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Observe And Contemplate On The Hidden Things Of Life: How A Man's Seed Is But The Beginning, It Takes Others To Bring It To Fruition. Think How Food Undergoes Such Changes To Produce Health And Strength. See The Power Of These Hidden Things Which, Like The Wind Cannot Been Seen, But Its Effects Can Be.

-Marcus Aurelius

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Observe And Contemplate On

Marcus Aurelius

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Observe And Contemplate On The Hidden Things Of Life: How A Man's Seed Is But The Beginning, It Takes Others To Bring It To Fruition. Think How Food Undergoes Such Changes To Produce Health And Strength. See The Power Of These Hidden Things Which, Like The Wind Cannot Been Seen, But Its Effects Can Be.

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We Are Born For Synergy, Just Like The Feet, Just Like The Hands, Just Like The Eyes, Just Like The Rows Of Upper And Lower Teeth. Working Against Each Other Is Unnatural, And Being Annoyed And Turning One's Back Is Counterproductive.

A Little Flesh, A Little Breath, And A Reason To Rule All - That Is Myself.

Whatever Anyone Does Or Says, I Must Be Emerald And Keep My Colour.

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.

Never Act Without Purpose And Resolve, Or Without The Means To Finish The Job.

Each Thing Is Of Like Form From Everlasting And Comes Round Again In Its Cycle...

After All, What Does Fame Everlasting Mean? Mere Vanity.

A Lucky Chance Is Constant In Nothing But Inconstancy.

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?

Wherever A Man Lives, He May Live Well.

The Art Of Living Is More Like Wrestling Than Dancing.

Our Inward Power, When It Obeys Nature, Reacts To Events By Accommodating Itself To What It Faces - To What Is Possible. It Needs No Specific Material. It Pursues Its Own Aims As Circumstances Allow; It Turns Obstacles Into Fuel. As A Fire Overwhelms What Would Have Quenched A Lamp. What's Thrown On Top Of The Conflagration Is Absorbed, Consumed By It - And Makes It Burn Still Higher.

No Longer Let Thy Breathing Only Act In Concert With The Air Which Surrounds Thee, But Let Thy Intelligence Also Now Be In Harmony With The Intelligence Which Embraces All Things. For The Intelligent Power Is No Less Diffused In All Parts And Pervades All Things For Him Who Is Willing To Draw It To Him Than The Aërial Power For Him Who Is Able To Respire It.

This Is Moral Perfection: To Live Each Day As Though It Were The Last; To Be Tranquil, Sincere, Yet Not Indifferent To One's Fate.

The Secret Of All Victory Lies In The Organization Of The Non-obvious.

The One Thing Worth Living For Is To Keep One's Soul Pure.

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.

He That Dies In Extreme Old Age Will Be Reduced To The Same State With Him That Is Cut Down Untimely.

This Thou Must Always Bear In Mind, What Is The Nature Of The Whole, And What Is My Nature, And How This Is Related To That, And What Kind Of A Part It Is Of What Kind Of A Whole; And That There Is No One Who Hinders Thee From Always Doing And Saying The Things Which Are According To The Nature Of Which Thou Art A Part.

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.

I, Who Have Never Willfully Pained Another, Have No Business To Pain Myself.

How Can A Man Find A Sensible Way To Live? One Way And One Only- Philosophy. And My Philosophy Means Keeping That Vital Spark Within You Free From Damage And Degradation, Using It To Transcend Pain And Pleasure, Doing Everything With A Purpose, Avoiding Lies And Hypocrisy, Not Relying On Another Person's Actions Or Failings. To Accept Everything That Comes, And Everything That Is Given, As Coming From That Same Spiritual Source.

Think Of The Universal Substance, Of Which Thou Has A Very Small Portion; And Of Universal Time, Of Which A Short And Indivisible Interval Has Been Assigned To Thee; And Of That Which Is Fixed By Destiny, And How Small A Part Of It Thou Art

The Time Is At Hand When You Will Have Forgotten Everything; And The Time Is At Hand When All Will Have Forgotten You. Always Reflect That Soon You Will Be No One, And Nowhere.

Life Is Short. Do Not Forget About The Most Important Things In Our Life, Living For Other People And Doing Good For Them.

Live Each Day As If It Be Your Last.

All That Is Harmony For You, My Universe, Is In Harmony With Me As Well. Nothing That Comes At The Right Time For You Is Too Early Or Too Late For Me. Everything Is Fruit To Me That Your Seasons Bring, Nature. All Things Come Of You, Have Their Being In You, And Return To You.

