Background Image

...

Everything Has Two Handles; The One Soft And Manageable, The Other Such As Will Not Endure To Be Touched. If Then Your Brother Do You An Injury, Do Not Take It By The Hot Hard Handle, By Representing To Yourself All The Aggravating Circumstances Of The Fact; But Look Rather On The Soft Side, And Extenuate It As Much As Is Possible, By Considering The Nearness Of The Relation, And The Long Friendship And Familiarity Between You--obligations To Kindness Which A Single Provocation Ought Not To Dissolve. And Thus You Will Take The Accident By Its Manageable Handle.

-Epictetus

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

Everything Has Two Handles;

Epictetus

...

Everything Has Two Handles; The One Soft And Manageable, The Other Such As Will Not Endure To Be Touched. If Then Your Brother Do You An Injury, Do Not Take It By The Hot Hard Handle, By Representing To Yourself All The Aggravating Circumstances Of The Fact; But Look Rather On The Soft Side, And Extenuate It As Much As Is Possible, By Considering The Nearness Of The Relation, And The Long Friendship And Familiarity Between You--obligations To Kindness Which A Single Provocation Ought Not To Dissolve. And Thus You Will Take The Accident By Its Manageable Handle.

Views: 5

Topic

More From Epictetus

In Order To Please Others, We Loose Our Hold On Our Life's Purpose.

If You Have Anything Better To Be Doing When Death Overtakes You, Get To Work On That.

You Can Be Happy If You Know This Secret: Some Things Are Within Your Power To Control And Some Things Are Not.

Some Things Are Up To Us [eph' Hêmin] And Some Things 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, Or, That Is, Whatever Is Not Our Own Doing.

We Should Not Moor A Ship With One Anchor, Or Our Life With One Hope.

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.

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.

Imagine For Yourself A Character, A Model Personality, Whose Example You Determine To Follow, In Private As Well As In Public.

Follow Your Heart

You Are But An Appearance, And Not Absolutely The Thing You Appear To Be.

First Tell Yourself What You Want To Be, Then Do What You Need To Do.

Authentic Happiness Is Always Independent Of External Conditions.

Authentic Happiness

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.

It Is Impossible For A Man To Learn What He Thinks He Already Knows.

The Soul's Impurity Consists In Bad Judgements, And Purification Consists In Producing In It Right Judgements, And The Pure Soul Is One Which Has Right Judgements, For This Alone Is Proof Against Confusion And Pollution In Its Functions.

If I Can Acquire Money And Also Keep Myself Modest And Faithful And Magnanimous, Point Out The Way, And I Will Acquire It.

You Have Been Given Your Own Work To Do. Get To It Right Now, Do Your Best At It, And Don't Be Concerned With Who Is Watching You. Create Your Own Merit.

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.

Lampis The Ship Owner, On Being Asked How He Acquired His Great Wealth, Replied, My Great Wealth Was Acquired With No Difficulty, But My Small Wealth, My First Gains, With Much Labor.

All Philosophy Lies In Two Words, Sustain And Abstain.

It Takes More Than Just A Good Looking Body. You've Got To Have The Heart And Soul To Go With It.

It Is Wicked To Withdraw From Being Useful To The Needy, And Cowardly To Give Way To The Worthless.

Wherever Any One Is Against His Will, That Is To Him A Prison.

Things Themselves Don't Hurt Or Hinder Us. Things Simply Are What They Are. How We View These Things Is Another Matter.people Think What They Will Think; It Is Of No Concern To Us.

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.

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.

We Must Ever Bear In Mind --that Apart From The Will There Is Nothing Good Or Bad, And That We Must Not Try To Anticipate Or To Direct Events, But Merely To Accept Them With Intelligence.

Truth Is A Thing Immortal And Perpetual, And It Gives To Us A Beauty That Fades Not Away In Time, Nor Does It Take Away The Freedom Of Speech Which Proceeds From Justice; But It Gives To Us The Knowledge Of What Is Just And Lawful, Separating From Them The Unjust And Refuting Them.

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.

If You Wish To Be Good, First Believe That You Are Bad.

No Man Is Able To Make Progress When He Is Wavering Between Opposite Things.

