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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.

-Marcus Aurelius

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Rememberest The Gods, And

Marcus Aurelius

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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.

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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.

Light May Earth's Crumbling Sand Be Laid On Thee, That Dogs May Dig Thy Bones Up Easily

For Any Particular Thing, Ask: What Is It In Itself? What Is Its Nature?

Withdraw To The Untroubled Quietude Deep Within The Soul, And Refresh Yourself.

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

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.

Does A Man Shrink From Change? Why, What Can Come Into Being Save By Change?

Constantly Contemplate The Whole Of Time And The Whole Of Substance, And Consider That All Individual Things As To Substance Are A Grain Of A Fig, And As To Time The Turning Of A Gimlet .

Which Is Recorded Of Socrates, That He Was Able Both To Abstain From, And To Enjoy, Those Things Which Many Are Too Weak To Abstain From, And Cannot Enjoy Without Excess. But To Be Strong Enough Both To Bear The One And To Be Sober In The Other Is The Mark Of A Man Who Has A Perfect And Invincible Soul.

The Greatest Part Of What We Say And Do Is Really Unnecessary. If A Man Takes This To Heart, He Will Have More Leisure And Less Uneasiness.

If It's Time For You To Go, Leave Willingly - As You Would To Accomplish Anything That Can Be Done With Grace And Honor.

Whatever May Happen To Thee, It Was Prepared For Thee From All Eternity.

While You Live, While It Is In Your Power, Be Good.

Let Your One Delight And Refreshment Be To Pass From One Service To The Community To Another, With God Ever In Mind.

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?

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

The Nature Of The Universe Is The Nature Of Things That Are. Now, Things That Are Have Kinship With Things That Are From The Beginning. Further, This Nature Is Styled Truth; And It Is The First Cause Of All That Is True.

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

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

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.

The Noblest Kind Of Retribution Is Not To Become Like Your Enemy.

Words Of Wisdom

Regain Your Senses, Call Yourself Back, And Once Again Wake Up. Now That You Realize That Only Dreams Were Troubling You, View This 'reality' As You View Your Dreams.

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

When You Have Done A Good Deed That Another Has Had The Benefit Of, Why Do You Need A Third Reward-as Fools Do-praise For Having Done Well Or Looking For A Favor In Return.

Look Well Into Thyself; There Is A Source Of Strength Which Will Always Spring Up If Thou Wilt Always Look.

In Reading And Writing, You Cannot Lay Down Rules Until You Have Learnt To Obey Them. Much More So In Life.

Reading And Writing

Remember That All Is Opinion.

Begin - To Begin Is Half The Work, Let Half Still Remain; Again Begin This, And Thou Wilt Have Finished.

Reflect Frequently Upon The Instability Of Things, And How Very Fast The Scenes Of Nature Are Shifted. Matter Is In Perpetual Flux. Change Is Always And Everywhere At Work; It Strikes Through Causes And Effects, And Leaves Nothing Fixed And Permanent.

Love Only What Befalls You And Is Spun For You By Fate.

Unhappy Am I Because This Has Happened To Me.- Not So, But Happy Am I, Though This Has Happened To Me, Because I Continue Free From Pain, Neither Crushed By The Present Nor Fearing The Future.

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.

Every Being Ought To Do That Which Is According To Its Constitution; And All Other Things Have Been Constituted For The Sake Of The Superior, But The Rational For The Sake Of One Another.

Let Men See, Let Them Know, A Real Man, Who Lives As He Was Meant To Live.

It Is A Sin To Persue Pleasure As A Good And To Avoid Pain As A Evil.

Adapt Yourself To The Things Among Which Your Lot Has Been Cast And Love Sincerely The Fellow Creatures With Whom Destiny Has Ordained That You Shall Live.

Soon You Will Have Forgotten The World, And Soon The World Will Have Forgotten You.

Tomorrow Is Nothing, Today Is Too Late; The Good Lived Yesterday.

A Wrongdoer Is Often A Man Who Has Left Something Undone, Not Always One Who Has Done Something.

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.

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.

No One Can Keep You From Living As Your Nature Requires. Nothings Can Happen To You That Is Not Required By Nature.

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.

