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

-Marcus Aurelius

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Whoever Values Peace Of

Marcus Aurelius

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

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We Are Born For Cooperation, As Are The Feet, The Hands, The Eyelids, And The Upper And Lower Jaws.

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

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

Your Task Is To Stand Straight; Not To Be Held Straight.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

Happiness Is No Other Than Soundness And Perfection Of Mind.

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.

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

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

Adorn Thyself With Simplicity And With Indifference Towards The Things Which Lie Between Virtue And Vice. Love Mankind. Follow God. The Poet Says That Law Rules All. And It Is Enough To Remember That Law Rules All.

The Universe Is In Change, Life Is An Opinion.

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.

Does What's Happened Keep You From Acting With Justice, Generosity, Self-control, Sanity, Prudence, Honesty, Humility, Straightforward Ness, And All Other Qualities That Allow A Person's Nature To Fulfill Itself? So Remember This Principle When Something Threatens To Cause You Pain: The Thing Itself Was No Misfortune At All; To Endure It And Prevail Is Great Good Fortune.

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.

Each Day Provides Its Own Gifts.

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.

Nothing Is Worth Doing Pointlessly.

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

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?

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

To Live Happily Is An Inward Power Of The Soul.

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.

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

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

Nothing Proceeds From Nothingness, As Also Nothing Passes Away Into Non-existence.

Everything Is Interwoven, And The Web Is Holy; None Of Its Parts Are Unconnected. They Are Composed Harmoniously, And Together - They Compose The World.

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

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

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

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.

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

The Best Revenge Is To Be Unlike Him Who Performed The Injury.

How Soon Will Time Cover All Things.

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

Why Should Anyone Be Afraid Of Change? What Can Take Place Without It? What Can Be More Pleasing Or More Suitable To Universal Nature? Can You Take Your Bath Without The Firewood Undergoing A Change? Can You Eat Without The Food Undergoing A Change? And Can Anything Useful Be Done Without Change? Don't You See That For You To Change Is Just The Same, And Is Equally Necessary For Universal Nature?

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

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.

Everything That Happens, Happens As It Should.

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

Enough Of This Wretched Life And Murmuring And Apish Tricks. Why Art Thou Disturbed? What Is There New In This? What Unsettles Thee? Is It The Form Of The Thing? Look At It. Or Is It The Matter? Look At It. But Besides These There Is Nothing. Towards The Gods, Then, Now Become At Last More Simple And Better. It Is The Same Whether We Examine These Things For A Hundred Years Or Three.

...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.

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.

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

Men Exist For The Sake Of One Another.

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.

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

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.

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?

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

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

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

Always Follow These Two Rules: First, Act Only On What Your Reasoning Mind Proposes For The Good Of Humanity, And Second, Change Your Opinion If Someone Shows You It's Wrong. This Change Of Mind Must Proceed Only From The Conviction That It's Both Correct And For The Common Good, But Not Because It Will Give You Pleasure And Make You Popular.

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.

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

No Longer Let Thy Breathing Only Act In Concert With The Air Which Surrounds Thee, But Let Thy Intelligence Also Now Be In Harmony With The Intelligence Which Embraces All Things. For The Intelligent Power Is No Less Diffused In All Parts And Pervades All Things For Him Who Is Willing To Draw It To Him Than The Aërial Power For Him Who Is Able To Respire It.

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

Misfortune Nobly Born Is Good Fortune.

From The Philosopher Catulus, Never To Be Dismissive Of A Friend's Accusation, Even If It Seems Unreasonable, But To Make Every Effort To Restore The Relationship To Its Normal Condition.

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.

Treat With Utmost Respect Your Power Of Forming Opinions, For This Power Alone Guards You Against Making Assumptions That Are Contrary To Nature And Judgments That Overthrow The Rule Of Reason.

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.

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

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

Thou Art A Little Soul Bearing About A Corpse.

A Good Disposition Is Invincible, If It Be Genuine.

