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When Thou Art Offended At Any Man's Fault, Forthwith Turn To Thyself And Reflect In What Manner Thou Doest Error Thyself. For By Attending To This Thou Wilt Quickly Forget Thy Anger, If This Consideration Is Also Added, That The Man Is Compelled; For What Else Could He Do? Or, If Thou Art Able, Take Away From Him The Compulsion.

-Marcus Aurelius

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When Thou Art Offended

Marcus Aurelius

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When Thou Art Offended At Any Man's Fault, Forthwith Turn To Thyself And Reflect In What Manner Thou Doest Error Thyself. For By Attending To This Thou Wilt Quickly Forget Thy Anger, If This Consideration Is Also Added, That The Man Is Compelled; For What Else Could He Do? Or, If Thou Art Able, Take Away From Him The Compulsion.

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Be Tolerant With Others And Strict With Yourself.

Reverence The Gods, And Help Men. Short Is Life.

He Who Fears Death Either Fears To Lose All Sensation Or Fears New Sensations. In Reality, You Will Either Feel Nothing At All, And Therefore Nothing Evil, Or Else, If You Can Feel Any Sensations, You Will Be A New Creature, And So Will Not Have Ceased To Have Life.

Remember That Even If You Were To Live For Three Thousand Years, Or Thirty Thousand, You Could Not Lose Any Other Life Than The One You Have, And There Will Be No Other Life After It. So The Longest And The Shortest Lives Are The Same. The Present Moment Is Shared By All Living Creatures, But The Time That Is Past Is Gone Forever. No One Can Lose The Past Or The Future, For If They Don't Belong To You, How Can They Be Taken From You?

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

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.

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.

Nothing Is Worth Doing Pointlessly.

The Universal Nature Has No External Space; But The Wondrous Part Of Her Art Is That Though She Has Circumscribed Herself, Everything Which Is Within Her Which Appears To Decay And To Grow Old And To Be Useless She Changes Into Herself, And Again Makes Other New Things From These Very Same, So That She Requires Neither Substance From Without Nor Wants A Place Into Which She May Cast That Which Decays. She Is Content Then With Her Own Space, And Her Own Matter, And Her Own Art.

When Jarred, Unavoidably, By Circumstance Revert At Once To Yourself And Don't Lose The Rhythm More Than You Can Help. You'll Have A Better Grasp Of Harmony If You Keep Going Back To It.

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

The Stream Of Tendency In Which All Things Seek To Fulfill The Law Of Their Being.

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?

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

I Was Once A Fortunate Man But At Some Point Fortune Abandoned Me. But True Good Fortune Is What You Make For Yourself. Good Fortune: Good Character, Good Intentions, And Good Actions.

Natural Ability Without Education Has More Often Raised A Man To Glory And Virtue Than Education Without Natural Ability.

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.

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

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

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

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

A Good Disposition Is Invincible, If It Be Genuine.

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

Constantly Regard The Universe As One Living Being, Having One Substance And One Soul; And Observe How All Things Have Reference To One Perception, The Perception Of This One Living Being; And How All Things Act With One Movement; And How All Things Are The Cooperating Causes Of All Things Which Exist; Observe Too The Continuous Spinning Of The Thread And The Contexture Of The Web.

The Happiness Of Your Life Depends Upon The Quality Of Your Thoughts: Therefore, Guard Accordingly, And Take Care That You Entertain No Notions Unsuitable To Virtue And Reasonable Nature.

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

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

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

The Art Of Living Is More Like Wrestling Than Dancing.

Why Should We Feel Anger At The World? As If The World Would Notice?

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

To Live Each Day As Though One's Last, Never Flustered, Never Apathetic, Never Attitudinizing - Here Is The Perfection Of Character.

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

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

The Whole Contains Nothing That Is Not For Its Advantage. By Remembering That I Am Part Of Such A Whole, I Shall Be Content With Everything That Happens.

Frequently Consider The Connection Of All Things In The Universe.

Words Of Wisdom

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

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

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.

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

He Would Be The Finer Gentleman That Should Leave The World Without Having Tasted Of Lying Or Pretence Of Any Sort, Or Of Wantonness Or Conceit.

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.

