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

-Epictetus

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Nothing Great Is Produced

Epictetus

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

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No Greater Thing Is Created Suddenly, Any More Than A Bunch Of Grapes Or A Fig. If You Tell Me That You Desire A Fig, I Answer You That There Must Be Time. Let It First Blossom, Then Bear Fruit, Then Ripen.

First Tell Yourself What You Want To Be, Then Do What You Need To Do.

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

Things True And Evident Must Of Necessity Be Recognized By Those Who Would Contradict Them.

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

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

You Become What You Give Your Attention To...if You Yourself Don't Choose What Thoughts And Images You Expose Yourself To, Someone Else Will, And Their Motives May Not Be The Highest.

Once You Know Who You Are And To Whom You Are Linked, You Will Know What To Do

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

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

Ruin And Recovering Are Both From Within.

If You Would Improve, Submit To Be Considered Wihout Sense And Foolish With Respect To Externals. Wish To Be Considered To Know Nothing; And If You Shall Seem To Someone To Be A Person Of Importance, Distrust Yourself.

Be Careful Whom You Associate With. It Is Human To Imitate The Habits Of Those With Whom We Interact. We Inadvertently Adopt Their Interests, Their Opinions, Their Values, And Their Habit Of Interpreting Events.

Unremarkable Lives Are Marked By The Fear Of Not Looking Capable When Trying Something New.

Trying Something New

God Has Made All Men To Be Happy.

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

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

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

To Live A Life Of Virtue, You Have To Become Consistent, Even When It Isn't Convenient, Comfortable, Or Easy.

Avoid Banquets Which Are Given By Strangers An Ignorant Persons. But If There Is Ever Occasion To Join Them, Let Your Attention Be Carefully Fixed, That You Slip Not Into The Manner Of The Vulgar (the Uninstructed).

Every Difficulty In Life Presents Us With An Opportunity To Turn Inward And To Invoke Our Own Submerged Inner Resources. The Trials We Endure Can And Should Introduce Us To Our Strengths.

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

Your Master Is He Who Controls That On Which You Have Set Your Heart Or Wish To Avoid.

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

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

The World Turns Aside To Let Any Man Pass Who Knows Where He Is Going.

You Ought To Choose Both Physician And Friend, Not The Most Agreeable, But The Most Useful.

Remember That You Are An Actor In A Play, And That The Playwright Chooses The Manner Of It: If He Wants You To Act A Poor Man You Must Act The Part With All Your Powers; And So If Your Part Be A Cripple Or A Magistrate Or A Plain Man. For Your Business Is To Act The Character That Is Given You And Act It Well. The Choice Of The Cast Is Another's.

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

To Live A Life Of Virtue, Match Up Your Thoughts, Words, And Deeds.

What Is It To Be A Philosopher? Is It Not To Be Prepared Against Events?

The Key Is To Keep Company Only With People Who Uplift You, Whose Presence Calls Forth Your Best.

Men Are Not Worried By Things, But By Their Ideas About Things. When We Meet With Difficulties, Become Anxious Or Troubled, Let Us Not Blame Others, But Rather Ourselves. That Is: Our Ideas About Things.

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

Any Person Capable Of Angering You Becomes Your Master.

In Trying To Please Other People, We Find Ourselves Misdirected Toward What Lies Outside Our Sphere Of Influence. In Doing So, We Lose Our Hold On Our Lifes Purpose.

No Great Thing Is Created Suddenly. There Must Be Time. Give Your Best And Always Be Kind.

Opportunity Beckons More Surely When Misfortune Comes Upon A Person Than It Ever Does When That Person Is Riding The Crest Of A Wave Of Success. It Sharpens A Person's Wits, If That Person Will Let It, Enabling Him Or Her To See More Clearly And Evaluate Situations With A More Knowledgeable Judgment.

Whoever Does Not Regard What He Has As Most Ample Wealth, Is Unhappy, Though He Be Master Of The World.

What Is The First Business Of One Who Practices Philosophy? To Get Rid Of Self-conceit. For It Is Impossible For Anyone To Begin To Learn That Which He Thinks He Already Knows.

