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In This Flowing Stream, Then, On Which There Is No Abiding, What Is There Of The Things Which Hurry By On Which A Man Would Set A High Price? It Would Be Just As If A Man Should Fall In Love With One Of The Sparrows Which Fly By, But It Has Already Passed Out Of Sight.

-Marcus Aurelius

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In This Flowing Stream,

Marcus Aurelius

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In This Flowing Stream, Then, On Which There Is No Abiding, What Is There Of The Things Which Hurry By On Which A Man Would Set A High Price? It Would Be Just As If A Man Should Fall In Love With One Of The Sparrows Which Fly By, But It Has Already Passed Out Of Sight.

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Falling In Love

More From Marcus Aurelius

If Man Reflects On The Changes And Transformations Which Follow One Another Like Wave After Wave And Their Rapidity, He Will Despise Everything Which Is Perishable.

Wherever A Man Lives, He May Live Well.

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.

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.

Only To The Rational Animal Is It Given To Follow Voluntarily What Happens; But Simply To Follow Is A Necessity Imposed On All.

Hast Thou Reason? I Have. Why Then Dost Not Thou Use It? For If This Does Its Own Work, What Else Dost Thou Wish?

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.

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.

Life Is A Campaign, A Brief Staying In A Strange Region.

How Much More Grievous Are The Consequences Of Anger Than The Causes Of It.

The Intelligence Of The Universe Is Social.

Nothing Is Worth Doing Pointlessly.

A Good Man Does Not Spy Around For The Black Spots In Others, But Presses Unswervingly On Towards His Mark.

Live Out Your Life In Truth And Justice, Tolerant Of Those Who Are Neither True Nor Just.

Truth And Justice

The Sinner Sins Against Himself; The Wrongdoer Wrongs Himself, Becoming The Worse By His Own Action.

Nothing Proceeds From Nothingness, As Also Nothing Passes Away Into Non-existence.

The Main Thing We Were Made For Is To Work With Others.

Give Yourself A Gift: The Present Moment.

God Overrules All Mutinous Accidents, Brings Them Under His Laws Of Fate, And Makes Them All Serviceable To His Purpose.

The Universal Nature Out Of The Universal Substance, As If It Were Wax, Now Molds A Horse, And When It Has Broken This Up, It Uses The Material For A Tree, Then For A Man, Then For Something Else.

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.

Nature Has Given To Each Conscious Being Every Power She Possesses, And One Of These Abilities Is This: Just As Nature Converts And Alters Every Obstacle And Opposition, And Fits Them Into Their Predestined Place, Making Them A Part Of Herself, So Too The Rational Person Is Able To Finesse Every Obstacle Into An Opportunity, And To Use It For Whatever Purpose It May Suit.

Do Not Indulge In Dreams Of Having What You Have Not, But Reckon Up The Chief Of The Blessings You Do Possess, And Then Thankfully Remember How You Would Crave For Them If They Were Not Yours.

You Should Banish Any Thoughts Of How You May Appear To Others.

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.

The Stream Of Tendency In Which All Things Seek To Fulfill The Law Of Their Being.

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.

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.

He Who Pays No Attention To What His Neighbor Does, Says Or Thinks, Preferring To Concentrate On Making His Own Actions Appropriate And Justifiable, Better Uses His Time.

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.

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.

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.

My True Self Is Free. I Cannot Be Contained.

A Lucky Chance Is Constant In Nothing But Inconstancy.

He Who Has Seen Present Things Has Seen All, Both Everything Which Has Taken Place From All Eternity And Everything Which Will Be For Time Without End; For All Things Are Of One Kin And Of One Form.

...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.

There Is No Misfortune, But To Bear It Nobly Is Good Fortune.

Confine Yourself To The Present.

From Plato: The Man Who Has An Elevated Mind And Takes A View Of All Time And Of All Substance, Dost Thou Suppose It Possible For Him To Think That Human Life Is Anything Great? It Is Not Possible, He Said. Such A Man Then Will Think That Death Also Is No Evil.

