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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.

-Marcus Aurelius

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Mark How Fleeting And

Marcus Aurelius

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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.

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The Wise Man Sees In The Misfortune Of Others What He Should Avoid.

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

That Which Had Grown From The Earth, To The Earth, But That Which Has Sprung From Heavenly Seed, Back To The Heavenly Realms Returns. This Is Either A Dissolution Of The Mutual Involution Of The Atoms, Or A Similar Dispersion Of The Unsentient Elements.

Just As The Sand-dunes, Heaped One Upon Another, Hide Each The First, So In Life The Former Deeds Are Quickly Hidden By Those That Follow After.

The Only Wealth Which You Will Keep Forever Is The Wealth You Have Given Away.

Keep Moving Forward

Let It Be Your Constant Method To Look Into The Design Of People's Actions, And See What They Would Be At, As Often As It Is Practicable; And To Make This Custom The More Significant, Practice It First Upon Yourself.

I Cannot Comprehend How Any Man Can Want Anything But The Truth.

When The Sovereign Spirit Within Us Is True To Nature, It Stands Poised And Ready To Adjust To Every Change In Circumstances And To Seize Each New Opportunity. It Doesn't Approach An Object With Prejudice Or Preconception, But Handles Each Thing Dispassionately Before Embracing It And, If Necessary, Finds Advantage In What Opposes It. It Is Like Fire In This Regard. Whereas A Feeble Flame Might Suffocate Under A Pile Of Dry Sticks, A Robust Fire Consumes Everything It Touches. The More Objects Of Any Kind Heaped On It, The Higher It Rises, The Hotter It Burns.

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.

Consider Thyself To Be Dead, And To Have Completed Thy Life Up To The Present Time; And Live According To Nature The Remainder Which Is Allowed Thee.

Be Not Careless In Deeds, Nor Confused In Words, Nor Rambling In Thought.

But If Anything In Thy Own Dispositiongives Thee Pain, Who Hinders Thee From Correcting Thy Opinion? And Even If Thou Art Pained Because Thou Art Not Doing Some Particular Thing Which Seems To Thee To Be Right, Why Dost Thou Not Rather Act Than Complain?- But Some Insuperable Obstacle Is In The Way?- Do Not Be Grieved Then, For The Cause Of Its Not Being Done Depends Not On Thee.- But It Is Not Worth While To Live If This Cannot Be Done.- Take Thy Departure Then From Life Contentedly, Just As He Dies Who Is In Full Activity, And Well Pleased Too With The Things Which Are Obstacles.

One Whose Chief Regard Is For His Own Mind, And For The Divinity Within Him And The Service Of Its Goodness, Will Strike No Poses, Utter No Complaints, And Crave Neither For Solitude Nor Yet For A Crowd. Best Of All, His Life Will Be Free From Continual Pursuing And Avoiding.

Remember That Very Little Is Needed To Make A Happy Life.

How Barbarous, To Deny Men The Privilege Of Pursuing What They Imagine To Be Their Proper Concerns And Interests! Yet, In A Sense, This Is Just What You Are Doing When You Allow Your Indignation To Rise At Their Wrongdoing; For After All, They Are Only Following Their Own Apparent Concerns And Interests. You Say They Are Mistaken? Why Then, Tell Them So, And Explain It To Them, Instead Of Being Indignant.

Nothing Is Evil Which Is According To Nature.

My True Self Is Free. I Cannot Be Contained.

Let Your One Delight And Refreshment Be To Pass From One Service To The Community To Another, With God Ever In Mind.

He Who Fears Death Either Fears To Lose All Sensation Or Fears New Sensations. In Reality, You Will Either Feel Nothing At All, And Therefore Nothing Evil, Or Else, If You Can Feel Any Sensations, You Will Be A New Creature, And So Will Not Have Ceased To Have Life.

From Alexander The Platonic, Not Frequently Nor Without Necessity To Say To Any One, Or To Write In A Letter, That I Have No Leisure; Nor Continually To Excuse The Neglect Of Duties Required By Our Relation To Those With Whom We Live, By Alleging Urgent Occupations.

