Fires can’t be made with dead embers, nor can enthusiasm be stirred by spiritless men. Enthusiasm in our daily work lightens effort and turns even labor into pleasant tasks.
~ Baldwin
Elsewhere, this is 4a732. — slipbox
Spiritless men →
Thinking →
If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking.
~ George S. Patton
Elsewhere, this is 4a378. — slipbox
Who has authority? →
Suppose he had passed his judgement upon a hypothetical proposition, and declared, ‘I judge the proposition, “if it be day, there is light,” to be false,’ what would have happened to the proposition? Who is being judged here? Who has been condemned? The proposition, or he who is utterly mistaken about it? So who on Earth is this man who has authority to pass such judgement on you?
~ Epictetus
Elsewhere, this is 4a458. — slipbox
Enthralled →
Actions and perceptions →
Operatics, combat and confusion. Sloth and servility. Every day they blot out those sacred principles of yours—which you day-dream thoughtlessly about, or just let slide. Your actions and perceptions need to aim: at accomplishing practical ends; at the exercise of thought; at maintaining a confidence founded on understanding. An unobtrusive confidence—hidden in plain sight.
~ Marcus Aurelius
When will you let yourself enjoy straightforwardness? Seriousness? Or understanding individual things—their nature and substance, their place in the world, their life span, their composition, who can possess them, whose they are to give and to receive?
Elsewhere, this is 4a470. — slipbox
The future →
The future is here, it’s just not evenly distributed yet.
~ William Gibson
Elsewhere, this is 4a374. — slipbox
Epithets →
Epithets for yourself: Upright. modest. Straightforward. Sane. Cooperative. Disinterested.
~ Marcus Aurelius
Try not to exchange them for others. And if you should forfeit them, set about getting them back. Keep in mind that “sanity” means understanding things—each individual thing—for what they are. And not losing the thread. And “cooperation” means accepting what nature assignes you—accepting it willingly. And “disinterest” means that the intelligence should rise above the movements of the flesh—the rough and the smooth alike. Should rise above fame, above death, and everything like them.
Elsewhere, this is 4a467. — slipbox
Controlling the mind →
Get a move on →
Do what nature demands. Get a move on—if you have it in you—and don’t worry whether anyone will give you credit for it. And don’t go expecting Plato’s Republic; be satisfied with even the smallest progress, and treat the outcome of it all as unimportant.
~ Marcus Aurelius
Elsewhere, this is 4a479. — slipbox
Where the world is →
As an organizer I start from where the world is, as it is, not as I would like it to be. That we accept the world as it is does not in any sense weaken our desire to change it into what we believe it should be—it is necessary to begin where the world is if we are going to change it to what we think it should be.
~ Saul Alinsky
Elsewhere, this is 4a393. — slipbox