Feeling
Anxiety
Stoic passages for anxiety, each with a modern reading you can use today.
- Chrysippus A good is not enlarged by duration. One wise moment makes a person no less happy than a lifetime spent wisely.
- Diogenes Laertius Heraclitus called self-deceit a dreadful sickness, and even sight a sense that can mislead.
- Epictetus A sound beginning in philosophy is to recognize clearly one's own governing mind.
- Epictetus Among all things, some are good, some bad, and some indifferent. Virtue and what shares in it are good; vice and what…
- Epictetus At the first impression, do not be swept away. Tell it: wait, let me learn what you are and test you.
- Epictetus Be assured that the essential property of piety towards the gods is to form right opinions concerning them, as…
- Epictetus Consider what you are: before all else, a human being whose greatest power is reasoned choice, governing all else and…
- Epictetus Don't stop it. Is it not yet come? Don't stretch your desire towards it, but wait till it reaches you. Do this with…
- Epictetus Don't wish to be thought to know anything; and even if you appear to be somebody important to others, distrust…
- Epictetus Events make us fearful when we judge that others control them. A stronghold falls not chiefly to fire or steel, but to…
- Epictetus Free is the one who lives without compulsion or obstruction in their choices, whose aims are sound and whose aversions…
- Epictetus Freedom is gained not by satisfying every desire, but by diminishing desire itself.
- Epictetus Good and bad lie in our deliberate choices. Things outside choice are neither good nor bad in themselves.
- Epictetus Guard the good that is yours in every action. With all else, use what comes as reason allows; otherwise you will be…
- Epictetus Guard your impressions constantly. What you defend is no minor possession: your dignity, reliability, steadiness,…
- Epictetus Happiness cannot live with craving what is absent. The happy person has what is needed, like one well fed, without…
- Epictetus He was imprisoned; the claim that he suffered evil is something you added.
- Epictetus If you call what is servile free, or claim as yours what belongs to another, you will be frustrated and accusing.…
- Epictetus If you cherish anything outside your reasoned choice, you endanger your freedom of choice.
- Epictetus If you ever happen to turn your attention to externals, so as to wish to please anyone, be assured that you have…
- Epictetus If you seek something good, draw it from yourself.
- Epictetus If you turn your will toward what is outside your control merely to impress another, you have ruined your purpose. Be…
- Epictetus If you want to improve, accept appearing uninformed or foolish in matters that do not concern you. Do not seek the…
- Epictetus If you wish your children, and your wife, and your friends to live for ever, you are stupid; for you wish to be in…
- Epictetus It is absurd to demand, ‘Tell me exactly what to do.’ Ask instead to train your mind to meet every circumstance, so…
- Epictetus It is not only longing for money or rank that makes us dependent. Longing for quiet, leisure, travel, or learning can…
- Epictetus Keep death, exile, and every feared thing before you daily; then you will avoid base thoughts and excessive desire.
- Epictetus Keep this ready at dawn, by day, and at night: the road to contentment is to release everything outside your choice,…
- Epictetus Keep two rules ready: nothing is good or bad except our reasoned choice, and we should follow events rather than try…
- Epictetus Learn to live as a healthy person lives: with confidence in what is dependable, unhindered, and cannot be taken—your…
- Epictetus Let death and exile, and all other things which appear terrible be daily before your eyes, but chiefly death, and you…
- Epictetus Life's foremost work is this: distinguish matters clearly, so I can tell myself which are external and beyond my…
- Epictetus Live as though at a shared feast. When something comes to you, take a modest portion. If it passes, do not grab after…
- Epictetus Men are disturbed, not by things, but by the principles and notions which they form concerning things. Death, for…
- Epictetus Misfortune, quarrels, blame, and agitation are judgments outside our choice. Restrict judgment to choice, and peace…
- Epictetus My will has not been blocked or compelled, because I have joined my choices to the will of the divine. If it wills…
- Epictetus People are troubled not by events, but by the judgments they form about events.
- Epictetus Philosophy is preparation for whatever may come. One who has prepared to endure can say to each trial: this is what my…
- Epictetus Put no faith in reputation, wealth, or rank, but in your judgments about what is and is not yours to control. That is…
- Epictetus Remember that following desire promises the attainment of that of which you are desirous; and aversion promises the…
- Epictetus Some things are in our control and others not. Things in our control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in a…
- Epictetus Some things depend on us and others do not. Our judgments, choices, desires, aversions, and actions are ours. Body,…
- Epictetus The body is to everyone the measure of the possessions proper for it, just as the foot is of the shoe. If, therefore,…
- Epictetus The condition and characteristic of a vulgar person, is, that he never expects either benefit or hurt from himself,…
- Epictetus The free person has what they will under every condition; whoever can be forced, restrained, or driven against their…
- Epictetus The gods left us the ruling power: the ability to use appearances well, which governs all else. They gave no more, not…
- Epictetus The greatest evil is not death but fearing it. Train against that fear in thought, practice, and study; this is the…
- Epictetus The third topic, then, is necessary on the account of the second, and the second on the account of the first. But the…
- Epictetus The true athlete trains against misleading impressions. Stand firm under pressure; do not let appearances carry you…
- Epictetus There are three fields in which the person seeking wisdom and goodness must train. First are desire and aversion, so…
- Epictetus These paths cannot be combined. Be one person: devote yourself either to sound judgment or to externals; guard the…
- Epictetus True education is learning to apply our natural ideas properly, and to distinguish what depends on us from what does…
- Epictetus Upon all occasions we ought to have these maxims ready at hand: "Conduct me, Jove, and you, 0 Destiny, Wherever your…
- Epictetus We govern our rational choice and whatever follows from that moral will. Beyond our control are the body and its…
- Epictetus We test money with great care, yet for our governing mind we drowse, accepting every appearance that comes along.