When You Close Your Doors, And Make Darkness Within, Remember Never To Say That You Are Alone, For You Are Not Alone; Nay, God Is Within, And Your Genius Is Within. And What Need Have They Of Light To See What You Are Doing?

A Vulgar Man, In Any Ill That Happens To Him, Blames Others; A Novice In Philosophy Blames Himself; And A Philosopher Blames Neither, The One Nor The Other.

Progress Is Not Achieved By Luck Or Accident, But By Working On Yourself Daily.

Working On Yourself

It Doesn't Take Much To Lose Everything, Just A Little Departure From Reason

When You Actively Engage In Gradually Refining Yourself, You Retreat From Your Lazy Ways Of Covering Yourself Or Making Excuses. Instead Of Feeling A Persistent Current Of Low-level Shame, You Move Forward By Using The Creative Possibilities Of This Moment, Your Current Situation.

To Make Anything A Habit, Do It; To Not Make It A Habit, Do Not Do It; To Unmake A Habit, Do Something Else In Place Of It.

Sickness Is A Hindrance To The Body, But Not To Your Ability To Choose, Unless That Is Your Choice. Lameness Is A Hindrance To The Leg, But Not To Your Ability To Choose. Say This To Yourself With Regard To Everything That Happens, Then You Will See Such Obstacles As Hindrances To Something Else, But Not To Yourself.

Don't Be Prideful With Any Excellence That Is Not Your Own

Neither Should A Ship Rely On One Small Anchor, Nor Should Life Rest On A Single Hope.

Never Look For Your Work In One Place And Your Progress In Another.

Pleasure, Like A Kind Of Bait, Is Thrown Before Everything Which Is Really Bad, And Easily Allures Greedy Souls To The Hook Of Perdition.

If You Seek Truth You Will Not Seek Victory By Dishonorable Means, And If You Find Truth You Will Become Invincible.

No Living Being Is Held By Anything So Strongly As Its Own Needs.

If We Are Not Stupid Or Insincere When We Say That The Good Or Ill Of Man Lies Within His Own Will, And That All Beside Is Nothing To Us, Why Are We Still Troubled?

If You Can Make Music With Someone You Don't Need Words. If You Wish To Be A Writer, Write.

There Is Nothing Good Or Evil Save In The Will.

-….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.

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.

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.

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.

Confidence In Nonsense Is A Requirement For The Creative Process.

Don’t Consent To Be Hurt And You Won’t Be Hurt – This Is A Choice Over Which You Have Control

What Will The World Be Quite Overturned When You Die?

The Essence Of Good And Evil Is A Certain Disposition Of The Will.

Don't Be Concerned With Other People's Impressions Of You. They Are Dazzled And Deluded By Appearances. Stick With Your Purpose. This Alone Will Strengthen Your Will And Give Your Life Coherence.

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?

It Is The Part Of An Uneducated Person To Blame Others Where He Himself Fares Ill; To Blame Himself Is The Part Of One Whose Education Has Begun; To Blame Neither Another Nor His Own Self Is The Part Of One Whose Education Is Already Complete.

Make It Your Business To Draw Out The Best In Others By Being An Exemplar Yourself.

It Is Not A Demonstration Of Kindness Or Friendship To The People We Care About To Join Them In Indulging In Wrongheaded, Negative Feelings. We Do A Better Service To Ourselves And Others By Remaining Detached And Avoiding Melodramatic Reactions.

Be Not Diverted From Your Duty By Any Idle Reflections The Silly World May Make Upon You, For Their Censures Are Not In Your Power And Should Not Be At All Your Concerns.

Embrace Reality. Think About What Delights You - The Small Luxuries On Which You Depend, The People Whom You Cherish Most. But Remember That They Have Their Own Distinct Character, Which Is Quite A Separate Matter From How We Happen To Regard Them.

As In Walking It Is Your Great Care Not To Run Your Foot Upon A Nail, Or To Tread Awry, And Strain Your Leg; So Let It Be In All The Affairs Of Human Life, Not To Hurt Your Mind Or Offend Your Judgment. And This Rule, If Observed Carefully In All Your Deportment, Will Be A Mighty Security To You In Your Undertakings.

We Are Not Disturbed By What Happens To Us, But By Our Thoughts About What Happens To Us.

If You Wish To Be A Writer, Write.

