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Time Is A Sort Of River Of Passing Events, And Strong Is Its Current; No Sooner Is A Thing Brought To Sight Than It Is Swept By And Another Takes Its Place, And This Too Will Be Swept Away.

-Marcus Aurelius

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Time Is A Sort

Marcus Aurelius

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Time Is A Sort Of River Of Passing Events, And Strong Is Its Current; No Sooner Is A Thing Brought To Sight Than It Is Swept By And Another Takes Its Place, And This Too Will Be Swept Away.

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...the Infallible Man Does Not Exist.

Tranquility Is Nothing Else Than The Good Ordering Of The Mind.

Think Of What You Have Rather Than Of What You Lack. Of The Things You Have, Select The Best And Then Reflect How Eagerly You Would Have Sought Them If You Did Not Have Them.

Everything Is In A State Of Metamorphosis. Thou Thyself Art In Everlasting Change And In Corruption To Correspond; So Is The Whole Universe.

It Is A Disgrace To Let Ignorance And Vanity Do More With Us Than Prudence And Principle.

Give Yourself A Gift: The Present Moment.

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

The Wise Man Sees In The Misfortune Of Others What He Should Avoid.

In The End, What Would You Gain From Everlasting Remembrance? Absolutely Nothing. So What Is Left Worth Living For? This Alone: Justice In Thought, Goodness In Action, Speech That Cannot Deceive, And A Disposition Glad Of Whatever Comes, Welcoming It As Necessary, As Familiar, As Flowing From The Same Source And Fountain As Yourself.

If You Are Pained By External Things, It Is Not They That Disturb You, But Your Own Judgement Of Them. And It Is In Your Power To Wipe Out That Judgement Now.

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

Observe Constantly That All Things Take Place By Change.

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

Truth And Justice

What We Do In Life Ripples In Eternity.

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

All That Is Not Eternal Is Eternally Out Of Date. C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves Life Is Short. Eternity Is Long. Bentley Little, His Father's Son What We Do Now Echoes In Eternity.

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

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

He Who Has Seen Present Things Has Seen All, Both Everything Which Has Taken Place From All Eternity And Everything Which Will Be For Time Without End; For All Things Are Of One Kin And Of One Form.

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.

Men Exist For Each Other. Then Either Improve Them, Or Put Up With Them.

The True Joy Of Humankind Is In Doing That Which Is Most Proper To Our Nature; And The First Property Of People Is To Be Kindly Affected Towards Them That Are Of One Kind With Ourselves.

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.'

Aptitude Found In The Understanding And Is Often Inherited. Genius Coming From Reason And Imagination, Rarely.

Vivid Imagination

Life Is A Campaign, A Brief Staying In A Strange Region.

As For Life, It Is A Battle And A Sojourning In A Strange Land; But The Fame That Comes After Is Oblivion.

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

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

People Exist For One Another.

Everything That Happens, Happens As It Should.

But If We Judge Only Those Things Which Are In Our Power To Be Good Or Bad, There Remains No Reason Either For Finding Fault With God Or Standing In A Hostile Attitude To Man.

Think Of All The Years Passed By In Which You Said To Yourself "i'll Do It Tomorrow," And How The Gods Have Again And Again Granted You Periods Of Grace Of Which You Have Not Availed Yourself. It Is Time To Realize That You Are A Member Of The Universe, That You Are Born Of Nature Itself, And To Know That A Limit Has Been Set To Your Time. Use Every Moment Wisely, To Perceive Your Inner Refulgence, Or 'twill Be Gone And Nevermore Within Your Reach.

Procrastination

All Things Are Changing; And Thou Thyself Art In Continuous Mutation And In A Manner In Continuous Destruction And The Whole Universe To.

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.

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.

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.

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.

It Is A Shame For The Soul To Be First To Give Way In This Life, When Thy Body Does Not Give Way.

Consider That Everything Is Opinion, And Opinion Is In Thy Power.

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

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

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.

Every Living Organism Is Fulfilled When It Follows The Right Path For Its Own Nature.

Living Organisms

Your Manners Will Depend Very Much Upon The Quality Of What You Frequently Think On; For The Soul Is As It Were Tinged With The Colour And Complexion Of Thought.