- Epictetus What appears sensible or senseless, beneficial or harmful, varies from person to person. Education teaches us to bring…
- Epictetus What can be stopped, seized, or compelled is not truly one’s own; what cannot be hindered belongs to us.
- Epictetus What makes a person unimpeded and self-directed? Not wealth, office, public rank, or kingship. It is something else:…
- Epictetus When a child grips too many sweets in a narrow jar, the fist cannot come out and the child cries. Let go of a few, and…
- Epictetus When a painful impression comes, say: you are only an impression, not necessarily what you seem. Test whether it…
- Epictetus When a raven happens to croak unluckily, don't allow the appearance hurry you away with it, but immediately make the…
- Epictetus When caution is directed toward one's own judgments and actions, one also gains the power to avoid harm. But when…
- Epictetus When I encounter someone anxious, I ask what they are seeking. If they sought nothing beyond their own power, what…
- Epictetus When troubling news reaches you, remember that no report can damage your power of choice. It may tell you of death;…
- Epictetus When you have recourse to divination, remember that you know not what the event will be, and you come to learn it of…
- Epictetus Whenever you accuse providence, reconsider the matter and you may find that what occurred accords with reason.
- Epictetus Women from fourteen years old are flattered with the title of "mistresses" by the men. Therefore, perceiving that they…
- Epictetus You are not your body or your style of hair, but your faculty for choosing well; make your choices fine, and you will…
- Epictetus You may be unconquerable, if you enter into no combat in which it is not in your own control to conquer.
- Heraclitus Wisdom is one thing: keep your attention on the ruling intelligence that directs all else.
- Marcus Aurelius Accept then, and be pleased with whatsoever doth happen, though otherwise harsh and un-pleasing, as tending to that…
- Marcus Aurelius Accept what comes without pride; release what leaves without clinging.
- Marcus Aurelius Add nothing beyond the first report. Someone speaks badly of you; that is all reported, not that you are harmed. A…
- Marcus Aurelius Again, consider now the times of Trajan. There likewise thou seest the very self-same things, and that age also is now…
- Marcus Aurelius Again, he that feareth pains and crosses in this world, feareth some of those things which some time or other must…
- Marcus Aurelius Again, how he was no backbiter, nor easily frightened, nor suspicious, and in his language free from all affectation…
- Marcus Aurelius All, petty things; all things that are soon altered, soon perished. And all things come from one beginning; either all…
- Marcus Aurelius All substances come soon to their change, and either they shall be resolved by way of exhalation (if so be that all…
- Marcus Aurelius All that I consist of, is either form or matter. No corruption can reduce either of these unto nothing: for neither…
- Marcus Aurelius All those things, for matter of experience are usual and ordinary; for their continuance but for a day; and for their…
- Marcus Aurelius All worldly things thou must behold and consider, dividing them into matter, form, and reference, or their proper end.
- Marcus Aurelius And how many there be, who never so much as heard of thy name, how many that will soon forget it; how many who but…
- Marcus Aurelius And indeed we must needs commit many evils, if we incline to any of these things, more or less, with an opinion of any…
- Marcus Aurelius And that as often as thou shalt behold them, thou shalt still see the same: as the same things, so the same shortness…
- Marcus Aurelius And this I say of them, who once shined as the wonders of their ages, for as for the rest, no sooner are they expired,…
- Marcus Aurelius Another cause succeedeth, and undertakes the work, and in time brings a child (that wonderful effect from such a…
- Marcus Aurelius As a part hitherto thou hast had a particular subsistence: and now shalt thou vanish away into the common substance of…
- Marcus Aurelius As every fancy and imagination presents itself unto thee, consider (if it be possible) the true nature, and the proper…
- Marcus Aurelius As for that which is truly good, what can it stand in need of more than either justice or truth; or more than either…
- Marcus Aurelius As for thy body, which as a vessel, or a case, compasseth thee about, and the many and curious instruments that it…
- Marcus Aurelius As generation is, so also death, a secret of nature's wisdom: a mixture of elements, resolved into the same elements…
- Marcus Aurelius 'As often as a father kisseth his child, he should say secretly with himself' (said Epictetus,) 'tomorrow perchance…
- Marcus Aurelius As ready therefore must a sound understanding be for whatsoever shall happen. But he that saith, O that my children…
- Marcus Aurelius As they that long after figs in winter when they cannot be had; so are they that long after children, before they be…
- Marcus Aurelius As thou dost purpose to live, when thou hast retired thyself to some such place, where neither roarer nor harlot is:…
- Marcus Aurelius At every moment keep your mind firmly on the work before you, as a human being, doing it with plain dignity, care,…
- Marcus Aurelius At the cause, or the matter? Behold either by itself, is either of that weight and moment indeed? And besides these,…
- Marcus Aurelius Behold and observe, what is the state of their rational part; and those that the world doth account wise, see what…
- Marcus Aurelius Build your life deed by deed, satisfied when each reaches its proper end. If an outward obstacle appears, it cannot…
- Marcus Aurelius But as for those which by the vulgar are esteemed good, if he shall hear them mentioned as good, he doth hearken for…
- Marcus Aurelius Cast away from thee opinion, and thou art safe. And what is it that hinders thee from casting of it away?
- Marcus Aurelius Change contains no evil, just as remaining in a new condition contains no good.