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

Keep Yourself Simple, Good, Pure, Serious, And Unassuming; The Friend Of Justice And Godliness; Kindly, Affectionate, And Resolute In Your Devotion To Duty.

There Is A Limit Circumscribed To Your Time – If You Do Not Use It To Clear Away Your Clouds, It Will Be Gone, And You Will Be Gone, And The Opportunity Will Not Return

All Things From Eternity Are Of Like Forms And Come Round In Circle.

Give Full Attention And Devotion To Each Act.

Let Not Your Mind Run On What You Lack As Much As On What You Have Already.

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

The Universe Is Transformation: Life Is Opinion.

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.

Think Of Yourself As Dead. You Have Lived Your Life. Now, Take What's Left And Live It Properly. What Doesn't Transmit Light Creates Its Own Darkness.

Vex Not Thy Spirit At The Course Of Things; They Heed Not Thy Vexation. How Ludicrous And Outlandish Is Astonishment At Anything That May Happen In Life.

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.

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

Look Within. Within Is The Fountain Of Good, And It Will Ever Bubble Up, If Thou Wilt Ever Dig.

Self Confidence

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.

People Generally Despise Where They Flatter, And Cringe To Those They Would Gladly Overtop; So That Truth And Ceremony Are Two Things.

Give Thyself Time To Learn Something New And Good, And Cease To Be Whirled Around.

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?

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.

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?

To Them That Ask: Where Hast Thou Seen The Gods, Or How Knowest Thou Certainly That There Be Gods, That Thou Art So Devout In Their Worship? I Answer: Neither Have I Seen My Own Soul, And Yet I Respect And Honor It.

Wherever A Man Lives, He May Live Well.

Enough Of This Wretched Life And Murmuring And Apish Tricks. Why Art Thou Disturbed? What Is There New In This? What Unsettles Thee? Is It The Form Of The Thing? Look At It. Or Is It The Matter? Look At It. But Besides These There Is Nothing. Towards The Gods, Then, Now Become At Last More Simple And Better. It Is The Same Whether We Examine These Things For A Hundred Years Or Three.

Nothing Can Come Out Of Nothing, Any More Than A Thing Can Go Back To Nothing.

The Happiness And Unhappiness Of The Rational, Social Animal Depends Not On What He Feels But On What He Does; Just As His Virtue And Vice Consist Not In Feeling But In Doing.

The Gods Gave Me A Father Who Ruled Over Me And Rid Me Of Any Trace Of Arrogance And Showed Me That One Can Live In A Palace Without Bodyguards, Extravagant Attire, Chandeliers, Statues, And Other Luxuries. He Taught Me That It Is Possible To Live Instead Pretty Much In The Manner Of A Private Citizen Without Losing Any Of The Dignity And Authority A Ruler Must Possess To Discharge His Imperial Duties Effectively.

In The Same Degree In Which A Man's Mind Is Nearer To Freedom From All Passion, In The Same Degree Also Is It Nearer To Strength.

Are You Distracted By Outward Cares? Then Allow Yourself A Space Of Quiet Wherein You Can Add To Your Knowledge Of The Good And Learn To Curb Your Restlessness. Nowhere Can A Man Find A Quieter Or More Untroubled Retreat Than In His Own Soul. Avail Yourself Often, Then, Of This Retirement, And So Continually Renew Yourself.

Such As Are Thy Habitual Thoughts, Such Also Will Be The Character Of Thy Mind; For The Soul Is Dyed By The Thoughts.

Give Yourself A Gift: The Present Moment.

The Universal Nature Out Of The Universal Substance, As If It Were Wax, Now Molds A Horse, And When It Has Broken This Up, It Uses The Material For A Tree, Then For A Man, Then For Something Else.

What Use Do I Put My Soul To? It Is A Serviceable Question This, And Should Frequently Be Put To Oneself. How Does My Ruling Part Stand Affected? And Whose Soul Have I Now? That Of A Child, Or A Young Man, Or A Feeble Woman, Or Of A Tyrant, Of Cattle Or Wild Beasts.

We Ought To Do Good To Others As Simply As A Horse Runs, Or A Bee Makes Honey, Or A Vine Bears Grapes Season After Season Without Thinking Of The Grapes It Has Borne.

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

...the Infallible Man Does Not Exist.

