Background Image
...
No Form Of Nature Is Inferior To Art; For The Arts Merely Imitate Natural Forms.
-Marcus Aurelius
...
Please Wait....
Translating....

No Form Of Nature

Marcus Aurelius
...
No Form Of Nature Is Inferior To Art; For The Arts Merely Imitate Natural Forms.

Understanding the Quote: "no form of nature is inferior to art; for the arts merely..."

This quote by Marcus Aurelius reflects deeply on the theme of art. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Art, Nature, Natural, 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 art and nature. 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.

Views: 66614
Topic
Art
Nature
Natural
More From Marcus Aurelius
You Should Banish Any Thoughts Of How You May Appear To Others.
May
Should
Let Goodness Go With The Doing.
Letting Go
Goodness
If You Are Distressed By Something, It Is Due To Your Own Estimate Of It; And You Have The Power To Change It At Will.
Power To Change
Dues
Ifs
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.
Past
Hands
Imagination
What Does Not Benefit The Hive Is No Benefit To The Bee.
Doe
Benefits
Bees
The Ruling Power Within, When It Is In Its Natural State, Is So Related To Outer Circumstances That It Easily Changes To Accord With What Can Be Done And What Is Given It To Do.
Done
Natural
States
The Cucumber Is Bitter? Then Throw It Out. There Are Brambles In The Path? Then Go Around Them. That's All You Need To Know. Nothing More. Don't Demand To Know "why Such Things Exist." Anyone Who Understands The World Will Laugh At You, Just As A Carpenter Would If You Seemed Shocked At Finding Sawdust In His Workshop, Or A Shoemaker At Scraps Of Leather Left Over From Work.
Laughing
Demand
Cucumbers
Death, Like Birth, Is A Secret Of Nature.
Death
Philosophical
Secret
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.
Self
Mind
Lasts
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
The Whole Universe Is Change And Life Itself Is But What You Deem It
Change
Spiritual
Whole
All Is As Thinking Makes It So
Thinking
Submit To The Fate Of Your Own Free Will.
Fate
Free Will
Submit
How Much Time He Saves Who Does Not Look To See What His Neighbor Says Or Does Or Thinks.
Philosophy
Philosophical
Reality
Anger Cannot Be Dishonest.
Philosophical
Historical
The Things You Think About Determine The Quality Of Your Mind. Your Soul Takes On The Color Of Your Thoughts.
Positive Thinking
Color
Soul
The Man Who Has A House Everywhere Has A Home Nowhere
Home
Men
House
Give Full Attention And Devotion To Each Act.
Giving
Advice
Attention
If I And My Two Children Cannot Move The Gods, The Gods Must Have Their Reasons.
Children
Moving
Two
Were You To Live Three Thousand Years, Or Even Thirty Thousand, Remember That The Sole Life Which A Man Can Lose Is That Which He Is Living At The Moment; And Furthermore, That He Can Have No Other Life Except The One He Loses.
Life
Men
Years
The Secret Of All Victory Lies In The Organization Of The Non-obvious.
Success
Lying
Military
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.
Practice
People
Design
Welcome Every Experience The Looms Of Fate May Weave For You.
Fate
May
Welcome
Find Time Still To Be Learning Somewhat Good, And Give Up Being Desultory.
Giving Up
Giving
Stills
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.
Ignorance
Ill Will
Evil
As The Same Fire Assumes Different Shapes When It Consumes Objects Differing In Shape, So Does The One Self Take The Shape Of Every Creature In Whom He Is Present.
Fire
Self
Doe
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
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.
Thee
Present Time
Thyself
Consider That Everything Is Opinion, And Opinion Is In Thy Power.
Opinion
In The Morning When Thou Risest Unwillingly, Let This Thought Be Present - I Am Rising To The Work Of A Human Being. Why Then Am I Dissatisfied If I Am Going To Do The Things For Which I Exist And For Which I Was Brought Into The World?
