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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.

-Marcus Aurelius

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When You Have Done

Marcus Aurelius

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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.

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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.

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.

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.

But If Anything In Thy Own Dispositiongives Thee Pain, Who Hinders Thee From Correcting Thy Opinion? And Even If Thou Art Pained Because Thou Art Not Doing Some Particular Thing Which Seems To Thee To Be Right, Why Dost Thou Not Rather Act Than Complain?- But Some Insuperable Obstacle Is In The Way?- Do Not Be Grieved Then, For The Cause Of Its Not Being Done Depends Not On Thee.- But It Is Not Worth While To Live If This Cannot Be Done.- Take Thy Departure Then From Life Contentedly, Just As He Dies Who Is In Full Activity, And Well Pleased Too With The Things Which Are Obstacles.

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.

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

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.

Snow Endures But For A Season, And Joy Comes With The Morning.

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.

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

Consider Thyself To Be Dead, And To Have Completed Thy Life Up To The Present Time; And Live According To Nature The Remainder Which Is Allowed Thee.

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

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

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

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

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

If You Are Pained By Any External Thing, It Is Not This Thing That Disturbs You, But Your Own Judgment About It. It Is In Your Power To Erase This Judgment About It. If Anything In Your Own Nature Gives You Pain, You Are Who Hinders You From Correcting Your Opinion.

Never Let The Future Disturb You. You Will Meet It, If You Have To, With The Same Weapons Of Reason Which Today Arm You Against The Present.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

From My Grandfather's Father, I Learned To Dispense With Attendance At Public Schools, And To Enjoy Good Teachers At Home, And To Recognize That On Such Things Money Should Be Eagerly Spent.

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

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.

Can We Wonder That Men Perish And Are Forgotten, When Their Noblest And Most Enduring Works Decay? Death Comes Even To Monumental Structures, And Oblivion Rests On The Most Illustrious Names.

Consider When Thou Art Much Vexed Or Grieved, That Man's Life Is Only A Moment, And After A Short Time We Are All Laid Out Dead.

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?

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

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.

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

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

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.

Give Yourself A Gift: The Present Moment.

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

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.

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.

Love The People With Whom Fate Brings You Together

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.

People Find Pressure In Different Ways. I Find It In Keeping My Mind Clear. In Not Turning Away From People Or The Things That Happen To Them. In Accepting And Welcoming Everything I See. In Treating Each Thing As It Deserves.

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

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.

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.

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

In The Case Of All Things Which Have A Certain Constitution, Whatever Harm May Happen To Any Of Them, That Which Is Affected Becomes Consequently Worse; But In Like Case, A Man Becomes Both Better... And More Worthy Of Praise, By Making The Right Use Of These Accidents.

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.

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

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

Thou Art A Little Soul Bearing About A Corpse.

Truth And Ceremony Are Two Things.

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

Man Is Born For Deeds Of Kindness.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

From Alexander The Platonic, Not Frequently Nor Without Necessity To Say To Any One, Or To Write In A Letter, That I Have No Leisure; Nor Continually To Excuse The Neglect Of Duties Required By Our Relation To Those With Whom We Live, By Alleging Urgent Occupations.

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

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

Everything That Happens, Happens As It Should.

All Is As Thinking Makes It So

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

Look At Everything That Exists, And Observe That It Is Already In Dissolution And In Change, And As It Were Putrefaction Or Dispersion, Or That Everything Is So Constituted By Nature As To Die.

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

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.

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

But That Which Is Useful Is The Better.

The Best Revenge Is Not To Be Like Your Enemy.

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

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

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

Men Exist For The Sake Of One Another.

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

Imagine You Were Now Dead, Or Had Not Lived Before His Moment. Now View The Rest Of Your Life As A Bonus.

Rest Of Your Life

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

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.

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

The First Rule Is To Keep An Untroubled Spirit. The Second Is To Look Things In The Face And Know Them For What They Are.

Inspirational Running

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.

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.

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

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

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

... 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.

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

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

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

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

Either An Ordered Universe Or A Medley Heaped Together Mechanically But Still An Order; Or Can Order Subsist In You And Disorder In The Whole! And That, Too, When All Things Are So Distinguished And Yet Intermingled And Sympathetic.

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.

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

He Who Eats My Bread, Does My Will.

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.

When You Arise In The Morning, Think Of What A Precious Privilege It Is To Be Alive - To Breathe, To Think, To Enjoy, To Love.