Don't Explain Your Philosophy. Embody It.

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

We Can't Control The Impressions Others Form About Us, And The Effort To Do So Only Debases Our Character.

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

What Disturbs People's Minds Are Not Events But Their Judgments On Events.

If Someone Speaks Badly Of You, Do Not Defend Yourself Against The Accusations, But Reply; "you Obviously Don't Know About My Other Vices, Otherwise You Would Have Mentioned These As Well

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

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

Bid A Singer In A Chorus, Know Thyself; And Will He Not Turn For The Knowledge To The Others, His Fellows In The Chorus, And To His Harmony With Them?

Difficulty Shows What Men Are.

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

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

Act Well Your Given Part; The Choice Rests Not With You.

Everything Has Two Handles,-one By Which It May Be Borne; Another By Which It Cannot.

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

Be Free From Grief Not Through Insensibility Like The Irrational Animals, Nor Through Want Of Thought Like The Foolish, But Like A Man Of Virtue By Having Reason As The Consolation Of Grief.

Inner Peace Begins When We Stop Saying Of Things, 'i Have Lost It' And Instead Say, 'it Has Been Returned To Where It Came From.' Why Should It Be Any Concern Of Yours Who Gives Your Things Back To The World That Gave Them To You? The Important Thing Is To Take Great Care With What You Have While The World Lets You Have It.

There Is But One Way To Tranquility Of Mind And Happiness, And That Is To Account No External Things Thine Own, But To Commit All To God.

It’s Time To Stop Being Vague. If You Wish To Be An Extraordinary Person, If You Wish To Be Wise, Then You Should Explicitly Identify The Kind Of Person You Aspire To Become.

Extraordinary Person

Nothing Outside The Will Can Hinder Or Harm The Will; It Can Only Harm Itself. If Then We Accept This, And, When Things Go Amiss, Are Inclined To Blame Ourselves, Remembering That Judgment Alone Can Disturb Our Peace And Constancy, I Swear To You By All The Gods That We Have Made Progress.

Progress Is Not Achieved By Luck Or Accident, But By Working On Yourself Daily.

Working On Yourself

No Matter Where You Find Yourself, Comport Yourself As If You Were A Distinguished Person.

Finding Yourself

The Greater The Difficulty The More Glory In Surmounting It. Skillful Pilots Gain Their Reputation From Storms And Tempests.

You Bear God Within You, Poor Wretch, And Know It Not.

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

In Prosperity It Is Very Easy To Find A Friend; But In Adversity It Is The Most Difficult Of All Things.

We All Dread A Bodily Paralysis, And Would Make Use Of Every Contrivance To Avoid It; But None Of Us Is Troubled About A Paralysis Of The Soul.

It Is A Mark Of A Mean Capacity To Spend Much Time On The Things Which Concern The Body, Such As Much Exercise, Much Eating, Much Drinking, Much Easing Of The Body, Much Copulation. But These Things Should Be Done As Subordinate Things: And Let All Your Care Be Directed To The Mind.

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

Greek Philosopher

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

Do Not Laugh Much Or Often Or Unrestrainedly.

Getting Distracted By Trifles Is The Easiest Thing In The World… Focus On Your Main Duty

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

As In Walking It Is Your Great Care Not To Run Your Foot Upon A Nail, Or To Tread Awry, And Strain Your Leg; So Let It Be In All The Affairs Of Human Life, Not To Hurt Your Mind Or Offend Your Judgment. And This Rule, If Observed Carefully In All Your Deportment, Will Be A Mighty Security To You In Your Undertakings.

Don't Be Concerned Who Is Watching You. The Triumphs And Merits Of Others Belong To Them - As Do Yours To You. Make The Most Of What You've Got.

It Has Been Ordained That There Be Summer And Winter, Abundance And Dearth, Virtue And Vice, And All Such Opposites For The Harmony Of The Whole, And (zeus) Has Given Each Of Us A Body, Property, And Companions.

As It Is Pleasant To See The Sea From The Land, So It Is Pleasant For Him Who Has Escaped From Troubles To Think Of Them.