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.

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.

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.

Always Follow These Two Rules: First, Act Only On What Your Reasoning Mind Proposes For The Good Of Humanity, And Second, Change Your Opinion If Someone Shows You It's Wrong. This Change Of Mind Must Proceed Only From The Conviction That It's Both Correct And For The Common Good, But Not Because It Will Give You Pleasure And Make You Popular.

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.

To No Man Make Yourself A Boon Companion: Your Joy Will Be Less But Less Will Be Your Grief

Glory Arrives Too Late When It Comes Only To One's Ashes

No One Wearies Of Benefits Received.

Now Departure From The World Of Men Is Nothing To Fear, If Gods Exist: Because They Would Not Involve You In Any Harm. If They Do Not Exist, Or If They Have No Care For Humankind, Then What Is Life To Me In A World Devoid Of Gods, Or Devoid Of Providence? But They Do Exist, And They Do Care For Humankind: And They Have Put It Absolutely In Man's Power To Avoid Falling Into The True Kinds Of Harm.

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.

Man Must Be Arched And Buttressed From Within, Else The Temple Wavers To The Dust.

Live Out Your Life In Truth And Justice, Tolerant Of Those Who Are Neither True Nor Just.

Truth And Justice

How Ridiculous And How Strange To Be Surprised At Anything Which Happens In Life

Let It Judge That Nothing Is Either Bad Or Good Which Can Happen Equally To The Bad Man And The Good. For That Which Happens Equally To Him Who Lives Contrary To Nature And To Him Who Lives According To Nature, Is Neither According To Nature Nor Contrary To Nature.

Man Is Born For Deeds Of Kindness.

Be Not As One That Hath Ten Thousand Years To Live; Death Is Nigh At Hand: While Thou Livest, While Thou Hast Time, Be Good.

It Is Within Our Power Not To Make A Judgement About Something, And So Not Disturb Our Minds; For Nothing In Itself Possesses The Power To Form Our Judgements.

Be Satisfied With Your Business, And Learn To Love What You Were Bred To.

And Thou Wilt Give Thyself Relief, If Thou Doest Every Act Of Thy Life As If It Were The Last.

He Who Does Wrong Does Wrong Against Himself. He Who Acts Unjustly Acts Unjustly To Himself, Because He Makes Himself Bad.

Dig Within. There Lies The Wellspring Of Good.

If You Are Pained By Any External Thing, It Is Not This That Disturbs You, But Your Own Judgment About It.

A Great Estate Is A Great Disadvantage To Those Who Do Not Know How To Use It, For Nothing Is More Common Than To See Wealthy Persons Live Scandalously And Miserably; Riches Do Them No Service In Order To Virtue And Happiness; Therefore 'tis Precept And Principle, Not An Estate, That Makes A Man Good For Something.

Be Not Careless In Deeds, Nor Confused In Words, Nor Rambling In Thought.

The Offender Needs Pity, Not Wrath; Those Who Must Needs Be Corrected, Should Be Treated With Tact And Gentleness; And One Must Be Always Ready To Learn Better. 'the Best Kind Of Revenge Is, Not To Become Like Unto Them.'

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?

Every Soul, The Philosopher Says, Is Involuntarily Deprived Of Truth; Consequently In The Same Way It Is Deprived Of Justice And Temperance And Benevolence And Everything Of The Kind. It Is Most Necessary To Keep This In Mind, For Thus Thou Wilt Be More Gentle Towards All.

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.

You Must Become An Old Man In Good Time If You Wish To Be An Old Man Long.

Understand However That Every Man Is Worth Just So Much As The Things Are Worth About Which He Busies Himself.

The Soul Becomes Dyed With The Color Of Its Thoughts.

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.

Observe The Movements Of The Stars As If You Were Running Their Courses With Them, And Let Your Mind Constantly Dwell On The Changes Of The Elements Into Each Other. Such Imaginings Wash Away The Filth Of Life On The Ground.

Remember How Often You Have Postponed Minding Your Interest, And Let Slip Those Opportunities The Gods Have Given You. It Is Now High Time To Consider What Sort Of World You Are Part Of, And From What Kind Of Governor Of It You Are Descended; That You Have A Set Period Assigned You To Act In, And Unless You Improve It To Brighten And Compose Your Thoughts, It Will Quickly Run Off With You, And Be Lost Beyond Recovery.

