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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.
-Marcus Aurelius
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Never Forget That The

Marcus Aurelius
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.
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Topic
Creating
Soul
Together
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The Rottenness Of The Matter Which Is The Foundation Of Everything!
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Philosophical
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Vivid Imagination
Understanding
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Plato
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Thinking
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An Angry Look On The Face Is Wholly Against Nature. If It Be Assumed Frequently, Beauty Begins To Perish, And In The End Is Quenched Beyond Rekindling.
Beauty
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Discard Everything Except These Few Truths: We Can Live Only In The Present Moment, In This Brief Now; All The Rest Of Our Life Is Dead And Buried Or Shrouded In Uncertainty. Short Is The Life We Lead, And Small Our Patch Of Earth.
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Moments
Everything We Hear Is An Opinion, Not A Fact. Everything We See Is A Perspective, Not The Truth.
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Greatness
Look Well Into Thyself; There Is A Source Of Strength Which Will Always Spring Up If Thou Wilt Always Look.
Strength
Spring
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I Am Called To Man's Labour; Why Then Do I Make A Difficulty If I Am Going Out To Do What I Was Born To Do And What I Was Brought Into The World For?
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Whatever The Universal Nature Assigns To Any Man At Any Time Is For The Good Of That Man At That Time.
Fate
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Find Joy In Simplicity, Self-respect, And Indifference To What Lies Between Virtue And Vice. Love The Human Race. Follow The Divine.
Lying
Race
Self
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.
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Hands
Feet
So You Know How Things Stand. Now Forget What They Think Of You. Be Satisfied If You Can Live The Rest Of Your Life, However Short, As Your Nature Demands. Focus On That, And Don't Let Anything Distract You. You've Wandered All Over And Finally Realized That You Never Found What You Were After: How To Live. Not In Syllogisms, Not In Money, Or Fame, Or Self-indulgence. Nowhere.
Thinking
Self
Focus
Remember That Very Little Is Needed To Make A Happy Life.
Inspirational
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Happiness
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.
Friendly
Connections
Way
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
Observe The Movements Of The Stars As If You Were Running Their Courses With Them, And Let Your Mind Constantly Dwell On The Changes Of The Elements Into Each Other. Such Imaginings Wash Away The Filth Of Life On The Ground.
Running
Stars
Mind
That Which Has Died Falls Not Out Of The Universe. If It Stays Here, It Also Changes Here, And Is Dissolved Into Its Proper Parts, Which Are Elements Of The Universe And Of Thyself. And These Too Change, And They Murmur Not".
Fall
Elements
Ifs
To Understand The True Quality Of People, You Must Look Into Their Minds, And Examine Their Pursuits And Aversions.
People
Understanding
Mind
Practice Really Hearing What People Say. Do Your Best To Get Inside Their Mind.
Practice
People
Mind
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
Remind Oneself Continually Of One Of Those Who Practiced Virtue In Days Gone By.
Days Gone By
Gone
Virtue
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?
Light
Justice
Shining
The Perfection Of Moral Character Consists In This, In Passing Every Day As The Last, And In Being Neither Violently Excited Nor Torpid Nor Playing The Hypocrite.
Character
Hypocrite
Perfection
The Best Way Of Avenging Thyself Is Not To Become Like The Wrong-doer.
Peace
Ubuntu
