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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.
-Marcus Aurelius
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Neither In Writing Nor

Marcus Aurelius
...
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.

Understanding the Quote: "neither in writing nor in reading wilt thou be able to lay..."

This quote by Marcus Aurelius reflects deeply on the theme of reading. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Reading, Writing, Able, the quote offers insight, emotional clarity, and intellectual inspiration to readers worldwide.

Whether you’re a student exploring new ideas, a leader trying to motivate your team, or someone seeking direction in life — this quote provides value. It resonates because it’s more than words — it’s a bridge between experience and wisdom. It shows how Marcus Aurelius interprets life's core challenges and triumphs.

Lessons From the Quote

This quote teaches resilience and focus. It reminds readers that no matter where they stand in life, reflection and self-awareness lead to growth. Each word has meaning, and when studied, it becomes clear how impactful thoughtful language can be.

About Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius is celebrated for insightful thoughts on reading and writing. Their legacy lives on through writings that guide, comfort, and inspire. Discover more on their profile page.

Actionable Takeaways

  • Reflect on how this quote applies to your current life path.
  • Share the message with someone who needs inspiration.
  • Write your thoughts on this quote in a journal or blog post.
  • Use it as a daily affirmation or reminder.

Closing Thoughts

Quotes like this endure because they capture universal truths. They comfort us in solitude and empower us in groups. Carry this quote forward — live by its wisdom, share its message, and keep its essence alive.

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Topic
Reading
Writing
Able
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In Reading And Writing, You Cannot Lay Down Rules Until You Have Learnt To Obey Them. Much More So In Life.
Reading
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Just Consider, My Friend, Whether A Pure Spirit And Virtue Are Anything Other Than Saving Your Life And Being Saved. Perhaps We Need To Discard The Idea Of Longevity And Cease Loving This Life, Instead Committing These Things To God And, Believing That No One Ever Escapes Destiny, To Consider, With That In Mind, How We May Live The Best Possible Life In The Time That Remains.
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The Whole Universe Is Change And Life Itself Is But What You Deem It
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Praise Adds Nothing To Beauty--makes It Neither Better Nor Worse.
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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
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All Is As Thinking Makes It So
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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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I Search After Truth, By Which Man Never Yet Was Harmed.
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It Is Not The Body, Nor The Personality That Is The True Self. The True Self Is Eternal. Even On The Point Of Death We Can Say To Ourselves, "my True Self Is Free. I Cannot Be Contained."
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You Have Power Over Your Mind - Not Outside Events. Realize This, And You Will Find Strength.
Inspirational
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Remember That Man Lives Only In The Present, In This Fleeting Instant; All The Rest Of His Life Is Either Past And Gone, Or Not Yet Revealed.
Life
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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.
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No Form Of Nature Is Inferior To Art; For The Arts Merely Imitate Natural Forms.
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Give Yourself A Gift: The Present Moment.
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Every Moment Think Steadily As A Roman And A Man To Do What Thou Hast In Hand With Perfect And Simple Dignity, And Feeling Of Affection, And Freedom, And Justice; And To Give Thyself Relief From All Other Thoughts. And Thou Wilt Give Thyself Relief, If Thou Doest Every Act Of Thy Life As If It Were The Last, Laying Aside All Carelessness And Passionate Aversion From The Commands Of Reason, And All Hypocrisy, And Self-love, And Discontent With The Portion Which Has Been Given To Thee.
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Doth Perfect Beauty Stand In Need Of Praise At All? Nay; No More Than Law, No More Than Truth, No More Than Loving Kindness, Nor Than Modesty.
Beauty
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If You Are Pained By External Things, It Is Not They That Disturb You, But Your Own Judgement Of Them. And It Is In Your Power To Wipe Out That Judgement Now.
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Snow Endures But For A Season, And Joy Comes With The Morning.
Morning
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Thanks To The Gods I Didn't Spend Much Time While Growing Up With My Grandfather's Mistress And Preserved The Flower Of My Youth, Waiting For The Proper Time To Demonstrate My Virility.
