Background Image

...

Now Is The Time To Get Serious About Living Your Ideals. Once You Have Determined The Spiritual Principles You Wish To Exemplify, Abide By These Rules As If They Were Laws, As If It Were Indeed Sinful To Compromise Them. Don't Mind If Others Don't Share Your Convictions. How Long Can You Afford To Put Off Who You Really Want To Be? Your Nobler Self Cannot Wait Any Longer.

-Epictetus

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

Now Is The Time

Epictetus

...

Now Is The Time To Get Serious About Living Your Ideals. Once You Have Determined The Spiritual Principles You Wish To Exemplify, Abide By These Rules As If They Were Laws, As If It Were Indeed Sinful To Compromise Them. Don't Mind If Others Don't Share Your Convictions. How Long Can You Afford To Put Off Who You Really Want To Be? Your Nobler Self Cannot Wait Any Longer.

Views: 4

Topic

More From Epictetus

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.

Men Are Not Troubled By Things Themselves, But By Their Thoughts About Them

We Need To Regularly Stop And Take Stock; To Sit Down And Determine Within Ourselves Which Things Are Worth Valuing And Which Things Are Not; Which Risks Are Worth The Cost And Which Are Not. Even The Most Confusing Or Hurtful Aspects Of Life Can Be Made More Tolerable By Clear Seeing And By Choice.

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

He Who Laughs At Himself Never Runs Out Of Things To Laugh At.

Happiness Is An Equivalent For All Troublesome Things.

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.

Nothing Truly Stops You. Nothing Truly Holds You Back. For Your Own Will Is Always Within Your Control.

Positive Thinking

Power Of Positive Thinking

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.

Here Is The Beginning Of Philosophy: A Recognition Of The Conflicts Between Men, A Search For Their Cause, A Condemnation Of Mere Opinion .. . And The Discovery Of A Standard Of Judgement.

Desire And Happiness Cannot Live Together.

Seek Not Good From Without; Seek It Within Yourselves, Or You Will Never Find It.

The Beginning Of Philosophy Is The Recognition Of The Conflict Between Opinions.

Control Thy Passions Lest They Take Vengence On Thee.

Man Is Not Worried By Real Problems So Much As By His Imagined Anxieties About Real Problems

I Am Always Content With What Happens; For I Know That What God Chooses Is Better Than What I Choose.

Contentment Comes Not So Much From Great Wealth As From Few Wants.

God Has Entrusted Me With Myself. No Man Is Free Who Is Not Master Of Himself. A Man Should So Live That His Happiness Shall Depend As Little As Possible On External Things. The World Turns Aside To Let Any Man Pass Who Knows Where He Is Going.

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

Keep Silence For The Most Part, And Speak Only When You Must, And Then Briefly.

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

In The Long Run, Every Man Will Pay The Penalty For This Own Misdeeds.

We Tell Lies, Yet It Is Easy To Show That Lying Is Immoral.

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.

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

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

What Concerns Me Is Not The Way Things Are, But Rather The Way People Think Things Are.

If You Wish To Write, Write.

You Know Yourself What You Are Worth In Your Own Eyes; And At What Price You Will Sell Yourself. For Men Sell Themselves At Various Prices. This Is Why, When Florus Was Deliberating Whether He Should Appear At Nero's Shows, Taking Part In The Performance Himself, Agrippinus Replied, 'appear By All Means.' And When Florus Inquired, 'but Why Do Not You Appear?' He Answered, 'because I Do Not Even Consider The Question.'

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.

Any Person Capable Of Angering You Becomes Your Master.

Things Themselves Don't Hurt Or Hinder Us. Things Simply Are What They Are. How We View These Things Is Another Matter.people Think What They Will Think; It Is Of No Concern To Us.

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.

It Is Your Own Convictions Which Compels You; That Is, Choice Compels Choice.

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

The Two Powers Which In My Opinion Constitute A Wise Man Are Those Of Bearing And Forbearing.

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.

A Vulgar Man, In Any Ill That Happens To Him, Blames Others; A Novice In Philosophy Blames Himself; And A Philosopher Blames Neither, The One Nor The Other.

We Ought To Flee The Friendship Of The Wicked, And The Enmity Of The Good.

If We Are Not Stupid Or Insincere When We Say That The Good Or Ill Of Man Lies Within His Own Will, And That All Beside Is Nothing To Us, Why Are We Still Troubled?