- Marcus Aurelius Children's anger, mere babels; wretched souls bearing up dead bodies, that they may not have their fall so soon: even…
- Marcus Aurelius Collect yourself. As one waking from a troubling dream sees it for what it was, wake up and see that the things…
- Marcus Aurelius Consider all matter and your tiny share; all time and your nearly instant portion; all fate and your minute place…
- Marcus Aurelius Consider earlier ages: people married, raised children, fell sick, died, traded, schemed, loved, sought office, and…
- Marcus Aurelius Consider how many different things, whether they concern our bodies, or our souls, in a moment of time come to pass in…
- Marcus Aurelius Consider how quickly all things are dissolved and resolved: the bodies and substances themselves, into the matter and…
- Marcus Aurelius Consider now the death of a whole kindred and family, as of that of the Pompeys, as that also that useth to be written…
- Marcus Aurelius Continue then to take notice of it, as thou hast begun, and whatsoever thou dost, do it not without this proviso, that…
- Marcus Aurelius Death is a cessation from the impression of the senses, the tyranny of the passions, the errors of the mind, and the…
- Marcus Aurelius Do not approach philosophy like a strict overseer. Go to it as the sick go for treatment: for sore eyes, a burn, or a…
- Marcus Aurelius Do not let the whole course of your life overwhelm you. Stay with the present hardship and ask why it is truly…
- Marcus Aurelius Do not treat what you lack as already yours. Value the things you have by imagining their absence, but do not cling so…
- Marcus Aurelius Do, soul, do; abuse and contemn thyself; yet a while and the time for thee to respect thyself, will be at an end.…
- Marcus Aurelius Dost thou grieve that thou dost weigh but so many pounds, and not three hundred rather? Just as much reason hast thou…
- Marcus Aurelius Either all things by the providence of reason happen unto every particular, as a part of one general body; and then it…
- Marcus Aurelius Either fate, (and that either an absolute necessity, and unavoidable decree; or a placable and flexible Providence) or…
- Marcus Aurelius Either this world is a κόσμος, or comely piece, because all disposed and governed by certain order: or if it be a…
- Marcus Aurelius Either thou dost Continue in this kind of life and that is it, which so long thou hast been used unto and therefore…
- Marcus Aurelius Even if you lived for ages beyond counting, you lose only the life now being lived. The present is equal for all, and…
- Marcus Aurelius Ever to mind and consider with thyself; how all things that now are, have been heretofore much after the same sort,…
- Marcus Aurelius Ever to represent unto thyself; and to set before thee, both the general age and time of the world, and the whole…
- Marcus Aurelius Every particular nature hath content, when in its own proper course it speeds. A reasonable nature doth then speed,…
- Marcus Aurelius Everything depends on the judgment you attach to it, and that judgment is yours. Remove it when you choose, and you…
- Marcus Aurelius First, do not be shaken. Then look directly at the task, remembering that your aim is to be a good person. Do what…
- Marcus Aurelius First; let it not trouble thee. For all things both good and evil: come to pass according to the nature and general…
- Marcus Aurelius For a day only endure both the one who remembers and the one remembered.
- Marcus Aurelius For if thou shalt not be sensible of thine innocence; if that also shall be gone from thee, the comfort of a good…
- Marcus Aurelius For not observing the state of another man's soul, scarce was ever any man known to be unhappy. Tell whosoever they be…
- Marcus Aurelius For peace, do not merely do fewer things; do what a rational, social being must do, and do it well. Restrain needless…
- Marcus Aurelius Generally then, whatsoever it be, besides virtue, and those things that proceed from virtue that thou art subject to…
- Marcus Aurelius Give what thou wilt, and take away what thou wilt, saith he that is well taught and truly modest, to Him that gives,…
- Marcus Aurelius Go to the quality of the cause from which the effect doth proceed. Behold it by itself bare and naked, separated from…
- Marcus Aurelius He is a true fugitive, that flies from reason, by which men are sociable. He blind, who cannot see with the eyes of…
- Marcus Aurelius He that feareth death, either feareth that he shall have no sense at all, or that his senses will not be the same.…
- Marcus Aurelius Honour that which is chiefest and most powerful in the world, and that is it, which makes use of all things, and…
- Marcus Aurelius How easy a thing is it for a man to put off from him all turbulent adventitious imaginations, and presently to be in…
- Marcus Aurelius How happy is man in this his power that hath been granted unto him: that he needs not do anything but what God shall…
- Marcus Aurelius How many of them who came into the world at the same time when I did, are already gone out of it?
- Marcus Aurelius How Socrates looked, when he was fain to gird himself with a skin, Xanthippe his wife having taken away his clothes,…
- Marcus Aurelius I consist of body and soul. Unto my body all things are indifferent, for of itself it cannot affect one thing more…
- Marcus Aurelius if any should put this question unto thee, how this word Antoninus is written, wouldst thou not presently fix thine…
- Marcus Aurelius If it were that thou hadst at one time both a stepmother, and a natural mother living, thou wouldst honour and respect…
- Marcus Aurelius If my present apprehension of the object be right, and my present action charitable, and this, towards whatsoever doth…
- Marcus Aurelius If so be that the souls remain after death (say they that will not believe it); how is the air from all eternity able…
- Marcus Aurelius If the first, why should I desire to continue any longer in this fortuit confusion and commixtion? or why should I…
- Marcus Aurelius If they can do nothing, why doest thou pray? If they can, why wouldst not thou rather pray, that they will grant unto…
- Marcus Aurelius If thou shalt intend that which is present, following the rule of right and reason carefully, solidly, meekly, and…
- Marcus Aurelius In another man's mind and understanding thy evil Cannot subsist, nor in any proper temper or distemper of the natural…
- Marcus Aurelius In sum, either there is a God, and then all is well; or if all things go by chance and fortune, yet mayest thou use…
- Marcus Aurelius Infinite are the troubles and miseries, that thou hast already been put to, by reason of this only, because that for…
- Marcus Aurelius Is any man so foolish as to fear change, to which all things that once were not owe their being? And what is it, that…
- Marcus Aurelius It is in my power concerning this thing that is happened, what soever it be, to conceit that which is right and true.…
- Marcus Aurelius It is in thy power absolutely to exclude all manner of conceit and opinion, as concerning this matter; and by the same…
- Marcus Aurelius It is that which many time and often thou hast already seen and known in the world. And so oft as anything doth happen…
- Marcus Aurelius It is the part of a man endowed with a good understanding faculty, to consider what they themselves are in very deed,…
- Marcus Aurelius It will suffice to remember, that all things in general are by certain order and appointment: or if it be but few. And…
- Marcus Aurelius Keep thyself to the first bare and naked apprehensions of things, as they present themselves unto thee, and add not…
- Marcus Aurelius Let death surprise me when it will, and where it will, I may be εὔμοιρος, or a happy man, nevertheless. For he is a…
- Marcus Aurelius Let it be thy perpetual meditation, how many physicians who once looked so grim, and so theatrically shrunk their…
- Marcus Aurelius Let not the general representation unto thyself of the wretchedness of this our mortal life, trouble thee. Let not thy…
- Marcus Aurelius Let not things future trouble thee. For if necessity so require that they come to pass, thou shalt (whensoever that…
- Marcus Aurelius Let opinion be taken away, and no man will think himself wronged. If no man shall think himself wronged, then is there…
- Marcus Aurelius Let that of Heraclitus never be out of thy mind, that the death of earth, is water, and the death of water, is air;…
- Marcus Aurelius Let the several deaths of men of all sorts, and of all sorts of professions, and of all sort of nations, be a…
- Marcus Aurelius Let thy course ever be the most compendious way. The most compendious, is that which is according to nature: that is,…
- Marcus Aurelius Let us do our best endeavours to persuade them; but however, if reason and justice lead thee to it, do it, though they…
- Marcus Aurelius Living resembles wrestling more than dancing, for it demands readiness to meet and withstand sudden, unforeseen attacks.
