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

-Marcus Aurelius

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Which Is Recorded Of

Marcus Aurelius

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

Everything Is Here For A Purpose, From Horses To Vine Shoots. What's Surprising About That? Even The Sun Will Tell You, "i Have A Purpose," And The Other Goods As Well.

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

When You Need Encouragement, Think Of The Qualities The People Around You Have: This One's Energy, That One's Modesty, Another's Generosity, And So On. Nothing Is As Encouraging As When Virtues Are Visibly Embodied In The People Around Us, When We're Practically Showered With Them. It's Good To Keep This In Mind.

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

I Will March On In The Path Of Nature Till My Legs Sink Under Me, And Then I Shall Be At Rest, And Expire Into That Air Which Has Given Me My Daily Breath.

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.

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.

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

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

Both Happiness And Unhappiness Depend On Perception

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

The Opinion Of 10,000 Men Is Of No Value If None Of Them Know Anything About The Subject.

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.

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.

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

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.

Love The People With Whom Fate Brings You Together

The Universe Is In Change, Life Is An Opinion.

Stop Whatever You're Doing For A Moment And Ask Yourself: Am I Afraid Of Death Because I Won't Be Able To Do This Anymore?

Life Is A Stranger's Sojourn, A Night At An Inn.

All Men Are Made One For Another: Either Then Teach Them Better Or Bear With Them.

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.

It Is Man's Peculiar Duty To Love Even Those Who Wrong Him.

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

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.

Everything Is But What We Think It.

The Art Of Living Is More Like Wrestling Than Dancing.

Let No Act Be Done Without Purpose.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

Remember That All Is Opinion. For What Was Said By The Cynic Monimus Is Manifest: And Manifest Too Is The Use Of What Was Said, If A Man Receives What May Be Got Out Of It As Far As It Is True.

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

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

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.

So You Know How Things Stand. Now Forget What They Think Of You. Be Satisfied If You Can Live The Rest Of Your Life, However Short, As Your Nature Demands. Focus On That, And Don't Let Anything Distract You. You've Wandered All Over And Finally Realized That You Never Found What You Were After: How To Live. Not In Syllogisms, Not In Money, Or Fame, Or Self-indulgence. Nowhere.

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.

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.

All Those [events In History] Were Such Dramas As We See Now, Only With Different Actors.

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.

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.

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

...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.

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

Procrastination

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

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.

Your Mind Will Take On The Character Of Your Most Frequent Thoughts: Souls Are Dyed By Thoughts.

Things Can Never Touch The Soul, But Stand Inert Outside It, So That Disquiet Can Arise Only From Fancies Within.

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.

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

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

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

Get Rid Of The Judgement ... Get Rid Of The 'i Am Hurt,' You Are Rid Of The Hurt Itself.

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

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

Everything Is Born From Change. ...there Is Nothing Nature Loves More That To Alter What Exists And Make New Things Like It. All That Exists Is The Seed Of What Will Emerge From It. You Think The Only Seeds Are The One That Make Plants And Children? Go Deeper.

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.

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.

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.

Men Seek Retreats For Themselves, Houses In The Country, Sea-shores, And Mountains; And Thou Too Art Wont To Desire Such Things Very Much. But This Is Altogether A Mark Of The Most Common Sort Of Men, For It Is In Thy Power Whenever Thou Shalt Choose To Retire Into Thyself. For Nowhere Either With More Quiet Or More Freedom From Trouble Does A Man Retire Than Into His Own Soul.

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

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.

Everything Is Mere Opinion.

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

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.

What Doesn't Transmit Light Creates Its Own Darkness.

He Is A True Fugitive Who Flies From Reason.

Reason And Logic

Wherever A Man Lives, He May Live Well.

No One Wearies Of Benefits Received.

A Person's Life Is What Their Thoughts Make It.

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.

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.

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

Truth And Justice

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.

What We Do Now Echoes In Eternity.

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

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.

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

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.

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.'

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

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."

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

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

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.

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.

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

What We Cannot Bear Removes Us From Life; What Remains Can Be Borne.

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.

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

It Is A Ridiculous Thing For A Man Not To Fly From His Own Badness, Which Is Indeed Possible, But To Fly From Other Men's Badness, Which Is Impossible.

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.

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."

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.

A Man Does Not Sin By Commission Only, But Often By Omission.

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?'

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.

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

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

The Whole Universe Is Change And Life Itself Is But What You Deem It

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.

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

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

If Someone Is Able To Show Me That What I Think Or Do Is Not Right, I Will Happily Change, For I Seek The Truth, By Which No One Ever Was Truly Harmed. Harmed Is The Person Who Continues In His Self-deception And Ignorance.

Submit To The Fate Of Your Own Free Will.

...the Infallible Man Does Not Exist.

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

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.

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.

Everything That Happens, Happens As It Should.

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

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

Doth Perfect Beauty Stand In Need Of Praise At All? Nay; No More Than Law, No More Than Truth, No More Than Loving Kindness, Nor Than Modesty.