The Gods Gave Me A Father Who Ruled Over Me And Rid Me Of Any Trace Of Arrogance And Showed Me That One Can Live In A Palace Without Bodyguards, Extravagant Attire, Chandeliers, Statues, And Other Luxuries. He Taught Me That It Is Possible To Live Instead Pretty Much In The Manner Of A Private Citizen Without Losing Any Of The Dignity And Authority A Ruler Must Possess To Discharge His Imperial Duties Effectively.

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.

A Man's Life Is What His Thoughts Make Of It.

Positive Thinking

Do Not Be Wise In Words - Be Wise In Deeds.

If You Separate From . . . Everything You Have Done In The Past, Everything That Disturbs You About The Future . . . And Apply Yourself To Living The Life That You Are Living-that Is To Say, The Present-you Can Live All The Time That Remains To You Until Your Death In Calm, Benevolence, And Serenity.

What Matter And Opportunity [for Thy Activity] Art Thou Avoiding? For What Else Are All These Things, Except Exercises For The Reason, When It Has Viewed Carefully And By Examination Into Their Nature The Things Which Happen In Life? Persevere Then Until Thou Shalt Have Made These Things Thy Own, As The Stomach Which Is Strengthened Makes All Things Its Own, As The Blazing Fire Makes Flame And Brightness Out Of Everything That Is Thrown Into It.

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.

Or Is It Your Reputation That's Bothering You? But Look At How Soon We're All Forgotten. The Abyss Of Endless Time That Swallows It All. The Emptiness Of Those Applauding Hands. The People Who Praise Us; How Capricious They Are, How Arbitrary. And The Tiny Region It Takes Place. The Whole Earth A Point In Space - And Most Of It Uninhabited.

Because Other People Are Fools, Must You Be So Too?

If Any Man Despises Me, That Is His Problem. My Only Concern Is Not Doing Or Saying Anything Deserving Of Contempt.

If You Are Pained By Any External Thing, It Is Not This Thing That Disturbs You, But Your Own Judgment About It. It Is In Your Power To Erase This Judgment About It. If Anything In Your Own Nature Gives You Pain, You Are Who Hinders You From Correcting Your Opinion.

The Whole Contains Nothing That Is Not For Its Advantage. By Remembering That I Am Part Of Such A Whole, I Shall Be Content With Everything That Happens.

The Earth Loveth The Shower," And "the Holy æther Knoweth What Love Is." The Universe, Too, Loves To Create Whatsoever Is Destined To Be Made.

Death And Life, Success And Failure, Pain And Pleasure, Wealth And Poverty, All These Happen To Good And Bad Alike, And They Are Neither Noble Nor Shameful - And Hence Neither Good Nor Bad.

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.

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.

No One Loses Any Other Life Than The One He Now Lives, Nor Does One Live Any Other Life Than That Which He Will Lose.

No Matter What Anyone Says Or Does, My Task Is To Be Emerald, My Color Undiminished.

In One Way An Arrow Moves, In Another Way The Mind. The Mind Indeed, Both When It Exercises Caution And When It Is Employed About Inquiry, Moves Straight Onward Not The Less, And To Its Object.

To Them That Ask: Where Hast Thou Seen The Gods, Or How Knowest Thou Certainly That There Be Gods, That Thou Art So Devout In Their Worship? I Answer: Neither Have I Seen My Own Soul, And Yet I Respect And Honor It.

While You Live, While It Is In Your Power, Be Good.

"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?

And Yet, After All, What Is Posthumous Fame? Altogether Vanity.

When Force Of Circumstance Upsets Your Equanimity Lose No Time In Recovering Your Self-control, And Do Not Remain Out Of Tune Longer Than You Can Help. Habitual Recurrence To The Harmony Will Increase Your Mastery Of It.

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.

Each Day Provides Its Own Gifts.

You Must Become An Old Man In Good Time If You Wish To Be An Old Man Long.

Short-lived Are Both The Praiser And The Praised, And Rememberer And The Remembered: And All This In A Nook Of This Part Of The World; And Not Even Here Do All Agree, No, Not Any One With Himself: And The Whole Earth Too Is A Point.