Where A Man Can Live, He Can Also Live Well.

How Very Near Us Stand The Two Vast Gulfs Of Time, The Past And The Future, In Which All Things Disappear.

What We Do In Life Ripples In Eternity.

Look To The Essence Of A Thing, Whether It Be A Point Of Doctrine, Of Practice, Or Of Interpretation.

Why Should Anyone Be Afraid Of Change? What Can Take Place Without It? What Can Be More Pleasing Or More Suitable To Universal Nature? Can You Take Your Bath Without The Firewood Undergoing A Change? Can You Eat Without The Food Undergoing A Change? And Can Anything Useful Be Done Without Change? Don't You See That For You To Change Is Just The Same, And Is Equally Necessary For Universal Nature?

The Intelligence Of The Universe Is Social.

It's Silly To Try To Escape Other People's Faults. They Are Inescapable. Just Try To Escape Your Own.

Everything Is But What We Think It.

The Body Of An Actor Can Be Either His Best Friend Or His Worst Enemy.

How Soon Will Time Cover All Things.

In This Flowing Stream, Then, On Which There Is No Abiding, What Is There Of The Things Which Hurry By On Which A Man Would Set A High Price? It Would Be Just As If A Man Should Fall In Love With One Of The Sparrows Which Fly By, But It Has Already Passed Out Of Sight.

Falling In Love

Whatever May Happen To You Was Prepared For You From All Eternity; And The Implication Of Causes Was From Eternity Spinning The Thread Of Your Being.

Is Any Man Afraid Of Change? Why What Can Take Place Without Change? What Then Is More Pleasing Or More Suitable To The Universal Nature?

Nothing Proceeds From Nothingness, As Also Nothing Passes Away Into Non-existence.

Without A Purpose, Nothing Should Be Done.

Thanks To The Gods I Didn't Spend Much Time While Growing Up With My Grandfather's Mistress And Preserved The Flower Of My Youth, Waiting For The Proper Time To Demonstrate My Virility.

If Anyone Can Refute Me-show Me I'm Making A Mistake Or Looking At Things From The Wrong Perspective-i'l L Gladly Change. It's The Truth I'm After, And The Truth Never Harmed Anyone. What Harms Us Is To Persist In Self-deceit And Ignorance.

Even While A Thing Is In The Act Of Coming Into Existence, Some Part Of It Has Already Ceased To Be.

Reject Your Sense Of Injury, And The Injury Itself Disappears.

Know The Joy Of Life By Piling Good Deed On Good Deed Until No Rift Or Cranny Appears Between Them.

Receive Without Conceit, Release Without Struggle.

Death Is A Release From The Impressions Of The Senses, And From Desires That Make Us Their Puppets, And From The Vagaries Of The Mind, And From The Hard Service Of The Flesh.

The Best Way Of Avenging Thyself Is Not To Become Like The Wrong-doer.

It Is In Your Power To Withdraw Yourself Whenever You Desire. Perfect Tranquility Within Consists In The Good Ordering Of The Mind, The Realm Of Your Own.

Always Bear This In Mind, That Very Little Indeed Is Necessary For Living A Happy Life.

Consider In What Condition Both In Body And Soul A Man Should Be When He Is Overtaken By Death; And Consider The Shortness Of Life, The Boundless Abyss Of Time Past And Future, The Feebleness Of All Matter.

A Noble Man Compares And Estimates Himself By An Idea Which Is Higher Than Himself; And A Mean Man, By One Lower Than Himself. The One Produces Aspiration; The Other Ambition, Which Is The Way In Which A Vulgar Man Aspires.

We Are The Other Of The Other

When Men Hate Or Blame You, Or Say Hurtful Things About You, Look Deeply Into Their Hearts And See What Kind Of Men They Are. You'll See How Unnecessary It Is To Strain After Their Good Opinion. Yet You Must Still Think Kindly Of Them. They Are Your Neighbors. The Gods Help Them As They Do You, By Dreams And Oracles, To Win Their Hearts' Desires.

It Is The Duty Of Men To Love Even Those Who Injure Them.

I Consist Of A Little Body And A Soul.

Nature Insists On Whatever Benefits The Whole.

Things That Have A Common Quality Ever Quickly Seek Their Kind.

That Which Is Not Good For The Bee-hive Cannot Be Good For The Bees.

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?

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.

Thou Sufferest Justly: For Thou Choosest Rather To Become Good To-morrow Than To Be Good To-day.

