbed, For All Things Are According To The Nature Of The Universal.
Destiny
Chiefs
All Things
Take Care That You Entertain No Notions Unsuitable To Virtue And Reasonable Nature.
Happiness
Care
Virtue
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".
Fall
Elements
Ifs
Remember That There Is A God Who Desires Neither Praise Nor Glory From Men Created In His Image, But Rather That They, Guided By The Understanding Given Them, Should In Their Actions Become Like Unto Him.
Men
Understanding
Desire
After All, What Does Fame Everlasting Mean? Mere Vanity.
Vanity
Fame
Everlasting
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
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
Yet Living And Dying, Honour And Dishonour, Pain And Pleasure, Riches And Poverty, And So Forth Are Equally The Lot Of Good Men And Bad. Things Like These Neither Elevate Nor Degrade; And Therefore They Are No More Good Than They Are Evil.
Pain
Men
Evil
So Much Worse Are The Consequences Of Anger Than Its Causes.
Causes
Consequence
Don't Let Your Imagination Be Crushed By Life As A Whole.
Imagination
Crushed
Whole
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.
Fate
Play
Matter
Have I Done Something For The General Interest? Well Then I Have Had My Reward. Let This Always Be Present To Thy Mind, And Never Stop Doing Such Good.
Mind
Done
Rewards
All That Is Harmony For You, My Universe, Is In Harmony With Me As Well. Nothing That Comes At The Right Time For You Is Too Early Or Too Late For Me. Everything Is Fruit To Me That Your Seasons Bring, Nature. All Things Come Of You, Have Their Being In You, And Return To You.
Inspirational
Life
Nature
It Is Man's Peculiar Duty To Love Even Those Who Wrong Him.
Men
Peculiar
Duty
Life Is A Campaign, A Brief Staying In A Strange Region.
Campaigns
Strange
Life Is
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
It Is Not Fit That I Should Give Myself Pain, For I Have Never Intentionally Given Pain Even To Another.
Pain
Giving
Fit
Waste Not The Remnant Of Thy Life In Those Imaginations Touching Other Folk, Whereby Thou Contributest Not To The Common Weal.
Imagination
Touching
Waste
Look Deep Into The Hearts Of Men, And See What Delights And Disgusts The Wise.
Wise
Heart
Men
I Am An Old Man And Have Had Many Worries, But Most Have Never Come To Pass.
Motivation
Men
Worry
The Sinner Sins Against Himself; The Wrongdoer Wrongs Himself, Becoming The Worse By His Own Action.
Becoming
Action
Sin
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.
Inspirational
Positive
Depression
People Find Pressure 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.
People
Mind
Different
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
It Is Not The Body, Nor The Personality That Is The True Self. The True Self Is Eternal. Even On The Point Of Death We Can Say To Ourselves, "my True Self Is Free. I Cannot Be Contained."
Inspirational
Self
Personality
It Is Not The Weight Of The Future Or The Past That Is Pressing Upon You, But Ever That Of The Present Alone. Even This Burden, Too, Can Be Lessened If You Confine It Strictly To Its Own Limits.
Past
Weight
Limits
If Any Man Has Done Wrong, The Harm Is His Own. But Perhaps He Has Not Done Wrong.
Men
Done
Harm
The One Thing Worth Living For Is To Keep One's Soul Pure.
Soul
Pure
One Thing
Whatever The Universal Nature Assigns To Any Man At Any Time Is For The Good Of That Man At That Time.
Fate
Men
Universal
Look Within. Within Is The Fountain Of Good, And It Will Ever Bubble Up, If Thou Wilt Ever Dig.
Inspirational
Philosophical
Self Confidence
Rememberest The Gods, And That They Wish Not To Be Flattered, But Wish All Reasonable Beings To Be Made Like Themselves; And... Rememberest That What Does The Work Of A Fig-tree Is A Fig-tree, And That What Does The Work Of A Dog Is A Dog, And That What Does The Work Of A Bee Is A Bee, And That What Does The Work Of A Man Is A Man.
Dog
Men
Tree
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
Praise Adds Nothing To Beauty--makes It Neither Better Nor Worse.
Add
Praise
The Ruling Power Within, When It Is In Its Natural State, Is So Related To Outer Circumstances That It Easily Changes To Accord With What Can Be Done And What Is Given It To Do.
Done
Natural
States
Very Little Is Needed To Make A Happy Life; It Is All Within Yourself, In Your Way Of Thinking.
Inspirational
Life
Positive
Perhaps There Are None More Lazy, Or More Truly Ignorant, Than Your Everlasting Readers.
Book
Philosophical
Reading
Death, Like Birth, Is A Secret Of Nature.
Death
Philosophical
Secret
...in The Ways Of Nature There Is No Evil To Be Found.
Evil
Way
Found
The Stream Of Tendency In Which All Things Seek To Fulfill The Law Of Their Being.
Law
Evolution
Tendencies
Everything Is Here For A Purpose, From Horses To Vine Shoots. What's Surprising About That? Even The Sun Will Tell You, "i Have A Purpose," And The Other Goods As Well.
Horse
Purpose
Vines
As For Literature, Thefts Cannot Harm It, While The Lapse Of Ages Augments Its Value
Age
Lapses
Literature
Always Take The Short Cut; And That Is The Rational One. Therefore Say And Do Everything According To Soundest Reason.