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.

In The Same Degree In Which A Man's Mind Is Nearer To Freedom From All Passion, In The Same Degree Also Is It Nearer To Strength.

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

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

Never Forget That The Universe Is A Single Living Organism Possessed Of One Substance And One Soul, Holding All Things Suspended In A Single Consciousness And Creating All Things With A Single Purpose That They Might Work Together Spinning And Weaving And Knotting Whatever Comes To Pass.

He That Lives Alone Lives In Danger; Society Avoids Many Dangers.

Yet Living And Dying, Honour And Dishonour, Pain And Pleasure, Riches And Poverty, And So Forth Are Equally The Lot Of Good Men And Bad. Things Like These Neither Elevate Nor Degrade; And Therefore They Are No More Good Than They Are Evil.

What We Do In Life Ripples In Eternity.

The Lot Assigned To Every Man Is Suited To Him, And Suits Him To Itself.

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.

If It Is Not Right Do Not Do It; If It Is Not True Do Not Say It.

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.

Falling In Love

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.

Whatever May Happen To You Was Prepared For You From All Eternity; And The Implication Of Causes Was From Eternity Spinning The Thread Of Your Being.

The Impediment To Action Advances Action. What Stands In The Way Becomes The Way.

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.

Consider Frequently The Connection Of All Things In The Universe And Their Relation To One Another. For Things Are Somehow Implicated With One Another, And All In A Way Friendly To One Another.

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

No Longer Let Thy Breathing Only Act In Concert With The Air Which Surrounds Thee, But Let Thy Intelligence Also Now Be In Harmony With The Intelligence Which Embraces All Things. For The Intelligent Power Is No Less Diffused In All Parts And Pervades All Things For Him Who Is Willing To Draw It To Him Than The Aërial Power For Him Who Is Able To Respire It.

That Which Is Not Good For The Bee-hive Cannot Be Good For The Bees.

The Best Revenge Is Not To Be Like Your Enemy.

Remember That What Pulls The Strings Is The Force Hidden Within; There Lies The Power To Persuade, There The Life, - There, If One Must Speak Out, The Real Man.

Think Of Yourself As Dead. You Have Lived Your Life. Now, Take What's Left And Live It Properly. What Doesn't Transmit Light Creates Its Own Darkness.

Look Well Into Thyself; There Is A Source Of Strength Which Will Always Spring Up If Thou Wilt Always Look.

Most Of What We Say And Do Is Not Essential. If You Can Eliminate It, You'll Have More Time, And More Tranquillity. Ask Yourself At Every Moment, 'is This Necessary?'

If This Is Neither My Own Badness, Nor An Effect Of My Own Badness, And The Common Weal Is Not Injured, Why Am I Troubled About It? And What Is The Harm To The Common Weal?

Our Wills Are Ours, To Make Them Thine.

All That Is Not Eternal Is Eternally Out Of Date. C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves Life Is Short. Eternity Is Long. Bentley Little, His Father's Son What We Do Now Echoes In Eternity.

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.

As Thou Thyself Art A Component Part Of A Social System, So Let Every Act Of Thine Be A Component Part Of Social Life. Whatever Act Of Thine That Has No Reference, Either Immediately Or Remotely, To A Social End, This Tears Asunder Thy Life, And Does Not Allow It To Be One, And It Is Of The Nature Of A Mutiny, Just As When In A Popular Assembly A Man Acting By Himself Stands Apart From The General Agreement.

You Are Making An Inopportune Rejection Of What Nature Has Given You Today, If All Your Mind Is Set On What Men Will Say Of You Tomorrow.

Constantly Regard The Universe As One Living Being, Having One Substance And One Soul; And Observe How All Things Have Reference To One Perception, The Perception Of This One Living Being; And How All Things Act With One Movement; And How All Things Are The Cooperating Causes Of All Things Which Exist; Observe Too The Continuous Spinning Of The Thread And The Contexture Of The Web.