What Disturbs People's Minds Are Not Events But Their Judgments On Events.

The Key Is To Keep Company Only With People Who Uplift You, Whose Presence Calls Forth Your Best.

Try To Enjoy The Great Festival Of Life With Other Men!

Bear In Mind That You Should Conduct Yourself In Life As At A Feast.

When You Are Offended At Any Man's Fault, Turn To Yourself And Study Your Own Failings. Then You Will Forget Your Anger.

These Are The Signs Of A Wise Man: To Reprove Nobody, To Praise Nobody, To Blame Nobody, Nor Even To Speak Of Himself Or His Own Merits.

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.

Let No Man Think That He Is Loved By Any Who Loveth None.

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.

He Who Laughs At Himself Never Runs Out Of Things To Laugh At.

A Thing Either Is What It Appears To Be; Or It Is Not, But Yet Appears To Be; Or It Is, But Does Not Appear To Be; Or It Is Not, And Does Not Appear To Be.

We Should Not Have Either A Blunt Knife Or A Freedom Of Speech Which Is Ill-managed.

Freedom Of Speech

When Your Thoughts, Words, And Deeds Form A Seamless Fabric, You Streamline Your Efforts And Thus Eliminate Worry And Dread.

It's So Simple Really: If You Say You're Going To Do Something, Do It. If You Start Something, Finish It.

Common And Vulgar People Ascribe All Ills That They Feel To Others; People Of Little Wisdom Ascribe To Themselves; People Of Much Wisdom, To No One.

Never Depend On The Admiration Of Others For Self-satisfaction. It Is A Fact Of Life That Other People, Even People Who Love You, Will Not Necessarily Agree With Your Ideas, Understand You Always, Or Share Your Enthusiasms.

Appear To Know Only This--never To Fail Nor Fall.

Covetousness Like Jealousy, When It Has Taken Root, Never Leaves A Person, But With Their Life. Cowardice Is The Dread Of What Will Happen.

In Theory It Is Easy To Convince An Ignorant Person; In Actual Life, Men Not Only Object To Offer Themselves To Be Convinced, But Hate The Man Who Has Convinced Them.

Dare To Look Up To God And Say, Deal With Me In The Future As Thou Wilt; I Am Of The Same Mind As Thou Art; I Am Thine; I Refuse Nothing That Pleases Thee; Lead Me Where Thou Wilt; Clothe Me In Any Dress Thou Choosest.

What Disturbs People, These Are Not Things, But The Judgments Relating To Things

When We Act Pugnaciously, And Injuriously, And Angrily, And Rudely, To What Level Have We Degenerated? To The Level Of The Wild Beasts. Well, The Fact Is That Some Of Us Are Wild Beasts Of A Larger Size, While Others Are Little Animals, Malignant And Petty.

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.

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.'

Whoever Then Wishes To Be Free, Let Him Neither Wish For Anything Nor Avoid Anything Which Depends On Others: If He Does Not Observe This Rule, He Must Be A Slave.

We All Dread A Bodily Paralysis, And Would Make Use Of Every Contrivance To Avoid It; But None Of Us Is Troubled About A Paralysis Of The Soul.

Don't Explain Your Philosophy. Embody It.

Have The Wisdom To Know What Cannot Be Changed, And The Strength To Change What Can.

We Should Do Everything Both Cautiously And Confidently At The Same Time.

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.

People Are Not Disturbed By Things, But By The View They Take Of Them.

Happiness Is An Equivalent For All Troublesome Things.

The Flourishing Life Cannot Be Achieved Until We Moderate Our Desires And See How Superficial And Fleeting They Are.

Within Our Control Are Our Own Opinions, Aspirations, And Desires And The Demons That Distract Us From These Goals. Outside Of Our Control Are Such Things As What Kind Of Body We Have, Whether Or Not We Are Born Into Wealth, And How We Are Regarded By Others.

As A Man, Casting Off Worn Out Garments Taketh New Ones, So The Dweller In The Body, Entereth Into Ones That Are New.

As It Is Pleasant To See The Sea From The Land, So It Is Pleasant For Him Who Has Escaped From Troubles To Think Of Them.

What Is A Child? Ignorance. What Is A Child? Want Of Instruction.