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

It's Not What Happens To You, But How You React To It That Matters.

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.

If Thou Rememberest That God Standeth By To Behold And Visit All That Thou Doest; Whether In The Body Or In The Soul, Thou Surely Wilt Not Err In Any Prayer Or Deed; And Thou Shalt Have God To Dwell With Thee.

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.

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

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

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.

First Say To Yourself What You Would Be; And Then Do What You Have To Do.

When Therefore We Are Hindered, Or Disturbed, Or Grieved, Let Us Never Attribute It To Others, But To Ourselves; That Is, To Our Own Principles. An Uninstructed Person Will Lay The Fault Of His Own Bad Condition Upon Others. Someone Just Starting Instruction Will Lay The Fault On Himself. Some Who Is Perfectly Instructed Will Place Blame Neither On Others Nor On Himself.

It Is Not A Demonstration Of Kindness Or Friendship To The People We Care About To Join Them In Indulging In Wrongheaded, Negative Feelings. We Do A Better Service To Ourselves And Others By Remaining Detached And Avoiding Melodramatic Reactions.

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

To Know That You Do Not Know And To Be Willing To Admit That You Do Not Know Without Sheepishly Apologizing Is Real Strength And Sets The Stage For Learning And Progress In Any Endeavor.

It Is Better By Assenting To Truth To Conquer Opinion, Than By Assenting To Opinion To Be Conquered By Truth.

Act Your Part With Honor.

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.

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.

Don't Be Prideful With Any Excellence That Is Not Your Own

A Soul Which Is Conversant With Virtue Is Like An Ever Flowing Source, For It Is Pure And Tranquil And Potable And Sweet And Communicative (social) And Rich And Harmless And Free From Mischief.

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.

Consider The Bigger Picture.....think Things Through And Fully Commit!

Think Of God More Often Than Thou Breathest.

If Any Be Unhappy, Let Him Remember That He Is Unhappy By Reason Of Himself Alone. For God Hath Made All Men To Enjoy Felicity And Constancy Of Good.

There Are Some Things Which Men Confess With Ease, And Others With Difficulty.

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

The Universe Is But One Great City, Full Of Beloved Ones, Divine And Human, By Nature Endeared To Each Other.

Some Things Are In Our Control And Others Not. Things In Our Control Are Opinion, Pursuit, Desire, Aversion, And, In A Word, Whatever Are Our Own Actions. Things Not In Our Control Are Body, Property, Reputation, Command, And, In One Word, Whatever Are Not Our Own Actions.

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

Finding Yourself

Tentative Efforts Lead To Tentative Outcome.

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.

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

Cowardice, The Dread Of What Will Happen.

Wish That Everything Should Come About Just As It Does.

Never Say Of Anything I Have Lost It, Only Say That I Have Given It Back.

Don’t Consent To Be Hurt And You Won’t Be Hurt – This Is A Choice Over Which You Have Control

Remember That You Are But An Actor, Acting Whatever Part The Master Has Ordained. It May Be Short Or It May Be Long. If He Wishes You To Represent A Poor Man, Do So Heartily; If A Cripple, Or A Magistrate, Or A Private Man, In Each Case Act Your Part With Honor.

Make The Best Use Of What Is In Your Power, And Take The Rest As It Happens.

One That Desires To Excel Should Endeavor In Those Things That Are In Themselves Most Excellent.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

If You Do Not Wish To Be Prone To Anger, Do Not Feed The Habit; Give It Nothing Which May Tend To Its Increase. At First, Keep Quiet And Count The Days When You Were Not Angry: "i Used To Be Angry Every Day, Then Every Other Day: Next, Every Two, Then Every Three Days!" And If You Succeed In Passing Thirty Days, Sacrifice To The Gods In Thanksgiving.

All Philosophy Lies In Two Words, Sustain And Abstain.

And Have You Not Received Faculties Which Will Enable You To Bear All That Happens To You? Have You Not Received Greatness Of Spirit? Have You Not Received Courage? Have You Not Received Endurance?

Have The Wisdom To Know What Cannot Be Changed, And The Strength To Change What Can.

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.

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.

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

To Adorn Our Characters By The Charm Of An Amiable Nature Shows At Once A Lover Of Beauty And A Lover Of Man.