To A Rational Being It Is The Same Thing To Act According To Nature And According To Reason.

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.

Just As The Sand-dunes, Heaped One Upon Another, Hide Each The First, So In Life The Former Deeds Are Quickly Hidden By Those That Follow After.

All Things Fade And Quickly Turn To Myth.

When You Are Offended At Anyone's Fault, Turn To Yourself And Study Your Own Failings. By Attending To Them, You Will Forget Your Anger And Learn To Live Wisely.

Most Of What We Say And Do Is Not Essential. If You Can Eliminate It, You'll Have More Time, And More Tranquillity. Ask Yourself At Every Moment, 'is This Necessary?'

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.

The Universe Is In Change, Life Is An Opinion.

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.

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

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.

The World Is A Living Being - One Nature, One Soul. Keep That In Mind.

Because A Thing Seems Difficult For You, Do Not Think It Impossible For Anyone To Accomplish.

...small Too Even The Longest Fame Thereafter, Which Is Itself Subject To A Succession Of Little Men Who Quickly Die, And Have No Knowledge Of Themselves, Let Alone Of Those Long Dead.

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

Things Themselves Cannot Touch The Soul, Not In The Least Degree, Nor Have They Admission To The Soul Nor Can They Turn Or Move The Soul: It Turns And Moves Itself Alone And Whatever Judgment It May Think Proper To Make, Such It Makes By Remaking For Itself The Things That Present Themselves To It

The Nature Of The All Moved To Make The Universe.

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.

Thou Art A Little Soul Bearing About A Corpse.

We Are Born For Cooperation

Though You Break Your Heart, Men Will Go On As Before.

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

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

Why Should A Man Have Any Apprehension About The Change And Dissolution Of All The Elements? For It Is According To Nature, And Nothing Is Evil Which Is According To Nature.

At Day's First Light Have In Readiness, Against Disinclination To Leave Your Bed, The Thought That "i Am Rising For The Work Of Man."

Everything That Happens Either Happens In Such A Way As You Are Formed By Nature To Bear It, Or As You Are Not Formed By Nature To Bear It.

It Is Satisfaction To A Man To Do The Proper Works Of A Man.

Receive The Gifts Of Fortune Without Pride, And Part With Them Without Reluctance.

In The Morning, When You Are Sluggish About Getting Up, Let This Thought Be Present: 'i Am Rising To A Man's Work.'

Think Of The Country Mouse And Of The Town Mouse, And Of The Alarm And Trepidation Of The Town Mouse.

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.

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?

Love The Little Trade Which Thou Hast Learned, And Be Content Therewith.

Pray Look Upon The Plants And Birds, The Ants, Spiders, And Bees, And You Will See Them All Exerting Their Nature, And Busy In Their Station. Pray, Shall Not A Man Act Like A Man?

Forward, As Occasion Offers. Never Look Round To See Whether Any Shall Note It.... Be Satisfied With Success In Even The Smallest Matter, And Think That Even Such A Result Is No Trifle.

Here Is The Rule To Remember In The Future, When Anything Tempts You To Be Bitter: Not, 'this Is A Misfortune' But 'to Bear This Worthily Is Good Fortune.'

It Is Right That Man Should Love Those Who Have Offended Him. He Will Do So When He Remembers That All Men Are His Relations, And That It Is Through Ignorance And Involuntarily That They Sin,--and Then We All Die So Soon.

The Soul Is Dyed By The Thoughts. Dye It Then, With A Continuous Series Of Such Thoughts As These - That Where A Man Can Live, There - If He Will - He Can Also Live Well.

Happiness Is No Other Than Soundness And Perfection Of Mind.

Enter Others' Minds And Let Them Enter Yours.

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.

He Who Pays No Attention To What His Neighbor Does, Says Or Thinks, Preferring To Concentrate On Making His Own Actions Appropriate And Justifiable, Better Uses His Time.

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.

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.

A Rational Nature Admits Of Nothing But What Is Serviceable To The Rest Of Mankind.

Do Not Act As If You Had A Thousand Years To Live.

Procrastination

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.

Outward Objects Cannot Take Hold Of The Soul, Nor Force Their Passage Into Her, Nor Set Any Of Her Wheels Going. No, The Impression Comes From Herself, And It Is Her Own Motions Which Affect Her. As For The Contingencies Of Fortune, They Are Either Great Or Little, According To The Opinion She Has Of Her Own Strength.