- Marcus Aurelius Look in, let not either the proper quality, or the true worth of anything pass thee, before thou hast fully…
- Marcus Aurelius Love the modest craft you have learned and find rest in it. Entrust the rest to the gods, making yourself neither…
- Marcus Aurelius Many of those things that trouble and straiten thee, it is in thy power to cut off, as wholly depending from mere…
- Marcus Aurelius My reasoned choice is independent of my neighbor’s, as of their body or breath. Though made for cooperation, each…
- Marcus Aurelius Never esteem of anything as profitable, which shall ever constrain thee either to break thy faith, or to lose thy…
- Marcus Aurelius No man can hinder thee to live as thy nature doth require. Nothing can happen unto thee, but what the common good of…
- Marcus Aurelius Not in syllogisms, and logical subtilties, not in wealth, not in honour and reputation, not in pleasure. In none of…
- Marcus Aurelius Not to wander out of the way, but upon every motion and desire, to perform that which is just: and ever to be careful…
- Marcus Aurelius Nothing can block the purposes of your mind. Fire, weapons, rulers, insults, and every other threat leave it untouched.
- Marcus Aurelius O foolery! For what if they did, would their masters be sensible of It? or if sensible, would they be glad of it? or…
- Marcus Aurelius Observe the stars in their courses as though you moved with them; reflect on nature's changes, for this clears away…
- Marcus Aurelius Of Diognetus, not to busy myself about vain things, and not easily to believe those things, which are commonly spoken,…
- Marcus Aurelius Of everything that presents itself unto thee, to consider what the true nature of it is, and to unfold it, as it were,…
- Marcus Aurelius Of Fronto, to how much envy and fraud and hypocrisy the state of a tyrannous king is subject unto, and how they who…
- Marcus Aurelius Of him also I learned how to receive favours and kindnesses (as commonly they are accounted:) from friends, so that I…
- Marcus Aurelius Of him also, to observe a constant tenor, (not interrupted, with any other cares and distractions,) in the study and…
- Marcus Aurelius Of him that brought me up, not to be fondly addicted to either of the two great factions of the coursers in the…
- Marcus Aurelius Of others, even that which was fabulous, is now long since forgotten. This thereafter thou must remember, that…
- Marcus Aurelius Of the same nature is sickness and death; slander, and lying in wait, and whatsoever else ordinarily doth unto fools…
- Marcus Aurelius Of these the two former, are so far forth thine, as that thou art bound to take care for them. But the third alone is…
- Marcus Aurelius Of things that are external, happen what will to that which can suffer by external accidents. Those things that suffer…
- Marcus Aurelius One who follows reason in everything is both at ease and ready for action—cheerful and composed together.
- Marcus Aurelius Others may block an act, but not your purpose or disposition. The mind can adapt, making a barrier serve its aim: what…
- Marcus Aurelius Out of Plato. 'He then whose mind is endowed with true magnanimity, who hath accustomed himself to the contemplation…
- Marcus Aurelius Plato spoke well: when considering human affairs, look down from above and take in crowds, armies, fields, unions and…
- Marcus Aurelius Pray in another way: not to possess what you crave, but to be free of the craving; not for another's ruin, but for…
- Marcus Aurelius Pursuing what cannot be achieved is folly; yet the ignoble person pursues nothing else.
- Marcus Aurelius Put aside what is past, leave the future to the larger order, and direct the present toward reverence and justice:…
- Marcus Aurelius Reason moves freely when it accepts no falsehood, aims only at the common good, desires only what it can govern, and…
- Marcus Aurelius Receive temporal blessings without ostentation, when they are sent and thou shalt be able to part with them with all…
- Marcus Aurelius Remember that all is but opinion and conceit, for those things are plain and apparent, which were spoken unto Monimus…
- Marcus Aurelius Remember that all is but opinion, and all opinion depends of the mind. Take thine opinion away, and then as a ship…
- Marcus Aurelius Remember the fable of the country mouse and the city mouse, and the great fright and terror that this was put into.
- Marcus Aurelius Remembering moreover, that this care and circumspection of thine, is to continue but for a while, and then thy life…
- Marcus Aurelius See what Crates pronounceth concerning Xenocrates himself.