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.

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

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?

Give Full Attention And Devotion To Each Act.

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

If Someone Can Prove Me Wrong And Show Me My Mistake In Any Thought Or Action, I Shall Gladly Change. I Seek The Truth, Which Never Harmed Anyone: The Harm Is To Persist In One's Own Self-deception And Ignorance.

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.

"sweep Me Up And Send Me Where You Please." For There I Will Retain My Spirit, Tranquil And Content, As Long As It Can Feel And Act In Harmony With Its Own Nature. Is A Change Of Place Enough Reason For My Soul To Become Unhappy And Worn, For Me To Become Depressed, Humbled, Cowering, And Afraid? Can You Discover Any Reasons For This?

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.

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

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.

Prize That Which Is Best In The Universe; And This Is That Which Useth Everything And Ordereth Everything.

Remember How Often You Have Postponed Minding Your Interest, And Let Slip Those Opportunities The Gods Have Given You. It Is Now High Time To Consider What Sort Of World You Are Part Of, And From What Kind Of Governor Of It You Are Descended; That You Have A Set Period Assigned You To Act In, And Unless You Improve It To Brighten And Compose Your Thoughts, It Will Quickly Run Off With You, And Be Lost Beyond Recovery.

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.

In This Flowing Stream, Then, On Which There Is No Abiding, What Is There Of The Things Which Hurry By On Which A Man Would Set A High Price? It Would Be Just As If A Man Should Fall In Love With One Of The Sparrows Which Fly By, But It Has Already Passed Out Of Sight.

Falling In Love

If You Do Everything As If It Were The Last Thing You Were Doing In Your Life, And Stop Being Aimless, Stop Letting Your Emotions Override What Your Mind Tells You, Stop Being Hypocritical, Self-centered, Irritable.

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

I Consist Of A Little Body And A Soul.

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.

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.

Men Seek Out Retreats For Themselves In The Country, By The Seaside, On The Moutains . . . But All This Is Unphilosophical To The Last Degree . . . When Thou Canst At A Moment's Notice Retire Into Thyself.

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.

The Stone That Is Thrown Into The Air Is None The Worse For Falling Down, And None The Better For Going Up.

Our Inward Power, When It Obeys Nature, Reacts To Events By Accommodating Itself To What It Faces - To What Is Possible. It Needs No Specific Material. It Pursues Its Own Aims As Circumstances Allow; It Turns Obstacles Into Fuel. As A Fire Overwhelms What Would Have Quenched A Lamp. What's Thrown On Top Of The Conflagration Is Absorbed, Consumed By It - And Makes It Burn Still Higher.

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

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

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

Living Organisms

Think Of The Country Mouse And Of The Town Mouse, And Of The Alarm And Trepidation Of The Town Mouse.

To No Man Make Yourself A Boon Companion: Your Joy Will Be Less But Less Will Be Your Grief

Things Themselves Cannot Touch The Soul, Not In The Least Degree, Nor Have They Admission To The Soul Nor Can They Turn Or Move The Soul: It Turns And Moves Itself Alone And Whatever Judgment It May Think Proper To Make, Such It Makes By Remaking For Itself The Things That Present Themselves To It

Be Mindful At All Times Of The Following: The Nature Of The Whole Universe, The Nature Of The Part That Is Me, The Relation Of The One To The Other, The One So Vast, The Other So Small.

Unhappy Am I Because This Has Happened To Me.- Not So, But Happy Am I, Though This Has Happened To Me, Because I Continue Free From Pain, Neither Crushed By The Present Nor Fearing The Future.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

The Universe Is Transformation: Life Is Opinion.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Put It Out Of The Power Of Truth To Give You An Ill Character. If Anybody Reports You Not To Be An Honest Man Let Your Practice Give Him The Lie.

The Best Way Of Avenging Thyself Is Not To Become Like The Wrong-doer.

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.

