We need to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life—daily and hourly. Our answer must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual.
~ Viktor Frankl
Quotes
The appropriate inner resource
If you encounter an attractive person, then self-restraint is the resource needed; if pain or weakness, then stamina; if verbal abuse, then patience. As time goes by and you build on the habit of matching the appropriate inner resource to each incident, you will not tend to get carried away by life’s appearances. You will stop feeling overwhelmed so much of the time.
~ Epictetus
A clear and precise picture
Emotion, which is suffering, ceases to be suffering as soon as we form a clear and precise picture of it.
~ Baruch Spinoza
The impulse to blame
Small-minded people habitually reproach others for their own misfortunes. Average people reproach themselves. Those who are dedicated to a life of wisdom understand that the impulse to blame something or someone is foolishness, that there is nothing to be gained in blaming, whether it be others or oneself.
~ Epictetus
Commitment
People who are interested in doing something will do it when it’s convenient. People who are committed will do it no matter what.
~ Bob Proctor
Dawning of moral progress
One of the signs of the dawning of moral progress is the gradual extinguishing of blame. We see the futility of finger-pointing. The more we examine our attitudes and work on ourselves, the less we are apt to be swept away by stormy emotional reactions in which we seek easy explanations for unbidden events.
~ Epictetus
Our responsibility
We are at the very beginning of time for the human race. It is not unreasonable that we grapple with problems. But there are tens of thousands of years in the future. Our responsibility is to do what we can, learn what we can, improve the solutions, and pass them on.
~ Richard Feynman
Success
To win the lotto, you need a miracle. To be successful, you need hard work. More people are playin’ the lotto than working hard.
~ Eric Thomas
Difficulties will arise
It is not so much what you are doing as how you are doing it. When we properly understand and live by this principle, while difficulties will arise—for they are part of the divine order too—inner peace will still be possible.
~ Epictetus
Learn something worthwhile
Do external things distract you? Then make time for yourself to learn something worthwhile; stop letting yourself be pulled in all directions. But make sure you guard against the other kind of confusion. People who labor all their lives but have no purpose to direct every thought and impulse toward are wasting their time—even when hard at work.
~ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 2.7