Growing Up
Flower
Waiting
When You Have Been Compelled By Circumstances To Be Disturbed In Any Manner, Quickly Return To Yourself, And Do Not Continue Out Of Tune Longer Than The Compulsion Lasts. You Will Have Increasing Control Over Your Own Harmony By Continually Returning To It.
Over You
Lasts
Return
He That Dies In Extreme Old Age Will Be Reduced To The Same State With Him That Is Cut Down Untimely.
Cutting
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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.
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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.
Death
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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.
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The Opinion Of 10,000 Men Is Of No Value If None Of Them Know Anything About The Subject.
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War
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Remind Oneself Continually Of One Of Those Who Practiced Virtue In Days Gone By.
Days Gone By
Gone
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We Are Too Much Accustomed To Attribute To A Single Cause That Which Is The Product Of Several, And The Majority Of Our Controversies Come From That.
Umpires
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Stick To What's In Front Of You - Idea, Action, Utterance.
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Utterance
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A Man Should Remove Not Only Unnecessary Acts, But Also Unnecessary Thoughts, For Then Superfluous Activity Will Not Follow.
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Should
The Things You Think About Determine The Quality Of Your Mind. Your Soul Takes On The Color Of Your Thoughts.
Positive Thinking
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Observe And Contemplate On The Hidden Things Of Life: How A Man's Seed Is But The Beginning, It Takes Others To Bring It To Fruition. Think How Food Undergoes Such Changes To Produce Health And Strength. See The Power Of These Hidden Things Which, Like The Wind Cannot Been Seen, But Its Effects Can Be.
Men
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I'm Going To Be Meeting With People Today Who Talk Too Much - People Who Are Selfish, Egotistical, Ungrateful. But I Won't Be Surprised Or Disturbed, For I Can't Imagine A World Without Such People.
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Let Not Your Mind Run On What You Lack As Much As On What You Have Already.
Running
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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.
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Alexander The Great And His Mule Driver Both Died And The Same Thing Happened To Both.
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Everything That Exists Is In A Manner The Seed Of That Which Will Be.
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Whatever Any One Does Or Says, I Must Be Good; Just As If The Emerald Were Always Saying This: "whatever Any One Does Or Says, I Must Still Be Emerald, And Keep My Color.
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Be Satisfied With Your Business, And Learn To Love What You Were Bred To.
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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.
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Happens
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.
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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.
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Tomorrow Is Nothing, Today Is Too Late; The Good Lived Yesterday.
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Death Hangs Over Thee, While Thou Still Live, While Thou May, Do Good.
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He That Lives Alone Lives In Danger; Society Avoids Many Dangers.
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Give Full Attention And Devotion To Each Act.
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Understand However That Every Man Is Worth Just So Much As The Things Are Worth About Which He Busies Himself.
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Humans Have Come Into Being For The Sake Of Each Other, So Either Teach Them, Or Learn To Bear Them.
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Receive The Gifts Of Fortune Without Pride, And Part With Them Without Reluctance.
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The Soul Becomes Dyed With The Color Of Its Thoughts.
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My City And State Are Rome. But As A Human Being? The World. So For Me, "good" Can Only Mean What's Good For Both Communities.
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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!
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How Easy It Is To Repel And Release Every Impression Which Is Troublesome And Immediately To Be Tranquil.
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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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Men
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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.
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The Happiness Of Your Life Depends Upon The Quality Of Your Thoughts: Therefore, Guard Accordingly, And Take Care That You Entertain No Notions Unsuitable To Virtue And Reasonable Nature.
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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.
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The Best Revenge Is Not To Be Like Your Enemy.
Revenge
Enemy
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We Ought To Do Good To Others As Simply As A Horse Runs, Or A Bee Makes Honey, Or A Vine Bears Grapes Season After Season Without Thinking Of The Grapes It Has Borne.
Inspirational
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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?
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...the Infallible Man Does Not Exist.
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It Will Suffice Thee To Remember As Concerning Pain ... That The Mind May, By Stopping All Manner Of Commerce And Sympathy With The Body, Still Retain Its Own Tranquility.