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

Do Not Think That What Is Hard For You To Master Is Humanly Impossible; But If A Thing Is Humanly Possible, Consider It To Be Within Your Reach.

Not Even The Vicissitudes Of Fortune Are Contrary To Nature Or To The Providential Ordering Of The Universe. It All Flows From The Gods, Who Determine What Is Needed For The Welfare Of The Whole Universe, Of Which You Are A Part.

Yet Living And Dying, Honour And Dishonour, Pain And Pleasure, Riches And Poverty, And So Forth Are Equally The Lot Of Good Men And Bad. Things Like These Neither Elevate Nor Degrade; And Therefore They Are No More Good Than They Are Evil.

Time Is Like A River Made Up Of The Events Which Happen, And A Violent Stream; For As Soon As A Thing Has Been Seen, It Is Carried Away, And Another Comes In Its Place, And This Will Be Carried Away Too.

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

Truth And Ceremony Are Two Things.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

A Man Should Always Have These Two Rules In Readiness. First, To Do Only What The Reason Of Your Ruling And Legislating Faculties Suggest For The Service Of Man. Second, To Change Your Opinion Whenever Anyone At Hand Sets You Right And Unsettles You In An Opinion, But This Change Of Opinion Should Come Only Because You Are Persuaded That Something Is Just Or To The Public Advantage, Not Because It Appears Pleasant Or Increases Your Reputation.

Nature Has Given To Each Conscious Being Every Power She Possesses, And One Of These Abilities Is This: Just As Nature Converts And Alters Every Obstacle And Opposition, And Fits Them Into Their Predestined Place, Making Them A Part Of Herself, So Too The Rational Person Is Able To Finesse Every Obstacle Into An Opportunity, And To Use It For Whatever Purpose It May Suit.

Consider, For Example, And You Will Find That Almost All The Transactions In The Time Of Vespasian Differed Little From Those Of The Present Day. You There Find Marrying And Giving In Marriage, Educating Children, Sickness, Death, War, Joyous Holidays, Traffic, Agriculture, Flatterers, Insolent Pride, Suspicions, Laying Of Plots, Longing For The Death Of Others, Newsmongers, Lovers, Misers, Men Canvassing Far The Consulship And For The Kingdom; Yet All These Passed Away, And Are Nowhere.

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.'

Give Your Heart To The Trade You Have Learnt, And Draw Refreshment From It. Let The Rest Of Your Days Be Spent As One Who Has Whole-heartedly Committed His All To The Gods And Is Thenceforth No Man's Master Or Slave.

The Universe Is A Single Life Comprising One Substance And One Soul.

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.

When You Are Annoyed At Someone's Mistake, Immediately Look At Yourself And Reflect How You Also Fail; For Example, In Thinking That Good Equals Money, Or Pleasure, Or A Bit Of Fame. By Being Mindful Of This You'll Quickly Forget Your Anger, Especially If You Realize That The Person Was Under Stress, And Could Do Little Else. And, If You Can, Find A Way To Alleviate That Stress.

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.

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

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

Dig Within. There Lies The Wellspring Of Good.

Am I Doing Anything? I Do It With Reference To The Good Of Mankind. Does Anything Happen To Me? I Receive It And Refer It To The Gods, And The Source Of All Things, From Which All That Happens Is Derived.

Our Wills Are Ours, To Make Them Thine.

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

Dress Not Thy Thoughts In Too Fine A Raiment. And Be Not A Man Of Superfluous Words Or Superfluous Deeds.

Consider Frequently The Connection Of All Things In The Universe And Their Relation To One Another. For Things Are Somehow Implicated With One Another, And All In A Way Friendly To One Another.

But That Which Is Useful Is The Better.

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

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.

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.

Whatever The Universal Nature Assigns To Any Man At Any Time Is For The Good Of That Man At That Time.

Thou Art A Little Soul Bearing About A Corpse.

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.

Socrates Used To Call The Opinions Of The Many By The Name Of Lamiae, Bugbears To Frighten Children.

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.

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.

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

Men Exist For The Sake Of One Another.