He Is A Wise Man Who Does Not Grieve For The Things Which He Has Not, But Rejoices For Those Which He Has.

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

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

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

Renew Every Day Your Conversation With God: Do This Even In Preference To Eating. Think More Often Of God Than You Breathe.

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

Bear In Mind That You Should Conduct Yourself In Life As At A Feast.

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

Appearances To The Mind Are Of Four Kinds. Things Either Are What They Appear To Be; Or They Neither Are, Nor Appear To Be; Or They Are, And Do Not Appear To Be; Or They Are Not, And Yet Appear To Be. Rightly To Aim In All These Cases Is The Wise Man's Task.

Contentment, As It Is A Short Road And Pleasant, Has Great Delight And Little Trouble.

It Was The First And Most Striking Characteristic Of Socrates Never To Become Heated In Discourse, Never To Utter An Injurious Or Insulting Word -- On The Contrary, He Persistently Bore Insult From Others And Thus Put An End To The Fray.

Characteristics

When The Idea, Of Any Pleasure Strikes Your Imagination... Let That Time Be Employed In Making A Just Computation Between, The Duration Of The Pleasure, And That Of The Repentance Sure To Follow It.

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

Try Not To React Merely In The Moment. Pull Back From The Situation. Take A Wider View. Compose Yourself.

If You Wish To Write, Write.

No Man Is Free Who Is Not Master Of Himself... Is Freedom Anything Else Than The Power Of Living As We Choose?

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

The Best Place To Get Help Is From Yourself.

Truth Is A Thing Immortal And Perpetual, And It Gives To Us A Beauty That Fades Not Away In Time, Nor Does It Take Away The Freedom Of Speech Which Proceeds From Justice; But It Gives To Us The Knowledge Of What Is Just And Lawful, Separating From Them The Unjust And Refuting Them.

It Is Better To Advise Than Upbraid, For The One Corrects The Erring; The Other Only Convicts Them.

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

No Man Is Disturbed By Things, But By His Opinion About Things.

All Philosophy Lies In Two Words, Sustain And Abstain.

It Is Impossible For A Man To Learn What He Thinks He Already Knows.

Know You Not That A Good Man Does Nothing For Appearance Sake, But For The Sake Of Having Done Right?

It Is Hard To Combine And Unite These Two Qualities, The Carefulness Of One Who Is Affected By Circumstances, And The Intrepidity Of One Who Heeds Them Not. But It Is Not Impossible: Else Were Happiness Also Impossible.

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

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

Against Specious Appearances We Must Set Clear Convictions, Bright And Ready For Use. When Death Appears As An Evil, We Ought Immediately To Remember That Evils Are Things To Be Avoided, But Death Is Inevitable.

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

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

To Make Anything A Habit, Do It; To Not Make It A Habit, Do Not Do It; To Unmake A Habit, Do Something Else In Place Of It.

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

You May Fetter My Leg, But Zeus Himself Cannot Get The Better Of My Free Will.

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

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

Doing The Right Thing

We Should Not Have Either A Blunt Knife Or A Freedom Of Speech Which Is Ill-managed.

Freedom Of Speech

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

I Laugh At Those Who Think They Can Damage Me. They Do Not Know Who I Am, They Do Not Know What I Think, They Cannot Even Touch The Things Which Are Really Mine And With Which I Live.

Any One Thing In The Creation Is Sufficient To Demonstrate A Providence To A Humble And Grateful Mind.

It Is Our Attitude Toward Events, Not Events Themselves, Which We Can Control. Nothing Is By Its Own Nature Calamitous -- Even Death Is Terrible Only If We Fear It.

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

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

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

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

To Accuse Others For One's Own Misfortunes Is A Sign Of Want Of Education. To Accuse Oneself Shows That One's Education Has Begun. To Accuse Neither Oneself Nor Others Shows That One's Education Is Complete.

The Flourishing Life Cannot Be Achieved Until We Moderate Our Desires And See How Superficial And Fleeting They Are.

Only The Educated Are Free.

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

Although We Can't Control Which Roles Are Assigned To Us, It Must Be Our Business To Act Our Given Role As Best We Possibly Can And To Refrain From Complaining About It. Where Ever You Find Yourself And In Whatever Circumstances, Give An Impeccable Performance.