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.

The Whole Universe Is Change And Life Itself Is But What You Deem It

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

Consider, For Example, And You Will Find That Almost All The Transactions In The Time Of Vespasian Differed Little From Those Of The Present Day. You There Find Marrying And Giving In Marriage, Educating Children, Sickness, Death, War, Joyous Holidays, Traffic, Agriculture, Flatterers, Insolent Pride, Suspicions, Laying Of Plots, Longing For The Death Of Others, Newsmongers, Lovers, Misers, Men Canvassing Far The Consulship And For The Kingdom; Yet All These Passed Away, And Are Nowhere.

The Controlling Intelligence Understands Its Own Nature, And What It Does, And Whereon It Works.

The One Thing Worth Living For Is To Keep One's Soul Pure.

Truth And Ceremony Are Two Things.

Remember How Often You Have Postponed Minding Your Interest, And Let Slip Those Opportunities The Gods Have Given You. It Is Now High Time To Consider What Sort Of World You Are Part Of, And From What Kind Of Governor Of It You Are Descended; That You Have A Set Period Assigned You To Act In, And Unless You Improve It To Brighten And Compose Your Thoughts, It Will Quickly Run Off With You, And Be Lost Beyond Recovery.

...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.

Limit Time To The Present. Meditate Upon Your Last Hour.

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

Look Within, For Within Is The Wellspring Of Virtue, Which Will Not Cease Flowing, If You Cease Not From Digging.

Self Improvement

Misfortune Nobly Born Is Good Fortune.

The Man Who Has A House Everywhere Has A Home Nowhere

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

To The Wise, Life Is A Problem; To The Fool, A Solution.

Adorn Thyself With Simplicity And With Indifference Towards The Things Which Lie Between Virtue And Vice. Love Mankind. Follow God. The Poet Says That Law Rules All. And It Is Enough To Remember That Law Rules All.

A Man Must Stand Erect, Not Be Kept Erect By Others.

When You Arise In The Morning, Think Of What A Precious Privilege It Is To Be Alive - To Breathe, To Think, To Enjoy, To Love ... Then Make That Day Count!

All Those Things At Which Thou Wishest To Arrive By A Circuitous Road, Thou Canst Have Now, If Thou Dost Not Refuse Them To Thyself.

It Never Ceases To Amaze Me: We All Love Ourselves More Than Other People, But Care More About Their Opinions Than Our Own.

Each Thing Is Of Like Form From Everlasting And Comes Round Again In Its Cycle...

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.

Everything Is But What We Think It.

There Is Change In All Things. You Yourself Are Subject To Continual Change And Some Decay, And This Is Common To The Entire Universe.

The Whole Contains Nothing Which Is Not Or Its Advantage; And All Natures Indeed Have This Common Principle, But The Nature Of The Universe Has This Principle Besides, That It Cannot Be Compelled Even By Any External Cause To Generate Anything Harmful To Itself.

Let No Act Be Done Without Purpose.

Be Content With What You Are, And Wish Not Change; Nor Dread Your Last Day, Nor Long For It.

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

The Rottenness Of The Matter Which Is The Foundation Of Everything!

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.

The Cucumber Is Bitter? Then Throw It Out. There Are Brambles In The Path? Then Go Around. That's All You Need To Know.

The Intelligence Of The Universe Is Social.

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

It Is The Duty Of Men To Love Even Those Who Injure Them.

When Thou Art Offended At Any Man's Fault, Forthwith Turn To Thyself And Reflect In What Manner Thou Doest Error Thyself. For By Attending To This Thou Wilt Quickly Forget Thy Anger, If This Consideration Is Also Added, That The Man Is Compelled; For What Else Could He Do? Or, If Thou Art Able, Take Away From Him The Compulsion.

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

No One Wearies Of Benefits Received.

Humans Have Come Into Being For The Sake Of Each Other, So Either Teach Them, Or Learn To Bear Them.

