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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.

-Epictetus

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Is Freedom Anything Else

Epictetus

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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.

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

The Universe Is But One Great City, Full Of Beloved Ones, Divine And Human, By Nature Endeared To Each Other.

We All Carry The Seeds Of Greatness Within Us, But We Need An Image As A Point Of Focus In Order That They May Sprout.

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

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.

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

The Beginning Of Philosophy Is The Recognition Of The Conflict Between Opinions.

Authentic Happiness Is Always Independent Of External Conditions.

Authentic Happiness

It Were No Slight Attainment Could We Merely Fulfil What The Nature Of Man Implies.

Control Thy Passions Lest They Take Vengence On Thee.

Let Silence Be Your General Rule; Or Say Only What Is Necessary And In Few Words.

If You Wish To Be A Writer, Write.

Give Me By All Means The Shorter And Nobler Life, Instead Of One That Is Longer But Of Less Account!

Freedom Is Secured Not By The Fulfillment Of One's Desires, But By The Removal Of Desire.

Nothing Great Is Created Suddenly, Any More Than A Bunch Of Grapes Or A Fig.

Greek Philosopher

Man Is Not Fully Free Unless He Is Master Of Himself.

Any Person Capable Of Angering You Becomes Your Master.

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

All Philosophy Lies In Two Words, Sustain And Abstain.

The People Have A Right To The Truth As They Have A Right To Life, Liberty And The Pursuit Of Happiness.

The Cause Of All Human Evils Is The Not Being Able To Apply General Principles To Special Cases.

God Has Entrusted Me With Myself.

Self Improvement

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?

Who Exactly Do You Want To Be? What Kind Of Person Do You Want To Be? What Are Your Personal Ideals? Whom Do You Admire? What Are Their Special Traits That You Would Make Your Own It's Time To Stop Being Vague. If You Wish To Be An Extraordinary Person, If You Wish To Become Wise, Then You Should Explicitly Identify The Kind Of Person You Aspire To Become. If You Have A Daybook, Write Down Who You're Trying To Be, So That You Can Refer To This Self-determination. Precisely Describe The Demeanor You Want To Adopt So That You May Preserve It When You Are By Yourself Or With Other People.

Seek Not That The Things Which Happen Should Happen As You Wish; But Wish The Things Which Happen To Be As They Are, And You Will Have A Tranquil Flow Of Life.

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.

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

If What The Philosophers Say Be True, That All Men's Actions Proceed From One Source; That As They Assent From A Persuasion That A Thing Is So, And Dissent From A Persuasion That It Is Not, And Suspend Their Judgment From A Persuasion That It Is Uncertain, So Likewise They Seek A Thing From A Persuasion That It Is For Their Advantage.

Remember That You Are An Actor In A Drama Of Such Sort As The Author Chooses: If Short, Then In A Short One; If Long, Then In A Long One. If It Be His Pleasure That You Should Enact A Poor Man, Or A Cripple, Or A Ruler, Or A Private Citizen, See That You Act It Well. For This Is Your Business, To Act Well The Given Part. But To Choose It Belongs To Another.

A Man That Seeks Truth And Loves It Must Be Reckoned Precious To Any Human Society.

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.

It Is Not Death Or Pain That Is To Be Dreaded, But The Fear Of Pain Or Death.

If You Would Be Good, First Believe That You Are Bad.

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

Whatever You Would Make Habitual, Practice It; And If You Would Not Make A Thing Habitual, Do Not Practice It, But Accustom Yourself To Something Else.

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?

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?

Liars Are The Cause Of All The Sins And Crimes In The World.

It Is Unlikely That The Good Of A Snail Should Reside In Its Shell: So Is It Likely That The Good Of A Man Should?

Either God Wants To Abolish Evil, And Cannot; Or He Can, But Does Not Want To.

When One Maintains His Proper Attitude In Life, He Does Not Long After Externals.

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

In Life Our First Job Is This, To Divide And Distinguish Things Into Two Categories: Externals I Cannot Control, But The Choices I Make With Regard To Them I Do Control. Where Will I Find Good And Bad? In Me, In My Choices.