When Your Thoughts, Words, And Deeds Form A Seamless Fabric, You Streamline Your Efforts And Thus Eliminate Worry And Dread.

Don't Demand Or Expect That Events Happen As You Would Wish Them Do. Accept Events As They Actually Happen. That Way, Peace Is Possible.

Don't Seek To Have Events Happen As You Wish, But Wish Them To Happen As They Do Happen, And All Will Be Well With You.

Books Are The Training Weights Of The Mind.

Seek Not That The Things Which Happen Should Happen As You Wish; But Wish The Things Which Happen To Be As They Are, And You Will Have A Tranquil Flow Of Life.

There Is Nothing Good Or Evil Save In The Will.

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

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

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

It Is Better To Die Of Hunger Having Lived Without Grief And Fear, Than To Live With A Troubled Spirit, Amid Abundance

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.

No Living Being Is Held By Anything So Strongly As Its Own Needs.

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

Greek Philosopher

When A Man Is Proud Because He Can Understand And Explain The Writings Of Chrysippus, Say To Yourself, 'if Chrysippus Had Not Written Obscurely, This Man Would Have Had Nothing To Be Proud Of.'

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.

If What Charms You Is Nothing But Abstract Principles, Sit Down And Turn Them Over Quietly In Your Mind: But Never Dub Yourself A Philosopher.

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

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

Doing The Right Thing

There Is Only One Way To Happiness And That Is To Cease Worrying About Things Which Are Beyond The Power Of Our Will.

Silence Is Safer Than Speech.

No Man Is Free Who Is Not Master Of Himself.

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

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

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.

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

Working On Yourself

It Is Impossible To Begin To Learn That Which One Thinks One Already Knows.

Give Yourself Fully To Your Endeavors. Decide To Construct Your Character Through Excellent Actions And Determine To Pay The Price Of A Worthy Goal. The Trials You Encounter Will Introduce You To Your Strengths.

What Ought One To Say Then As Each Hardship Comes? I Was Practicing For This, I Was Training For This.

You Have Been Given Your Own Work To Do. Get To It Right Now, Do Your Best At It, And Don't Be Concerned With Who Is Watching You. Create Your Own Merit.

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.

At This Time Is Freedom Anything But The Right To Live As We Wish? Nothing Else.

What Is A Good Person? One Who Achieves Tranquillity By Having Formed The Habit Of Asking On Every Occasion, "what Is The Right Thing To Do Now?"

If You Would Cure Anger, Do Not Feed It. Say To Yourself: 'i Used To Be Angry Every Day; Then Every Other Day; Now Only Every Third Or Fourth Day.' When You Reach Thirty Days Offer A Sacrifice Of Thanksgiving To The Gods.

What Matters Most Is What Sort Of Person You Are Becoming. Wise Individuals Care Only About Whom They Are Today And Who They Can Be Tomorrow.

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.

The Materials Are Indifferent, But The Use We Make Of Them Is Not A Matter Of Indifference.

Ruin And Recovering Are Both From Within.

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

Who Exactly Do You Want To Be? What Kind Of Person Do You Want To Be? What Are Your Personal Ideals? Whom Do You Admire? What Are Their Special Traits That You Would Make Your Own It's Time To Stop Being Vague. If You Wish To Be An Extraordinary Person, If You Wish To Become Wise, Then You Should Explicitly Identify The Kind Of Person You Aspire To Become. If You Have A Daybook, Write Down Who You're Trying To Be, So That You Can Refer To This Self-determination. Precisely Describe The Demeanor You Want To Adopt So That You May Preserve It When You Are By Yourself Or With Other People.

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.

To Pay Homage To Beauty Is To Admire Nature; To Admire Nature Is To Worship God

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.

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 Comes Into Being All At Once.

It Is Not He Who Gives Abuse That Affronts, But The View That We Take Of It As Insulting; So That When One Provokes You It Is Your Own Opinion Which Is Provoking.

It Is The Act Of An Ill-instructed Man To Blame Others For His Own Bad Condition; It Is The Act Of One Who Has Begun To Be Instructed, To Lay The Blame On Himself; And Of One Whose Instruction Is Completed, Neither To Blame Another, Nor Himself.

Not Every Difficult And Dangerous Thing Is Suitable For Training, But Only That Which Is Conducive To Success In Achieving The Object Of Our Effort.