You Always Own The Option Of Having No Opinion. There Is Never Any Need To Get Worked Up Or To Trouble Your Soul About Things You Can't Control. These Things Are Not Asking To Be Judged By You. Leave Them Alone.

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

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

Do Every Act Of Your Life As If It Were Your Last.

Death, Like Birth, Is A Secret Of Nature.

Suppose That Men Kill Thee, Cut Thee In Pieces, Curse Thee, What Can These Things Do To Prevent Thy Mind From Remaining Pure, Wise, Sober, Just?

You Exist But As A Part Inherent In A Greater Whole. Do Not Live As Though You Had A Thousand Years Before You. The Common Due Impends; While You Live, And While You May, Be Good.

Receive Without Conceit, Release Without Struggle.

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

Life Is Short. That's All There Is To Say. Get What You Can From The Present - Thoughtfully, Justly.

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

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.

Poverty Is The Mother Of Crime.

The World Is Mere Change, And This Life, Opinion.

Everything We Hear Is An Opinion, Not A Fact. Everything We See Is A Perspective, Not The Truth.

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

Nothing Is Worth Doing Pointlessly.

Live Not As Though There Were A Thousand Years Ahead Of You. Fate Is At Your Elbow; Make Yourself Good While Life And Power Are Still Yours.

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.

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

If It's In Your Control, Why Do You Do It? If It's In Someone Else's Control, Then Who Are You Blaming? Atoms? The Gods? Stupid Either Way. Blame No One. Set People Straight, If You Can. If Not, Just Repair The Damage.

Change Your Attitude To The Things That Bother You And You Will Be Aware Of Them.

We Are Too Much Accustomed To Attribute To A Single Cause That Which Is The Product Of Several, And The Majority Of Our Controversies Come From That.

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

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.

Be Like The Rocky Headland On Which The Waves Constantly Break. It Stands Firm, And Round It The Seething Waters Are Laid To Rest.

Nowhere Can Man Find A Quieter Or More Untroubled Retreat Than In His Own Soul.

Observe And Contemplate On The Hidden Things Of Life: How A Man's Seed Is But The Beginning, It Takes Others To Bring It To Fruition. Think How Food Undergoes Such Changes To Produce Health And Strength. See The Power Of These Hidden Things Which, Like The Wind Cannot Been Seen, But Its Effects Can Be.

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

Reading And Writing

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

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?

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

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

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

The Art Of Living Is More Like Wrestling Than Dancing, In So Far As It Stands Ready Against The Accidental And The Unforeseen, And Is Not Apt To Fall.

For A Man Can Lose Neither The Past Nor The Future; For How Can One Take From Him That Which Is Not His? So Remember These Two Points: First, That Each Thing Is Of Like Form From Everlasting And Comes Round Again In Its Cycle, And That It Signifies Not Whether A Man Shall Look Upon The Same Things For A Hundred Years Or Two Hundred, Or For An Infinity Of Time; Second, That The Longest Lived And The Shortest Lived Man, When They Come To Die, Lose One And The Same Thing.

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

And Yet, After All, What Is Posthumous Fame? Altogether Vanity.

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

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

There Is But One Thing Of Real Value - To Cultivate Truth And Justice, And To Live Without Anger In The Midst Of Lying And Unjust Men.

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

You Are A Little Soul Bearing About A Corpse, As Epictetus Used To Say.

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.

Put From You The Belief That 'i Have Been Wronged', And With It Will Go The Feeling. Reject Your Sense Of Injury, And The Injury Itself Disappears.

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

Don't Let Your Imagination Be Crushed By Life As A Whole.

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.

Rememberest The Gods, And That They Wish Not To Be Flattered, But Wish All Reasonable Beings To Be Made Like Themselves; And... Rememberest That What Does The Work Of A Fig-tree Is A Fig-tree, And That What Does The Work Of A Dog Is A Dog, And That What Does The Work Of A Bee Is A Bee, And That What Does The Work Of A Man Is A Man.

Death, Like Birth, Is One Of Nature's Mysteries, The Combining Of Primal Elements And Dissolving Of The Same Into The Same.

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.

All Things Fade And Quickly Turn To Myth.

Our Wills Are Ours, To Make Them Thine.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

Gluttony And Drunkenness Have Two Evils Attendant On Them; They Make The Carcass Smart, As Well As The Pocket.

Misfortune Nobly Born Is Good Fortune.

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

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

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

Mark How Fleeting And Paltry Is The Estate Of Man - Yesterday In Embryo, Tomorrow A Mummy Or Ashes. So For The Hairsbreadth Of Time Assigned To Thee, Live Rationally, And Part With Life Cheerfully, As Drops The Ripe Olive, Extolling The Season That Bore It And The Tree That Matured It.

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.

All That Is From The Gods Is Full Of Providence.

When We Consider We Are Bound To Be Serviceable To Mankind, And Bear With Their Faults, We Shall Perceive There Is A Common Tie Of Nature And Relation Between Us.

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

Keep Moving Forward

You Have To Assemble Your Life Yourself - Action By Action.

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.

Nothing Is Evil Which Is According To Nature.

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.

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".

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.

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.

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