Morning
Rising
World
Is Your Cucumber Bitter? Throw It Away. Are There Briars In Your Path? Turn Aside. That Is Enough. Do Not Go On And Say, "why Were Things Of This Sort Ever Brought Into This World?" Neither Intolerable Nor Everlasting - If Thou Bearest In Mind That It Has Its Limits, And If Thou Addest Nothing To It In Imagination. Pain Is Either An Evil To The Body (then Let The Body Say What It Thinks Of It!)-or To The Soul. But It Is In The Power Of The Soul To Maintain Its Own Serenity And Tranquility. . . .
Pain
Attitude
Thinking
You Exist But As A Part Inherent In A Greater Whole. Do Not Live As Though You Had A Thousand Years Before You. The Common Due Impends; While You Live, And While You May, Be Good.
Years
May
Common
Why Dost Thou Not Pray... To Give Thee The Faculty Of Not Fearing Any Of The Things Which Thou Fearest, Or Of Not Desiring Any Of The Things Which Thou Desirest, Or Not Being Pained At Anything, Rather Than Pray That Any Of These Things Should Not Happen Or Happen?
Giving
Praying
Should
In The Case Of All Things Which Have A Certain Constitution, Whatever Harm May Happen To Any Of Them, That Which Is Affected Becomes Consequently Worse; But In Like Case, A Man Becomes Both Better... And More Worthy Of Praise, By Making The Right Use Of These Accidents.
Men
Use
May
A Man Should Be Upright, Not Kept Upright.
Truth
Integrity
Military
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.
Dream
Dark
Men
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
Natural Ability Without Education Has More Often Raised A Man To Glory And Virtue Than Education Without Natural Ability.
Inspirational
Education
Learning
Life Is Short. That's All There Is To Say. Get What You Can From The Present - Thoughtfully, Justly.
Life Is Short
Life Is
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
I Will March On In The Path Of Nature Till My Legs Sink Under Me, And Then I Shall Be At Rest, And Expire Into That Air Which Has Given Me My Daily Breath.
Air
Legs
Path
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.
Life
Solitude
Mind
Let No Act Be Done Without Purpose.
Purpose
Done
It Is Not Death That A Man Should Fear, But He Should Fear Never Beginning To Live.
Life
Moving On
Death
Leave The Wrong Done By Another Where The Wrong Arose.
Advice
Done
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?
Men
Going Out
World
What We Cannot Bear Removes Us From Life; What Remains Can Be Borne.
Bears
Remains
Remove
Nature Which Governs The Whole Will Soon Change All Things Which You See, And Out Of Their Substance Will Make Other Things And Again Other Things... In Order That The World May Be Ever New.
Change
Order
World
That Which Makes The Man No Worse Than He Was Makes His Life No Worse: It Has No Power To Harm, Without Or Within.
Men
He Man
Harm
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
While You Live, While It Is In Your Power, Be Good.
Be Good
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
Inspirational
Life
Let Not Your Mind Run On What You Lack As Much As On What You Have Already.
Running
Gratitude
Philosophical
God Overrules All Mutinous Accidents, Brings Them Under His Laws Of Fate, And Makes Them All Serviceable To His Purpose.
Fate
Law
Purpose
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
Poverty Is The Mother Of Crime.
Mother
Philosophical
Poverty
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.
Life
Happiness
Happy
The Honest And Good Man Ought To Be Exactly Like A Man Who Smells Strong, So That The Bystander As Soon As He Comes Near Him Must Smell Whether He Choose Or Not.
Strong
Men
Bystanders
Take Away The Complaint, 'i Have Been Harmed,' And The Harm Is Taken Away.
Taken
Complaining
Harm
The Sinner Sins Against Himself; The Wrongdoer Wrongs Himself, Becoming The Worse By His Own Action.
Becoming
Action
Sin
Anything In Any Way Beautiful Derives Its Beauty From Itself And Asks Nothing Beyond Itself. Praise Is No Part Of It, For Nothing Is Made Worse Or Better By Praise.
Beauty
Beautiful
Way
Flinch Not, Neither Give Up Nor Despair, If The Achieving Of Every Act In Accordance With Right Principle Is Not Always Continuous With Thee.
Giving Up
Despair
Principles
By A Tranquil Mind I Mean Nothing Else Than A Mind Well Ordered.