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.

If You Would Cure Anger, Do Not Feed It. Say To Yourself: 'i Used To Be Angry Every Day; Then Every Other Day; Now Only Every Third Or Fourth Day.' When You Reach Thirty Days Offer A Sacrifice Of Thanksgiving To The Gods.

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?

Don't Seek To Have Events Happen As You Wish, But Wish Them To Happen As They Do Happen, And All Will Be Well With You.

Desire And Happiness Cannot Live Together.

Happiness And Personal Fulfillment Are The Natural Consequences Of Doing The Right Thing.

Doing The Right Thing

-….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.

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

If You Set Your Heart Upon Philosophy, You Must Straightway Prepare Yourself To Be Laughed At And Mocked By Many Who Will Say Behold A Philosopher Arisen Among Us! Or How Came You By That Brow Of Scorn? But Do You Cherish No Scorn, But Hold To Those Things Which Seem To You The Best, As One Set By God In That Place. Remember Too, That If You Abide In Those Ways, Those Who First Mocked You, The Same Shall Afterwards Reverence You; But If You Yield To Them, You Will Be Laughed At Twice As Much As Before.

Law Intends Indeed To Do Service To Human Life, But It Is Not Able When Men Do Not Choose To Accept Her Services; For It Is Only In Those Who Are Obedient To Her That She Displays Her Special Virtue.

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

When Something Happens, The Only Thing In Your Power Is Your Attitude Toward It; You Can Either Accept It Or Resent It.

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

No One Who Is In A State Of Fear Or Sorrow Or Tension Is Free, But Whosoever Is Delivered From Sorrows Or Fears Or Anxieties Is At The Same Time Delivered From Servitude.

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.

If You See Anybody Wail And Complain, Call Him A Slave, Though He Be Clad In Purple.

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

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

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

What Is It That Every Man Seeks? To Be Secure, To Be Happy, To Do What He Pleases Without Restraint And Without Compulsion.

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

Contentment Comes Not So Much From Great Wealth As From Few Wants.

All Human Beings Seek The Happy Life, But Many Confuse The Means - For Example, Wealth And Status - With That Life Itself. This Misguided Focus On The Means To A Good Life Makes People Get Further From The Happy Life. The Really Worthwhile Things Are The Virtuous Activities That Make Up The Happy Life, Not The External Means That May Seem To Produce It.

Do Nothing In A Depressed Mood, Nor As One Afflicted, Nor As Thinking That You Are In Misery, For No One Compels You To That.

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

When You Let Go Of Your Attention For A Little While, Do Not Think You May Recover It Whenever You Please.

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.

With Ills Unending Strives The Putter Off.

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.

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.

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.

It Is Not My Place In Society That Makes Me Well Off, But My Judgements, And These I Can Carry With Me... These Alone Are My Own And Cannot Be Taken Away.

Survey And Test A Prospective Action Before Undertaking It. Before You Proceed, Step Back And Look At The Big Picture, Lest You Act Rashly On Raw Impulse.

The Soul Is Unwillingly Deprived Of Truth.

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

Not Every Difficult And Dangerous Thing Is Suitable For Training, But Only That Which Is Conducive To Success In Achieving The Object Of Our Effort.

Be Not Swept Off Your Feet By The Vividness Of The Impression, But Say, "impression, Wait For Me A Little. Let Me See What You Are And What You Represent. Let Me Try You."

Nothing Great Is Produced Suddenly, Since Not Even The Grape Or The Fig Is. If You Say To Me Now That You Want A Fig, I Will Answer To You That It Requires Time: Let It Flower First, Then Put Forth Fruit, And Then Ripen.

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.

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.

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?

It Is The Nature Of The Wise To Resist Pleasures, But The Foolish To Be A Slave To Them.

He Who Is Not Happy With Little Will Never Be Happy With Much.

To The Rational Being Only The Irrational Is Unendurable, But The Rational Is Endurable.

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

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.