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.

Deem Not Life A Thing Of Consequence. For Look At The Yawning Void Of The Future, And At That Other Limitless Space, The Past.

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.

We Must Press On Then, In Haste; Not Simply Because Every Hour Brings Us Nearer To Death, But Because Even Before Then Our Powers Of Perception And Comprehension Begin To Deteriorate.

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

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.

How Many Together With Whom I Came Into The World Are Already Gone Out Of It.

Doctors Keep Their Scalpels And Other Instruments Handy, For Emergencies. Keep Your Philosophy Ready Too - Ready To Understand Heaven And Earth. In Everything You Do, Even The Smallest Thing, Remember The Chain That Links Them. Nothing Earthly Succeeds By Ignoring Heaven, Nothing Heavenly By Ignoring Earth.

The Sinner Sins Against Himself; The Wrongdoer Wrongs Himself, Becoming The Worse By His Own Action.

If Thou Canst See Sharp, Look And Judge Wisely, Says The Philosopher.

...the Sole Thing Of Which Any Man Can Be Deprived Is The Present; Since This Is All He Owns, And Nobody Can Lose What Is Not His.

A Man Makes No Noise Over A Good Deed, But Passes On To Another As A Vine To Bear Grapes Again In Season.

Does The Light Of The Lamp Shine Without Losing Its Splendour Until It Is Extinguished; And Shall The Truth Which Is In Thee And Justice And Temperance Be Extinguished Before Thy Death?

If The Gods Care Not For Me And For My Children, There Is A Reason For It.

Try To Live The Life Of The Good Man Who Is More Than Content With What Is Allocated To Him.

I Consist Of A Little Body And A Soul.

Frequently Consider The Connection Of All Things In The Universe. .. We Should Not Say 'i Am An Athenian' Or 'i Am A Roman' But 'i Am A Citizen Of The Universe.

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?

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

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

Or Is It Your Reputation That's Bothering You? But Look At How Soon We're All Forgotten. The Abyss Of Endless Time That Swallows It All. The Emptiness Of Those Applauding Hands. The People Who Praise Us; How Capricious They Are, How Arbitrary. And The Tiny Region It Takes Place. The Whole Earth A Point In Space - And Most Of It Uninhabited.

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

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.

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.

Do Not Waste What Remains Of Your Life In Speculating About Your Neighbors, Unless With A View To Some Mutual Benefit. To Wonder What So-and-so Is Doing And Why, Or What He Is Saying, Or Thinking, Or Scheming -- In A Word, Anything That Distracts You From Fidelity To The Ruler Within You -- Means A Loss Of Opportunity For Some Other Task.

Severally On The Occasion Of Everything That Thou Doest, Pause And Ask Thyself, If Death Is A Dreadful Thing Because It Deprives Thee Of This.

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

The Object Of Life Is Not To Be On The Side Of The Majority, But To Escape Finding Oneself In The Ranks Of The Insane.

Men Despise One Another And Flatter One Another; And Men Wish To Raise Themselves Above One Another, And Crouch Before One Another.

When Another Blames You Or Hates You, Or People Voice Similar Criticisms, Go To Their Souls, Penetrate Inside And See What Sort Of People They Are. You Will Realize That There Is No Need To Be Racked With Anxiety That They Should Hold Any Particular Opinion About You.

Live Each Day As If It Be Your Last.

Leave Other People's Mistakes Where They Lie.

As Thou Thyself Art A Component Part Of A Social System, So Let Every Act Of Thine Be A Component Part Of Social Life. Whatever Act Of Thine That Has No Reference, Either Immediately Or Remotely, To A Social End, This Tears Asunder Thy Life, And Does Not Allow It To Be One, And It Is Of The Nature Of A Mutiny, Just As When In A Popular Assembly A Man Acting By Himself Stands Apart From The General Agreement.

If You Separate From . . . Everything You Have Done In The Past, Everything That Disturbs You About The Future . . . And Apply Yourself To Living The Life That You Are Living-that Is To Say, The Present-you Can Live All The Time That Remains To You Until Your Death In Calm, Benevolence, And Serenity.