Suppose That Thou Hast Detached Thyself From The Natural Unity... Yet Here There Is This Beautiful Provision, That It Is In Thy Power Again To Unite Thyself. God Has Allowed This To No Other Part, After It Has Been Separated And Cut Asunder, To Come Together Again. ...he Has Distinguished Man, For He Has Put It In His Power Not To Be Separated At All From The Universal ...he Has Allowed Him To Be Returned And To Be United And To Resume His Place As A Part.

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.

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

A Good Man Does Not Spy Around For The Black Spots In Others, But Presses Unswervingly On Towards His Mark.

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.

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

My City And State Are Rome. But As A Human Being? The World. So For Me, "good" Can Only Mean What's Good For Both Communities.

...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.

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.

Adapt Yourself To The Life You Have Been Given; And Truly Love The People With Whom Destiny Has Surrounded You.

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

The Whole Universe Is Change And Life Itself Is But What You Deem It - Either Gratefully Better Than Or Bitterly Worse Than Something Else That You Alone Choose.

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

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."

Give Full Attention And Devotion To Each Act.

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

God Sees The Minds (ruling Principles) Of All Men Bared Of The Material Vesture And Rind And Impurities. For With His Intellectual Part Alone He Touches The Intelligence Only Which Has Flowed And Been Derived From Himself Into These Bodies. And If Thou Also Usest Thyself To Do This, Thou Wilt Rid Thyself Of Thy Much Trouble. For He Who Regards Not The Poor Flesh Which Envelops Him, Surely Will Not Trouble Himself By Looking After Raiment And Dwelling And Fame And Such Like Externals And Show.

Limit Time To The Present. Meditate Upon Your Last Hour.

Everything Is Interwoven, And The Web Is Holy.

Accept Whatever Comes To You Woven In The Pattern Of Your Destiny, For What Could More Aptly Fit Your Needs?

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.

If Any Man Can Convince Me And Bring Home To Me That I Do Not Think Or Act Aright, Gladly Will I Change; For I Search After Truth, By Which Man Never Yet Was Harmed. But He Is Harmed Who Abideth On Still In His Deception And Ignorance.

It Doesn't Hurt Me Unless I Interpret Its Happening As Harmful To Me. I Can Choose Not To.

Short Is The Little Which Remains To Thee Of Life. Live As On A Mountain.

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

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.

Let It Be Your Constant Method To Look Into The Design Of People's Actions, And See What They Would Be At, As Often As It Is Practicable; And To Make This Custom The More Significant, Practice It First Upon Yourself.

Bear In Mind That The Measure Of A Man Is The Worth Of The Things He Cares About. If It Is Good To Say Or Do Something, Then It Is Even Better To Be Criticized For Having Said Or Done It.

Every Man's Life Lies Within The Present; For The Past Is Spent And Done With, And The Future Is Uncertain.

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 Universal Order And The Personal Order Are Nothing But Different Expressions And Manifestations Of A Common Underlying Principle.

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.

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

This Is The Chief Thing: Be Not Perturbed, For All Things Are According To The Nature Of The Universal.

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.

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.

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

Let No Act Be Done Without Purpose.

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

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.

Choose Not To Be Harmed And You Won't Feel Harmed. Don't Feel Harmed And You Haven't Been.

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

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

Reading And Writing

The Only Thing That Isn't Worthless: To Live This Life Out Truthfully And Rightly, And Be Patience With Those Who Don't.

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

Nature Insists On Whatever Benefits The Whole.

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.

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.

Thou Seest How Few Be The Things, The Which If A Man Has At His Command His Life Flows Gently On And Is Divine.

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

Continuously Thou Wilt Look At Human Things As Smoke And Nothing At All; Especially If Thou Reflectest At The Same Time, That What Has Once Changed Will Never Exist Again In The Infinite Duration Of Time. But Thou, In What A Brief Space Of Time Is Thy Existence? And Why Art Thou Not Content To Pass Through This Short Time In An Orderly Way?

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

Do Not Suffer A Sudden Impression To Overbear Your Judgment.

All That Is From The Gods Is Full Of Providence.

Be Not Unwilling In What Thou Doest, Neither Selfish Nor Unadvised Nor Obstinate; Let Not Over-refinement Deck Out Thy Thought; Be Not Wordy Nor A Busybody.

Find Joy In Simplicity, Self-respect, And Indifference To What Lies Between Virtue And Vice. Love The Human Race. Follow The Divine.