We Cannot Choose Our External Circumstances, But We Can Always Choose How We Respond To Them.

From Now On Practice Saying To Everything That Appears Unpleasant: You Are Merely An Appearance And Not What You Appear To Be.

When We Name Things Correctly, We Comprehend Them Correctly, Without Adding Information Or Judgements That Aren't There. Does Someone Bathe Quickly? Don't Say Be Bathes Poorly, But Quickly. Name The Situation As It Is, Don't Filter It Through Your Judgments. Give Your Assent Only To That Which Is Actually True.

Know, First, Who You Are, And Then Adorn Yourself Accordingly.

It Is Not Things In Themselves Which Trouble Us, But Our Opinions Of Things.

Ask Yourself: Does This Appearance (of Events) Concern The Things That Are Within My Own Control Or Those That Are Not? If It Concerns Anything Outside Your Control, Train Yourself Not To Worry About It.

Is Freedom Anything Else Than The Power Of Living As We Choose? Nothing Else. Tell Me Then, You Men, Do You Wish To Live In Error? We Do Not. No One Who Lives In Error Is Free. Do You Wish To Live In Fear? Do You Wish To Live In Sorrow? Do You Wish To Live In Tension? By No Means. No One Who Is In A State Of Fear Or Sorrow Or Tension Is Free, But Whoever Is Delivered From Sorrows Or Fears Or Anxieties, He Is At The Same Time Also Delivered From Servitude.

Getting Distracted By Trifles Is The Easiest Thing In The World… Focus On Your Main Duty

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." Translation By Sharon Lebell

Living A Good Life Leads To Enduring Happiness. Goodness In And Of Itself Is The Practice And The Reward.

Any Person Capable Of Angering You Becomes Your Master.

The Foolish And The Uneducated Have Little Use For Freedom. Only The Educated Are Free.

In The Long Run, Every Man Will Pay The Penalty For This Own Misdeeds.

You Become What You Give Your Attention To...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.

If Virtue Promises Happiness, Prosperity And Peace, Then Progress In Virtue Is Progress In Each Of These For To Whatever Point The Perfection Of Anything Brings Us, Progress Is Always An Approach Toward It.

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.

Every Place Is Safe To Him Who Lives With Justice.

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.

Any Person Capable Of Angering You Becomes Your Master; He Can Anger You Only When You Permit Yourself To Be Disturbed By Him.

Let Thy Speech Of God Be Renewed Day By Day, Aye, Rather Than Thy Meat And Drink.

Remember That You Are An Actor In A Play, And That The Playwright Chooses The Manner Of It: If He Wants You To Act A Poor Man You Must Act The Part With All Your Powers; And So If Your Part Be A Cripple Or A Magistrate Or A Plain Man. For Your Business Is To Act The Character That Is Given You And Act It Well. The Choice Of The Cast Is Another's.

Man Is Not Worried By Real Problems So Much As By His Imagined Anxieties About Real Problems

A Ship Should Not Be Held By A Single Anchor; Neither Should Life Depend Upon A Single Hope.

Freedom Is The Only Worthy Goal In Life. It Is Won By Disregarding Things That Lie Beyond Our Control. Stop Aspiring To Be Anyone Other Than Your Own Best Self: For That Does Fall Within Your Control.

The Soul That Companies With Virtue Is Like An Ever-flowing Source. It Is A Pure, Clear, And Wholesome Draught, Sweet, Rich And Generous Of Its Store, That Injures Not, Neither Destroys.

Never In Any Case Say I Have Lost Such A Thing, But I Have Returned It. Is Your Child Dead? It Is A Return. Is Your Wife Dead? It Is A Return. Are You Deprived Of Your Estate? Is Not This Also A Return?

Nothing Is In Reality Either Pleasant Or Unpleasant By Nature But All Things Become So Through Habit

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.

Our Duties Naturally Emerge Form Such Fundamental Relations As Our Families, Neighborhoods, Workplaces, Our State Or Nation. Make It Your Regular Habit To Consider Your Roles-parent, Child, Neighbor, Citizen, Leader-and The Natural Duties That Arise From Them. Once You Know Who You Are And To Whom You Are Linked, You Will Know What To Do.

