Ambition means tying your well-being to what other people say or do… sanity means tying it to your own actions.
~ Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius on Harm
“Choose not to be harmed and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed, and you haven’t been.”
~ Marcus Aurelius
Seneca on Vices
“I am satisfied if each day I make some reduction in the number of my vices and find fault with my mistakes.”
~ Seneca
Epictetus on Anger
Any person capable of angering you becomes your master.
~ Epictetus
Aristotle on Greatness
…even in adversity goodness shines through, when someone endures repeated and severe misfortune with patience; this is not owing to insensibility but from generosity and greatness of soul.
~ Aristotle
Sebastian Purcell on What We Want
“What we want are worthwhile lives, and if we have to make sacrifices for that, then so much the worse for ‘happiness’.”
~ Sebastian Purcell / Aeon Magazine
https://aeon.co/ideas/what-the-aztecs-can-teach-us-about-happiness-and-the-good-life
Seneca on a Small Life
“Just as one of small stature can be a perfect man, so a life of small compass can be a perfect life.”
~ Seneca
Mara Bar Serapion on Wealth
Follow diligently learning rather than riches. For the greater are one’s possessions, the greater is the evil attendant upon them. For I have myself observed that, where a man’s goods are many, so also are the tribulations which happen to him; and, where luxuries are accumulated, there also do sorrows congregate; and, where riches are abundant, there is stored up the bitterness of many a year.
~ Mara Bar Serapion
Seneca on Hope
“Weigh carefully your hopes as well as your fears, and whenever all the elements are in doubt, decide in your own favour; believe what you prefer.”
~ Seneca
Seneca on Malady
“It matters little whether you lay a sick man on a wooden or on a golden bed, for whithersoever he be moved he will carry his malady with him; so one need not care whether the diseased mind is bestowed upon riches or upon poverty. His malady goes with the man.”
~ Seneca
Seneca on the Crowd
“To consort with the crowd is harmful; there is no person who does not make some vice attractive to us, or stamp it upon us, or taint us unconsciously therewith.”
~ Seneca
Seneca on Vices
“Vices tempt you by the rewards which they offer; but in the life of which I speak, you must live without being paid.”
~ Seneca
Epictetus on Luxury
“In things that pertain to the body take only as much as your bare need requires, I mean such things as food, drink, clothing, and shelter; but cut down everything which is for outward show or luxury.”
~ Epictetus
Seneca on Improvement
“I commend you and rejoice in the fact that you are persistent in your studies, and that, putting all else aside, you make it each day your endeavour to become a better man.”
~ Seneca
Seneca on Poverty
“I do not regard a man as poor, if the little which remains is enough for him.”
~ Seneca
Epictetus on Misfortune
“On the occasion of every accident that befalls you, remember to turn to yourself and inquire what power you have for turning it to use.”
~ Epictetus
Marcus Aurelius on Life
“Ask yourself at every moment: is this necessary?”
~ Marcus Aurelius
Seneca on Bustle
“For love of bustle is not industry, – it is only the restlessness of a hunted mind”
~ Seneca
Marcus Aurelius on Life
“…life is a war and a journey in a foreign land, and afterwards oblivion.”
~ Marcus Aurelius
Seneca on Work
“Nothing is so certain as that the evils of idleness can be shaken off by hard work.”
~ Seneca
Marcus Aurelius on Virtue
“And then you might see what the life of the good man is like—someone content with what nature assigns him, and satisfied with being just and kind himself.”
~ Marcus Aurelius
Arthur Schopenhauer on Words
“The word of man is the most durable of all material.”
~ Arthur Schopenhauer
Cicero on Virtue
“Honour is the reward of virtue.”
~ Cicero
Cicero on Slander
“As fire when thrown into water is cooled down and put out, so also a false accusation when brought against a man of the purest and holiest character, boils over and is at once dissipated, and vanishes and threats of heaven and sea, himself standing unmoved.”
~ Cicero
Cicero on Gardens
“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”
~ Cicero
Cicero on Glory
“We are motivated by a keen desire for praise, and the better a man is the more he is inspired by glory. The very philosophers themselves, even in those books which they write in contempt of glory, inscribe their names.”
~ Cicero
Cicero on Thrift
“Cannot people realise how large an income is thrift?”
~ Cicero
Cicero on Ability
“Natural ability without education has more often attained glory and virtue than education without natural ability.”
~ Cicero
Cicero on Planning
“Before beginning, plan carefully.”
~ Cicero
Cicero on Memory
“We forget our pleasures and remember our sufferings.”
~ Cicero
Cicero on Wisdom
“The function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil.”
~ Cicero
Cicero on Wealth
“Who is there who would wish to be surrounded by all the riches in the world and enjoy every abundance in life and yet not love or be loved by anyone?”
~ Cicero