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

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.'

Nothing Happens To Any Man That He Is Not Formed By Nature To Bear.

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

In An Expression Of True Gratitude, Sadness Is Conspicuous Only By Its Absence

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

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.

Since You Are An Integral Part Of A Social System, Let Every Act Of Yours Contribute To The Harmonization Of Social Life. Any Action That Is Not Related Directly Or Remotely To This Social Aim Disturbs Your Life, And Destroys Your Unity.

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.

Look Back Over The Past, With Its Changing Empires That Rose And Fell, And You Can Foresee The Future, Too.

Always Run To The Short Way; And The Short Way Is The Natural: Accordingly Say And Do Everything In Conformity With The Soundest Reason. For Such A Purpose Frees A Man From Trouble, And Warfare, And All Artifice And Ostentatious Display.

Purge Your Mind Of All Aimless And Idle Thoughts, Especially Those That Pry Into The Affairs Of Others Or Wish Them Ill.

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.

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

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

Death - A Stopping Of Impressions Through The Senses, And Of The Pulling Of The Cords Of Motion, And Of The Ways Of Thought, And Of Service To The Flesh.

Never Value Anything As Profitable To Thyself Which Shall Compel Thee To Break Thy Promise, To Lose Thy Self-respect, To Hate Any Man, To Suspect, To Curse, To Act The Hypocrite, To Desire Anything Which Needs Walls And Curtains.

If You Are Distressed By Something, It Is Due To Your Own Estimate Of It; And You Have The Power To Change It At Will.

Power To Change

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

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

I Search After Truth, By Which Man Never Yet Was Harmed.

Think Nothing Profitable To You Which Compels You To Break A Promise, To Lose Your Self Respect, To Hate Any Person, To Curse, To Act The Hypocrite.

To Refrain From Imitation Is The Best Revenge.

The Mind Which Is Free From Passions Is A Citadel, For Man Has Nothing More Secure To Which He Can Fly For Refuge And For The Future Be Inexpugnable . He Then Who Has Not Seen This Is An Ignorant Man: But He Who Has Seen It And Does Not Fly To This Refuge Is Unhappy.

Remember: Matter: How Tiny Your Share Of It. Time: How Brief And Fleeting Your Allotment Of It. Fate: How Small A Role You Play In It.

In The Case Of Most Pains Let This Remark Of Epicurus Aid Thee, That The Pain Is Neither Intolerable Nor Everlasting, If Thou Bear In Mind That It Has Its Limits, And If Thou Addest Nothing To It In Imagination.

What We Do In Life Ripples In Eternity.

He Who Eats My Bread, Does My Will.

Waste No More Time Talking About Great Souls And How They Should Be, Become One Yourself!

That Which Makes The Man No Worse Than He Was Makes His Life No Worse: It Has No Power To Harm, Without Or Within.

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

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.

Be Content To Seem What You Really Are.

Loving Yourself

Self Acceptance

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

Wilt Thou, Then, My Soul, Never Be Good And Simple And One And Naked, More Manifest Than The Body Which Surrounds Thee?

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.

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

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.

The Universe Is Transformation: Life Is Opinion.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Most Of What We Say And Do Is Unnecessary: Remove The Superfluity, And You Will Have More Time And Less Bother. So In Every Case One Should Prompt Oneself: 'is This, Or Is It Not, Something Necessary?' And The Removal Of The Unnecessary Should Apply Not Only To Actions But To Thoughts Also: Then No Redundant Actions Either Will Follow.

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

...the Infallible Man Does Not Exist.

In Man's Life, Time Is But A Moment; Being, A Flux; Sense Is Dim; The Material Frame Corruptible; Soul, An Eddy Of Breath; Fortune A Thing Inscrutable, And Fame Precarious.

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.

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.

Have I Done Something For The General Interest? Well Then I Have Had My Reward. Let This Always Be Present To Thy Mind, And Never Stop Doing Such Good.

Everything That Happens Happens As It Should, And If You Observe Carefully, You Will Find This To Be So.

It Is The Act Of A Madman To Pursue Impossibilities .

There Is Change In All Things. You Yourself Are Subject To Continual Change And Some Decay, And This Is Common To The Entire Universe.

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

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