Mean
Order
Mind
Just As Nature Takes Every Obstacle, Every Impediment, And Works Around It--turns It To Its Purposes, Incorporates It Into Itself, So, Too, A Rational Being Can Turn Each Setback Into Raw Material And Use It To Achieve Its Goal.
Goal
Raw Materials
Purpose
"sweep Me Up And Send Me Where You Please." For There I Will Retain My Spirit, Tranquil And Content, As Long As It Can Feel And Act In Harmony With Its Own Nature. Is A Change Of Place Enough Reason For My Soul To Become Unhappy And Worn, For Me To Become Depressed, Humbled, Cowering, And Afraid? Can You Discover Any Reasons For This?
Change
Long
Soul
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
People Generally Despise Where They Flatter, And Cringe To Those They Would Gladly Overtop; So That Truth And Ceremony Are Two Things.
Two
People
Flattery
Letting Go All Else, Cling To The Following Few Truths. 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. This Mortal Life Is A Little Thing, Lived In A Little Corner Of The Earth; And Little, Too, Is The Longest Fame To Come - Dependent As It Is On A Succession Of Fast-perishing Little Men Who Have No Knowledge Even Of Their Own Selves, Much Less Of One Long Dead And Gone.
Letting Go
Truth
Past
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.
Science
Order
Together
Don't Go On Discussing What A Good Person Should Be. Just Be One.
Inspirational
Goes On
Good Person
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.
Color
Doe
Emeralds
It Is The Duty Of Men To Love Even Those Who Injure Them.
Men
Duty
To A Rational Being It Is The Same Thing To Act According To Nature And According To Reason.
Reason
Rational
It Is Not Fit That I Should Give Myself Pain, For I Have Never Intentionally Given Pain Even To Another.
Pain
Giving
Fit
Dig Inside. Inside Is The Fountain Of Good, And It Will Forever Flow, If You Will Forever Dig.
Forever
Flow
Fountain
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
To Expect An Impossibility Is Madness.
Madness
Impossibility
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.
Art
Pain
Complaining
The Gods Sustain And Guide All Their Works.
Guides
People Exist For One Another.
People
Love Only What Befalls You And Is Spun For You By Fate.
Love
Fate
Spun
Deem Not Life A Thing Of Consequence. For Look At The Yawning Void Of The Future, And At That Other Limitless Space, The Past.
Life
Future
Past
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.
Opportunity
Fire
Flames
Truth And Ceremony Are Two Things.
Two
Flattery
Ceremony
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
The Longest-lived And The Shortest-lived Man, When They Come To Die, Lose One And The Same Thing.
Men
Existentialism
Dies
The Happiness Of Your Life Depends Upon The Quality Of Your Thoughts.
Inspirational
Life
Motivational
People Who Labor All Their Lives But Have No Purpose To Direct Every Thought And Impulse Toward Are Wasting Their Time-even When Hard At Work.
People
Purpose
Impulse
Keep Yourself Simple, Good, Pure, Serious, And Unassuming; The Friend Of Justice And Godliness; Kindly, Affectionate, And Resolute In Your Devotion To Duty.
Simple
Justice
Serious
Only To The Rational Animal Is It Given To Follow Voluntarily What Happens; But Simply To Follow Is A Necessity Imposed On All.
Animal
Given
Rational
Because Other People Are Fools, Must You Be So Too?
People
Fool
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.
Pain
Giving
Opinion
There Is No Man So Fortunate That There Shall Not Be By Him When He Is Dying Some Who Are Pleased With What Is Going To Happen.
Men
Dying
Happens
We Are Born For Cooperation
Cooperation
Born
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
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
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?
Wise
Cutting
Men
A Little Flesh, A Little Breath, And A Reason To Rule All - That Is Myself.
Assessment
Flesh
Littles
Put From You The Belief That 'i Have Been Wronged', And With It Will Go The Feeling. Reject Your Sense Of Injury, And The Injury Itself Disappears.
Dope
Feelings
Belief
Think Of The Country Mouse And Of The Town Mouse, And Of The Alarm And Trepidation Of The Town Mouse.
Country
Thinking
Alarms
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.