- Marcus Aurelius Set your mind first on unquestioned goods—wisdom, self-command, justice, courage—and the crowd's claims will lose…
- Marcus Aurelius She cannot be dyed or infected by it. What then must I do, that I may have within myself an overflowing fountain, and…
- Marcus Aurelius So figs are accounted fairest and ripest then, when they begin to shrink, and wither as it were. So ripe olives, when…
- Marcus Aurelius Some things hasten to be, and others to be no more. And even whatsoever now is, some part thereof hath already…
- Marcus Aurelius Someone ignorant of the universe does not know where they stand. Someone ignorant of life's purpose knows neither…
- Marcus Aurelius Stir up thy mind, and recall thy wits again from thy natural dreams, and visions, and when thou art perfectly awoken,…
- Marcus Aurelius Strip appearances down: fine food, wine, clothing, and desire become ordinary matter when seen without embellishment.
- Marcus Aurelius Take me and throw me where thou wilt: I am indifferent. For there also I shall have that spirit which is within me…
- Marcus Aurelius Tell yourself: you are no longer to be ruled like a slave by every urge. Do not be jerked about by each impulse; stop…
- Marcus Aurelius That I have had such a brother, who by his own example might stir me up to think of myself; and by his respect and…
- Marcus Aurelius That inward mistress part of man if it be in its own true natural temper, is towards all worldly chances and events…
- Marcus Aurelius That soul which is ever ready, even now presently (if need be) from the body, whether by way of extinction, or…
- Marcus Aurelius That then which is longest of duration, and that which is shortest, come both to one effect. For although in regard of…
- Marcus Aurelius That which most men would think themselves most happy for, and would prefer before all things, if the Gods would grant…
- Marcus Aurelius That which the nature of the universe doth busy herself about, is; that which is here, to transfer it thither, to…
- Marcus Aurelius The ambitious supposeth another man's act, praise and applause, to be his own happiness; the voluptuous his own sense…
- Marcus Aurelius The end and object of a rational constitution is, to do nothing rashly, to be kindly affected towards men, and in all…
- Marcus Aurelius The final ends and consummations of actions are nothing at all to a man's nature. The end therefore of a man, or the…
- Marcus Aurelius The gods will do thee no hurt, thou mayest be sure. But if it be so that there be no gods, or that they take no care…
- Marcus Aurelius The matter itself, of which the universe doth consist, is of itself very tractable and pliable. That rational essence…
- Marcus Aurelius The nature of the universe did once certainly before it was created, whatsoever it hath done since, deliberate and so…
- Marcus Aurelius The next, that all these things, which now thou seest, shall within a very little while be changed, and be no more:…
- Marcus Aurelius The rational commanding part, as it alone can stir up and turn itself; so it maketh both itself to be, and everything…
- Marcus Aurelius The things themselves that affect us, they stand without doors, neither knowing anything themselves nor able to utter…
- Marcus Aurelius The things themselves (which either to get or to avoid thou art put to so much trouble) come not unto thee themselves;…
- Marcus Aurelius The time of a man's life is as a point; the substance of it ever flowing, the sense obscure; and the whole composition…
- Marcus Aurelius The universe is transformation; our life is shaped by judgment.
- Marcus Aurelius Then is the soul as Empedocles doth liken it, like unto a sphere or globe, when she is all of one form and figure:…
- Marcus Aurelius There is not any man that is so happy in his death, but that some of those that are by him when he dies, will be ready…
- Marcus Aurelius There is nothing more shameful than perfidious friendship. Above all things, that must be avoided. However true…
- Marcus Aurelius These are enough: sound judgment in the present, action for the shared good in the present, and grateful acceptance in…
- Marcus Aurelius These things thou must always have in mind: What is the nature of the universe, and what is mine—in particular: This…
- Marcus Aurelius They contemn one another, and yet they seek to please one another: and whilest they seek to surpass one another in…
- Marcus Aurelius Things pursued or avoided do not rush at you; in a sense you move toward them. Keep your judgment steady, and they too…
- Marcus Aurelius Think thyself fit and worthy to speak, or to do anything that is according to nature, and let not the reproach, or…
- Marcus Aurelius This day I did come out of all my trouble. Nay I have cast out all my trouble; it should rather be for that which…
- Marcus Aurelius This may ever be my comfort and security: my understanding, that ruleth over all, will not of itself bring trouble and…
- Marcus Aurelius This thou must ever be mindful of, as of this also, that a man's true happiness doth consist in very few things. And…
- Marcus Aurelius This time that is now present, bestow thou upon thyself. They that rather hunt for fame after death, do not consider,…
- Marcus Aurelius This, what is it in itself, and by itself, according to its proper constitution? What is the substance of it? What is…
- Marcus Aurelius Those things that are his own, and in his own power, he himself takes order, for that they be good: and as for those…
- Marcus Aurelius Those things which the common sort of people do admire, are most of them such things as are very general, and may be…
- Marcus Aurelius Those who chase applause make their welfare depend on others; lovers of pleasure make it depend on sensation. The…
- Marcus Aurelius Thou must comfort thyself in the expectation of thy natural dissolution, and in the meantime not grieve at the delay;…
- Marcus Aurelius Thou must use thyself also to keep thy body fixed and steady; free from all loose fluctuant either motion, or posture.…
- Marcus Aurelius To be cheerful, and to stand in no need, either of other men's help or attendance, or of that rest and tranquillity,…
- Marcus Aurelius To find out, and set to thyself some certain way and method of contemplation, whereby thou mayest clearly discern and…
- Marcus Aurelius To live with the Gods. He liveth with the Gods, who at all times affords unto them the spectacle of a soul, both…
- Marcus Aurelius To steal, to sow, to buy, to be at rest, to see what is to be done (which is not seen by the eyes, but by another kind…
- Marcus Aurelius To suffer change can be no hurt; as no benefit it is, by change to attain to being. The age and time of the world is…
- Marcus Aurelius To them that ask thee, Where hast thou seen the Gods, or how knowest thou certainly that there be Gods, that thou art…
- Marcus Aurelius To these ever-present helps and mementoes, let one more be added, ever to make a particular description and…
- Marcus Aurelius To wipe away fancy, to use deliberation, to quench concupiscence, to keep the mind free to herself.