Be Mindful At All Times Of The Following: The Nature Of The Whole Universe, The Nature Of The Part That Is Me, The Relation Of The One To The Other, The One So Vast, The Other So Small.

To Understand The True Quality Of People, You Must Look Into Their Minds, And Examine Their Pursuits And Aversions.

All Things Change, And You Yourself Are Constantly Wasting Away. So Also Is The Universe.

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.

We Are Born For Cooperation, As Are The Feet, The Hands, The Eyelids, And The Upper And Lower Jaws.

No One Can Lose Either The Past Or The Future - How Could Anyone Be Deprived Of What He Does Not Possess? ... It Is Only The Present Moment Of Which Either Stands To Be Deprived: And If This Is All He Has, He Cannot Lose What He Does Not Have.

Put It Out Of The Power Of Truth To Give You An Ill Character. If Anybody Reports You Not To Be An Honest Man Let Your Practice Give Him The Lie.

Remember That All Is Opinion.

Get Rid Of The Judgement ... Get Rid Of The 'i Am Hurt,' You Are Rid Of The Hurt Itself.

Death And Life, Success And Failure, Pain And Pleasure, Wealth And Poverty, All These Happen To Good And Bad Alike, And They Are Neither Noble Nor Shameful - And Hence Neither Good Nor Bad.

From The Philosopher Catulus, Never To Be Dismissive Of A Friend's Accusation, Even If It Seems Unreasonable, But To Make Every Effort To Restore The Relationship To Its Normal Condition.

A Little Time, And Thou Shalt Close Thy Eyes; And Him Who Has Attended Thee To Thy Grave, Another Soon Will Lament.

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.

If Any Man Has Done Wrong, The Harm Is His Own. But Perhaps He Has Not Done Wrong.

Nothing That Goes On In Anyone Else's Mind Can Harm You.

When You Have Been Compelled By Circumstances To Be Disturbed In Any Manner, Quickly Return To Yourself, And Do Not Continue Out Of Tune Longer Than The Compulsion Lasts. You Will Have Increasing Control Over Your Own Harmony By Continually Returning To It.

As Far As You Can, Get Into The Habit Of Asking Yourself In Relation To Any Action Taken By Another: "what Is His Point Of Reference Here?" But Begin With Yourself: Examine Yourself First.

Live Your Life As If You Are Ready To Say Goodbye To It At Any Moment, As If The Time Left For You Were Some Pleasant Surprise.

Pleasant Surprises

Keep Reminding Yourself Of The Way Things Are Connected, Of Great Relatedness. All Things Are Implicated In One Another And In Sympathy With Each Other. This Event Is The Consequence Of Some Other One. Things Push And Pull On Each Other, And Breathe Together, And Are One.

Every Instant Of Time... Is A Pinprick Of Eternity.

A Person's Worth Is Measured By The Worth Of What He Values.

Take The Shortest Route. The One That Nature Planned - To Speak And Act In The Healthiest Way. Do That, And Be Free Of Pain And Stress, Free Of All Calculations And Pretension.

Remember That All Things Are Only Opinion And That It Is In Your Power To Think As You Please.

The Main Thing We Were Made For Is To Work With Others.

Thou Art A Little Soul Bearing About A Corpse.

So Much Worse Are The Consequences Of Anger Than Its Causes.

Be Content To Seem What You Really Are.

Loving Yourself

Self Acceptance

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.

Doth Perfect Beauty Stand In Need Of Praise At All? Nay; No More Than Law, No More Than Truth, No More Than Loving Kindness, Nor Than Modesty.

Each Of Us Lives Only Now, This Brief Instant. The Rest Been Lived Already, Or Is Impossible To See. The Span We Live Is Small - Small As The Corner Of The Earth In Which We Live It.

The World Is Mere Change, And This Life, Opinion.

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.

All Things Are Linked With One Another, And This Oneness Is Sacred; There Is Nothing That Is Not Interconnected With Everything Else. For Things Are Interdependent, And They Combine To Form This Universal Order. There Is Only One Universe Made Up Of All Things, And One Creator Who Pervades Them; There Is One Substance And One Law, Namely, Common Reason In All Thinking Creatures, And All Truth Is One-if, As We Believe, There Is Only One Path Of Perfection For All Beings Who Share The Same Mind.

Failing To Understand The Workings Of One's Own Mind Is Bound To Lead To Unhappiness.