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.

Perhaps There Are None More Lazy, Or More Truly Ignorant, Than Your Everlasting Readers.

Death Is A Release From The Impressions Of The Senses, And From Desires That Make Us Their Puppets, And From The Vagaries Of The Mind, And From The Hard Service Of The Flesh.

For A Man Can Lose Neither The Past Nor The Future; For How Can One Take From Him That Which Is Not His? So Remember These Two Points: First, That Each Thing Is Of Like Form From Everlasting And Comes Round Again In Its Cycle, And That It Signifies Not Whether A Man Shall Look Upon The Same Things For A Hundred Years Or Two Hundred, Or For An Infinity Of Time; Second, That The Longest Lived And The Shortest Lived Man, When They Come To Die, Lose One And The Same Thing.

Each Of Us Needs What Nature Gives Us, When Nature Gives Us.

No One Can Lose Either The Past Or The Future - How Could Anyone Be Deprived Of What He Does Not Possess? ... It Is Only The Present Moment Of Which Either Stands To Be Deprived: And If This Is All He Has, He Cannot Lose What He Does Not Have.

A Little Time, And Thou Shalt Close Thy Eyes; And Him Who Has Attended Thee To Thy Grave, Another Soon Will Lament.

Keep Constantly In Mind In How Many Things You Yourself Have Witnessed Changes Already. The Universe Is Change, Life Is Understanding.

Things Themselves Cannot Touch The Soul, Not In The Least Degree, Nor Have They Admission To The Soul Nor Can They Turn Or Move The Soul: It Turns And Moves Itself Alone And Whatever Judgment It May Think Proper To Make, Such It Makes By Remaking For Itself The Things That Present Themselves To It

All Things Of The Body Stream Away Like A River, All Things Of The Mind Are Dreams And Delusion; Life Is Warfare, And A Visit To A Strange Land; The Only Lasting Fame Is Oblivion.

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.

He Who Fears Death Either Fears The Loss Of Sensation Or A Different Kind Of Sensation. But If Thou Shalt Have No Sensation, Neither Wilt Thou Feel Any Harm; And If Thou Shalt Acquire Another Kind Of Sensation, Thou Wilt Be A Different Kind Of Living Being And Thou Wilt Not Cease To Live.

The Man Who Has A House Everywhere Has A Home Nowhere

Life Is A Warfare And A Stranger's Sojourn, And After Fame Is Oblivion.

As Far As You Can, Get Into The Habit Of Asking Yourself In Relation To Any Action Taken By Another: "what Is His Point Of Reference Here?" But Begin With Yourself: Examine Yourself First.

Every Living Organism Is Fulfilled When It Follows The Right Path For Its Own Nature.

Living Organisms

Aptitude Found In The Understanding And Is Often Inherited. Genius Coming From Reason And Imagination, Rarely.

Vivid Imagination

By A Tranquil Mind I Mean Nothing Else Than A Mind Well Ordered.

Where A Man Can Live, He Can Also Live Well.

How Much Time He Saves Who Does Not Look To See What His Neighbor Says Or Does Or Thinks.

Is Any Man Afraid Of Change? Why What Can Take Place Without Change? What Then Is More Pleasing Or More Suitable To The Universal Nature?

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.

No Man Is Happy Who Does Not Think Himself So.

A Man Does Not Sin By Commission Only, But Often By Omission.

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.

Tranquility Is Nothing Else Than The Good Ordering Of The Mind.

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

All Those [events In History] Were Such Dramas As We See Now, Only With Different Actors.

From My Grandfather's Father, I Learned To Dispense With Attendance At Public Schools, And To Enjoy Good Teachers At Home, And To Recognize That On Such Things Money Should Be Eagerly Spent.

Man Is Born For Deeds Of Kindness.

As The Same Fire Assumes Different Shapes When It Consumes Objects Differing In Shape, So Does The One Self Take The Shape Of Every Creature In Whom He Is Present.