- Marcus Aurelius Today I escaped pressure—or rather cast it out—for it was not in events but in the judgments I made about them.
- Marcus Aurelius Toys and fooleries at home, wars abroad: sometimes terror, sometimes torpor, or stupid sloth: this is thy daily…
- Marcus Aurelius Unto my free-will my neighbour's free-will, whoever he be, (as his life, or his bode), is altogether indifferent. For…
- Marcus Aurelius Use thyself therefore often to meditate upon this, that the nature of the universe delights in nothing more, than in…
- Marcus Aurelius Walk through the succession of past kingdoms; look ahead and you will see the same pattern. Whether forty years or an…
- Marcus Aurelius We are incense grains cast upon one altar: one falls sooner, another later; the difference is nothing.
- Marcus Aurelius We can withhold judgment about a thing and keep it from disturbing the mind, because things themselves do not form our…
- Marcus Aurelius We love ourselves readily, yet often value others' judgment above our own. We give great weight to our peers' opinions…
- Marcus Aurelius What are their minds and understandings; and what the things that they apply themselves unto: what do they love, and…
- Marcus Aurelius What art thou, that better and divine part excepted, but as Epictetus said well, a wretched soul, appointed to carry a…
- Marcus Aurelius What is it then that should be dear unto us? to hear a clattering noise? if not that, then neither to be applauded by…
- Marcus Aurelius What is the present estate of my understanding? For herein lieth all indeed. As for all other things, they are without…
- Marcus Aurelius What manner of men they be whom they seek to please, and what to get, and by what actions: how soon time will cover…
- Marcus Aurelius What remains worth valuing? To restrict action and restraint to what accords with the discipline that shapes us. This…
- Marcus Aurelius What use is there of suspicion at all? or, why should thoughts of mistrust, and suspicion concerning that which is…
- Marcus Aurelius Whatsoever he said, all men believed him that as he spake, so he thought, and whatsoever he did, that he did it with a…
- Marcus Aurelius Whatsoever I am, is either flesh, or life, or that which we commonly call the mistress and overruling part of man;…
- Marcus Aurelius Whatsoever in any kind doth happen to any one, is expedient to the whole. And thus much to content us might suffice,…
- Marcus Aurelius Whatsoever is expedient unto thee, O World, is expedient unto me; nothing can either be 'unseasonable unto me, or out…
- Marcus Aurelius Whatsoever is material, doth soon vanish away into the common substance of the whole; and whatsoever is formal, or,…
- Marcus Aurelius Whatsoever it be that happens unto thee, it is that which from all time was appointed unto thee. For by the same…
- Marcus Aurelius When an external event disturbs you, the trouble lies not in the event but in your judgment of it—and that judgment…
- Marcus Aurelius When pain comes, remember it is no disgrace and cannot corrupt your ruling mind or prevent rational, social action. Do…
- Marcus Aurelius Whensoever by some present hard occurrences thou art constrained to be in some sort troubled and vexed, return unto…
- Marcus Aurelius Where the matter may be effected agreeably to that reason, which both unto the Gods and men is common, there can be no…
- Marcus Aurelius Whoever has seen the present has seen all things: what has happened from the beginning and what will continue forever,…
- Marcus Aurelius Will any contemn me? let him look to that, upon what grounds he does it: my care shall be that I may never be found…
- Marcus Aurelius Will either passengers, or patients, find fault and complain, either the one if they be well carried, or the others if…
- Marcus Aurelius Wind up thyself into thyself. Such is the nature of thy reasonable commanding part, as that if it exercise justice,…
- Marcus Aurelius Wipe away false impressions by telling yourself continually: my soul can exclude any evil, desire, or disturbance. I…
- Marcus Aurelius Wipe off all idle fancies, and say unto thyself incessantly; Now if I will, it is in my power to keep out of this my…
- Marcus Aurelius 'With meats and drinks and divers charms, they seek to divert the channel, that they might not die. Yet must we needs…
- Marcus Aurelius Within a while the earth shall cover us all, and then she herself shall have her change. And then the course will be,…
- Marcus Aurelius Within ten days, if so happen, thou shalt be esteemed a god of them, who now if thou shalt return to the dogmata and…
- Marcus Aurelius Word after word, every one by itself, must the things that are spoken be conceived and understood; and so the things…
- Marcus Aurelius You can possess now what you pray to gain by a long route, if only you stop withholding it from yourself.
- Marcus Aurelius You consist of body, breath, and mind. The first two are entrusted to your care; only the mind is truly your own.
- Marcus Aurelius You do not resent having a given weight rather than twice it; why resent receiving a given span of life rather than…
- Marcus Aurelius You say fortune once met you everywhere. Yet fortunate people create their own fortune through a well-ordered soul,…
- Plutarch Cato cultivated the public speech that can move a people, but he did not rehearse for display and spoke only when he…
- Seneca A calm mind in adversity strips misfortune of much of its force and weight.
- Seneca A king may be killed by a slave, or a serpent, or an arrow: but no one can be saved except by some one who is greater…
- Seneca A life without an aim wanders. Once an aim is set, principles are required; otherwise conduct becomes hesitant,…
- Seneca A very small amount of it, therefore, is abundantly sufficient, and so, when his last day arrives, the wise man will…
- Seneca Above all, measure yourself truthfully, since we usually imagine ourselves capable of more than we are.
- Seneca Accustom yourself to meals without display, fewer attendants, clothing for use, and a humbler home.
- Seneca Am I to expect that evil speaking will respect anything, seeing that it respected neither Rutilius nor Cato? Will any…
- Seneca At the same time he reflects that all men are too low to venture to look down upon what is so far above them.
- Seneca Atreus: Who would refuse fortune's overflowing gifts? Thyestes: One who knows how swiftly they can be withdrawn.