Life
God
Death
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
In Reading And Writing, You Cannot Lay Down Rules Until You Have Learnt To Obey Them. Much More So In Life.
Reading
Writing
Reading And Writing
He Who Does Wrong Does Wrong Against Himself. He Who Acts Unjustly Acts Unjustly To Himself, Because He Makes Himself Bad.
Wisdom
Doe
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.
Dog
Men
Tree
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.
Mean
Rome
Cities
Do Not Indulge In Dreams Of Having What You Have Not, But Reckon Up The Chief Of The Blessings You Do Possess, And Then Thankfully Remember How You Would Crave For Them If They Were Not Yours.
Thankful
Dream
Gratitude
Don't Be Ashamed To Need Help. Like A Soldier Storming A Wall, You Have A Mission To Accomplish. And If You've Been Wounded And You Need A Comrade To Pull You Up? So What?
Motivational
Wall
Soldier
We Are Born For Cooperation, As Are The Feet, The Hands, The Eyelids, And The Upper And Lower Jaws.
Hands
Feet
Cooperation
A Person's Life Is Dyed With The Color Of His Imagination.
Life
Color
Imagination
When You Have Trouble Getting Out Of Bed In The Morning, Remember That Your Defining Characteristic-what Defines A Human Being-is To Work With Others.
Morning
Bed
Defining
To The Wise, Life Is A Problem; To The Fool, A Solution.
Wise
Philosophical
Math
This Is The Chief Thing: Be Not Perturbed, For All Things Are According To The Nature Of The Universal.
Destiny
Chiefs
All Things
Men Seek Retreats For Themselves, Houses In The Country, Sea-shores, And Mountains; And Thou Too Art Wont To Desire Such Things Very Much. But This Is Altogether A Mark Of The Most Common Sort Of Men, For It Is In Thy Power Whenever Thou Shalt Choose To Retire Into Thyself. For Nowhere Either With More Quiet Or More Freedom From Trouble Does A Man Retire Than Into His Own Soul.
Country
Art
Men
Search Men's Governing Principles, And Consider The Wise, What They Shun And What They Cleave To.
Wise
Men
Principles
It Is Possible To Depart From Life At This Moment. Have This Thought In Mind Whenever You Act, Speak, Or Think.
Thinking
Mind
Speak
Death Smiles At Us All, All A Man Can Do Is Smile Back.
Inspirational
Smile
Uplifting
Nowhere Can Man Find A Quieter Or More Untroubled Retreat Than In His Own Soul.
Philosophical
Inspiration
Being Alone
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
Glory Arrives Too Late When It Comes Only To One's Ashes
Ashes
Too Late
Glory
A Man's True Greatness Lies In The Consciousness Of An Honest Purpose In Life, Founded On A Just Estimate Of Himself And Everything Else, On Frequent Self-examinations, And A Steady Obedience To The Rule Which He Knows To Be Right, Without Troubling Himself About What Others May Think Or Say, Or Whether They Do Or Do Not That Which He Thinks And Says And Does.
Lying
Greatness
Men
The Mind In Itself Wants Nothing, Unless It Creates A Want For Itself; Therefore It Is Both Free From Perturbation And Unimpeded, If It Does Not Perturb And Impede Itself.
Mind
Doe
Want
Do What Nature Now Requires. Set Thyself In Motion, If It Is In Thy Power, And Do Not Look About Thee To See If Any One Will Observe It; Nor Yet Expect Plato's Republic: But Be Content If The Smallest Thing Goes On Well, And Consider Such An Event To Be No Small Matter.
Plato
Events
Looks
‎"begin The Morning By Saying To Thyself, I Shall Meet With The Busy-body, The Ungrateful, Arrogant, Deceitful, Envious, Unsocial
Morning
Ungrateful
Arrogant
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.
Thinking
Care
Select
The Earth Loveth The Shower," And "the Holy æther Knoweth What Love Is." The Universe, Too, Loves To Create Whatsoever Is Destined To Be Made.
Love Is
Earth
Holy
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
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
Majority
Too Much
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
Everything Is Ephemeral, Both That Which Remembers And That Which Is Remembered.