Remember That All Things Are Only Opinion And That It Is In Your Power To Think As You Please.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

Welcome Every Experience The Looms Of Fate May Weave For You.

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

A Wrongdoer Is Often A Man Who Has Left Something Undone, Not Always One Who Has Done Something.

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

Live Each Day As If It Be Your Last.

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

Self Confidence

The Whole Contains Nothing Which Is Not Or Its Advantage; And All Natures Indeed Have This Common Principle, But The Nature Of The Universe Has This Principle Besides, That It Cannot Be Compelled Even By Any External Cause To Generate Anything Harmful To Itself.

Were You To Live Three Thousand Years, Or Even Thirty Thousand, Remember That The Sole Life Which A Man Can Lose Is That Which He Is Living At The Moment; And Furthermore, That He Can Have No Other Life Except The One He Loses.

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.

Let It Judge That Nothing Is Either Bad Or Good Which Can Happen Equally To The Bad Man And The Good. For That Which Happens Equally To Him Who Lives Contrary To Nature And To Him Who Lives According To Nature, Is Neither According To Nature Nor Contrary To Nature.

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

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

Do What You Will. Even If You Tear Yourself Apart, Most People Will Continue Doing The Same Things.

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.

Be Tolerant With Others And Strict With Yourself.

Nothing Has Such Power To Broaden The Mind As The Ability To Investigate Systematically And Truly All That Comes Under Thy Observation In Life.

What We Do Now Echoes In Eternity.

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

Leave Other People's Mistakes Where They Lie.

Though Thou Be Destined To Live Three Thousand Years And As Many Myriads Besides, Yet Remember That No Man Loseth Other Life Than That Which He Liveth, Nor Liveth Other Than That Which He Loseth.

And In The Case Of Superior Things Like Stars, We Discover A Kind Of Unity In Separation. The Higher We Rise On The Scale Of Being, The Easier It Is To Discern A Connection Even Among Things Separated By Vast Distances.

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

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.

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

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.

Dig Within. There Lies The Wellspring Of Good.

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.

Short-lived Are Both The Praiser And The Praised, And Rememberer And The Remembered: And All This In A Nook Of This Part Of The World; And Not Even Here Do All Agree, No, Not Any One With Himself: And The Whole Earth Too Is A Point.

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

Take Away Your Opinion, And Then There Is Taken Away The Complaint, 'i Have Been Harmed.' Take Away The Complaint, 'i Have Been Harmed,' And The Harm Is Taken Away.

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

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

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.

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

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

The Soul Becomes Dyed With The Color Of Its Thoughts.

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

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

If I And My Two Children Cannot Move The Gods, The Gods Must Have Their Reasons.

It Were Well To Die If There Be Gods, And Sad To Live If There Be None.

If There Is A God

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.

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.

How Can A Man Find A Sensible Way To Live? One Way And One Only- Philosophy. And My Philosophy Means Keeping That Vital Spark Within You Free From Damage And Degradation, Using It To Transcend Pain And Pleasure, Doing Everything With A Purpose, Avoiding Lies And Hypocrisy, Not Relying On Another Person's Actions Or Failings. To Accept Everything That Comes, And Everything That Is Given, As Coming From That Same Spiritual Source.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

Positive Thinking

No One Wearies Of Benefits Received.

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.

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?

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

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.

Just Consider, My Friend, Whether A Pure Spirit And Virtue Are Anything Other Than Saving Your Life And Being Saved. Perhaps We Need To Discard The Idea Of Longevity And Cease Loving This Life, Instead Committing These Things To God And, Believing That No One Ever Escapes Destiny, To Consider, With That In Mind, How We May Live The Best Possible Life In The Time That Remains.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

Forward, As Occasion Offers. Never Look Round To See Whether Any Shall Note It.... Be Satisfied With Success In Even The Smallest Matter, And Think That Even Such A Result Is No Trifle.

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

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

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Jonathan Edwards

Richard Brinsley Sheridan

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