A Wrongdoer Is Often A Man Who Has Left Something Undone, Not Always One Who Has Done Something.

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.

The World Is Nothing But Change, Our Life Is Only Perception.

Always Run To The Short Way; And The Short Way Is The Natural: Accordingly Say And Do Everything In Conformity With The Soundest Reason. For Such A Purpose Frees A Man From Trouble, And Warfare, And All Artifice And Ostentatious Display.

Persuade Me Or Prove To Me That I Am Mistaken In Thought Or Deed, And I Will Gladly Change - For It Is The Truth I Seek, And The Truth Never Harmed Anyone. Harm Comes From Persisting In Error And Clinging To Ignorance.

Thou Mayest Foresee... The Things Which Will Be. For They Will Certainly Be Of Like Form, And It Is Not Possible That They Should Deviate From The Order Of Things Now: Accordingly To Have Contemplated Human Life For Forty Years Is The Same As To Have Contemplated It For Ten Thousand Years.

And Finally Remember That Nothing Harms Him Who Is Really A Citizen, Which Does Not Harm The State; Nor Yet Does Anything Harm The State Which Does Not Harm Law [order]; And Of These Things Which Are Called Misfortunes Not One Harms Law. What Then Does Not Harm Law Does Not Harm Either State Or Citizen.

Short Is The Little Which Remains To Thee Of Life. Live As On A Mountain.

Your Days Are Numbered. Use Them To Throw Open The Windows Of Your Soul To The Sun. If You Do Not, The Sun Will Soon Set, And You With It.

Both Happiness And Unhappiness Depend On Perception

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.

Dress Not Thy Thoughts In Too Fine A Raiment. And Be Not A Man Of Superfluous Words Or Superfluous Deeds.

Art Thou Angry With Him Whose Armpits Stink? Art Thou Angry With Him Whose Mouth Smells Foul?

Run Down The List Of Those Who Felt Intense Anger At Something: The Most Famous, The Most Unfortunate, The Most Hated, The Most Whatever: Where Is All That Now? Smoke, Dust, Legend...or Not Even A Legend. Think Of All The Examples. And How Trivial The Things We Want So Passionately Are.

If You Are Pained By Any External Thing, It Is Not This That Disturbs You, But Your Own Judgment About It.

Loss Is Nothing Else But Change, And Change Is Nature's Delight.

It Is Man's Peculiar Duty To Love Even Those Who Wrong Him.

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.

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.

The Blazing Fire Makes Flames And Brightness Out Of Everything Thrown Into It.

Suppose That Thou Hast Detached Thyself From The Natural Unity... Yet Here There Is This Beautiful Provision, That It Is In Thy Power Again To Unite Thyself. God Has Allowed This To No Other Part, After It Has Been Separated And Cut Asunder, To Come Together Again. ...he Has Distinguished Man, For He Has Put It In His Power Not To Be Separated At All From The Universal ...he Has Allowed Him To Be Returned And To Be United And To Resume His Place As A Part.

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.

Put An End Once And For All To This Discussion Of What A Good Person Should Be, And Be One.

Everything Is Ephemeral, Both That Which Remembers And That Which Is Remembered.

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.

Nature Which Governs The Whole Will Soon Change All Things Which You See, And Out Of Their Substance Will Make Other Things And Again Other Things... In Order That The World May Be Ever New.

Retire Into Thyself. The Rational Principle Which Rules Has This Nature, That It Is Content With Itself When It Does What Is Just, And So Secures Tranquility.

Men Despise One Another And Flatter One Another; And Men Wish To Raise Themselves Above One Another, And Crouch Before One Another.

A Spider Is Proud When It Has Caught A Fly; One Man When He Has Caught A Poor Hare, And Another When He Has Taken A Little Fish In A Net, And Another When He Has Taken Wild Boars, And Another When He Has Taken Bears, And Another When He Has Taken Sarmatians. Are Not These Robbers, If You Examine Their Opinions?

Socrates Used To Call The Opinions Of The Many By The Name Of Lamiae, Bugbears To Frighten Children.