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

What Concerns Me Is Not The Way Things Are, But Rather The Way People Think Things Are.

The Appearance Of Things To The Mind Is The Standard Of Every Action To Man.

Envy Is The Antagonist Of The Fortunate.

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.

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

When You Want To Hear A Philosopher, Do Not Say, 'you Say Nothing To Me'; Only Show Yourself Worthy Or Fit To Hear, And Then You Will See How You Will Move The Speaker.

You Can Be Invincible, If You Enter Into No Contest In Which It Is Not In Your Power To Conquer.

Reason Is Not Measured By Size Or Height, But By Principle.

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.

In A Word, Neither Death, Nor Exile, Nor Pain, Nor Anything Of This Kind Is The Real Cause Of Our Doing Or Not Doing Any Action, But Our Inward Opinions And Principles.

The Origin Of Sorrow Is This: To Wish For Something That Does Not Come To Pass.

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.

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

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

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

Concerning The Gods, There Are Those Who Deny The Very Existence Of The Godhead; Others Say That It Exists, But Neither Bestirs Nor Concerns Itself Not Has Forethought Far Anything. A Third Party Attribute To It Existence And Forethought, But Only For Great And Heavenly Matters, Not For Anything That Is On Earth. A Fourth Party Admit Things On Earth As Well As In Heaven, But Only In General, And Not With Respect To Each Individual. A Fifth, Of Whom Were Ulysses And Socrates, Are Those That Cry: -- I Move Not Without Thy Knowledge!

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.

If You Want To Improve, Be Content To Be Thought Foolish And Stupid With Regard To External Things. Don't Wish To Be Thought To Know Anything; And Even If You Appear To Be Somebody Important To Others, Distrust Yourself. For, It Is Difficult To Both Keep Your Faculty Of Choice In A State Conformable To Nature, And At The Same Time Acquire External Things. But While You Are Careful About The One, You Must Of Necessity Neglect The Other

What Hurts This Person Is Not The Occurrence Itself, For Another Person Might Not Feel Oppressed By This Situation At All. What Is Hurting This Person Is The Response He Or She Has Uncritically Adopted. It Is Not A Demonstration Of Kindness Or Friendship To The People We Care About To Join Them In Indulging In Wrongheaded, Negative Feelings.

Do Not Seek To Bring Things To Pass In Accordance With Your Wishes, But Wish For Them As They Are, And You Will Find Them.

If I Was A Nightingale I Would Sing Like A Nightingale; If A Swan, Like A Swan. But Since I Am A Rational Creature My Role Is To Praise God.

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

Remember That You Are In Actor In A Play Of Such A Kind That The Author Chooses...for This Is Your Duty, To Act Well The Part That Is Given To You; But To Select The Part Belongs To Another.

Be Careful To Leave Your Sons Well Instructed Rather Than Rich, For The Hopes Of The Instructed Are Better Than The Wealth Of The Ignorant.

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.

Wealth Consists Not In Having Great Possessions, But In Having Few Wants.

I Must Die. I Must Be Imprisoned. I Must Suffer Exile. But Must I Die Groaning? Must I Whine As Well? Can Anyone Hinder Me From Going Into Exile With A Smile? The Master Threatens To Chain Me: What Say You? Chain Me? My Leg You Will Chain--yes, But Not My Will--no, Not Even Zeus Can Conquer That.

A Half-hearted Spirit Has No Power. Tentative Efforts Lead To Tentative Outcomes. Average People Enter Into Their Endeavors Headlong And Without Care.

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.

Crows Pick Out The Eyes Of The Dead, When The Dead Have No Longer Need Of Them; But Flatterers Mar The Soul Of The Living, And Her Eyes They Blind.

Freedom And Happiness Come From Understanding - And Working With - Our Limits. Begin At Once A Program Of Self-mastery. Stick With Your Purpose. Do Not Seek External Approval. Do Not Worry About Anything Outside Of Your Control. The Only Things You Command Are Your Thoughts And Actions. We Choose Our Response. Stop Aspiring To Be Anyone Other Than Your Own Best Self: For That Does Fall Within Your Control.