Justice
...the Infallible Man Does Not Exist.
Men
Doe
Infallible
Be Not Careless In Deeds, Nor Confused In Words, Nor Rambling In Thought.
Confused
Confusion
Confusing
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.
Reading
Writing
Able
So Much Worse Are The Consequences Of Anger Than Its Causes.
Causes
Consequence
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
Men
Sight
To Her Who Gives And Takes Back All, To Nature, The Man Who Is Instructed And Modest Says, Give What Thou Wilt; Take Back What Thou Wilt. And He Says This Not Proudly, But Obediently And Well Pleased With Her.
Men
Giving
Give And Take
Your Days Are Numbered. Use Them To Throw Open The Windows Of Your Soul To The Sun. If You Do Not, The Sun Will Soon Set, And You With It.
Soul
Use
Sun
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
The Best Revenge Is To Be Unlike Him Who Performed The Injury.
Inspirational
Revenge
Hatred
Dig Within. There Lies The Wellspring Of Good.
Wise
Lying
Wellspring
Our Anger And Annoyance Are More Detrimental To Us Than The Things Themselves Which Anger Or Annoy Us.
Forgiveness
Anger
Annoying
I Consist Of A Little Body And A Soul.
Soul
Body
Littles
Waste No More Time Talking About Great Souls And How They Should Be, Become One Yourself!
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Talking
Always Bear This In Mind, That Very Little Indeed Is Necessary For Living A Happy Life.
Happy Life
Mind
Littles
Each Thing Is Of Like Form From Everlasting And Comes Round Again In Its Cycle...
Philosophical
Form
Everlasting
Remember That All Is Opinion. For What Was Said By The Cynic Monimus Is Manifest: And Manifest Too Is The Use Of What Was Said, If A Man Receives What May Be Got Out Of It As Far As It Is True.
Men
Use
May
A Man Makes No Noise Over A Good Deed, But Passes On To Another As A Vine To Bear Grapes Again In Season.
Men
Vines
Deeds
Take Away The Complaint, 'i Have Been Harmed,' And The Harm Is Taken Away.
Taken
Complaining
Harm
Though You Break Your Heart, Men Will Go On As Before.
Wisdom
Encouragement
Lost Love
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.
Needs
Done
Benefits
The Healthy Eye Ought To See All Visible Things And Not To Say, I Wish For Green Things; For This Is The Condition Of A Diseased Eye.
Eye
Healthy
Wish
Let Every Action Aim Solely At The Common Good.
Action
Common
Aim
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
Depart Then Satisfied, For He Also Who Releases Thee Is Satisfied.
Release
Thee
Satisfied
A Man Should Always Have These Two Rules In Readiness. First, To Do Only What The Reason Of Your Ruling And Legislating Faculties Suggest For The Service Of Man. Second, To Change Your Opinion Whenever Anyone At Hand Sets You Right And Unsettles You In An Opinion, But This Change Of Opinion Should Come Only Because You Are Persuaded That Something Is Just Or To The Public Advantage, Not Because It Appears Pleasant Or Increases Your Reputation.
Men
Hands
Two
God Overrules All Mutinous Accidents, Brings Them Under His Laws Of Fate, And Makes Them All Serviceable To His Purpose.
Fate
Law
Purpose
The Man Who Doesn't Know What The Universe Is Doesn't Know Where He Lives.
Science
Men
He Man
Everything Is Interwoven, And The Web Is Holy; None Of Its Parts Are Unconnected. They Are Composed Harmoniously, And Together - They Compose The World.
Together
World
Holy
What We Cannot Bear Removes Us From Life; What Remains Can Be Borne.
Bears
Remains
Remove
The Things... Which Are Proper To The Understanding No Other Man Is Used To Impede, For Neither Fire, Nor Iron, Nor Tyrant, Nor Abuse, Touches It In Any Way. When It Has Been Made A Sphere, It Continues A Sphere.
Men
Fire
Tyrants
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.
Gratitude
Whole
Universe
Is Your Cucumber Bitter? Throw It Away. Are There Briars In Your Path? Turn Aside. That Is Enough. Do Not Go On And Ay, 'why Were Things Of This Sort Ever Brought Into The World?'
Goes On
World
Cucumbers
If Souls Continue To Exist, How Does The Air Contain Them From Eternity?
Air
Soul
Atheism
Try To Live The Life Of The Good Man Who Is More Than Content With What Is Allocated To Him.
Live Life
Men
Good Man
