Feeling
Envy
Stoic passages for envy, each with a modern reading you can use today.
- Diogenes Laertius Diogenes of Sinope said that we exchange what is precious for what is cheap, and sometimes the cheap for the precious.
- Epictetus Don't be prideful with any excellence that is not your own. If a horse should be prideful and say, " I am handsome,"…
- Epictetus Freedom is gained not by satisfying every desire, but by diminishing desire itself.
- Epictetus Happiness cannot live with craving what is absent. The happy person has what is needed, like one well fed, without…
- Epictetus It is sold for praise; it is sold for attendance. Give him then the value, if it is for your advantage. But if you…
- 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 Put no faith in reputation, wealth, or rank, but in your judgments about what is and is not yours to control. That is…
- Epictetus Stop accusing gods and people. Govern your desires, avoid only what your judgment can govern, and release anger,…
- 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 These reasonings are unconnected: "I am richer than you, therefore I am better"; "I am more eloquent than you,…
- Epictetus When anyone shows himself overly confident in ability to understand and interpret the works of Chrysippus, say to…
- Epictetus When you have brought yourself to supply the necessities of your body at a small price, don't pique yourself upon it;…
- Epictetus You may be unconquerable, if you enter into no combat in which it is not in your own control to conquer.
- Marcus Aurelius Accept what comes without pride; release what leaves without clinging.
- Marcus Aurelius After doing well and helping another, why seek a third reward—praise for the act or a favor returned?
- Marcus Aurelius Alexander and the keeper of his mule came to the same end: absorbed into nature’s reason or dispersed among its atoms.
- Marcus Aurelius Alexander, Caius, Pompeius; what are these to Diogenes, Heraclitus, and Socrates? These penetrated into the true…
- Marcus Aurelius Alexander of Macedon, and he that dressed his mules, when once dead both came to one. For either they were both…
- Marcus Aurelius All things that thou seest, will soon be perished, and they that see their corruptions, will soon vanish away…
- Marcus Aurelius All worldly things thou must behold and consider, dividing them into matter, form, and reference, or their proper end.
- 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 lastly, which beareth me that tread upon it, and beareth with me that so many ways do abuse it, or so freely make…
- 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 As a part hitherto thou hast had a particular subsistence: and now shalt thou vanish away into the common substance of…
- Marcus Aurelius As one that tosseth up a ball. And what is a ball the better, if the motion of it be upwards; or the worse if it be…
- Marcus Aurelius As the ordinary shows of the theatre and of other such places, when thou art presented with them, affect thee; as the…
- 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 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 By one action judge of the rest: this bathing which usually takes up so much of our time, what is it? Oil, sweat,…
- Marcus Aurelius Consider them through all actions and occupations, of their lives: as when they eat, and when they sleep: when they…
- Marcus Aurelius Do not let yourself become an emperor in spirit; remain simple, upright, kind, just, and strong in your proper work.
- 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 Doth either the sun take upon him to do that which belongs to the rain? or his son Aesculapius that, which unto the…
- Marcus Aurelius For these also, these famous soldiers and warlike men, if thou dost look into their minds and opinions, what do they…
- Marcus Aurelius Generally then, whatsoever it be, besides virtue, and those things that proceed from virtue that thou art subject to…
- Marcus Aurelius Getting what you wanted might feel pleasant, but that is why pleasure can mislead. Consider instead the greater goods:…
- Marcus Aurelius Hath not yet experience taught thee to fly from the plague? For a far greater plague is the corruption of the mind,…
- Marcus Aurelius He hath a stronger body, and is a better wrestler than I. What then? Is he more bountiful? is he more modest? Doth he…
- Marcus Aurelius How base and putrid, every common matter is! Water, dust, and from the mixture of these bones, and all that loathsome…
- Marcus Aurelius If people do not marvel at your intelligence, let it be. You possess many qualities no birth can deny: honesty,…
- Marcus Aurelius In the morning as soon as thou art awaked, when thy judgment, before either thy affections, or external objects have…
- 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 Know at last that within you is something stronger and more divine than the forces that stir bodily passions and tug…
- Marcus Aurelius Let thy mind penetrate both into the effects, and into the causes. Rejoice thyself with true simplicity, and modesty;…
- Marcus Aurelius Look carefully at the supposed pleasures of thieves, predators, murderers, and tyrants.
- 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 My city and country as I am Antoninus, is Rome; as a man, the whole world. Those things therefore that are expedient…
- Marcus Aurelius Never wont to use the baths at unseasonable hours; no builder; never curious, or solicitous, either about his meat, or…
- Marcus Aurelius Not in syllogisms, and logical subtilties, not in wealth, not in honour and reputation, not in pleasure. In none of…
- Marcus Aurelius Nothing is more wretched than a wolf posing as a sheep. Flee false friendship. If you are good, candid, and…
- Marcus Aurelius Now much time and leisure doth he gain, who is not curious to know what his neighbour hath said, or hath done, or hath…
- 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 One person helps and demands repayment; another remembers the debt; a third does good like a vine bears fruit—then…
- Marcus Aurelius People neglect the praise of those whose lives they share, yet hunger for applause from generations they will never…
- 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 Set your mind first on unquestioned goods—wisdom, self-command, justice, courage—and the crowd's claims will lose…
- Marcus Aurelius Skill at defeating an opponent does not make someone more civic-minded, modest, prepared for hardship, or patient with…
- Marcus Aurelius Strip appearances down: fine food, wine, clothing, and desire become ordinary matter when seen without embellishment.