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.

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.

The Gods Sustain And Guide All Their Works.

Frightened Of Change? But What Can Exist Without It? What's Closer To Nature's Heart? Can You Take A Hot Bath And Leave The Firewood As It Was? Eat Food Without Transforming It? Can Any Vital Process Take Place Without Something Being Changed? Can't You See? It's Just The Same With You - And Just As Vital To Nature.

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.

Flinch Not, Neither Give Up Nor Despair, If The Achieving Of Every Act In Accordance With Right Principle Is Not Always Continuous With Thee.

...in The Ways Of Nature There Is No Evil To Be Found.

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

Keep Moving Forward

Do Not Be Wise In Words - Be Wise In Deeds.

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

Think Not Disdainfully Of Death, But Look On It With Favor; For Even Death Is One Of The Things That Nature Wills.

Dwell On The Beauty Of Life. Watch The Stars, And See Yourself Running With Them.

That Which Has Died Falls Not Out Of The Universe. If It Stays Here, It Also Changes Here, And Is Dissolved Into Its Proper Parts, Which Are Elements Of The Universe And Of Thyself. And These Too Change, And They Murmur Not".

Your Time Has A Limit Set To It. Use It, Then, To Advance Your Enlightenment; Or It Will Be Gone, And Never In Your Power Again.

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.

Whosoever Does Wrong, Wrongs Himself; Whosoever Does Injustice, Does It To Himself, Making Himself Evil.

...if A Man Comes To His Fortieth Year, And Has Any Understanding At All, He Has Virtually Seen - Thanks To Their Similarity - All Possible Happenings, Both Past And To Come.

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

Accept The Things To Which Fate Binds You, And Love The People With Whom Fate Brings You Together, But Do So With All Your Heart.

All That Happens Is As Usual And Familiar As The Rose In Spring And The Crop In Summer.

He Who Lives In Harmony With Himself Lives In Harmony With The Universe.

Once You Have Done A Man A Service, What More Reward Would You Have? Is It Not Enough To Have Obeyed The Laws Of Your Own Nature, Without Expecting To Be Paid For It?

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?

To The Wise, Life Is A Problem; To The Fool, A Solution.

The Universe Is Transformation: Life Is Opinion.

Without A Purpose, Nothing Should Be Done.

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

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.

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

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.

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

The Cucumber Is Bitter? Then Throw It Out. There Are Brambles In The Path? Then Go Around Them. That's All You Need To Know. Nothing More. Don't Demand To Know "why Such Things Exist." Anyone Who Understands The World Will Laugh At You, Just As A Carpenter Would If You Seemed Shocked At Finding Sawdust In His Workshop, Or A Shoemaker At Scraps Of Leather Left Over From Work.

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

Persuade Me Or Prove To Me That I Am Mistaken In Thought Or Deed, And I Will Gladly Change - For It Is The Truth I Seek, And The Truth Never Harmed Anyone. Harm Comes From Persisting In Error And Clinging To Ignorance.

You Should Banish Any Thoughts Of How You May Appear To Others.

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.

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

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

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

You Need To Be Prepared For Firm Decisions And Action, Without Losing Gentleness Towards Those Who Obstruct Or Abuse You. It's As Great A Weakness To Be Angry With Them As It Is To Abandon Your Plan Of Action And Give Up Through Fear.

If Souls Survive Death For All Eternity, How Can The Heavens Hold Them All? Or For That Matter, How Can The Earth Hold All The Bodies That Have Been Buried In It? The Answers Are The Same. Just As On Earth, With The Passage Of Time, Decaying And Transmogrified Corpses Make Way For The Newly Dead, So Souls Released Into The Heavens, After A Season Of Flight, Begin To Break Up, Burn, And Be Absorbed Back Into The Womb Of Reason, Leaving Room For Souls Just Beginning To Fly. This Is The Answer For Those Who Believe That Souls Survive Death.

Take Full Account Of What Excellencies You Possess, And In Gratitude Remember How You Would Hanker After Them, If You Had Them Not.

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.

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.