If You Think You Control Things That Are In The Control Of Others, You Will Lament. You Will Be Disturbed And You Will Blame Both Gods And Men.

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.

If A Person Had Delivered Up Your Body To Some Passer-by, You Would Certainly Be Angry. And Do You Feel No Shame In Delivering Up Your Own Mind To Any Reviler, To Be Disconcerted And Confounded?

Seek Not Good From Without; Seek It Within Yourselves, Or You Will Never Find It.

What Is Learned Without Pleasure Is Forgotten Without Remorse.

Freedom Is Not Procured By A Full Enjoyment Of What Is Desired, But By Controlling The Desire.

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

If You Wish To Live A Life Free From Sorrow, Think Of What Is Going To Happen As If It Had Already Happened.

The Best Place To Get Help Is From Yourself.

You Are A Little Soul Carrying Around A Corpse.

Who Is Not Attracted By Bright And Pleasant Children, To Prattle, To Creep, And To Play With Them?

Since It Is Reason Which Shapes And Regulates All Other Things, It Ought Not Itself To Be Left In Disorder.

Don't Regard What Anyone Says Of You, For This, After All, Is No Concern Of Yours.

Think Of God Oftener Than You Breathe.

What Is The First Business Of One Who Practices Philosophy? To Get Rid Of Self-conceit. For It Is Impossible For Anyone To Begin To Learn That Which He Thinks He Already Knows.

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.

In Trying To Please Other People, We Find Ourselves Misdirected Toward What Lies Outside Our Sphere Of Influence. In Doing So, We Lose Our Hold On Our Lifes Purpose.

Unremarkable Lives Are Marked By The Fear Of Not Looking Capable When Trying Something New.

Trying Something New

Envy Is The Antagonist Of The Fortunate.

There Is Only One Way To Happiness And That Is To Cease Worrying About Things Which Are Beyond The Power Of Our Will.

Of Pleasures, Those Which Occur Most Rarely Give The Most Delight.

It Is Your Own Convictions Which Compels You; That Is, Choice Compels Choice.

No Living Being Is Held By Anything So Strongly As By Its Own Needs. Whatever Therefore Appears A Hindrance To These, Be It Brother, Or Father, Or Child, Or Mistress, Or Friend, Is Hated, Abhorred, Execrated.

If Thy Brother Wrongs Thee, Remember Not So Much His Wrong-doing, But More Than Ever That He Is Thy Brother.

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.

Some Of Their Faults Men Readily Admit, But Others Not So Readily.

Whoever Does Not Regard What He Has As Most Ample Wealth, Is Unhappy, Though He Be Master Of The World.

To A Longer And Worse Life, A Shorter And Better Is By All Means To Be Preferred.

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.

If You Would Be A Reader, Read; If A Writer, Write.

We Do Not Choose Our Own Parts In Life, And Have Nothing To Do With Those Parts. Our Duty Is Confined To Playing Them Well.

It Is No Easy Thing For A Principle To Become A Man's Own Unless Each Day He Maintains It And Works It Out In His Life.

If One Oversteps The Bounds Of Moderation, The Greatest Pleasures Cease To Please.

You Will Do The Greatest Service 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 Rather Than For Mean Slaves To Lurk In Great Houses.

Neither The Victories Of The Olympic Games Nor Those Achieved In Battles Make The Man Happy. The Only Victories That Make Him Happy Are Those Achieved Against Himself. Temptations And Tests Are Combats. You Have Beaten One, Two, Many Times; Still Fight. If You Defeat At Last You Will Be Happy Your Entire Life, As If You Have Always Defeated.

It Is Not So Much What Happens To You As How You Think About What Happens." Epictetus

Don't Demand Or Expect That Events Happen As You Would Wish Them Do. Accept Events As They Actually Happen. That Way, Peace Is Possible.

As You Think, So You Become.....our Busy Minds Are Forever Jumping To Conclusions, Manufacturing And Interpreting Signs That Aren't There.

Exceed Due Measure, And The Most Delightful Things Become The Least Delightful.

Delightful Things

The Greater The Difficulty The More Glory In Surmounting It. Skillful Pilots Gain Their Reputation From Storms And Tempests.