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
And Yet, After All, What Is Posthumous Fame? Altogether Vanity.
Vanity
Fame
Posthumous
A Lucky Chance Is Constant In Nothing But Inconstancy.
Luck
Chance
Constant
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
You Always Own The Option Of Having No Opinion. There Is Never Any Need To Get Worked Up Or To Trouble Your Soul About Things You Can't Control. These Things Are Not Asking To Be Judged By You. Leave Them Alone.
Soul
Needs
Asking
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.
Wisdom
Mean
Loss
Love Only What Befalls You And Is Spun For You By Fate.
Love
Fate
Spun
Put It Out Of The Power Of Truth To Give You An Ill Character. If Anybody Reports You Not To Be An Honest Man Let Your Practice Give Him The Lie.
Lying
Character
Men
Look To The Essence Of A Thing, Whether It Be A Point Of Doctrine, Of Practice, Or Of Interpretation.
Essence
Practice
Doctrine
Whoever Values Peace Of Mind And The Health Of The Soul Will Live The Best Of All Possible Lives.
Peace
Soul
Mind
To Live Each Day As Though One's Last, Never Flustered, Never Apathetic, Never Attitudinizing - Here Is The Perfection Of Character.
Life
Character
Perfection
Bear In Mind That The Measure Of A Man Is The Worth Of The Things He Cares About. If It Is Good To Say Or Do Something, Then It Is Even Better To Be Criticized For Having Said Or Done It.
Men
Mind
Done
Ifit Be A Thing External That Causes Thy Grief, Know, That It Is Not That Properly That Doth Cause It, But Thine Own Conceit And Opinion Concerning The Thing: Which Thou Mayest Rid Thyself Of, When Thou Wilt.
Grief
Causes
Opinion
No One Can Keep You From Living As Your Nature Requires. Nothings Can Happen To You That Is Not Required By Nature.
Happens
It Is Satisfaction To A Man To Do The Proper Works Of A Man.
Men
Satisfaction
A Little Time, And Thou Shalt Close Thy Eyes; And Him Who Has Attended Thee To Thy Grave, Another Soon Will Lament.
Eye
Littles
Graves
As For Others Whose Lives Are Not So Ordered, He Reminds Himself Constantly Of The Characters They Exhibit Daily And Nightly At Home And Abroad, And Of The Sort Of Society They Frequent; And The Approval Of Such Men, Who Do Not Even Stand Well In Their Own Eyes, Has No Value For Him.
Home
Character
Eye
If The Gods Care Not For Me And For My Children, There Is A Reason For It.
Children
Care
Reason
Am I Doing Anything? I Do It With Reference To The Good Of Mankind. Does Anything Happen To Me? I Receive It And Refer It To The Gods, And The Source Of All Things, From Which All That Happens Is Derived.
Doe
Source
Mankind
Take Care That You Entertain No Notions Unsuitable To Virtue And Reasonable Nature.
Happiness
Care
Virtue
Every Instant Of Time... Is A Pinprick Of Eternity.
Inspirational
Life
Positive
Remember: Matter: How Tiny Your Share Of It. Time: How Brief And Fleeting Your Allotment Of It. Fate: How Small A Role You Play In It.
Fate
Play
Matter
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
A Person's Life Is Dyed With The Color Of His Imagination.
Life
Color
Imagination
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
Take Me And Cast Me Where You Will; I Shall Still Be Possessor Of The Divinity Within Me, Serene And Content.
Divinity
Serene
Take Me
The Gods Sustain And Guide All Their Works.
Guides
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.
Generations
Fleeting
Duration
If Thou Canst See Sharp, Look And Judge Wisely, Says The Philosopher.
Judging
Looks
Philosopher
Happiness Is No Other Than Soundness And Perfection Of Mind.
Happiness
Perfection
Mind
People Find Pressure In Different Ways. I Find It In Keeping My Mind Clear. In Not Turning Away From People Or The Things That Happen To Them. In Accepting And Welcoming Everything I See. In Treating Each Thing As It Deserves.
People
Mind
Different
Everything Is Here For A Purpose, From Horses To Vine Shoots. What's Surprising About That? Even The Sun Will Tell You, "i Have A Purpose," And The Other Goods As Well.
Horse
Purpose
Vines
If It's Time For You To Go, Leave Willingly - As You Would To Accomplish Anything That Can Be Done With Grace And Honor.
Grace
Honor
Done
Understanding Quotes: Their Essence and Application