It Were Well To Die If There Be Gods, And Sad To Live If There Be None.

If There Is A God

Take The Shortest Route. The One That Nature Planned - To Speak And Act In The Healthiest Way. Do That, And Be Free Of Pain And Stress, Free Of All Calculations And Pretension.

Every Man's Life Lies Within The Present; For The Past Is Spent And Done With, And The Future Is Uncertain.

Nothing Befalls A Man Except What Is In His Nature To Endure.

In Man's Life, Time Is But A Moment; Being, A Flux; Sense Is Dim; The Material Frame Corruptible; Soul, An Eddy Of Breath; Fortune A Thing Inscrutable, And Fame Precarious.

Consider That Everything Is Opinion, And Opinion Is In Thy Power.

We Are Born For Synergy, Just Like The Feet, Just Like The Hands, Just Like The Eyes, Just Like The Rows Of Upper And Lower Teeth. Working Against Each Other Is Unnatural, And Being Annoyed And Turning One's Back Is Counterproductive.

Why Should We Feel Anger At The World? As If The World Would Notice?

That Which Makes The Man No Worse Than He Was Makes His Life No Worse: It Has No Power To Harm, Without Or Within.

Look Deep Into The Hearts Of Men, And See What Delights And Disgusts The Wise.

That Which Is Really Beautiful Has No Need Of Anything; Not More Than Law, Not More Than Truth, Not More Than Benevolence Or Modesty.

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.

Every Being Ought To Do That Which Is According To Its Constitution; And All Other Things Have Been Constituted For The Sake Of The Superior, But The Rational For The Sake Of One Another.

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.

You Are A Little Soul Bearing About A Corpse, As Epictetus Used To Say.

All Things Are Linked With One Another, And This Oneness Is Sacred; There Is Nothing That Is Not Interconnected With Everything Else. For Things Are Interdependent, And They Combine To Form This Universal Order. There Is Only One Universe Made Up Of All Things, And One Creator Who Pervades Them; There Is One Substance And One Law, Namely, Common Reason In All Thinking Creatures, And All Truth Is One-if, As We Believe, There Is Only One Path Of Perfection For All Beings Who Share The Same Mind.

Don't Go On Discussing What A Good Person Should Be. Just Be One.

The Opinion Of 10,000 Men Is Of No Value If None Of Them Know Anything About The Subject.

It Doesn't Hurt Me Unless I Interpret Its Happening As Harmful To Me. I Can Choose Not To.

We Are The Other Of The Other

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.

Failure To Read What Is Happening In Another's Soul Is Not Easily Seen As A Cause Of Unhappiness: But Those Who Fail To Attend The Motions Of Their Own Soul Are Necessarily Unhappy.

Everything We Hear Is An Opinion, Not A Fact. Everything We See Is A Perspective, Not The Truth.

Alexander The Great And His Mule Driver Both Died And The Same Thing Happened To Both.

Tomorrow Is Nothing, Today Is Too Late; The Good Lived Yesterday.

Change Your Attitude To The Things That Bother You And You Will Be Aware Of Them.

Purge Your Mind Of All Aimless And Idle Thoughts, Especially Those That Pry Into The Affairs Of Others Or Wish Them Ill.

I Was Once A Fortunate Man But At Some Point Fortune Abandoned Me. But True Good Fortune Is What You Make For Yourself. Good Fortune: Good Character, Good Intentions, And Good Actions.

Receive The Gifts Of Fortune Without Pride, And Part With Them Without Reluctance.

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.

Why Do You Hunger For Length Of Days? The Point Of Life Is To Follow Reason And The Divine Spirit And To Accept Whatever Nature Sends You. To Live In This Way Is Not To Fear Death, But To Hold It In Contempt. Death Is Only A Thing Of Terror For Those Unable To Live In The Present. Pass On Your Way, Then, With A Smiling Face, Under The Smile Of Him Who Bids You Go

...if A Man Comes To His Fortieth Year, And Has Any Understanding At All, He Has Virtually Seen - Thanks To Their Similarity - All Possible Happenings, Both Past And To Come.