Blot Out Vain Pomp; Check Impulse; Quench Appetite; Keep Reason Under Its Own Control.

On The Occasion Of Every Act Ask Thyself, How Is This With Respect To Me? Shall I Repent Of It? A Little Time And I Am Dead, And All Is Gone.

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.

Despise Not Death, But Welcome It, For Nature Wills It Like All Else.

All Things Fade And Quickly Turn To Myth.

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.

Neither In Thy Actions Be Sluggish Nor In Thy Conversation Without Method, Nor Wandering In Thy Thoughts, Nor Let There Be In Thy Soul Inward Contention Nor External Effusion, Nor In Life Be So Busy As To Have No Leisure.

It Will Suffice Thee To Remember As Concerning Pain ... That The Mind May, By Stopping All Manner Of Commerce And Sympathy With The Body, Still Retain Its Own Tranquility.

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

Our Wills Are Ours, To Make Them Thine.

How Much Time He Saves Who Does Not Look To See What His Neighbor Says Or Does Or Thinks.

To Her Who Gives And Takes Back All, To Nature, The Man Who Is Instructed And Modest Says, Give What Thou Wilt; Take Back What Thou Wilt. And He Says This Not Proudly, But Obediently And Well Pleased With Her.

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

Be Tolerant With Others And Strict With Yourself.

Waste Not The Remnant Of Thy Life In Those Imaginations Touching Other Folk, Whereby Thou Contributest Not To The Common Weal.

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.

One Universe Made Up All That Is; And One God In It All, And One Principle Of Being, And One Law, The Reason Shared By All Thinking Creatures, And One Truth.

Each Of Us Needs What Nature Gives Us, When Nature Gives Us.

A Spider Is Proud When It Has Caught A Fly; One Man When He Has Caught A Poor Hare, And Another When He Has Taken A Little Fish In A Net, And Another When He Has Taken Wild Boars, And Another When He Has Taken Bears, And Another When He Has Taken Sarmatians. Are Not These Robbers, If You Examine Their Opinions?

Observe Constantly That All Things Take Place By Change, And Accustom Thyself To Consider That The Nature Of The Universe Loves Nothing So Much As To Change The Things Which Are, And To Make New Things Like Them.

Ambition Means Tying Your Well-being To What Other People Say Or Do. Self-indulgence Means Tying It To The Things That Happen To You. Sanity Means Tying It To Your Own Actions.

And Can Anything Else That Is Useful Be Accomplished Without Change? Do You Not See Then That For Yourself Also To Change Is Just The Same, And Equally Necessary For The Universal Nature?

Positive Attitude

Everything - A Horse, A Vine - Is Created For Some Duty... For What Task, Then, Were You Yourself Created?

Think On This Doctrine, - That Reasoning Beings Were Created For One Another's Sake; That To Be Patient Is A Branch Of Justice, And That Men Sin Without Intending It.

In Death, Alexander Of Macedon's End Differed No Whit From His Stable-boy's. Either Both Were Received Into The Same Generative Principle Of The Universe, Or Both Alike Were Dispersed Into Atoms.

One Of The Recurring Themes In Marcus' Handbook Is Leadership's Responsibility To Work Intelligently With What It Is Given And Not Waste Time Fantasizing About A World Of Flawless People And Perfect Choices.

The Constant Recollection Of Death Is The Test Of Human Conduct.

Where Life Is Possible At All, A Right Life Is Possible; Life In A Palace Is Possible; Therefore Even In A Palace A Right Life Is Possible.

The Blazing Fire Makes Flames And Brightness Out Of Everything Thrown Into 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.

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

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

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.

It Never Ceases To Amaze Me: We All Love Ourselves More Than Other People, But Care More About Their Opinions Than Our Own.

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

Run Down The List Of Those Who Felt Intense Anger At Something: The Most Famous, The Most Unfortunate, The Most Hated, The Most Whatever: Where Is All That Now? Smoke, Dust, Legend...or Not Even A Legend. Think Of All The Examples. And How Trivial The Things We Want So Passionately Are.

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

Do Not Expect Plato's Ideal Republic; Be Satisfied With Even The Smallest Step Forward, And Consider This No Small Achievement.

