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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.

-Marcus Aurelius

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When You Are Offended

Marcus Aurelius

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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.

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

All Things Fade And Quickly Turn To Myth.

If Any Man Should Conceive Certain Things As Being Really Good, Such As Prudence, Temperance, Justice, Fortitude, He Would Not After Having First Conceived These Endure To Listen To Anything Which Should Not Be In Harmony With What Is Really Good.

It Is A Shameful Thing For The Soul To Faint While The Body Still Perseveres.

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

Consider How Many Do Not Even Know Your Name, And How Many Will Soon Forget It, And How Those Who Now Praise You Will Presently Blame You.

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.

It Is Not The Body, Nor The Personality That Is The True Self. The True Self Is Eternal. Even On The Point Of Death We Can Say To Ourselves, "my True Self Is Free. I Cannot Be Contained."

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

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.

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?

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.

Ifit Be A Thing External That Causes Thy Grief, Know, That It Is Not That Properly That Doth Cause It, But Thine Own Conceit And Opinion Concerning The Thing: Which Thou Mayest Rid Thyself Of, When Thou Wilt.

Art Thou Angry With Him Whose Armpits Stink? Art Thou Angry With Him Whose Mouth Smells Foul?

Receive Without Conceit, Release Without Struggle.

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?'

Not To Waste Time On Nonsense. Not To Be Taken In By Conjurors And Hoodoo Artists With Their Talk About Incantations And Exorcism And All The Rest Of It. Not To Be Obsessed With Quail-fighting Or Other Crazes Like That.

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

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.

Why Do You Hunger For Length Of Days? The Point Of Life Is To Follow Reason And The Divine Spirit And To Accept Whatever Nature Sends You. To Live In This Way Is Not To Fear Death, But To Hold It In Contempt. Death Is Only A Thing Of Terror For Those Unable To Live In The Present. Pass On Your Way, Then, With A Smiling Face, Under The Smile Of Him Who Bids You Go

It Is Not Right To Vex Ourselves At Things, For They Care Not About It.

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

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.'

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.

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.

All Those Things At Which Thou Wishest To Arrive By A Circuitous Road, Thou Canst Have Now, If Thou Dost Not Refuse Them To Thyself.

Let Every Action Aim Solely At The Common Good.

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

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?

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.

No Form Of Nature Is Inferior To Art; For The Arts Merely Imitate Natural Forms.

Reflect Often Upon The Rapidity With Which All Existing Things, Or Things Coming Into Existence, Sweep Past Us And Are Carried Away.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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".

For Outward Show Is A Wonderful Perverter Of The Reason.

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.

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

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

The Rottenness Of The Matter Which Is The Foundation Of Everything!

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

My Being Consists Of Matter And Form, That Is, Of Soul And Body; Annihilation Will Reach Neither Of Them, For They Were Never Produced Out Of Nothing. The Consequence Is, That Every Part Of Me Will Serve To Make Something In The World; And This Again Will Change Into Another Part Through An Infinite Succession Of Change. This Constant Method Of Alteration Gave Me My Being, And My Father Before Me, And So On To Eternity Backward: For I Think I May Speak Thus, Even Though The World Be Confined Within Certain Determinate Periods.

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

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

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?

Everything Is Mere Opinion.

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.

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

To Live Happily Is An Inward Power Of The Soul.

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.

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

Look Deeply. Don't Miss The Inherent Quality And Value Of Everything.

Time Is A Kind Of River, An Irresistible Flood Sweeping Up Men And Events And Carrying Them Headlong, One After The Other, To The Great Sea Of Being.

Confine Yourself To The Present.

Past And Future Have No Power Over You. Just The Present - And Even That Can Be Minimized.

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

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.

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

Words Of Wisdom

...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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

How Barbarous, To Deny Men The Privilege Of Pursuing What They Imagine To Be Their Proper Concerns And Interests! Yet, In A Sense, This Is Just What You Are Doing When You Allow Your Indignation To Rise At Their Wrongdoing; For After All, They Are Only Following Their Own Apparent Concerns And Interests. You Say They Are Mistaken? Why Then, Tell Them So, And Explain It To Them, Instead Of Being Indignant.

The Man Who Has A House Everywhere Has A Home Nowhere

People Exist For One Another.

Look Beneath The Surface; Let Not The Several Quality Of A Thing Nor Its Worth Escape Thee.

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

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.

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

...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.

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.

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.

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

Be Tolerant With Others And Strict With Yourself.

Nothing Happens To Any Man Which He Is Not Formed By Nature To Bear. The Same Things Happen To Another, And Either Because He Does Not See That They Have Happened Or Because He Would Show A Great Spirit He Is Firm And Remains Unharmed. It Is A Shame Then That Ignorance And Conceit Should Be Stronger Than Wisdom.

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

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

What Is Not Good For The Swarm Is Not Good For The Bee.

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

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.

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.

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

No Matter What Anyone Says Or Does, My Task Is To Be Emerald, My Color Undiminished.

When Pain Is Unbearable It Destroys Us; When It Does Not It Is Bearable.

Do Not Fear Death, But Welcome It, Since It Too Comes From Nature. For Just As We Are Young And Grow Old, And Flourish And Reach Maturity, Have Teeth And A Beard And Grey Hairs, Conceive, Become Pregnant, And Bring Forth New Life, And All The Other Natural Processes That Follow The Seasons Of Our Existence, So Also Do We Have Death. A Thoughtful Person Will Never Take Death Lightly, Impatiently, Or Scornfully, But Will Wait For It As One Of Life's Natural Processes.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

Even The Stoics Agree That Certainty Is Very Hard To Come At; That Our Assent Is Worth Little, For Where Is Infallibility To Be Found?