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.

Everything That Happens, Happens As It Should.

No One Was Ever Injured By The Truth; But He Who Persists In Self-deception And Ignorance Is Injured.

If It's Time For You To Go, Leave Willingly - As You Would To Accomplish Anything That Can Be Done With Grace And Honor.

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.

The Memory Of Everything Is Very Soon Overwhelmed In Time.

Deem Not Life A Thing Of Consequence. For Look At The Yawning Void Of The Future, And At That Other Limitless Space, The Past.

Everything That Happens Happens As It Should, And If You Observe Carefully, You Will Find This To Be So.

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.

Death, Like Birth, Is A Secret Of Nature.

Never Esteem Anything As Of Advantage To You That Will Make You Break Your Word Or Lose Your Self-respect.

From The Philosopher Catulus, Never To Be Dismissive Of A Friend's Accusation, Even If It Seems Unreasonable, But To Make Every Effort To Restore The Relationship To Its Normal Condition.

A Good Disposition Is Invincible, If It Be Genuine.

Keep In Mind How Fast Things Pass By And Are Gone - Those That Are Now, And Those To Come. Existence Flows Past Us Like A River; The "what" Is In Constant Flux, The "why" Has A Thousand Variations. Nothing Is Stable, Not Even What's Right Here. The Infinity Of Past And Future Gapes Before Us - A Chasm Whose Depths We Cannot See.

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. . . .

When Jarred, Unavoidably, By Circumstance Revert At Once To Yourself And Don't Lose The Rhythm More Than You Can Help. You'll Have A Better Grasp Of Harmony If You Keep Going Back To It.

An Angry Look On The Face Is Wholly Against Nature. If It Be Assumed Frequently, Beauty Begins To Perish, And In The End Is Quenched Beyond Rekindling.

If I And My Two Children Cannot Move The Gods, The Gods Must Have Their Reasons.

Nature Insists On Whatever Benefits The Whole.

Begin - To Begin Is Half The Work, Let Half Still Remain; Again Begin This, And Thou Wilt Have Finished.

Adapt Yourself To The Things Among Which Your Lot Has Been Cast And Love Sincerely The Fellow Creatures With Whom Destiny Has Ordained That You Shall Live.

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.

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.

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?

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

If Any Man Has Done Wrong, The Harm Is His Own. But Perhaps He Has Not Done Wrong.

Praise Adds Nothing To Beauty--makes It Neither Better Nor Worse.

Every Instant Of Time... Is A Pinprick Of Eternity.

A Little Flesh, A Little Breath, And A Reason To Rule All - That Is Myself.

How Easy It Is To Repel And Release Every Impression Which Is Troublesome And Immediately To Be Tranquil.

To My Great-grandfather I Owed The Advice To Dispense With The Education Of The Schools And Have Good Masters At Home Instead - And To Realize That No Expense Should Be Grudged For This Purpose.

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.

Submit To The Fate Of Your Own Free Will.

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.

Give Full Attention And Devotion To Each Act.

Look To The Essence Of A Thing, Whether It Be A Point Of Doctrine, Of Practice, Or Of Interpretation.

Don't Be Ashamed To Need Help. Like A Soldier Storming A Wall, You Have A Mission To Accomplish. And If You've Been Wounded And You Need A Comrade To Pull You Up? So What?

How Can A Man Find A Sensible Way To Live? One Way And One Only- Philosophy. And My Philosophy Means Keeping That Vital Spark Within You Free From Damage And Degradation, Using It To Transcend Pain And Pleasure, Doing Everything With A Purpose, Avoiding Lies And Hypocrisy, Not Relying On Another Person's Actions Or Failings. To Accept Everything That Comes, And Everything That Is Given, As Coming From That Same Spiritual Source.

How Powerful Is Man! He Is Able To Do All That God Wishes Him To Do. He Is Able To Accept All That God Sends Upon Him.

The Nature Of The All Moved To Make The Universe.

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Valerie Bertinelli

Georges Pompidou

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