- Seneca But come! let virtue lead the way: then every step will be safe. Too much pleasure is hurtful: but with virtue we need…
- Seneca “But how is it that this man studies philosophy and nevertheless lives the life of a rich man? Why does he say that…
- Seneca Call this security from loss poverty, want, necessity, or any contemptuous name you please: I shall consider such a…
- Seneca Consider the truly wealthy: how often they resemble the poor. When traveling, they limit their baggage; when speed is…
- Seneca Consider what we chase so fiercely: little of it is useful; much is needless, and much else is worth far less than it…
- Seneca Disaster weighs more when it surprises us; the unexpected always deepens pain. Let nothing be wholly unforeseen:…
- Seneca Do I speak of our lives, which we know roll away incredibly fast? Reckon up the centuries of cities: you will find…
- Seneca Do not envy the person always displaying rank or fame; such prizes are purchased with life, and many reach the summit…
- Seneca Do not, then, make any mistake: riches belong to the class of desirable things. “Why then,” say you, “do you laugh at…
- Seneca “Do you ask,” writes he, “what I am doing here? I am living in my Tusculan villa almost as a prisoner.” He adds more…
- Seneca Even quiet times can give the anxious mind new material for fear. Once the mind has learned to panic blindly, safety…
- Seneca Fear itself harms many people; many meet the fate they dread because they lived in dread of it.
- Seneca Finally, having traversed every one of the realms below, it soars to the highest heaven, enjoys the noblest of all…
- Seneca Fire will burn all people equally, male and female, of every rank and every age: steel will exhibit its cutting power…
- Seneca For this reason we say that nothing comes upon the wise contrary to expectation.
- Seneca Fortune overwhelms no one who has not first trusted her too much. The person who remains modest in prosperity is not…
- Seneca Fortune strikes hardest when it catches us unprepared; the person who expects change bears it more easily.
- Seneca Fortune's reach is shorter than we imagine; it besieges only those who cling to it. Let us withdraw from her as far as…
- Seneca Give up hope and you will give up fear; both arise because we send our thoughts too far beyond the present.
- Seneca Greed has no point of enough, while nature is satisfied with little. Exile is therefore no calamity: no land is so…
- Seneca He who restrains himself within the limits prescribed by 338nature, will not feel poverty; he who exceeds them will…
- Seneca He who, trusting to 33reason, passes through human affairs with godlike mind, has no quarter from which he can receive…
- Seneca How many funerals pass our houses? yet we do not think of death. How many untimely deaths? we think only of our son’s…
- Seneca How shameful when an aged advocate dies in court, still pleading for strangers and chasing the praise of an uninformed…
- Seneca How will he endure the tumult of the world, and make head against so many most active foes, if he be conquered by so…
- Seneca I do not see how these very different matters can have any connexion with one another. What is there, I pray you, to…
- Seneca I do not wish for pain, war, or illness; but if they come, I wish to meet them bravely and honorably. Seek not…
- Seneca I was wrecked before I sailed; the voyage taught me how much is unnecessary and how readily we can release it when…
- Seneca I will set sail unless anything happens to prevent me, I shall 279be praetor, if nothing hinders me, my financial…
- Seneca If you choose to have children, they may be handsome, or they may be deformed; perhaps they will be born dumb. One of…
- Seneca If you consider sexual passion to have been bestowed on mankind not for the sake of pleasure, but for 341the…
- Seneca It is like a wild animal whose struggles only pull the noose by which it is caught tighter; or like birds who, while…
- Seneca It is, therefore, most commonly 419found in the worst people; there are old women and girls who are affected by the…
- Seneca It is too late to school the mind to endurance of peril after peril has come. “I did not think this would happen,” and…
- Seneca It is when one passion overpowers another, and either fear or greed gets the upper hand for a while. On such…
- Seneca It ruins the soul to fear the future and suffer before suffering arrives. Longing to keep things forever steals the…
- Seneca Let a man, then, obtain as many books as he wants, but none for show. “It is more respectable,” say you, “to spend…
- Seneca Let Fate meet us ready and at work. Greatness belongs to the soul that yields to the world's order; weakness complains…
- Seneca Let not his confidence be without knowledge, nor his knowledge without steadfastness: let him always abide by what he…
- Seneca Let them no longer, then, join incongruous matters together, or connect pleasure with 218virtue, a mistake whereby…
- Seneca Let us praise one who deserves such constant praises, and say, “The braver you are the happier you are!
- Seneca Let us seek for some blessing, which does not merely look fine, but is sound and good throughout alike, and most…
- Seneca Let us therefore briskly and cheerfully hasten with undaunted steps whithersoever circumstances call us: let us wander…
- Seneca Let us therefore inquire, not what is most commonly done, but what is best for us to do, and what will establish us in…
- Seneca Let virtue lead the way and bear the standard: we shall have pleasure for all that, but we shall be her masters and…
- Seneca Life has no sound direction, and misery has no end, when we allow fear to rule.
- Seneca Men demand much, and expect much from you: you ought not to have drawn all eyes upon yourself, if you wished to be…
- Seneca Men who are in this condition are never allowed to come to themselves: if ever by chance they obtain any rest, they…
- Seneca Morning can find someone exalted and evening find them low. Do not rely too much on success or despair of hardship;…
- Seneca Much peace comes from doing no wrong; the undisciplined live confused and troubled.