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

The Best Revenge Is Not To Be Like Your Enemy.

The Longest-lived And The Shortest-lived Man, When They Come To Die, Lose One And The Same Thing.

Everything Is Ephemeral, Both That Which Remembers And That Which Is Remembered.

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.

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

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

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.

Take Me And Cast Me Where You Will; I Shall Still Be Possessor Of The Divinity Within Me, Serene And Content.

Remember That All Is Opinion.

He Who Eats My Bread, Does My Will.

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.

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.

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.

... Allow Yourself A Space Of Quiet, Wherein You Can Add To Your Knowledge Of The Good And Learn To Curb Your Restlessness. Guard Also Against Another Kind Of Error: The Folly Of Those Who Weary Their Days In Much Business, But Lack Any Aim On Which Their Whole Effort, Nay, Their Whole Thought, Is Focused.

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

The Impediment To Action Advances Action. What Stands In The Way Becomes The Way.

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.

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?

Remember That What Pulls The Strings Is The Force Hidden Within; There Lies The Power To Persuade, There The Life, - There, If One Must Speak Out, The Real Man.

Nothing Befalls Any Man Which He Is Not Fitted To Endure.

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

Live Each Day As If It Be Your Last.

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

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

Search Men's Governing Principles, And Consider The Wise, What They Shun And What They Cleave To.

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

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.

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

Because Your Own Strength Is Unequal To The Task, Do Not Assume That It Is Beyond The Powers Of Man; But If Anything Is Within The Powers And Province Of Man, Believe That It Is Within Your Own Compass Also.

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.

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.

Everything Is But What We Think It.

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

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?

Why Dost Thou Not Pray... To Give Thee The Faculty Of Not Fearing Any Of The Things Which Thou Fearest, Or Of Not Desiring Any Of The Things Which Thou Desirest, Or Not Being Pained At Anything, Rather Than Pray That Any Of These Things Should Not Happen Or Happen?

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.

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

Only To The Rational Animal Is It Given To Follow Voluntarily What Happens; But Simply To Follow Is A Necessity Imposed On All.

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.

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

Self Improvement

No Man Is Happy Who Does Not Think Himself So.

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.

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.

Retire Into Thyself. The Rational Principle Which Rules Has This Nature, That It Is Content With Itself When It Does What Is Just, And So Secures Tranquility.

Cultivate These, Then, For They Are Wholly Within Your Power: Sincerity And Dignity; Industriousness; And Sobriety. Avoid Grumbling, Be Frugal, Considerate, And Frank; Be Temperate In Manner And Speech; Carry Yourself With Authority.

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?

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

God Sees The Inner Spirit Stripped Of Flesh, Skin, And All Debris. For His Own Mind Only Touches The Spirit That He Has Allowed To Flow From Himself Into Our Bodies. And If You Can Act The Same Way, You Will Rid Yourself Of All Suffering. For Surely If You Are Not Preoccupied With The Body That Encloses You, You Will Not Trouble Yourself About Clothes, Houses, Fame, And Other Showy Trappings.

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

The Passing Minute Is Every Man's Equal Possession But What Has Once Gone By Is Not Ours.

Because Your Own Strength Is Unequal To A Task, Do Not Assume It Is Beyond The Powers Of Man.

Both Happiness And Unhappiness Depend On Perception

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.

Leave The Wrong Done By Another Where The Wrong Arose.

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.

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.

Submit To The Fate Of Your Own Free Will.

Look Deep Into The Hearts Of Men, And See What Delights And Disgusts The Wise.

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

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

Do Not Consider Anything For Your Interest Which Makes You Break Your Word, Quit Your Modesty Or Inclines You To Any Practice Which Will Not Bear The Light Or Look The World In The Face.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

Self Confidence

When You Find An Unwillingness To Rise Early In The Morning, Endeavor To Rouse Your Faculties, And Act Up To Your Kind, And Consider That You Have To Do The Business Of A Man; And That Action Is Both Beneficial And The End Of Your Being.

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.

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

What Doesn't Transmit Light Creates Its Own Darkness.

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.

Wherever A Man Lives, He May Live Well.

You Are Making An Inopportune Rejection Of What Nature Has Given You Today, If All Your Mind Is Set On What Men Will Say Of You Tomorrow.

The Best Sort Of Revenue Is Not To Be Like Him Who Did The Injury.

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

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

Reason And The Reasoning Faculty Need No Foreign Assistance, But Are Sufficient For Their Own Purposes. They Move Within Themselves, And Make Directly For The Point In View. Wherefore, Acts In Accordance With Them Are Called Right Acts, For They Lead Along The Right Road.

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

No One Wearies Of Benefits Received.

Bear In Mind That The Measure Of A Man Is The Worth Of The Things He Cares About.

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

Be Like The Cliff Against Which The Waves Continually Break; But It Stands Firm And Tames The Fury Of The Water Around It.

Don't Be Ashamed To Need Help. Like A Soldier Storming A Wall, You Have A Mission To Accomplish. And If You've Been Wounded And You Need A Comrade To Pull You Up? So What?

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.

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.

In The Life Of A Man, His Time Is But A Moment, His Being An Incessant Flux, His Sense A Dim Rushlight, His Body A Prey Of Worms, His Soul An Unquiet Eddy, His Fortune Dark, His Fame Doubtful. In Short, All That Is Body Is As Coursing Waters, All That Is Of The Soul As Dreams And Vapors.

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.

Leave Other People's Mistakes Where They Lie.

Humans Have Come Into Being For The Sake Of Each Other, So Either Teach Them, Or Learn To Bear Them.

Body. Soul. Mind. Sensations: The Body. Desires: The Soul. Reasoning: The Mind.

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.

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.

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