Forbearance

Clearheadedness and action are not always enough, in politics or in life. Some obstacles are beyond a snap of the fingers or novel solution. It is not alway possible for one person to rid the world of a great evil or stop a country bent toward conflict. Of course, we try—because it can happen. But we should be ready for it not to. And we need to be able to find a greater purpose in this suffering and handle it with firmness and forbearance.

~ Ryan Holiday, from The Obstacle is the Way

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What defines you

Bruce, deep down you may still be that same great kid you used to be. But it’s not who you are underneath, it’s what you do that defines you.

~ Rachel Dawes, Batman Begins (2005)

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Live every day

Live every day as if it were your last, for one day you’re sure to be right.

~ Breaker’ Morant, in 1980 film

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Magic of life

In the dust where we have buried the silent races and their abominations we have buried so much of the delicate magic of life.

~ D.H. Lawrence

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What nature requires

What nature requires is close by and easy to obtain. All that sweat is for superfluities. We wear out our fine clothes, grow old in army tents, hurl ourselves against foreign shores, and for what? Everything we need is already at hand. Anyone who is on good terms with poverty is rich.

~ Seneca, letter 4:10-11

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Strategy

What matters is whether a certain approach gets you to where you want to go. And let’s be clear, using obstacles against themselves is very different from doing nothing. Passive resistance is, in fact, incredibly active. But those actions come in the form of discipline, self-control, fearlessness, determination, and grand strategy.

~ Ryan Holiday

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Temptation

The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.

~ Oscar Wilde

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Passions

He only employs his passion who can make no use of his reason.

~ Cicero

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Rowing

I am rowing toward the past. I am trying to squeeze out of each stroke a better image of myself, and I am trying to enlist the ghosts of history to help power the oars. I want them as friends, as comrades, as partners, as ancestors.

~ Barry Strauss

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In an instant

No one has ever reached a point where the power fortune granted was greater than the risk. The sea is calm now, but do not trust it: The storm comes in an instant. Pleasure boats that were out all morning are sunk before the day is over.

~ Seneca

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