Finding Yourself

Some Things Are Up To Us [eph' Hêmin] And Some Things Are Not Up To Us. Our Opinions Are Up To Us, And Our Impulses, Desires, Aversions–in Short, Whatever Is Our Own Doing. Our Bodies Are Not Up To Us, Nor Are Our Possessions, Our Reputations, Or Our Public Offices, Or, That Is, Whatever Is Not Our Own Doing.

Every Art And Every Faculty Contemplates Certain Things As Its Principal Objects.

Never Call Yourself A Philosopher, Nor Talk A Great Deal Among The Unlearned About Theorems, But Act Conformably To Them. Thus, At An Entertainment, Don't Talk How Persons Ought To Eat, But Eat As You Ought. For Remember That In This Manner Socrates Also Universally Avoided All Ostentation.

Events Do Not Just Happen, But Arrive By Appointment.

Difficulties Are Things That Show A Person What They Are.

The Pleasure Which We Most Rarely Experience Gives Us Greatest Delight.

You Make Me Happy

The Essence Of Philosophy Is That A Man Should So Live That His Happiness Shall Depend As Little As Possible On External Things.

What Is Yours Is To Play The Assigned Part Well. But To Choose It Belongs To Someone Else

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

It Is Unreasonable To Think We Can Earn Rewards Without Being Willing To Pay Their True Price. It Is Always Our Choice Whether Or Not We Wish To Pay The Price For Life's Rewards.

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

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

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

Envy Is The Antagonist Of The Fortunate.

We Are Not To Lead Events, But To Follow Them.

All Religions Must Be Tolerated For Every Man Must Get To Heaven In His Own Way.

Pain Or Pleasure? I Say Pleasure.

If Anyone Is Unhappy, Remember That His Unhappiness Is His Own Fault... Nothing Else Is The Cause Of Anxiety Or Loss Of Tranquility Except Our Own Opinion.

Embrace Reality. Think About What Delights You - The Small Luxuries On Which You Depend, The People Whom You Cherish Most. But Remember That They Have Their Own Distinct Character, Which Is Quite A Separate Matter From How We Happen To Regard Them.

To Epictetus, All External Events Are Determined By Fate, And Are Thus Beyond Our Control, But We Can Accept Whatever Happens Calmly And Dispassionately. Individuals, However, Are Responsible For Their Own Actions Which They Can Examine And Control Through Rigorous Self-discipline. Suffering Arises From Trying To Control What Is Uncontrollable, Or From Neglecting What Is Within Our Power. As Part Of The Universal City That Is The Universe, Human Beings Have A Duty Of Care To All Fellow Humans. The Person Who Followed These Precepts Would Achieve Happiness.

We Must Be Afraid Of Neither Poverty Nor Exile Nor Imprisonment; Of Fear Itself Only Should We Be Afraid.

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

No Great Thing Is Created Suddenly.

Inspirational Life

Ask Yourself: Does This Appearance (of Events) Concern The Things That Are Within My Own Control Or Those That Are Not? If It Concerns Anything Outside Your Control, Train Yourself Not To Worry About It.

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

Disease And Death

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

Freedom And Happiness

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

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

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

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

Anything Worth Putting Off Is Worth Abandoning Altogether.

Procrastination

Don't Just Say You Have Read Books. Show That Through Them You Have Learned To Think Better, To Be A More Discriminating And Reflective Person. Books Are The Training Weights Of The Mind. They Are Very Helpful, But It Would Be A Bad Mistake To Suppose That One Has Made Progress Simply By Having Internalized Their Contents." Translation By Sharon Lebell

It Is My Business, To Manage Carefully And Dexterously Whatever Happens

Whatever Happens

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

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

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

Let Thy Speech Of God Be Renewed Day By Day, Aye, Rather Than Thy Meat And Drink.

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

To Be Getting An Education Means This: To Be Learning What Is Your Own, And What Is Not Your Own.

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

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

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

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

Keep Your Attention Focused Entirely On What Is Truly Your Own Concern, And Be Clear That What Belongs To Others Is Their Business And None Of Yours.