O Slavish Man! Will You Not Bear With Your Own Brother, Who Has God For His Father, As Being A Son From The Same Stock, And Of The Same High Descent? But If You Chance To Be Placed In Some Superior Station, Will You Presently Set Yourself Up For A Tyrant?

In Every Affair Consider What Precedes And What Follows, And Then Undertake It

Here Is The Beginning Of Philosophy: A Recognition Of The Conflicts Between Men, A Search For Their Cause, A Condemnation Of Mere Opinion .. . And The Discovery Of A Standard Of Judgement.

To Get Or Not To Get What We Desire Can Be Equally Disappointing.

Shall I Show You The Sinews Of A Philosopher? What Sinews Are Those? - A Will Undisappointed; Evils Avoided; Powers Daily Exercised; Careful Resolutions; Unerring Decisions.

When You Have Decided That A Thing Ought To Be Done And Are Doing It, Never Avoid Bein Seen Doing It, Though Many Shall Form An Unfavorable Opinion About It. For If It Is Not Right To Do It, Avoid Doing The Thing; But If It Is Right, Why Are You Afraid Of Those Who Shall Find Fault Wrongly?

To Know That You Do Not Know And To Be Willing To Admit That You Do Not Know Without Sheepishly Apologizing Is Real Strength And Sets The Stage For Learning And Progress In Any Endeavor.

No Matter What Happens, It Is Within My Power To Turn It To My Advantage.

Unless We Place Our Religion And Our Treasure In The Same Thing, Religion Will Always Be Sacrificed.

And Have You Not Received Faculties Which Will Enable You To Bear All That Happens To You? Have You Not Received Greatness Of Spirit? Have You Not Received Courage? Have You Not Received Endurance?

Does A Man Reproach Thee For Being Proud Or Ill-natured, Envious Or Conceited, Ignorant Or Detracting? Consider With Thyself Whether His Reproaches Are True. If They Are Not, Consider That Thou Art Not The Person Whom He Reproaches, But That He Reviles An Imaginary Being, And Perhaps Loves What Thou Really Art, Though He Hates What Thou Appearest To Be.

No Great Thing Is Created Suddenly. There Must Be Time. Give Your Best And Always Be Kind.

The Materials Are Indifferent, But The Use We Make Of Them Is Not A Matter Of Indifference.

It Is Difficulties That Show What Men Are.

Freedom Isn't The Right Or Ability To Do Whatever You Please. Freedom Comes From Understanding The Limits Of Our Own Power And The Inherent Limits Set In Place By Nature. By Accepting Life's Limits And Inevitabilities And Working With Them Rather Than Fighting Them, You Become Truly Free.

Choose The Life That Is Noblest, For Custom Can Make It Sweet To Thee.

Focus Not On What He Or She Does, But On Keeping To Your Higher Purpose. Your Own Purpose Should Seek Harmony With Nature Itself. For This Is The True Road To Freedom.

The Essence Of Philosophy Is That A Man Should So Live That His Happiness Shall Depend As Little As Possible On External Things.

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.

When Something Happens, The Only Thing In Your Power Is Your Attitude Toward It. It Is Not The Things That Disturb Us, But Our Interpretation Of Their Significance. Things And People Are Not What We Wish Them To Be Nor Are They What They Seem To Be. They Are What They Are.

The Pleasure Which We Most Rarely Experience Gives Us Greatest Delight.

You Make Me Happy

Were I A Nightingale, I Would Act The Part Of A Nightingale; Were I A Swan, The Part Of A Swan.

Man Is Troubled Not By Events, But By The Meaning He Gives Them.

If You Do Not Wish To Be Prone To Anger, Do Not Feed The Habit; Give It Nothing Which May Tend To Its Increase. 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, Then Every Three Days!" And If You Succeed In Passing Thirty Days, Sacrifice To The Gods In Thanksgiving.

Confident Because Of Our Caution

By Accepting Life's Limits And Inevitabilities And Working With Them Rather Than Fighting Them, We Become Free.

In Theory There Is Nothing To Hinder Our Following What We Are Taught;but In Life There Are Many Things To Draw Us Aside.

Once You Know Who You Are And To Whom You Are Linked, You Will Know What To Do

The World Turns Aside To Let Any Man Pass Who Knows Where He Is Going.

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.

Trending Author

Martina McBride

Anna Nicole Smith

Category