If You Are Distressed By Anything External, The Pain Is Not Due To The Thing Itself, But To Your Estimate Of It; And This You Have The Power To Revoke At Any Moment.

An Angry Look On The Face Is Wholly Against Nature. If It Be Assumed Frequently, Beauty Begins To Perish, And In The End Is Quenched Beyond Rekindling.

Whoever Values Peace Of Mind And The Health Of The Soul Will Live The Best Of All Possible Lives.

Your Task Is To Stand Straight; Not To Be Held Straight.

If This Is Neither My Own Badness, Nor An Effect Of My Own Badness, And The Common Weal Is Not Injured, Why Am I Troubled About It? And What Is The Harm To The Common Weal?

You Have Power Over Your Mind - Not Outside Events. Realize This, And You Will Find Strength.

The Lot Assigned To Every Man Is Suited To Him, And Suits Him To Itself.

Do You See What Little Is Required Of A Man To Live A Well-tempered And God-fearing Life? Obey These Precepts, And The Gods Will Ask Nothing More.

The Happiness Of Your Life Depends Upon The Quality Of Your Thoughts.

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.

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.

Everything Is Mere Opinion.

Men Exist For The Sake Of One Another.

He Who Flies From His Master Is A Runaway; But The Law Is Master, And He Who Breaks The Law Is A Runaway. And He Also Who Is Grieved Or Angry Or Afraid, Is Dissatisfied Because Something Has Been Or Is Or Shall Be Of The Things Which Are Appointed By Him Who Rules All Things, And He Is Law, And Assigns To Every Man What Is Fit. He Then Who Fears Or Is Grieved Or Is Angry Is A Runaway.

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.

When You Find An Unwillingness To Rise Early In The Morning, Make This Short Speech To Yourself: I Am Getting Up Now To Do The Business Of A Man; And Am I Out Of Humour For Going About That I Was Made For, And For The Sake Of Which I Was Sent Into The World? Was I Then Designed For Nothing But To Doze And Keep Warm Beneath The Counterpane? Well! But This Is A Comfortable Way Of Living.

The World Is Nothing But Change, Our Life Is Only Perception.

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.

Do Not Disturb Yourself By Picturing Your Life As A Whole; Do Not Assemble In Your Mind The Many And Varied Troubles Which Have Come To You In The Past And Will Come Again In The Future, But Ask Yourself With Regard To Every Present Difficulty: 'what Is There In This That Is Unbearable And Beyond Endurance?'

There Is No Man So Blessed That Some Who Stand By His Deathbed Won't Hail The Occasion With Delight.

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.

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.

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

Every Moment Think Steadily As A Roman And A Man To Do What Thou Hast In Hand With Perfect And Simple Dignity, And Feeling Of Affection, And Freedom, And Justice; And To Give Thyself Relief From All Other Thoughts. And Thou Wilt Give Thyself Relief, If Thou Doest Every Act Of Thy Life As If It Were The Last, Laying Aside All Carelessness And Passionate Aversion From The Commands Of Reason, And All Hypocrisy, And Self-love, And Discontent With The Portion Which Has Been Given To Thee.

From Plato: The Man Who Has An Elevated Mind And Takes A View Of All Time And Of All Substance, Dost Thou Suppose It Possible For Him To Think That Human Life Is Anything Great? It Is Not Possible, He Said. Such A Man Then Will Think That Death Also Is No Evil.

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.

The Things You Think About Determine The Quality Of Your Mind. Your Soul Takes On The Color Of Your Thoughts.

Positive Thinking

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.

Above, Below, All Around Are The Movements Of The Elements. But The Motion Of Virtue Is In None Of These: It Is Something More Divine, And Advancing By A Way Hardly Observed It Goes Happily On Its Road.

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

If Any Man Despises Me, That Is His Problem. My Only Concern Is Not Doing Or Saying Anything Deserving Of Contempt.

Anger Cannot Be Dishonest.

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.

Never Esteem Anything As Of Advantage To You That Will Make You Break Your Word Or Lose Your Self-respect.

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.

A Man's Worth Is No Greater Than His Ambitions.

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.

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.

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

You Don't Have To Turn This Into Something. It Doesn't Have To Upset You. Things Can't Shape Our Decisions By Themselves.

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