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

With Ills Unending Strives The Putter Off.

Common And Vulgar People Ascribe All Ills That They Feel To Others; People Of Little Wisdom Ascribe To Themselves; People Of Much Wisdom, To No One.

If You Think You Control Things That Are In The Control Of Others, You Will Lament. You Will Be Disturbed And You Will Blame Both Gods And Men.

Any Person Capable Of Angering You Becomes Your Master; He Can Anger You Only When You Permit Yourself To Be Disturbed By Him.

To A Reasonable Creature, That Alone Is Insupportable Which Is Unreasonable; But Everything Reasonable May Be Supported.

The Soul That Companies With Virtue Is Like An Ever-flowing Source. It Is A Pure, Clear, And Wholesome Draught, Sweet, Rich And Generous Of Its Store, That Injures Not, Neither Destroys.

The Beginning Of Philosophy Is A Consciousness Of Your Own Weakness And Inability In Necessary Things.

Never In Any Case Say I Have Lost Such A Thing, But I Have Returned It. Is Your Child Dead? It Is A Return. Is Your Wife Dead? It Is A Return. Are You Deprived Of Your Estate? Is Not This Also A Return?

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

It Is No Easy Thing For A Principle To Become A Man's Own Unless Each Day He Maintains It And Works It Out In His Life.

An Ignorant Person Is Inclined To Blame Others For His Own Misfortune. To Blame Oneself Is Proof Of Progress. But The Wise Man Never Has To Blame Another Or Himself.

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

Do Not Strive For Things Occurring To Occur As You Wish, But Wish The Things Occurring As They Occur, And You Will Flow Well.

Since It Is Reason Which Shapes And Regulates All Other Things, It Ought Not Itself To Be Left In Disorder.

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

In Theory It Is Easy To Convince An Ignorant Person; In Actual Life, Men Not Only Object To Offer Themselves To Be Convinced, But Hate The Man Who Has Convinced Them.

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

Happiness And Freedom Begin With A Clear Understanding Of One Principle: Some Things Are Within Our Control, And Some Things Are Not.

Tentative Efforts Lead To Tentative Outcome.

Everything Has Two Handles; The One Soft And Manageable, The Other Such As Will Not Endure To Be Touched. If Then Your Brother Do You An Injury, Do Not Take It By The Hot Hard Handle, By Representing To Yourself All The Aggravating Circumstances Of The Fact; But Look Rather On The Soft Side, And Extenuate It As Much As Is Possible, By Considering The Nearness Of The Relation, And The Long Friendship And Familiarity Between You--obligations To Kindness Which A Single Provocation Ought Not To Dissolve. And Thus You Will Take The Accident By Its Manageable Handle.

Whoever Then Wishes To Be Free, Let Him Neither Wish For Anything Nor Avoid Anything Which Depends On Others: If He Does Not Observe This Rule, He Must Be A Slave.

God Has Entrusted Me With Myself.

Self Improvement

Sickness Is A Hindrance To The Body, But Not To Your Ability To Choose, Unless That Is Your Choice. Lameness Is A Hindrance To The Leg, But Not To Your Ability To Choose. Say This To Yourself With Regard To Everything That Happens, Then You Will See Such Obstacles As Hindrances To Something Else, But Not To Yourself.

If You Do Not Wish To Be Prone To Anger, Do Not Feed The Habit; Give It Nothing Which May Tend To Its Increase.

No Living Being Is Held By Anything So Strongly As By Its Own Needs. Whatever Therefore Appears A Hindrance To These, Be It Brother, Or Father, Or Child, Or Mistress, Or Friend, Is Hated, Abhorred, Execrated.

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

A Guide, On Finding A Man Who Has Lost His Way, Brings Him Back To The Right Path—he Does Not Mock And Jeer At Him And Then Take Himself Off. You Also Must Show The Unlearned Man The Truth, And You Will See That He Will Follow. But So Long As You Do Not Show It Him, You Should Not Mock, But Rather Feel Your Own Incapacity.

The Good Or Ill Of A Man Lies Within His Own Will.

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