Death
Ephemeral
Remember
For Any Particular Thing, Ask: What Is It In Itself? What Is Its Nature?
Lambs
Particular
Asks
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
Loss Is Nothing Else But Change, And Change Is Nature's Delight.
Change
Philosophical
Grief
Nothing Is Evil Which Is According To Nature.
Nature
Evil
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.
Principles
Causes
Common
A Man Should Remove Not Only Unnecessary Acts, But Also Unnecessary Thoughts, For Then Superfluous Activity Will Not Follow.
Men
Unnecessary
Should
Nothing Befalls Any Man Which He Is Not Fitted To Endure.
Men
Endurance
Endure
Be Content To Seem What You Really Are.
Philosophical
Loving Yourself
Self Acceptance
Nature Set A Limit On Sleep - As It Did On Eating And Drinking. And Youre Over The Limit. But Not Of Working. There Youre Still Below Your Quota. You Dont Love Yourself Enough. Or Youd Love Your Nature Too And What It Demands Of You. People Who Love What They Do Wear Themselves Down Doing It. They Even Forget To Wash And Eat.
Drinking
Love You
Sleep
How Ridiculous And How Strange To Be Surprised At Anything Which Happens In Life
Ridiculous
Strange
Surprise
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.
Pain
Soul
Mind
Your Manners Will Depend Very Much Upon The Quality Of What You Frequently Think On; For The Soul Is As It Were Tinged With The Colour And Complexion Of Thought.
Thinking
Soul
Quality
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.
Creating
Soul
Together
The Stone That Is Thrown Into The Air Is None The Worse For Falling Down, And None The Better For Going Up.
Fall
Air
Stones
Dig Within. There Lies The Wellspring Of Good.
Wise
Lying
Wellspring
All That Is From The Gods Is Full Of Providence.
Providence
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
Each Thing Is Of Like Form From Everlasting And Comes Round Again In Its Cycle...
Philosophical
Form
Everlasting
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.
Letting Go
Gone
Action
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.
Life
Future
Stories
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
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 Not The Weight Of The Future Or The Past That Is Pressing Upon You, But Ever That Of The Present Alone. Even This Burden, Too, Can Be Lessened If You Confine It Strictly To Its Own Limits.
Past
Weight
Limits
Whatever May Happen To Thee, It Was Prepared For Thee From All Eternity.
Fate
May
Eternity
The Happiness Of Those Who Want To Be Popular Depends On Others; The Happiness Of Those Who Seek Pleasure Fluctuates With Moods Outside Their Control; But The Happiness Of The Wise Grows Out Of Their Own Free Acts.
Wise
Humor
Deep Thought
Men Are Born For Each Other's Sake, So Either Teach People Or Endure Them
Men
People
Sake
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
Every Living Organism Is Fulfilled When It Follows The Right Path For Its Own Nature.
Path
Fulfilled
Living Organisms
Neither Worse Then Nor Better Is A Thing Made By Being Praised.
Made
The Impediment To Action Advances Action. What Stands In The Way Becomes The Way.
Way
Action
Obstacles
This Is Enough. Do Not Add, And Why Were Such Things Made In The World?
Choices
Add
World
Even While A Thing Is In The Act Of Coming Into Existence, Some Part Of It Has Already Ceased To Be.
Existence
Accept Whatever Comes To You Woven In The Pattern Of Your Destiny, For What Could More Aptly Fit Your Needs?
Destiny
Woven
Needs
Infinity Is A Fathomless Gulf, Into Which All Things Vanish.
Ontology
Infinity
Logic
Such As Are Thy Habitual Thoughts, Such Also Will Be The Character Of Thy Mind; For The Soul Is Dyed By The Thoughts.
Inspirational
Character
Soul
A Good Disposition Is Invincible, If It Be Genuine.
Disposition
Genuine
Invincible
I Consist Of A Little Body And A Soul.
Soul
Body
Littles
Life Is A Stranger's Sojourn, A Night At An Inn.
Night
Definitions
Life Is
Everything Is Mere Opinion.
Opinion
Mere
No Matter What Anyone Says Or Does, My Task Is To Be Emerald, My Color Undiminished.