Everything - A Horse, A Vine - Is Created For Some Duty... For What Task, Then, Were You Yourself Created?

Think Not So Much Of What Thou Hast Not As Of What Thou Hast: But Of The Things Which Thou Hast, Select The Best, And Then Reflect How Eagerly They Would Have Been Sought, If Thou Hadst Them Not. At The Same Time, However, Take Care That Thou Dost Not, Through Being So Pleased With Them, Accustom Thyself To Overvalue Them, So As To Be Disturbed If Ever Thou Shouldst Not Have Them.

Thou Art A Little Soul Bearing About A Corpse.

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.

The Memory Of Everything Is Very Soon Overwhelmed In Time.

The Stone That Is Thrown Into The Air Is None The Worse For Falling Down, And None The Better For Going Up.

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.

Reason And The Reasoning Faculty Need No Foreign Assistance, But Are Sufficient For Their Own Purposes. They Move Within Themselves, And Make Directly For The Point In View. Wherefore, Acts In Accordance With Them Are Called Right Acts, For They Lead Along The Right Road.

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 World Is A Living Being - One Nature, One Soul. Keep That In Mind.

Man Is Born For Deeds Of Kindness.

It's Normal To Feel Pain In Your Hands And Feet, If You're Using Your Feet As Feet And Your Hands As Hands. And For A Human Being To Feel Stress Is Normal - If He's Living A Normal Life. And If It's Normal, How Can It Be Bad?

A Rational Nature Admits Of Nothing But What Is Serviceable To The Rest Of Mankind.

Today I Escaped All Circumstance, Or Rather I Cast Out All Circumstance, For It Was Not Outside Me, But Within My Judgements.

Give Yourself A Gift: The Present Moment.

When Forced, As It Seems, By Your Environment To Be Utterly Disquieted, Return With All Speed Into Your Self, Staying In Discord No Longer Than You Must. By Constant Recurrence To The Harmony, You Will Gain More Command Over It.

And In The Case Of Superior Things Like Stars, We Discover A Kind Of Unity In Separation. The Higher We Rise On The Scale Of Being, The Easier It Is To Discern A Connection Even Among Things Separated By Vast Distances.

Do Not Waste What Remains Of Your Life In Speculating About Your Neighbors, Unless With A View To Some Mutual Benefit. To Wonder What So-and-so Is Doing And Why, Or What He Is Saying, Or Thinking, Or Scheming -- In A Word, Anything That Distracts You From Fidelity To The Ruler Within You -- Means A Loss Of Opportunity For Some Other Task.

Everything Harmonizes With Me, Which Is Harmonious To Thee, O Universe. Nothing For Me Is Too Early Or Too Late, Which Is In Due Time For Thee.

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.

When You Are Offended At Anyone's Fault, Turn To Yourself And Study Your Own Failings. By Attending To Them, You Will Forget Your Anger And Learn To Live Wisely.

Be Not Disgusted, Nor Discouraged, Nor Dissatisfied, If Thou Dost Not Succeed In Doing Everything According To Right Principles; But When Thou Bast Failed, Return Back Again, And Be Content If The Greater Part Of What Thou Doest Is Consistent With Man's Nature, And Love This To Which Thou Returnest

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.

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.

When Men Are Inhuman, Take Care Not To Feel Towards Them As They Do Towards Other Humans.

A Man Is A Little Soul Carrying Around A Courpse.

Our Anger And Annoyance Are More Detrimental To Us Than The Things Themselves Which Anger Or Annoy Us.

Though You Break Your Heart, Men Will Go On As Before.

Think Of The Country Mouse And Of The Town Mouse, And Of The Alarm And Trepidation Of The Town Mouse.

Frightened Of Change? But What Can Exist Without It? What's Closer To Nature's Heart? Can You Take A Hot Bath And Leave The Firewood As It Was? Eat Food Without Transforming It? Can Any Vital Process Take Place Without Something Being Changed? Can't You See? It's Just The Same With You - And Just As Vital To Nature.