Since It Is Possible That Thou Mayest Depart From Life This Very Moment, Regulate Every Act And Thought Accordingly. But To Go Away From Among Men, If There Are Gods, Is Not A Thing To Be Afraid Of, For The Gods Will Not Involve Thee In Evil; But If Indeed They Do Not Exist, Or If They Have No Concern About Human Affairs, What Is It To Me To Live In A Universe Devoid Of Gods Or Devoid Of Providence? But Gods There Are, Undoubtedly, And They Regard Human Affairs; And Have Put It Wholly In Our Power, That We Should Not Fall Into What Is Truly Evil.

The Only Wealth Which You Will Keep Forever Is The Wealth You Have Given Away.

Keep Moving Forward

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.

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.

Death, Like Birth, Is A Secret Of Nature.

The Universe Is In Change, Life Is An Opinion.

Love The People With Whom Fate Brings You Together

Why Should Any Of These Things That Happen Externally Distract Thee? Give Thyself Leisure To Learn Some Good Thing: Cease Roving To And Fro.

When Men Are Inhuman, Take Care Not To Feel Towards Them As They Do Towards Other Humans.

A Man's Happiness,-to Do The Things Proper To Man.

Each Day Provides Its Own Gifts.

It Is Not Death That A Man Should Fear, But He Should Fear Never Beginning To Live.

Life Is A Warfare And A Stranger's Sojourn, And After Fame Is Oblivion.

I Cannot Comprehend How Any Man Can Want Anything But The Truth.

What We Do Now Echoes In Eternity.

Is Your Cucumber Bitter? Throw It Away. Are There Briars In Your Path? Turn Aside. That Is Enough. Do Not Go On And Ay, 'why Were Things Of This Sort Ever Brought Into The World?'

Either All Things Proceed From One Intelligent Source And Come Together As In One Body, And The Part Ought Not To Find Fault With What Is Done For The Benefit Of The Whole; Or There Are Only Atoms, And Nothing Else Than A Mixture And Dispersion. Why, Then, Art Thou Disturbed? Say To This Ruling Faculty, Art Thou Dead, Art Thou Corrupted, Art Thou Playing The Hypocrite, Art Thou Become A Beast, Dost Thou Herd And Feed With The Rest?

Remember That Neither The Future Nor The Past Pains Thee, But Only The Present. But This Is Reduced To A Very Little, If Thou Only Circumscribest It, And Chidest Thy Mind, If It Is Unable To Hold Out Against Even This.

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.

Find Time Still To Be Learning Somewhat Good, And Give Up Being Desultory.

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.

To Refrain From Imitation Is The Best Revenge.

When We Consider We Are Bound To Be Serviceable To Mankind, And Bear With Their Faults, We Shall Perceive There Is A Common Tie Of Nature And Relation Between Us.

Anger Cannot Be Dishonest.

Say To Yourself In The Early Morning: I Shall Meet Today Ungrateful, Violent, Treacherous, Envious, Uncharitable Men. All Of These Things Have Come Upon Them Through Ignorance Of Real Good And Ill... I Can Neither Be Harmed By Any Of Them, For No Man Will Involve Me In Wrong, Nor Can I Be Angry With My Kinsman Or Hate Him; For We Have Come Into The World To Work Together.

And In The Case Of Superior Things Like Stars, We Discover A Kind Of Unity In Separation. The Higher We Rise On The Scale Of Being, The Easier It Is To Discern A Connection Even Among Things Separated By Vast Distances.

For A Man Can Lose Neither The Past Nor The Future; For How Can One Take From Him That Which Is Not His? So Remember These Two Points: First, That Each Thing Is Of Like Form From Everlasting And Comes Round Again In Its Cycle, And That It Signifies Not Whether A Man Shall Look Upon The Same Things For A Hundred Years Or Two Hundred, Or For An Infinity Of Time; Second, That The Longest Lived And The Shortest Lived Man, When They Come To Die, Lose One And The Same Thing.

All Things Of The Body Stream Away Like A River, All Things Of The Mind Are Dreams And Delusion; Life Is Warfare, And A Visit To A Strange Land; The Only Lasting Fame Is Oblivion.

What Springs From Earth Dissolves To Earth Again, And Heaven-born Things Fly To Their Native Seat.

Whenever You Are About To Find Fault With Someone, Ask Yourself The Following Question: What Fault Of Mine Most Nearly Resembles The One I Am About To Criticize?

He Who Follows Reason In All Things Is Both Tranquil And Active At The Same Time, And Also Cheerful And Collected.