Quotes, or quotations, are powerful tools in communication, encapsulating ideas, emotions, and wisdom in concise expressions. They serve various purposes across different contexts, from academic writing to everyday conversation.

1. Defining Quotes

A quote is a repetition of someone else's statement or thoughts. It can be a direct replication of words spoken or written by another individual, often used to support arguments, provide evidence, or convey profound insights.


2. The Importance of Quotes

2.1. Enhancing Credibility

Incorporating quotes from authoritative sources can bolster the credibility of your work. By referencing experts or primary sources, you demonstrate thorough research and a solid foundation for your arguments.


2.2. Providing Evidence

Quotes serve as concrete evidence to support claims. In academic and professional writing, they validate points made, offering readers a basis to trust the information presented.


2.3. Conveying Emotions and Perspectives

Quotes can encapsulate emotions and perspectives succinctly. They allow writers to express complex feelings or viewpoints through the words of others, often more eloquently than paraphrasing.


3. Types of Quotes

3.1. Direct Quotes

Direct quotes involve copying the exact words from a source, enclosed in quotation marks. They are used when the original wording is significant or particularly well-expressed.


3.2. Indirect Quotes (Paraphrasing)

Indirect quotes restate the original message in your own words. While not enclosed in quotation marks, they still require proper attribution to the original source.


3.3. Block Quotes

Block quotes are lengthy direct quotations, formatted as a separate block of text. They are typically used for quotes exceeding a certain length, varying by citation style. For instance, in APA style, quotes longer than 40 words are formatted as block quotes.



4. Proper Usage of Quotes


4.1. Contextual Relevance

Ensure that the quote you choose is relevant to the topic and adds value to your content. Avoid inserting quotes solely for decorative purposes.


4.2. Integration into Your Writing

Seamlessly integrate quotes into your writing. Introduce them appropriately and follow up with analysis or commentary to connect them to your main points.


4.3. Attribution and Citation

Always attribute quotes to their original authors and provide proper citations according to the required style guide (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.).


5. Common Mistakes to Avoid


5.1. Overusing Quotes

Relying too heavily on quotes can overshadow your voice. Use them sparingly to support your arguments, not replace them.


5.2. Lack of Analysis

Presenting a quote without analysis or explanation can leave readers questioning its relevance. Always follow up with your interpretation or discussion.


5.3. Misquoting or Taking Out of Context

Ensure that quotes are accurate and not taken out of context, as this can mislead readers and undermine your credibility.



6. Quotes in Different Contexts


6.1. Academic Writing

In academic writing, quotes are used to support arguments, provide evidence, and engage with existing literature. Proper citation is crucial to avoid plagiarism.


6.2. Journalism

Journalists use quotes to provide firsthand accounts, add authenticity, and present multiple perspectives within a story.


6.3. Literature and Creative Writing

In literature, quotes can be used to convey character voices, themes, and stylistic elements. They enrich narratives and provide depth to storytelling.



7. Punctuation and Formatting


Understanding the correct punctuation and formatting of quotes is essential:


Quotation Marks: Always enclose direct quotes within quotation marks.


Punctuation Placement: In American English, periods and commas are placed inside quotation marks, while colons and semicolons are placed outside.


Block Quotes: For longer quotes, format them as block quotes without quotation marks, and indent the entire block.



8. Ethical Considerations


Ethical use of quotes involves accurate representation, proper attribution, and respect for intellectual property. Misuse can lead to plagiarism, which carries serious academic and professional consequences.

9. Tools for Managing Quotes


Utilize tools like citation generators and plagiarism checkers to manage quotes effectively. These tools help ensure proper formatting and originality in your writing.



Conclusion


Quotes are invaluable in enriching content, providing evidence, and conveying complex ideas succinctly. When used appropriately, they enhance the quality and credibility of your writing. Always ensure relevance, proper integration, and ethical usage to maximize their impact.


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