Perfection Of Character Is This: To Live Each Day As If It Were Your Last, Without Frenzy, Without Apathy, Without Pretence.

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

That Which Had Grown From The Earth, To The Earth, But That Which Has Sprung From Heavenly Seed, Back To The Heavenly Realms Returns. This Is Either A Dissolution Of The Mutual Involution Of The Atoms, Or A Similar Dispersion Of The Unsentient Elements.

The Intelligence Of The Universe Is Social.

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.

Everything Is Mere Opinion.

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.

Do Not Act As If You Were Going To Live Ten Thousand Years. Death Hangs Over You. While You Live, While It Is In Your Power, Be Good.

Be Content To Seem What You Really Are.

Loving Yourself

Self Acceptance

If You Do The Task Before You Always Adhering To Strict Reason With Zeal And Energy And Yet With Humanity, Disregarding All Lesser Ends And Keeping The Divinity Within You Pure And Upright, As Though You Were Even Now Faced With Its Recall - If You Hold Steadily To This, Staying For Nothing And Shrinking From Nothing, Only Seeking In Each Passing Action A Conformity With Nature And In Each Word And Utterance A Fearless Truthfulness, Then The Good Life Shall Be Yours. And From This Course No Man Has The Power To Hold You Back.

Begin Each Day By Telling Yourself: Today I Shall Be Meeting With Interference, Ingratitude, Insolence, Disloyalty, Ill-will, And Selfishness – All Of Them Due To The Offenders’ Ignorance Of What Is Good Or Evil.

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

‎"begin The Morning By Saying To Thyself, I Shall Meet With The Busy-body, The Ungrateful, Arrogant, Deceitful, Envious, Unsocial

He That Lives Alone Lives In Danger; Society Avoids Many Dangers.

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

What Matter And Opportunity [for Thy Activity] Art Thou Avoiding? For What Else Are All These Things, Except Exercises For The Reason, When It Has Viewed Carefully And By Examination Into Their Nature The Things Which Happen In Life? Persevere Then Until Thou Shalt Have Made These Things Thy Own, As The Stomach Which Is Strengthened Makes All Things Its Own, As The Blazing Fire Makes Flame And Brightness Out Of Everything That Is Thrown Into It.

The Nature Of The All Moved To Make The Universe.

Give Full Attention And Devotion To Each Act.

Everywhere And At All Times It Is In Thy Power Piously To Acquiesce In Thy Present Condition, And To Behave Justly To Those Who Are About Thee, And To Exert Thy Skill Upon Thy Present Thoughts, That Nothing Shall Steal Into Them Without Being Well Examined.

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

Confine Yourself To The Present.

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.

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

The Gods Have Provided Me With Clear And Compelling Signs Of What It Means To Live In Conformity To Nature. They Did Their Part. So Far As Their Gifts, Aid, And Inspiration Are Concerned, Nothing Prevented Me From Following The Path Prescribed By Nature. If From Time To Time I Have Strayed From This Path, The Fault Lies With Me And With My Failure To Heed The Gods' Signs, Or Rather, Their Explicit Instructions.

The Controlling Intelligence Understands Its Own Nature, And What It Does, And Whereon It Works.

Embellish The Soul With Simplicity, With Prudence, And Everything Which Is Neither Virtuous Nor Vicious. Love All Men. Walk According To God; For, As A Poet Hath Said, His Laws Govern All.

Just As Nature Takes Every Obstacle, Every Impediment, And Works Around It--turns It To Its Purposes, Incorporates It Into Itself, So, Too, A Rational Being Can Turn Each Setback Into Raw Material And Use It To Achieve Its Goal.

The Art Of Living Is More Like Wrestling Than Dancing.

Observe Always That Everything Is The Result Of A Change, And Get Used To Thinking That There Is Nothing Nature Loves So Well As To Change Existing Forms And To Make New Ones Like Them.

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

They Know Not How Many Things Are Signified By The Words Stealing, Sowing, Buying, Keeping Quiet, Seeing What Ought To Be Done; For This Is Not Effected By The Eyes, But By Another Kind Of Vision.