- Seneca Nature gave him to you, as she gives others to other brothers, not as an absolute property, but as a loan: afterwards…
- Seneca No one can obtain every object of desire. But each of us can decline to crave what is absent and gladly use what is…
- Seneca Nothing is sufficient for covetous desire, but Nature can be satisfied even with scant measure. The poverty of an…
- Seneca Of course it does, since Epicurus himself says that at times he would abandon pleasure and actually seek for pain, if…
- Seneca Peace of mind is won only by those with firm and steady judgment. Others keep rising and falling in their decisions,…
- Seneca Philosophy is no performance for display. It deals in deeds, orders the soul and life, directs action, and guides us…
- Seneca Prepare your mind as though life were complete. Delay nothing; settle each day’s account. Whoever finishes each day…
- Seneca Readiness to believe what we hear causes very great mischief; we ought often not even to listen, because in some cases…
- Seneca See, on the other hand, how 210evil and guilty a slavery the man is forced to serve who is dominated in turn by…
- Seneca Show me one who is not enslaved: one serves lust, another money, another rank, and all serve fear. No bondage is more…
- Seneca Show that a life is measured not by its years but by its use; it is common for someone to live long and yet live very…
- Seneca Some are guided by reason, others must be confronted with authority and the names of celebrated persons, whose…
- Seneca Sorrow is awkward at reviewing the position of affairs, at devising useful expedients, avoiding dangerous courses, and…
- Seneca Take unhurried walks outdoors, so the open air and deep breath may restore and feed the mind.
- Seneca Tantalus: What is the greatest power? Thyestes: To need nothing from it.
- Seneca Test your spirit by sometimes accepting scant food and plain clothing, then ask whether this is the evil you feared.…
- Seneca The Emperor Augustus lost his darling sister Octavia, and though Nature destined him for heaven, yet she did not relax…
- Seneca The foundations of new cities are laid, new names of nations arise, while the former ones die out, or become absorbed…
- Seneca The great Socrates would say the same thing to you. “Make me,” he would say, “the conqueror of all nations: let the…
- Seneca The happy man, therefore, is he who can make a right judgment in all things: he is happy who in his present…
- Seneca The higher region of the universe, being more excellently ordered and near to the stars, is never gathered into…
- Seneca The increase which disease produces in bodies swollen with morbid humours is not healthy growth, but bloated…
- Seneca The inventor of wine is called Liber, not from the licence which he gives to our tongues, but because he liberates the…
- Seneca The maker of the world gave us what is needed to live well, not to live lavishly. What serves us is close at hand;…
- Seneca The mind can find no safe repose there, it must needs be shaken and tempest-tossed if it be safe only because of its…
- Seneca The position of all busy men is unhappy, but most unhappy of all is that of those who do not even labour at their own…
- Seneca The reasoning soul is stronger than every turn of fortune. From within itself it directs its life and makes it happy…
- Seneca The seven wonders of the world, and any even greater wonders which the ambition of later ages has constructed, will be…
- Seneca The talk of these men is not dangerous, their friendship will not lead you to the scaffold, their society will not…
- Seneca The wise man escapes all this, since he knows not what it is to live for hope or for fear. Add to this, that no one…
- Seneca The wise man knows that all those who strut about in purple-edged togas, healthy and embrowned, are brain-sick people,…
- Seneca The wise person loses nothing, for all that is truly theirs is stored in themselves. Their goods rest in virtue,…
- Seneca There is no reason for you to suppose me conquered and yourself my conqueror. It is your fortune which has overcome…
- Seneca These arms, which Aristotle assigns to virtue, fight of their own accord, do not wait to be seized by the hand, and…
- Seneca Tradition tells us that Vatinius, a man born both to be laughed at and hated, was a witty and clever jester. He made…
- Seneca True happiness, therefore, consists in virtue: and what will this virtue bid you do? Not to think anything bad or good…
- Seneca We are born to a comfortable position enough, if we 324do not afterwards lose it: the aim of Nature has been to enable…
- Seneca We must abandon many things we call good but have become dependent on. Otherwise courage withers, for it needs…
- Seneca “What then? Will there be no one who will try to do an injury to the wise man?” Yes, some one will try, but the injury…
- Seneca Whatever gift Fortune bestows upon a man, let him think while he enjoys it, that it will prove as fickle as the…
- Seneca Whatever has arrived at perfection, is ripe for dissolution. Consummate virtue flees away and betakes itself out of…
- Seneca Whatever he meant, it was a magnanimous answer. Some one may say, “After this Gaius might have let him live.” Kanus…
- Seneca When he was in the act of holding the doorpost and dedicating the Capitol the news of his son’s death was brought to…
- Seneca When he was just of your age, at the end of his twenty-second year, he had already hidden daggers under the clothes of…
- Seneca When hurrying to besiege Babylon, since in making war it is above all things important to seize one’s opportunity, he…
- Seneca When they are on a journey their baggage is cut down, whenever they are obliged to travel fast their train of…
- Seneca When you are especially enjoying yourself, be especially on your guard: when everything seems to you to be peaceful,…
- Seneca Which will he go to meet first? which part of the universal conspiracy will he first oppose? His victory will drag him…
- Seneca Why, though you are hardly aware of it, is there not a whirling hurricane at this moment spinning round and confusing…
- Seneca You accustom yourself to them and cling to them as if somebody had promised that they should be yours for ever, but a…
- Seneca You dispose of that which is in the hand of Fortune, and you let go that which is in your own. Whither are you…
- Seneca You do not afford virtue a solid immoveable base if you bid it stand on what is unsteady: and what can be so unsteady…
- Seneca You do not shine outwardly, all your good qualities are turned inwards; even so does the world neglect what lies…
- Seneca You have no grounds, therefore, for supposing that any one has lived long, because he has wrinkles or grey hairs: such…
- Seneca You need not believe what others say about me: that you may not be puzzled by any uncertainty as to what to think, I…
- Seneca You need not, therefore, hasten to the burial-place of your son: that which lies there is but the worst part of him…
- Seneca You need not think, because sometimes they call for death, that their lives are long: their folly torments them with…
- Seneca “You purposely misunderstand what I say,” says he, “for I too say that no one can live pleasantly unless he lives…
- Seneca You will find that the most powerful and highly-placed men let fall phrases in which they long for leisure, praise it,…
- Seneca Your father sewed up more parricides in sacks during five years, than we hear of in all previous centuries. As long as…