There Is Only One Thing For Which God Has Sent Me Into The World, And That Is To Develop Every Kind Of Virtue Or Strength, And There Is Nothing In All The World That I Cannot Use For This Purpose.

It Is Impossible To Begin To Learn That Which One Thinks One Already Knows.

If You Hear That Someone Is Speaking Ill Of You, Instead Of Trying To Defend Yourself You Should Say: 'he Obviously Does Not Know Me Very Well, Since There Are So Many Other Faults He Could Have Mentioned.'

I Must Die. Must I Then Die Lamenting? I Must Be Put In Chains. Must I Then Also Lament? I Must Go Into Exile. Does Any Man Then Hinder Me From Going With Smiles And Cheerfulness And Contentment?

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.

Suffering Arises From Trying To Control What Is Uncontrollable, Or From Neglecting What Is Within Our Power.

Act Your Part With Honor.

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.

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

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.

Asked, Who Is The Rich Man? Epictetus Replied, �he Who Is Content.

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

Follow Your Heart

Remember That You Are But An Actor, Acting Whatever Part The Master Has Ordained. It May Be Short Or It May Be Long. If He Wishes You To Represent A Poor Man, Do So Heartily; If A Cripple, Or A Magistrate, Or A Private Man, In Each Case Act Your Part With Honor.

Consider The Bigger Picture.....think Things Through And Fully Commit!

Do You Know That Disease And Death Must Needs Overtake Us, No Matter What We Are Doing?... What Do You Wish To Be Doing When It Overtakes You?... If You Have Anything Better To Be Doing When You Are So Overtaken, Get To Work On That.

Disease And Death

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

Men Are Disturbed Not By The Things That Happen, But By Their Opinion Of The Things That Happen.

I Have To Die. If It Is Now, Well Then I Die Now; If Later, Then Now I Will Take My Lunch, Since The Hour For Lunch Has Arrived - And Dying I Will Tend To Later.

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

If Evil Be Spoken Of You And It Be True, Correct Yourself, If It Be A Lie, Laugh At It.

Other People's Views And Troubles Can Be Contagious. Don't Sabotage Yourself By Unwittingly Adopting Negative, Unproductive Attitudes Through Your Associations With Others.

It's Not What Happens To You, But How You React To It That Matters.

Fortify Yourself With Contentment, For This Is An Impregnable Fortress.

It Is Not He Who Reviles Or Strikes You Who Insults You, But Your Opinion That These Things Are Insulting.

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

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

Anything Worth Putting Off Is Worth Abandoning Altogether.

Procrastination

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.

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

So You Wish To Conquer In The Olympic Games, My Friend? And I, Too... But First Mark The Conditions And The Consequences. You Will Have To Put Yourself Under Discipline; To Eat By Rule, To Avoid Cakes And Sweetmeats; To Take Exercise At The Appointed Hour Whether You Like It Or Not, In Cold And Heat; To Abstain From Cold Drinks And Wine At Your Will. Then, In The Conflict Itself You Are Likely Enough To Dislocate Your Wrist Or Twist Your Ankle, To Swallow A Great Deal Of Dust, To Be Severely Thrashed, And After All Of These Things, To Be Defeated.

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

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

Freedom And Slavery, The One Is The Name Of Virtue, And The Other Of Vice, And Both Are Acts Of The Will.

Pain Or Pleasure? I Say Pleasure.

It Is Better By Assenting To Truth To Conquer Opinion, Than By Assenting To Opinion To Be Conquered By Truth.

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.

Freedom And Happiness Are Won By Disregarding Things That Lie Beyond Our Control.

Freedom And Happiness

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

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?

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

Practice Yourself, For Heaven's Sake, In Little Things, And Thence Proceed To Greater.

The Wise Realize That Some Things Are Within Their Control, And Most Things Are Not. They Learn Early On To Distinguish Between What They Can And Can't Regulate.

First Say To Yourself What You Would Be; And Then Do What You Have To Do.