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Look Within. Within Is The Fountain Of Good, And It Will Ever Bubble Up, If Thou Wilt Ever Dig.
Inspirational
Philosophical
Self Confidence
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?
Art
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The Whole Universe Is Change And Life Itself Is But What You Deem It - Either Gratefully Better Than Or Bitterly Worse Than Something Else That You Alone Choose.
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Whole
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It Is Not The Actions Of Others Which Trouble Us (for Those Actions Are Controlled By Their Governing Part), But Rather It Is Our Own Judgments. Therefore Remove Those Judgments And Resolve To Let Go Of Your Anger, And It Will Already Be Gone. How Do You Let Go? By Realizing That Such Actions Are Not Shameful To You.
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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.
Order
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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.
Pain
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Noble
What Is Not Good For The Swarm Is Not Good For The Bee.
Freedom
Bees And Honey
Honey Bee
Nothing Befalls A Man Except What Is In His Nature To Endure.
Adversity
Men
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Love The People With Whom Fate Brings You Together
Valentines Day
Fate
Destiny
Think Not Disdainfully Of Death, But Look On It With Favor; For Even Death Is One Of The Things That Nature Wills.
Death
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Thinking
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.
Reality
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All Things Are In The Act Of Change; Thou Thyself In Ceaseless Transformation And Partial Decay, And The Whole Universe With Thee.
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Only To The Rational Animal Is It Given To Follow Voluntarily What Happens; But Simply To Follow Is A Necessity Imposed On All.
Animal
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Nowhere Can Man Find A Quieter Or More Untroubled Retreat Than In His Own Soul.
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If Thou Canst See Sharp, Look And Judge Wisely, Says The Philosopher.
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The Secret Of All Victory Lies In The Organization Of The Non-obvious.
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Do Not Fear Death, But Welcome It, Since It Too Comes From Nature. For Just As We Are Young And Grow Old, And Flourish And Reach Maturity, Have Teeth And A Beard And Grey Hairs, Conceive, Become Pregnant, And Bring Forth New Life, And All The Other Natural Processes That Follow The Seasons Of Our Existence, So Also Do We Have Death. A Thoughtful Person Will Never Take Death Lightly, Impatiently, Or Scornfully, But Will Wait For It As One Of Life's Natural Processes.
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The Controlling Intelligence Understands Its Own Nature, And What It Does, And Whereon It Works.
Doe
Our Anger And Annoyance Are More Detrimental To Us Than The Things Themselves Which Anger Or Annoy Us.
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Annoying
Be Tolerant With Others And Strict With Yourself.
Tolerance
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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.
Love
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Life
All Things Fade And Quickly Turn To Myth.
Myth
Turns
All Things
Your Mind Will Be Like Its Habitual Thoughts; For The Soul Becomes Dyed With The Color Of Its Thoughts. Soak It Then In Such Trains Of Thoughts As, For Example: Where Life Is Possible At All, A Right Life Is Possible.
Life
Attitude
Positivity
For Nowhere Either With More Quiet Or More Freedom From Trouble Does A Man Retire Than Into His Own Soul, Particularly When He Has Within Him Such Thoughts That By Looking Into Them He Is Immediately In Perfect Tranquility; And I Affirm That Tranquility Is Nothing Else Than The Good Ordering Of The Mind.
Peace
Men
Perfect
The World Is A Living Being - One Nature, One Soul. Keep That In Mind.
Soul
Mind
World
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.
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Hate
Real
Live Not As Though There Were A Thousand Years Ahead Of You. Fate Is At Your Elbow; Make Yourself Good While Life And Power Are Still Yours.
Life
Kindness
Fate
Begin - To Begin Is Half The Work, Let Half Still Remain; Again Begin This, And Thou Wilt Have Finished.
Motivation
Work
Half
We Are Born For Cooperation
Cooperation
Born
To No Man Make Yourself A Boon Companion: Your Joy Will Be Less But Less Will Be Your Grief
Grief
Men
Joy
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.
Children
War
Holiday
Constantly Contemplate The Whole Of Time And The Whole Of Substance, And Consider That All Individual Things As To Substance Are A Grain Of A Fig, And As To Time The Turning Of A Gimlet .