I Am Not Eternity, But A Man; A Part Of The Whole, As An Hour Is Of The Day.

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

A Soul That Makes Virtue Its Companion Is Like An Over-flowing Well, For It Is Clean And Pellucid, Sweet And Wholesome, Open To All, Rich, Blameless And Indestructible.

In A Word, Neither Death, Nor Exile, Nor Pain, Nor Anything Of This Kind Is The Real Cause Of Our Doing Or Not Doing Any Action, But Our Inward Opinions And Principles.

Other People's Views And Troubles Can Be Contagious. Don't Sabotage Yourself By Unwittingly Adopting Negative, Unproductive Attitudes Through Your Associations With Others.

Watch Yourself As You Go About Your Daily Business And Later Reflect On What You Saw, Trying To Identify The Sources Of Distress In Your Life And Thinking About How To Avoid That Distress.

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

Exceed Due Measure, And The Most Delightful Things Become The Least Delightful.

Delightful Things

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

From Now On Practice Saying To Everything That Appears Unpleasant: You Are Merely An Appearance And Not What You Appear To Be.

Covetousness Like Jealousy, When It Has Taken Root, Never Leaves A Person, But With Their Life. Cowardice Is The Dread Of What Will Happen.

"but To Be Hanged - Is That Not Unendurable?" Even So, When A Man Feels That It Is Reasonable, He Goes Off And Hangs Himself.

What Disturbs People, These Are Not Things, But The Judgments Relating To Things

Difficulties Are Things That Show A Person What They Are.

If A Man Is Unhappy, Remember That His Unhappiness Is His Own Fault, For God Made All Men To Be Happy.

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.

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

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.

It's So Simple Really: If You Say You're Going To Do Something, Do It. If You Start Something, Finish It.

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

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.

Consider First The Nature Of The Business In Hand; Then Examine Thy Own Nature, Whether Thou Hast Strength To Undertake It.

Preach Not To Others What They Should Eat, But Eat As Becomes You And Be Silent.

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.

When You Actively Engage In Gradually Refining Yourself, You Retreat From Your Lazy Ways Of Covering Yourself Or Making Excuses. Instead Of Feeling A Persistent Current Of Low-level Shame, You Move Forward By Using The Creative Possibilities Of This Moment, Your Current Situation.

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.

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

No One Who Is In A State Of Fear Or Sorrow Or Tension Is Free, But Whosoever Is Delivered From Sorrows Or Fears Or Anxieties Is At The Same Time Delivered From Servitude.

Wisdom Means Understanding Without Any Doubt That Circumstances Do Not Rise To Meet Our Expectations. Events Happen As They May. People Behave As They Will.

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

-….when Things Seem To Have Reached That Stage, Merely Say “i Won’t Play Any Longer”, And Take Your Departure; But If You Stay, Stop Lamenting.

Never Look For Your Work In One Place And Your Progress In Another.

You May Be Always Victorious If You Will Never Enter Into Any Contest Where The Issue Does Not Wholly Depend Upon Yourself.

Only The Educated Are Free.

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

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

No Man Is Able To Make Progress When He Is Wavering Between Opposite Things.

When We Blather About Trivial Things, We Ourselves Become Trivial, For Our Attention Gets Taken Up With Trivialities. You Become What You Give Your Attention To.

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

Whoever Is Going To Listen To The Philosophers Needs A Considerable Practice In Listening.

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

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?

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

Freedom Is The Only Worthy Goal In Life. It Is Won By Disregarding Things That Lie Beyond Our Control. Stop Aspiring To Be Anyone Other Than Your Own Best Self: For That Does Fall Within Your Control.

Choose The Life That Is Noblest, For Custom Can Make It Sweet To Thee.

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

Every Habit And Faculty Is Preserved And Increased By Correspondent Actions, As The Habit Of Walking, By Walking; Of Running, By Running.

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.

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.

If I Was A Nightingale I Would Sing Like A Nightingale; If A Swan, Like A Swan. But Since I Am A Rational Creature My Role Is To Praise God.

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

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.

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

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 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.

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.

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

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

Envy Is The Antagonist Of The Fortunate.

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.

At Every Occasion In Your Life, Do Not Forget To Commune With Yourself And Ask Of Yourself How You Can Profit By It.

Trending Author

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

William Lyon Mackenzie King

Charles Churchill

Category