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.

Caretake This Moment. Immerse Yourself In Its Particulars. Respond To This Person, This Challenge, This Deed. Quit Evasions. Stop Giving Yourself Needless Trouble. It Is Time To Really Live; To Fully Inhabit The Situation You Happen To Be In Now.

We Need To Regularly Stop And Take Stock; To Sit Down And Determine Within Ourselves Which Things Are Worth Valuing And Which Things Are Not; Which Risks Are Worth The Cost And Which Are Not. Even The Most Confusing Or Hurtful Aspects Of Life Can Be Made More Tolerable By Clear Seeing And By Choice.

Do Not Give Sentence In Another Tribunal Till You Have Been Yourself Judged In The Tribunal Of Justice.

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

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

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

Fight Against Yourself, Recover Yourself To Decency, To Modesty, To Freedom. And, In The First Place, Condemn Your Actions; But When You Have Condemned Them, Do Not Despair Of Yourself. For Both Ruin And Recovery Are From Within.

No Man Is Free Who Is Not Master Of Himself.

Seek Not The Good In External Things;seek It In Yourselves.

If You Desire To Be Good, Begin By Believing That You Are Wicked.

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

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

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.

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

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

Wherever I Go It Will Be Well With Me, For It Was Well With Me Here, Not On Account Of The Place, But Of My Judgments Which I Shall Carry Away With Me, For No One Can Deprive Me Of These; On The Contrary, They Alone Are My Property, And Cannot Be Taken Away, And To Possess Them Suffices Me Wherever I Am Or Whatever I Do.

God Has Made All Men To Be Happy.

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

Nothing Truly Stops You. Nothing Truly Holds You Back. For Your Own Will Is Always Within Your Control. Sickness May Challenge Your Body. But Are You Merely Your Body? Lameness May Impede Your Legs. But You Are Not Merely Your Legs. Your Will Is Bigger Than Your Legs. Your Will Needn't Be Affected By An Incident Unless You Let It.

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

Watch Yourself As You Go About Your Daily Business And Later Reflect On What You Saw, Trying To Identify The Sources Of Distress In Your Life And Thinking About How To Avoid That Distress.

At This Time Is Freedom Anything But The Right To Live As We Wish? Nothing Else.

Events Do Not Just Happen, But Arrive By Appointment.

When Any Person Treats You Ill Or Speaks Ill Of You, Remember That He Does This Or Says This Because He Thinks It Is His Duty. It Is Not Possible, Then, For Him To Follow That Which Seems Right To You, But That Which Seems Right To Himself.

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?

Two Principles We Should Always Have Ready — That There Is Nothing Good Or Evil Save In The Will; And That We Are Not To Lead Events, But To Follow Them.

What Else Can I Do, A Lame Old Man, But Sing Hymns To God? If I Were A Nightingale, I Would Do The Nightingale's Part; If I Were A Swan, I Would Do As A Swan. But Now I Am A Rational Creature, And I Ought To Praise God. This Is My Work. I Do It, Nor Will I Desert My Post, So Long As I Am Allowed To Keep It. And I Ask You To Join Me In This Same Song.

We Are Not To Give Credit To The Many, Who Say That None Ought To Be Educated But The Free; But Rather To The Philosophers, Who Say That The Well-educated Alone Are Free.

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

If Someone Irritates You, It Is Only Your Own Response That Is Irritating You. Therefore, When Anyone Seems To Be Provoking You, Remember That It Is Only Your Judgment Of The Incident That Provokes You. -

I Am Not Eternity, But A Man; A Part Of The Whole, As An Hour Is Of The Day.

Confident Because Of Our Caution

The Best Place To Get Help Is From Yourself.

He Is Free Who Lives As He Wishes To Live; Who Is Neither Subject To Compulsion Nor To Hindrance, Nor To Force; Whose Movements To Action Are Not Impeded, Whose Desires Attain Their Purpose, And Who Does Not Fall Into That Which He Would Avoid.

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Mary Baker Eddy

Gerhard Schroder

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