Substance
Gimlets
Individual
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.
Past
Doe
Moments
Give Your Heart To The Trade You Have Learnt, And Draw Refreshment From It. Let The Rest Of Your Days Be Spent As One Who Has Whole-heartedly Committed His All To The Gods And Is Thenceforth No Man's Master Or Slave.
Heart
Men
Giving
Search Men's Governing Principles, And Consider The Wise, What They Shun And What They Cleave To.
Wise
Men
Principles
It's Silly To Try To Escape Other People's Faults. They Are Inescapable. Just Try To Escape Your Own.
Silly
People
Trying
...in The Ways Of Nature There Is No Evil To Be Found.
Evil
Way
Found
This Thou Must Always Bear In Mind, What Is The Nature Of The Whole.
Mind
Bears
Whole
Life Is Neither Good Or Evil, But Only A Place For Good And Evil.
Inspirational
Life
Philosophical
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.
Running
Men
Atheism
Pass Then Through This Little Space Of Time Conformably To Nature, And End Thy Journey In Content, Just As An Olive Falls Off When It Is Ripe, Blessing Nature Who Produced It, And Thanking The Tree On Which It Grew.
Fall
Blessing
Journey
To Live Each Day As Though One's Last, Never Flustered, Never Apathetic, Never Attitudinizing - Here Is The Perfection Of Character.
Life
Character
Perfection
Within Ten Days Thou Wilt Seem A God To Those To Whom Thou Art Now A Beast And An Ape, If Thou Wilt Return To Thy Principles And The Worship Of Reason.
Art
Atheism
Principles
The Universe Is Transformation: Life Is Opinion.
Opinion
Transformation
Life Is
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.
Men
Law
Fit
People Exist For One Another.
People
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.
Powerful
Acceptance
Men
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.
Art
Men
Errors
It Is A Shame For The Soul To Be First To Give Way In This Life, When Thy Body Does Not Give Way.
Giving
Soul
Doe
How Ridiculous Not To Flee From One's Own Wickedness, Which Is Possible, Yet Endeavor To Flee From Another's Which Is Not.
Self Improvement
Wickedness
Ridiculous
All Is Ephemeral - Fame And The Famous As Well.
Ephemeral
Reputation
Dignity
Vex Not Thy Spirit At The Course Of Things, They Heed Not Thy Vexations
Vex
Spirit
Courses
Look Well Into Thyself; There Is A Source Of Strength Which Will Always Spring Up If Thou Wilt Always Look.
Strength
Spring
Emotional
If Any Man Can Convince Me And Bring Home To Me That I Do Not Think Or Act Aright, Gladly Will I Change; For I Search After Truth, By Which Man Never Yet Was Harmed. But He Is Harmed Who Abideth On Still In His Deception And Ignorance.
Home
Ignorance
Dark
Everything Is In A State Of Metamorphosis. Thou Thyself Art In Everlasting Change And In Corruption To Correspond; So Is The Whole Universe.
Art
Metamorphosis
Corruption
Find Time Still To Be Learning Somewhat Good, And Give Up Being Desultory.
Giving Up
Giving
Stills
A Man Should Be Upright, Not Kept Upright.
Truth
Integrity
Military
Past And Future Have No Power Over You. Just The Present - And Even That Can Be Minimized.
Past
Over You
Can We Wonder That Men Perish And Are Forgotten, When Their Noblest And Most Enduring Works Decay? Death Comes Even To Monumental Structures, And Oblivion Rests On The Most Illustrious Names.
Death
Men
Names
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.
Adversity
Helping
Harmony
If Anyone Can Refute Me-show Me I'm Making A Mistake Or Looking At Things From The Wrong Perspective-i'l L Gladly Change. It's The Truth I'm After, And The Truth Never Harmed Anyone. What Harms Us Is To Persist In Self-deceit And Ignorance.
Mistake
Ignorance
Self
Dig Within. There Lies The Wellspring Of Good.
Wise
Lying
Wellspring
Nothing Happens To Any Man That He Is Not Formed By Nature To Bear.