Color
Doe
Tasks
Look To The Essence Of A Thing, Whether It Be A Point Of Doctrine, Of Practice, Or Of Interpretation.
Essence
Practice
Doctrine
The Stream Of Tendency In Which All Things Seek To Fulfill The Law Of Their Being.
Law
Evolution
Tendencies
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
Law
Doe
Enter Others' Minds And Let Them Enter Yours.
Mind
Your Life Is An Expression Of All Your Thoughts.
Life
Expression
Life Is
To Live Happily Is An Inward Power Of The Soul.
Happiness
Laughter
Philosophical
My Only Fear Is Doing Something Contrary To Human Nature - The Wrong Thing, The Wrong Way, Or At The Wrong Time.
Way
Human Nature
Wrong Time
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.
Remember
Advantage
Happens
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.
Soul
Perception
Causes
So Much Worse Are The Consequences Of Anger Than Its Causes.
Causes
Consequence
He Who Eats My Bread, Does My Will.
Hard Work
Bread
Doe
As Surgeons Keep Their Instruments And Knives Always At Hand For Cases Requiring Immediate Treatment, So Shouldst Thou Have Thy Thoughts Ready To Understand Things Divine And Human, Remembering In Thy Every Act, Even The Smallest, How Close Is The Bond That Unites The Two.
Hands
Knives
Two
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!
Thinking
Breathe
Enjoy
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.
Self
Return
Gains
Perfection Of Character Is This: To Live Each Day As If It Were Your Last, Without Frenzy, Without Apathy, Without Pretence.
Happiness
Character
Carpe Diem
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.
Children
Thinking
Plant
There Is No Man So Blessed That Some Who Stand By His Deathbed Won't Hail The Occasion With Delight.
Blessed
Men
Dying
It Were Well To Die If There Be Gods, And Sad To Live If There Be None.
Death
If There Is A God
Wells
If You Do The Task Before You Always Adhering To Strict Reason With Zeal And Energy And Yet With Humanity, Disregarding All Lesser Ends And Keeping The Divinity Within You Pure And Upright, As Though You Were Even Now Faced With Its Recall - If You Hold Steadily To This, Staying For Nothing And Shrinking From Nothing, Only Seeking In Each Passing Action A Conformity With Nature And In Each Word And Utterance A Fearless Truthfulness, Then The Good Life Shall Be Yours. And From This Course No Man Has The Power To Hold You Back.
Good Life
Men
Fearless
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.
Life
Palaces
Life Is
What We Do In Life Ripples In Eternity.
Eternity
Ripple
Anything That Is Beautiful Is Beautiful Just As It Is. Praise Forms No Part Of Its Beauty, Since Praise Makes Things Neither Better Nor Worse. This Applies Even More To What It Commonly Called Beautiful: Natural Objects, For Example, Or Works Of Art. True Beauty Has No Need Of Anything Beyond Itself.
Beauty
Beautiful
Art
They Know Not How Many Things Are Signified By The Words Stealing, Sowing, Buying, Keeping Quiet, Seeing What Ought To Be Done; For This Is Not Effected By The Eyes, But By Another Kind Of Vision.
Eye
Vision
Sowing
Remember That The Sole Life Which A Man Can Lose Is That Which He Is Living At The Moment.
Men
Remember
Sole
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?
Pain
Stress
Hands
Nothing Happens To Any Man That He Is Not Formed By Nature To Bear.
Nature
Philosophical
Men
In One Way An Arrow Moves, In Another Way The Mind. The Mind Indeed, Both When It Exercises Caution And When It Is Employed About Inquiry, Moves Straight Onward Not The Less, And To Its Object.
Moving
Exercise
Arrows
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
Vex Not Thy Spirit At The Course Of Things, They Heed Not Thy Vexations
Vex
Spirit
Courses
No One Was Ever Injured By The Truth; But He Who Persists In Self-deception And Ignorance Is Injured.
Ignorance
Self
Deception
Trending Author
Morris Chestnut
Laura Linney
Peter Singer
Leslie Marmon Silko
Alessandra Ambrosio
William Dean Howells
Category
Information