My Being Consists Of Matter And Form, That Is, Of Soul And Body; Annihilation Will Reach Neither Of Them, For They Were Never Produced Out Of Nothing. The Consequence Is, That Every Part Of Me Will Serve To Make Something In The World; And This Again Will Change Into Another Part Through An Infinite Succession Of Change. This Constant Method Of Alteration Gave Me My Being, And My Father Before Me, And So On To Eternity Backward: For I Think I May Speak Thus, Even Though The World Be Confined Within Certain Determinate Periods.

Severally On The Occasion Of Everything That Thou Doest, Pause And Ask Thyself, If Death Is A Dreadful Thing Because It Deprives Thee Of This.

The Soul Becomes Dyed With The Color Of Its Thoughts.

And Thou Wilt Give Thyself Relief, If Thou Doest Every Act Of Thy Life As If It Were The Last.

Look Beneath The Surface; Let Not The Several Quality Of A Thing Nor Its Worth Escape Thee.

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

Continuously Thou Wilt Look At Human Things As Smoke And Nothing At All; Especially If Thou Reflectest At The Same Time, That What Has Once Changed Will Never Exist Again In The Infinite Duration Of Time. But Thou, In What A Brief Space Of Time Is Thy Existence? And Why Art Thou Not Content To Pass Through This Short Time In An Orderly Way?

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

As For Literature, Thefts Cannot Harm It, While The Lapse Of Ages Augments Its Value

It's Silly To Try To Escape Other People's Faults. They Are Inescapable. Just Try To Escape Your Own.

Welcome Every Experience The Looms Of Fate May Weave For You.

Give Full Attention And Devotion To Each Act.

Remind Oneself Continually Of One Of Those Who Practiced Virtue In Days Gone By.

Does A Man Shrink From Change? Why, What Can Come Into Being Save By Change?

He Would Be The Finer Gentleman That Should Leave The World Without Having Tasted Of Lying Or Pretence Of Any Sort, Or Of Wantonness Or Conceit.

Enter Others' Minds And Let Them Enter Yours.

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

In The Morning, When You Are Sluggish About Getting Up, Let This Thought Be Present: 'i Am Rising To A Man's Work.'

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.

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.

How Many After Being Celebrated By Fame Have Been Given Up To Oblivion; And How Many Who Have Celebrated The Fame Of Others Have Long Been Dead.

Once You Have Done A Man A Service, What More Reward Would You Have? Is It Not Enough To Have Obeyed The Laws Of Your Own Nature, Without Expecting To Be Paid For It?

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.

When You Need Encouragement, Think Of The Qualities The People Around You Have: This One's Energy, That One's Modesty, Another's Generosity, And So On. Nothing Is As Encouraging As When Virtues Are Visibly Embodied In The People Around Us, When We're Practically Showered With Them. It's Good To Keep This In Mind.

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.

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

...the Infallible Man Does Not Exist.

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

This Thou Must Always Bear In Mind, What Is The Nature Of The Whole, And What Is My Nature, And How This Is Related To That, And What Kind Of A Part It Is Of What Kind Of A Whole; And That There Is No One Who Hinders Thee From Always Doing And Saying The Things Which Are According To The Nature Of Which Thou Art A Part.

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.

Even The Stoics Agree That Certainty Is Very Hard To Come At; That Our Assent Is Worth Little, For Where Is Infallibility To Be Found?

Everything Is Born From Change. ...there Is Nothing Nature Loves More That To Alter What Exists And Make New Things Like It. All That Exists Is The Seed Of What Will Emerge From It. You Think The Only Seeds Are The One That Make Plants And Children? Go Deeper.

Stick To What's In Front Of You - Idea, Action, Utterance.

The Universe Is Transformation: Life Is Opinion.

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.

Everything Is Mere Opinion.

One Universe Made Up All That Is; And One God In It All, And One Principle Of Being, And One Law, The Reason Shared By All Thinking Creatures, And One Truth.