Cutting
Reason
Rational
Mark How Fleeting And Paltry Is The Estate Of Man - Yesterday In Embryo, Tomorrow A Mummy Or Ashes. So For The Hairsbreadth Of Time Assigned To Thee, Live Rationally, And Part With Life Cheerfully, As Drops The Ripe Olive, Extolling The Season That Bore It And The Tree That Matured It.
Life
Gratitude
Appreciation
Love The People With Whom Fate Brings You Together
Valentines Day
Fate
Destiny
What We Do In Life Ripples In Eternity.
Eternity
Ripple
Everything That Happens Either Happens In Such A Way As You Are Formed By Nature To Bear It, Or As You Are Not Formed By Nature To Bear It.
Way
Bears
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
Understand However That Every Man Is Worth Just So Much As The Things Are Worth About Which He Busies Himself.
Men
Every Man
Despise Not Death, But Welcome It, For Nature Wills It Like All Else.
Death
Philosophical
Dying
Never Act Without Purpose And Resolve, Or Without The Means To Finish The Job.
Jobs
Mean
Purpose
Thou Sufferest Justly: For Thou Choosest Rather To Become Good To-morrow Than To Be Good To-day.
Morrow
Be Good
You Have To Assemble Your Life Yourself - Action By Action.
Action
Life Yourself
There Is No Misfortune, But To Bear It Nobly Is Good Fortune.
Bears
Fortune
Good Fortune
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.
Beauty
Beautiful
Way
Things That Have A Common Quality Ever Quickly Seek Their Kind.
Kindness
Quality
Common
Discard Everything Except These Few Truths: We Can Live Only In The Present Moment, In This Brief Now; All The Rest Of Our Life Is Dead And Buried Or Shrouded In Uncertainty. Short Is The Life We Lead, And Small Our Patch Of Earth.
Earth
Life Is
Moments
To Live Each Day As Though One's Last, Never Flustered, Never Apathetic, Never Attitudinizing - Here Is The Perfection Of Character.
Life
Character
Perfection
Man Must Be Arched And Buttressed From Within, Else The Temple Wavers To The Dust.
Strength
Men
Dust
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
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.
Life
Men
Years
He Would Be The Finer Gentleman That Should Leave The World Without Having Tasted Of Lying Or Pretence Of Any Sort, Or Of Wantonness Or Conceit.
Lying
Gentleman
Would Be
Do Not Fear Death, But Welcome It, Since It Too Comes From Nature. For Just As We Are Young And Grow Old, And Flourish And Reach Maturity, Have Teeth And A Beard And Grey Hairs, Conceive, Become Pregnant, And Bring Forth New Life, And All The Other Natural Processes That Follow The Seasons Of Our Existence, So Also Do We Have Death. A Thoughtful Person Will Never Take Death Lightly, Impatiently, Or Scornfully, But Will Wait For It As One Of Life's Natural Processes.
Death
Maturity
Thoughtful
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
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
... Allow Yourself A Space Of Quiet, Wherein You Can Add To Your Knowledge Of The Good And Learn To Curb Your Restlessness. Guard Also Against Another Kind Of Error: The Folly Of Those Who Weary Their Days In Much Business, But Lack Any Aim On Which Their Whole Effort, Nay, Their Whole Thought, Is Focused.
Space
Errors
Effort
That Which Is Not Good For The Bee-hive Cannot Be Good For The Bees.
Friendship
Nature
Philosophical
A Man's Life Is What His Thoughts Make Of It.
Life
Happiness
Positive Thinking
Remember That All Things Are Only Opinion And That It Is In Your Power To Think As You Please.
Spiritual
Thinking
Opinion
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.
Country
Art
Men
He That Lives Alone Lives In Danger; Society Avoids Many Dangers.
Solitude
Danger
Alone Life
When Thou Art Above Measure Angry, Bethink Thee How Momentary Is Man's Life.
Life
Art
Anger
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
Give Yourself A Gift: The Present Moment.
Giving
Moments
Present Moment
It Is Satisfaction To A Man To Do The Proper Works Of A Man.
Men
Satisfaction
Nothing Can Come Out Of Nothing, Any More Than A Thing Can Go Back To Nothing.
Choose Not To Be Harmed And You Won't Feel Harmed. Don't Feel Harmed And You Haven't Been.
Stoicism
Thrive
Feels
Consider Frequently The Connection Of All Things In The Universe And Their Relation To One Another. For Things Are Somehow Implicated With One Another, And All In A Way Friendly To One Another.
Friendly
Connections
Way
The Gods Sustain And Guide All Their Works.
Guides
The Best Revenge Is Not To Be Like Your Enemy.
Revenge
Enemy
Best Revenge
It Is A Base Thing For The Countenance To Be Obedient And To Regulate And Compose Itself As The Mind Commands, And For The Mind Not To Be Regulated And Composed By Itself.
Mind
Command
Countenance
He Is A True Fugitive Who Flies From Reason.
Logic
Reason
Reason And Logic
The Soul Is Dyed By The Thoughts. Dye It Then, With A Continuous Series Of Such Thoughts As These - That Where A Man Can Live, There - If He Will - He Can Also Live Well.
Men
Soul
Live Well
Your Mind Will Be Like Its Habitual Thoughts; For The Soul Becomes Dyed With The Color Of Its Thoughts. Soak It Then In Such Trains Of Thoughts As, For Example: Where Life Is Possible At All, A Right Life Is Possible.
Life
Attitude
Positivity
Trending Author
Alan Lightman
Amy Poehler
Thomas Carper
George A. Romero
Garry Kasparov
Wes Craven
Category
Information