If Man Reflects On The Changes And Transformations Which Follow One Another Like Wave After Wave And Their Rapidity, He Will Despise Everything Which Is Perishable.

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.

Always Take The Short Cut; And That Is The Rational One. Therefore Say And Do Everything According To Soundest Reason.

All Things Are The Same, Familiar In Enterprise, Momentary In Endurance, Coarse In Substance. All Things Now Are As They Were In The Day Of Those Whom We Have Buried.

Live With The Gods. And He Does So Who Constantly Shows Them That His Soul Is Satisfied With What Is Assigned To Him.

All Things Are In The Act Of Change; Thou Thyself In Ceaseless Transformation And Partial Decay, And The Whole Universe With Thee.

Treat With Utmost Respect Your Power Of Forming Opinions, For This Power Alone Guards You Against Making Assumptions That Are Contrary To Nature And Judgments That Overthrow The Rule Of Reason.

Direct Thy Attention To What Is Said. Let Thy Understanding Enter Into The Things That Are Doing And The Things Which Do Them.

That Which Comes After Ever Conforms To That Which Has Gone Before.

The Act Of Dying Is One Of The Acts Of Life.

Remind Oneself Continually Of One Of Those Who Practiced Virtue In Days Gone By.

Let Thy Chief Fort And Place Of Defense Be A Mind Free From Passions. A Stronger Place And Better Fortified Than This, Hath No Man.

It Is Not Fit That I Should Give Myself Pain, For I Have Never Intentionally Given Pain Even To Another.

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.

Nothing Befalls A Man Except What Is In His Nature To Endure.

Life Is Neither Good Or Evil, But Only A Place For Good And Evil.

The Healthy Eye Ought To See All Visible Things And Not To Say, I Wish For Green Things; For This Is The Condition Of A Diseased Eye.

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?

God Overrules All Mutinous Accidents, Brings Them Under His Laws Of Fate, And Makes Them All Serviceable To His Purpose.

Look Within, For Within Is The Wellspring Of Virtue, Which Will Not Cease Flowing, If You Cease Not From Digging.

Self Improvement

It's Time You Realized That You Have Something In You More Powerful And Miraculous Than The Things That Affect You And Make You Dance Like A Puppet.

Our Life Is What Our Thoughts Make It. Do Every Act Of Your Life As If It Were Your Last. In A Word, Your Life Is Short. You Must Make The Most Of The Present With The Aid Of Reason And Justice. Since It Is Possible That You May Be Quitting Life This Very Moment, Govern Every Act And Thought Accordingly.

The True Worth Of A Man Is To Be Measured By The Objects He Pursues.

If It's In Your Control, Why Do You Do It? If It's In Someone Else's Control, Then Who Are You Blaming? Atoms? The Gods? Stupid Either Way. Blame No One. Set People Straight, If You Can. If Not, Just Repair The Damage.

If Unwilling To Rise In The Morning, Say To Thyself, 'i Awake To Do The Work Of A Man.'

Everything Is Banal In Experience, Fleeting In Duration, Sordid In Content; In All Respects The Same Today As Generations Now Dead And Buried Have Found It To Be.

All Men Are Made One For Another: Either Then Teach Them Better Or Bear With Them.

Vex Not Thy Spirit At The Course Of Things, They Heed Not Thy Vexations

A Man Must Stand Erect, Not Be Kept Erect By Others.

Keep Constantly In Mind In How Many Things You Yourself Have Witnessed Changes Already. The Universe Is Change, Life Is Understanding.

You Have To Assemble Your Life Yourself - Action By Action.

There Is But One Thing Of Real Value - To Cultivate Truth And Justice, And To Live Without Anger In The Midst Of Lying And Unjust Men.

How Many After Being Celebrated By Fame Have Been Given Up To Oblivion; And How Many Who Have Celebrated The Fame Of Others Have Long Been Dead.

Let No Act Be Done Without Purpose.

The Inner Master, When Confronted With An Obstacle, Uses It As Fuel, Like A Fire Which Consumes Things That Are Thrown Into It. A Small Lamp Would Be Snuffed Out, But A Big Fire Will Engulf What Is Thrown At It And Burn Hotter; It Consumes The Obstacle And Uses It To Reach A Higher Level.

Everything That Exists Is In A Manner The Seed Of That Which Will Be.

This Thou Must Always Bear In Mind, What Is The Nature Of The Whole.

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