- Marcus Aurelius Such as thy thoughts and ordinary cogitations are, such will thy mind be in time. For the soul doth as it were receive…
- Marcus Aurelius That rational essence by which the universe is governed, is for community and society; and therefore hath it both made…
- 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 which is a hindrance of the appetitive and prosecutive faculty, is an evil to the sensitive nature. As of the…
- Marcus Aurelius That which is not good for the bee-hive, cannot be good for the bee.
- 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 form of the Athenians' prayer did run thus: 'O rain, rain, good Jupiter, upon all the grounds and fields that…
- Marcus Aurelius The Gods themselves are good unto such; yea and in some things, (as in matter of health, of wealth, of honour,) are…
- Marcus Aurelius The joy that thou takest in the exercise of bounty, is not yet grounded upon a due ratiocination and right…
- Marcus Aurelius The Lacedæmonians at their public spectacles were wont to appoint seats and forms for their strangers in the shadow,…
- Marcus Aurelius The rational soul knows itself, examines itself, and chooses itself; it gathers the fruit of its own purpose.
- 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 This purple robe, but sheep's hairs, dyed with the blood of a shellfish. So for coitus, it is but the attrition of an…
- 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 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 hast no time nor opportunity to read. What then? Hast thou not time and opportunity to exercise thyself, not to…
- Marcus Aurelius To be capable of fancies and imaginations, is common to man and beast. To be violently drawn and moved by the lusts…
- Marcus Aurelius Turn it over and inspect it: see what it becomes with age, sickness, or disgrace. Brief are praise and fame, memory…
- Marcus Aurelius We are incense grains cast upon one altar: one falls sooner, another later; the difference is nothing.
- 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 object soever, our reasonable and sociable faculty doth meet with, that affords nothing either for the…
- Marcus Aurelius What remains worth valuing? To restrict action and restraint to what accords with the discipline that shapes us. This…
- Marcus Aurelius Whatsoever is, was made for something: as a horse, a vine. Why wonderest thou? The sun itself will say of itself, I…
- Marcus Aurelius When something seems hard for you, do not judge it impossible. What is possible and fitting for another person is…
- Marcus Aurelius When thou art offended with any man's transgression, presently reflect upon thyself; and consider what thou thyself…
- Marcus Aurelius When thou hast done well, and another is benefited by thy action, must thou like a very fool look for a third thing…
- Marcus Aurelius When thou wilt comfort and cheer thyself, call to mind the several gifts and virtues of them, whom thou dost daily…
- Marcus Aurelius Who can choose but wonder at them? They will not speak well of them that are at the same time with them, and live with…
- Marcus Aurelius You can humble your pride, master pleasure and pain, set ambition aside, and meet foolish, thankless people without…
- Marcus Aurelius You can possess now what you pray to gain by a long route, if only you stop withholding it from yourself.
- Musonius Rufus It is better to earn a reputation for benefiting many than for lavish living; spending on people is worthier than…
- Seneca A person's character is their own; titles and offices are handed out by chance. Welcome some because they deserve it,…
- Seneca Be assured, when you see the Forum crowded with a multitude, 83the Saepta swarming with people, or the great Circus,…
- Seneca Do not envy the person always displaying rank or fame; such prizes are purchased with life, and many reach the summit…
- Seneca Good fortune can reach even the humble and untalented. Greatness belongs to the one who overcomes the shocks and…
- Seneca “He gave me the praetorship. Yes, but I had hoped for the consulship. He bestowed the twelve axes upon me: true, but…
- Seneca He who restrains himself within the limits prescribed by 338nature, will not feel poverty; he who exceeds them will…
- Seneca It accords with nature to love our friends and rejoice at their progress as though it were our own. Without this…
- Seneca It is, I repeat, the setting a great value on trifles that is the cause of your anger and madness. This 153man wanted…
- Seneca Make yourself as grateful as you can. Gratitude benefits us greatly and returns its payment to the giver.
- 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 Some have been led hither by friendship, some by industry, which finds here a wide field for the display of its…
- Seneca The increase which disease produces in bodies swollen with morbid humours is not healthy growth, but bloated…
- Seneca The leading man in the state, and one who, according to tradition, was noted among the ancient leaders of the state…
- 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 rational soul's chronic diseases are hardened faults such as greed and ambition: they twist judgment until mildly…
- 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 knows that all those who strut about in purple-edged togas, healthy and embrowned, are brain-sick people,…
- 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 When I return from seeing it I am a sadder, though not a worse man, I cannot walk amid my own paltry possessions with…
- Seneca Which will he go to meet first? which part of the universal conspiracy will he first oppose? His victory will drag him…
- Seneca Whoever uses philosophy to heal the self becomes high-minded, confident, and hard to defeat; their stature grows as…
- Seneca Why, wherefore is the people angry with gladiators, and so unjust as to think itself wronged if they do not die…
- Seneca You ask, what this post is? it is that of being a man. The wise man has another help, of the opposite kind to this;…
- Seneca You enviously compare the glories of others with your own dirty actions, and do not understand how greatly to your…
- Seneca You know the taste of wine and spirits. Whether hundreds or thousands of bottles pass through you, you are only a…
- Seneca You will find that the most powerful and highly-placed men let fall phrases in which they long for leisure, praise it,…