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

Hast Thou Reason? I Have. Why Then Dost Not Thou Use It? For If This Does Its Own Work, What Else Dost Thou Wish?

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

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

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

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.

Remember That There Is A God Who Desires Neither Praise Nor Glory From Men Created In His Image, But Rather That They, Guided By The Understanding Given Them, Should In Their Actions Become Like Unto Him.

A Man's True Delight Is To Do The Things He Was Made For.

Be Content With What You Are, And Wish Not Change; Nor Dread Your Last Day, Nor Long For It.

Misfortune Nobly Born Is Good Fortune.

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.

I'm Going To Be Meeting With People Today Who Talk Too Much - People Who Are Selfish, Egotistical, Ungrateful. But I Won't Be Surprised Or Disturbed, For I Can't Imagine A World Without Such People.

Stick To What's In Front Of You - Idea, Action, Utterance.

Be Not Disgusted, Nor Discouraged, Nor Dissatisfied, If Thou Dost Not Succeed In Doing Everything According To Right Principles; But When Thou Bast Failed, Return Back Again, And Be Content If The Greater Part Of What Thou Doest Is Consistent With Man's Nature, And Love This To Which Thou Returnest

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

He Who Fears Death Either Fears The Loss Of Sensation Or A Different Kind Of Sensation. But If Thou Shalt Have No Sensation, Neither Wilt Thou Feel Any Harm; And If Thou Shalt Acquire Another Kind Of Sensation, Thou Wilt Be A Different Kind Of Living Being And Thou Wilt Not Cease To Live.

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.

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.

That Which Is Really Beautiful Has No Need Of Anything; Not More Than Law, Not More Than Truth, Not More Than Benevolence Or Modesty.

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

But This Is Altogether A Mark Of The Most Common Sort Of Men, For It Is In Your Power Whenever You Choose To Retire Into Yourself.

Self Determination

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.

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?

Let Thine Occupations Be Few, Saith The Sage, If Thou Wouldst Lead A Tranquil Life.

The Mind In Itself Wants Nothing, Unless It Creates A Want For Itself; Therefore It Is Both Free From Perturbation And Unimpeded, If It Does Not Perturb And Impede Itself.

Whatever Any One Does Or Says, I Must Be Good; Just As If The Emerald Were Always Saying This: "whatever Any One Does Or Says, I Must Still Be Emerald, And Keep My Color.

Discard Everything Except These Few Truths: We Can Live Only In The Present Moment, In This Brief Now; All The Rest Of Our Life Is Dead And Buried Or Shrouded In Uncertainty. Short Is The Life We Lead, And Small Our Patch Of Earth.

Spend Your Brief Moment According To Nature's Law, And Serenely Greet The Journey's End As An Olive Falls When It Is Ripe, Blessing The Branch That Bare It, And Giving Thanks To The Tree That Gave It Life.

Man Is Born For Deeds Of Kindness.

I Am An Old Man And Have Had Many Worries, But Most Have Never Come To Pass.

Stop Talking About What The Good Man Is Like, And Just Be One.

Don't Go On Discussing What A Good Person Should Be. Just Be One.

I Seek The Truth...it Is Only Persistence In Self-delusion And Ignorance That Does Harm.

As The Same Fire Assumes Different Shapes When It Consumes Objects Differing In Shape, So Does The One Self Take The Shape Of Every Creature In Whom He Is Present.

Today I Escaped All Circumstance, Or Rather I Cast Out All Circumstance, For It Was Not Outside Me, But Within My Judgements.

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

Because Other People Are Fools, Must You Be So Too?

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.

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.

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

Letting Go All Else, Cling To The Following Few Truths. Remember That Man Lives Only In The Present, In This Fleeting Instant: All The Rest Of His Life Is Either Past And Gone, Or Not Yet Revealed. This Mortal Life Is A Little Thing, Lived In A Little Corner Of The Earth; And Little, Too, Is The Longest Fame To Come - Dependent As It Is On A Succession Of Fast-perishing Little Men Who Have No Knowledge Even Of Their Own Selves, Much Less Of One Long Dead And Gone.

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

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Charles Horton Cooley

Lawrence M. Krauss

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