Nature
Philosophical
Men
Every Soul, The Philosopher Says, Is Involuntarily Deprived Of Truth; Consequently In The Same Way It Is Deprived Of Justice And Temperance And Benevolence And Everything Of The Kind. It Is Most Necessary To Keep This In Mind, For Thus Thou Wilt Be More Gentle Towards All.
Justice
Soul
Mind
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.
Life
Men
Soul
Time Is A Kind Of River, An Irresistible Flood Sweeping Up Men And Events And Carrying Them Headlong, One After The Other, To The Great Sea Of Being.
Men
Sea
Rivers
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.
Past
Rivers
Mind
Are You Distracted By Outward Cares? Then Allow Yourself A Space Of Quiet Wherein You Can Add To Your Knowledge Of The Good And Learn To Curb Your Restlessness. Nowhere Can A Man Find A Quieter Or More Untroubled Retreat Than In His Own Soul. Avail Yourself Often, Then, Of This Retirement, And So Continually Renew Yourself.
Retirement
Space
Soul
Be Cheerful, Also, And Seek Not External Help, Nor The Peace Which Others Give. A Man Must Stand Straight, And Not Be Kept Straight By Others.
Men
Giving
Cheerful
It Is A Sin To Persue Pleasure As A Good And To Avoid Pain As A Evil.
Pain
Evil
Sin
Submit To The Fate Of Your Own Free Will.
Fate
Free Will
Submit
Neither In Thy Actions Be Sluggish Nor In Thy Conversation Without Method, Nor Wandering In Thy Thoughts, Nor Let There Be In Thy Soul Inward Contention Nor External Effusion, Nor In Life Be So Busy As To Have No Leisure.
Soul
Leisure
Inward
It Is A Shameful Thing For The Soul To Faint While The Body Still Perseveres.
Inspirational
Perseverance
Attitude
Leave The Wrong Done By Another Where The Wrong Arose.
Advice
Done
It Is Not Fit That I Should Give Myself Pain, For I Have Never Intentionally Given Pain Even To Another.
Pain
Giving
Fit
Every Man's Life Lies Within The Present; For The Past Is Spent And Done With, And The Future Is Uncertain.
Inspirational
Life
Motivational
Be Like The Cliff Against Which The Waves Continually Break; But It Stands Firm And Tames The Fury Of The Water Around It.
Inspirational
Water
Cliffs
If Souls Continue To Exist, How Does The Air Contain Them From Eternity?
Air
Soul
Atheism
The Offender Needs Pity, Not Wrath; Those Who Must Needs Be Corrected, Should Be Treated With Tact And Gentleness; And One Must Be Always Ready To Learn Better. 'the Best Kind Of Revenge Is, Not To Become Like Unto Them.'
Revenge
Wrath
Needs
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.
Lying
Law
Simplicity
Never Esteem Anything As Of Advantage To You That Will Make You Break Your Word Or Lose Your Self-respect.
Loyalty
Respect
Honesty
Death - A Stopping Of Impressions Through The Senses, And Of The Pulling Of The Cords Of Motion, And Of The Ways Of Thought, And Of Service To The Flesh.
Stopping
Flesh
Way
Happiness Is No Other Than Soundness And Perfection Of Mind.
Happiness
Perfection
Mind
Take Away Your Opinion, And Then There Is Taken Away The Complaint, 'i Have Been Harmed.' Take Away The Complaint, 'i Have Been Harmed,' And The Harm Is Taken Away.
Taken
Opinion
Harm
A Person's Life Is Dyed With The Color Of His Imagination.
Life
Color
Imagination
Love Only What Befalls You And Is Spun For You By Fate.
Love
Fate
Spun
When You Are Annoyed At Someone's Mistake, Immediately Look At Yourself And Reflect How You Also Fail; For Example, In Thinking That Good Equals Money, Or Pleasure, Or A Bit Of Fame. By Being Mindful Of This You'll Quickly Forget Your Anger, Especially If You Realize That The Person Was Under Stress, And Could Do Little Else. And, If You Can, Find A Way To Alleviate That Stress.