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.

As For Literature, Thefts Cannot Harm It, While The Lapse Of Ages Augments Its Value

...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.

No One Was Ever Injured By The Truth; But He Who Persists In Self-deception And Ignorance Is Injured.

The Universe Is In Change, Life Is An Opinion.

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

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.

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

Positive Thinking

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.

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

Be Content To Seem What You Really Are.

Loving Yourself

Self Acceptance

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

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.

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.

No Longer Talk At All About The Kind Of Man That A Good Man Ought To Be, But Be Such

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.

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

It Is Possible To Depart From Life At This Moment. Have This Thought In Mind Whenever You Act, Speak, Or Think.

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

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.

Remember That All Is Opinion.

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

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

Nothing Is Evil Which Is According To Nature.

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

Let Goodness Go With The Doing.

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

I Am Called To Man's Labour; Why Then Do I Make A Difficulty If I Am Going Out To Do What I Was Born To Do And What I Was Brought Into The World For?

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.

Pass Then Through This Little Space Of Time Conformably To Nature, And End Thy Journey In Content, Just As An Olive Falls Off When It Is Ripe, Blessing Nature Who Produced It, And Thanking The Tree On Which It Grew.

Receive Wealth Or Prosperity Without Arrogance; And Be Ready To Let It Go.

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

The Cucumber Is Bitter? Then Throw It Out. There Are Brambles In The Path? Then Go Around. That's All You Need To Know.

The Soul Becomes Dyed With The Color Of Its Thoughts.

Everything Harmonizes With Me, Which Is Harmonious To Thee, O Universe. Nothing For Me Is Too Early Or Too Late, Which Is In Due Time For Thee.

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

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

The Universe Is Transformation: Life Is Opinion.

This Is Enough. Do Not Add, And Why Were Such Things Made In The World?

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.

Put An End Once And For All To This Discussion Of What A Good Person Should Be, And Be One.

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.

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.

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

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

Nature Insists On Whatever Benefits The Whole.

Dig Inside. Inside Is The Fountain Of Good, And It Will Forever Flow, If You Will Forever Dig.

How Easy It Is To Repel And Release Every Impression Which Is Troublesome And Immediately To Be Tranquil.

Don't Let Your Imagination To Be Crushed By Life As A Whole. Don't Try To Pictures Everything Bad That Could Possibly Happen. Stick With The Situation At Hand. ...then Remind Yourself That Past And Present Have No Power Over You. Only The Present.

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

The Honest And Good Man Ought To Be Exactly Like A Man Who Smells Strong, So That The Bystander As Soon As He Comes Near Him Must Smell Whether He Choose Or Not.

Our Wills Are Ours, To Make Them Thine.

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?

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.

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

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

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.

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.

If Thou Workest At That Which Is Before Thee ... Expecting Nothing, Fearing Nothing, But Satisfied With Thy Present Activity According To Nature, And With Heroic Truth In Every Word And Sound Which Thou Utterest, Thou Wilt Live Happy. And There Is No Man Who Is Able To Prevent This.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

I Consist Of A Little Body And A Soul.

What Does Not Benefit The Hive Is No Benefit To The Bee.

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

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

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

From Apollonius I Learned Freedom Of Will And Undeviating Steadiness Of Purpose; And To Look To Nothing Else, Not Even For A Moment, Except To Reason; And To Be Always The Same, In Sharp Pains, On The Occasion Of The Loss Of A Child, And In Long Illness.

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

Live A Good Life. If There Are Gods And They Are Just, Then They Will Not Care How Devout You Have Been, But Will Welcome You Based On The Virtues You Have Lived By. If There Are Gods, But Unjust, Then You Should Not Want To Worship Them. If There Are No Gods, Then You Will Be Gone, But Will Have Lived A Noble Life That Will Live On In The Memories Of Your Loved Ones.

By A Tranquil Mind I Mean Nothing Else Than A Mind Well Ordered.

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

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.

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.

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

The Ruling Power Within, When It Is In Its Natural State, Is So Related To Outer Circumstances That It Easily Changes To Accord With What Can Be Done And What Is Given It To Do.

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

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.

We Are Born For Cooperation

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

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.

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

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

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

Neither In Writing Nor In Reading Wilt Thou Be Able To Lay Down Rules For Others Before Thou Shalt Have First Learned To Obey Rules Thyself.

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Christopher McDougall

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