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

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

The Art Of Living Is More Like Wrestling Than Dancing.

Your Mind Will Be Like Its Habitual Thoughts; For The Soul Becomes Dyed With The Color Of Its Thoughts. Soak It Then In Such Trains Of Thoughts As, For Example: Where Life Is Possible At All, A Right Life Is Possible.

Your Task Is To Stand Straight; Not To Be Held Straight.

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

Withdraw To The Untroubled Quietude Deep Within The Soul, And Refresh Yourself.

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.

It Is Not Death That A Man Should Fear, But He Should Fear Never Beginning To Live.

Do Not Act As If You Had A Thousand Years To Live.

Procrastination

It Is A Disgrace To Let Ignorance And Vanity Do More With Us Than Prudence And Principle.

If Unwilling To Rise In The Morning, Say To Thyself, 'i Awake To Do The Work Of A Man.'

Don't Let Your Imagination To Be Crushed By Life As A Whole. Don't Try To Pictures Everything Bad That Could Possibly Happen. Stick With The Situation At Hand. ...then Remind Yourself That Past And Present Have No Power Over You. Only The Present.

Life Is A Stranger's Sojourn, A Night At An Inn.

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

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

It Is Within Our Power Not To Make A Judgement About Something, And So Not Disturb Our Minds; For Nothing In Itself Possesses The Power To Form Our Judgements.

This Is Moral Perfection: To Live Each Day As Though It Were The Last; To Be Tranquil, Sincere, Yet Not Indifferent To One's Fate.

He Does Not Write At All Whose Poems No Man Reads

Always Bear This In Mind, That Very Little Indeed Is Necessary For Living A Happy Life.

Does The Light Of The Lamp Shine Without Losing Its Splendour Until It Is Extinguished; And Shall The Truth Which Is In Thee And Justice And Temperance Be Extinguished Before Thy Death?

Remember That Neither The Future Nor The Past Pains Thee, But Only The Present. But This Is Reduced To A Very Little, If Thou Only Circumscribest It, And Chidest Thy Mind, If It Is Unable To Hold Out Against Even This.

If Any Man Should Conceive Certain Things As Being Really Good, Such As Prudence, Temperance, Justice, Fortitude, He Would Not After Having First Conceived These Endure To Listen To Anything Which Should Not Be In Harmony With What Is Really Good.

All Things Are The Same, Familiar In Enterprise, Momentary In Endurance, Coarse In Substance. All Things Now Are As They Were In The Day Of Those Whom We Have Buried.

If You Do Everything As If It Were The Last Thing You Were Doing In Your Life, And Stop Being Aimless, Stop Letting Your Emotions Override What Your Mind Tells You, Stop Being Hypocritical, Self-centered, Irritable.

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.

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?

The Secret Of All Victory Lies In The Organization Of The Non-obvious.

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.

Be Satisfied With Your Business, And Learn To Love What You Were Bred To.

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

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.

Men Seek Out Retreats For Themselves In The Country, By The Seaside, On The Moutains . . . But All This Is Unphilosophical To The Last Degree . . . When Thou Canst At A Moment's Notice Retire Into Thyself.

It Is A Shameful Thing For The Soul To Faint While The Body Still Perseveres.

Suppose That Men Kill Thee, Cut Thee In Pieces, Curse Thee, What Can These Things Do To Prevent Thy Mind From Remaining Pure, Wise, Sober, Just?

Keep Reminding Yourself Of The Way Things Are Connected, Of Great Relatedness. All Things Are Implicated In One Another And In Sympathy With Each Other. This Event Is The Consequence Of Some Other One. Things Push And Pull On Each Other, And Breathe Together, And Are One.

Both Happiness And Unhappiness Depend On Perception

Because A Thing Seems Difficult For You, Do Not Think It Impossible For Anyone To Accomplish.

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.

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.

Happiness Is No Other Than Soundness And Perfection Of Mind.

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.

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Alberto Giacometti

Anne Rivers Siddons

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