Mistake
Stress
Thinking
The Intelligence Of The Universe Is Social.
Social
Universe
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.
Principles
Doe
Tranquility
Above, Below, All Around Are The Movements Of The Elements. But The Motion Of Virtue Is In None Of These: It Is Something More Divine, And Advancing By A Way Hardly Observed It Goes Happily On Its Road.
Elements
Movement
Way
All That Is From The Gods Is Full Of Providence.
Providence
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.
Father
Love Life
Life Is Short
Frequently Consider The Connection Of All Things In The Universe. .. We Should Not Say 'i Am An Athenian' Or 'i Am A Roman' But 'i Am A Citizen Of The Universe.
Connections
Citizens
Ethics
How Many Together With Whom I Came Into The World Are Already Gone Out Of It.
Together
Gone
Already Gone
A Person's Worth Is Measured By The Worth Of What He Values.
Persons
Values
To Refrain From Imitation Is The Best Revenge.
Revenge
Imitation
Refrain
What Springs From Earth Dissolves To Earth Again, And Heaven-born Things Fly To Their Native Seat.
Spring
Heaven
Earth
It Is Right That Man Should Love Those Who Have Offended Him. He Will Do So When He Remembers That All Men Are His Relations, And That It Is Through Ignorance And Involuntarily That They Sin,--and Then We All Die So Soon.
Forgiveness
Ignorance
Men
The Cucumber Is Bitter? Then Throw It Out. There Are Brambles In The Path? Then Go Around. That's All You Need To Know.
Adversity
Needs
Cucumbers
In Death, Alexander Of Macedon's End Differed No Whit From His Stable-boy's. Either Both Were Received Into The Same Generative Principle Of The Universe, Or Both Alike Were Dispersed Into Atoms.
Boys
Principles
Atoms
Everything Is Mere Opinion.
Opinion
Mere
Either All Things Proceed From One Intelligent Source And Come Together As In One Body, And The Part Ought Not To Find Fault With What Is Done For The Benefit Of The Whole; Or There Are Only Atoms, And Nothing Else Than A Mixture And Dispersion. Why, Then, Art Thou Disturbed? Say To This Ruling Faculty, Art Thou Dead, Art Thou Corrupted, Art Thou Playing The Hypocrite, Art Thou Become A Beast, Dost Thou Herd And Feed With The Rest?
Art
Hypocrite
Intelligent
All That Is Harmony For You, My Universe, Is In Harmony With Me As Well. Nothing That Comes At The Right Time For You Is Too Early Or Too Late For Me. Everything Is Fruit To Me That Your Seasons Bring, Nature. All Things Come Of You, Have Their Being In You, And Return To You.
Inspirational
Life
Nature
I Consist Of A Little Body And A Soul.
Soul
Body
Littles
Why Should Anyone Be Afraid Of Change? What Can Take Place Without It? What Can Be More Pleasing Or More Suitable To Universal Nature? Can You Take Your Bath Without The Firewood Undergoing A Change? Can You Eat Without The Food Undergoing A Change? And Can Anything Useful Be Done Without Change? Don't You See That For You To Change Is Just The Same, And Is Equally Necessary For Universal Nature?
Change
Done
Baths
When You Are Offended At Anyone's Fault, Turn To Yourself And Study Your Own Failings. By Attending To Them, You Will Forget Your Anger And Learn To Live Wisely.
Faults
Study
Forget You
Take Away The Complaint, 'i Have Been Harmed,' And The Harm Is Taken Away.
Taken
Complaining
Harm
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.
Taken
Asking
Firsts
He Who Eats My Bread, Does My Will.
Hard Work
Bread
Doe
In The Case Of Most Pains Let This Remark Of Epicurus Aid Thee, That The Pain Is Neither Intolerable Nor Everlasting, If Thou Bear In Mind That It Has Its Limits, And If Thou Addest Nothing To It In Imagination.
Pain
Imagination
Mind
Despise Not Death, But Welcome It, For Nature Wills It Like All Else.
Death
Philosophical
Dying
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.
Encouragement
Thinking
People
If Any Man Has Done Wrong, The Harm Is His Own. But Perhaps He Has Not Done Wrong.
Men
Done
Harm
The Body Of An Actor Can Be Either His Best Friend Or His Worst Enemy.
Worst Enemy
Actors
Body
Let Goodness Go With The Doing.
Letting Go
Goodness
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.
Father
Luxury
Arrogance
All Those [events In History] Were Such Dramas As We See Now, Only With Different Actors.
Drama
Events
Different
Think Of What You Have Rather Than Of What You Lack. Of The Things You Have, Select The Best And Then Reflect How Eagerly You Would Have Sought Them If You Did Not Have Them.
Happiness
Thinking
Select
God Sees The Inner Spirit Stripped Of Flesh, Skin, And All Debris. For His Own Mind Only Touches The Spirit That He Has Allowed To Flow From Himself Into Our Bodies. And If You Can Act The Same Way, You Will Rid Yourself Of All Suffering. For Surely If You Are Not Preoccupied With The Body That Encloses You, You Will Not Trouble Yourself About Clothes, Houses, Fame, And Other Showy Trappings.
Clothes
House
Mind
At Day's First Light Have In Readiness, Against Disinclination To Leave Your Bed, The Thought That "i Am Rising For The Work Of Man."
Work
Men
Light
It Never Ceases To Amaze Me: We All Love Ourselves More Than Other People, But Care More About Their Opinions Than Our Own.
Love
People
Care
Be Not Unwilling In What Thou Doest, Neither Selfish Nor Unadvised Nor Obstinate; Let Not Over-refinement Deck Out Thy Thought; Be Not Wordy Nor A Busybody.
Selfish
Refinement
Busybodies
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.
Doe
Loses
Your Task Is To Stand Straight; Not To Be Held Straight.
Character
Tasks
Death, Like Birth, Is One Of Nature's Mysteries, The Combining Of Primal Elements And Dissolving Of The Same Into The Same.
Elements
Birth
Mystery
It Were Well To Die If There Be Gods, And Sad To Live If There Be None.
Death
If There Is A God
Wells
The Universe Is In Change, Life Is An Opinion.
Life
Change
Opinion
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.
Live Life
Past
Serenity
Look Beneath The Surface; Let Not The Several Quality Of A Thing Nor Its Worth Escape Thee.
Gratitude
Quality
Looks
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.
Judgement
Mind
Form
Misfortune Nobly Born Is Good Fortune.
Born
Fortune
Good Fortune
What Use Do I Put My Soul To? It Is A Serviceable Question This, And Should Frequently Be Put To Oneself. How Does My Ruling Part Stand Affected? And Whose Soul Have I Now? That Of A Child, Or A Young Man, Or A Feeble Woman, Or Of A Tyrant, Of Cattle Or Wild Beasts.
Children
Men
Tyrants
Whatever Anyone Does Or Says, I Must Be Emerald And Keep My Colour.
Meditation
Doe
Emeralds
Unhappy Am I Because This Has Happened To Me.- Not So, But Happy Am I, Though This Has Happened To Me, Because I Continue Free From Pain, Neither Crushed By The Present Nor Fearing The Future.
Pain
Unhappy
Crushed
Spend Your Brief Moment According To Nature's Law, And Serenely Greet The Journey's End As An Olive Falls When It Is Ripe, Blessing The Branch That Bare It, And Giving Thanks To The Tree That Gave It Life.
Life
Fall
Blessing
Remember This - That There Is A Proper Dignity And Proportion To Be Observed In The Performance Of Every Act Of Life.
Life
Character
Dignity
A Man's Happiness,-to Do The Things Proper To Man.
Happiness
Men
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.
Order
Years
Form
Outward Objects Cannot Take Hold Of The Soul, Nor Force Their Passage Into Her, Nor Set Any Of Her Wheels Going. No, The Impression Comes From Herself, And It Is Her Own Motions Which Affect Her. As For The Contingencies Of Fortune, They Are Either Great Or Little, According To The Opinion She Has Of Her Own Strength.
Soul
Littles
Wheels
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