Quotes

A long long time ago I began collecting inspirational quotes and aphorisms which became my collection of quotes.

The view from above →

Published July 14, 2021  ·  All posts on Jul 14  ·  ,

To see them from above: The thousands of animal herds, the rituals, the voyages on calm or stormy seas, the different ways we come into the world, share it with one another, and leave it. Consider the lives led once by others, long ago, the lives to be led by others after you, the lives led even now, in foreign lands. How many people don’t even know your name. How many will soon have forgotten it. How many offer you praise now—and tomorrow, perhaps, contempt.

~ Marcus Aurelius

Elsewhere, this is 4a476. — slipbox

Solitude →

Published July 11, 2021  ·  All posts on Jul 11  ·  ,

Solitude is not a condition of the body. Instead, it is a condition of the mind. Solitude may be found in the busy market, or may be elusive in the forest.

~ Wu Hsin

Elsewhere, this is 4a319. — slipbox

Imagine →

Published July 8, 2021  ·  All posts on Jul 8  ·  ,

What their minds are like. What they work at. What evokes their love and admiration. Imagine their souls stripped bare. And their vanity. To suppose that their disdain could harm anyone—or their praise help them.

~ Marcus Aurelius

Elsewhere, this is 4a473. — slipbox

Your time is limited →

Published July 5, 2021  ·  All posts on Jul 5  ·  ,

… death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It’s life’s change agent; it clears out the old to make way for the new … your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.

~ Steve Jobs

Elsewhere, this is 4a398. — slipbox

Willing acceptance →

Published July 2, 2021  ·  All posts on Jul 2  ·  ,

To do harm is to do yourself harm. To do an injustice is to do yourself an injustice—it degrades you.

And you can also commit injustice by doing nothing.

Objective judgement, now, at this very moment. Unselfish action, now, at this very moment. Willing acceptance—now, at this very moment—of all external events.

That’s all you need.

~ Marcus Aurelius

Elsewhere, this is 4a482. — slipbox

Final step →

Published June 29, 2021  ·  All posts on Jun 29  ·  , ,

For many, the first step on a spiritual journey is to become lost. The final step is losing one’s self.

~ Wu Hsin

Elsewhere, this is 4a327. — slipbox

The existence of evil →

Published June 26, 2021  ·  All posts on Jun 26  ·  ,

The existence of evil does not harm the world. And an individual act of evil does not harm the victim. Only one person is harmed by it—and he can stop being harmed as soon as he decides to.

~ Marcus Aurelius

Elsewhere, this is 4a500. — slipbox

Avoiding unrighteousness →

Published June 23, 2021  ·  All posts on Jun 23  ·  ,

The difficulty, my friends, is not in avoiding death, but in avoiding unrighteousness; For that runs faster than death. I am old and move slowly, and the slower runner has overtaken me, and my accusers are keen and quick, and the faster runner, who is unrighteousness, has overtaken them. And now I depart hence condemned by you to suffer the penalty of death, and they too go their ways condemned by the truth to suffer the penalty of villainy and wrong; And I must abide by my award—let them abide by theirs.

~ Socrates

Elsewhere, this is 4a401. — slipbox

Those who understand →

Published June 20, 2021  ·  All posts on Jun 20  ·  

The cucumber is bitter? Then throw it out. There are brambles in the path? Then go around them. That’s all you need to know. Nothing more. Don’t demand to know, “why such things exist.” Anyone who understands the world will laugh at you, just as a carpenter would if you seemed shocked at finding sawdust in his workshop, or a shoemaker at scraps of leather left over from work.

~ Marcus Aurelius

Elsewhere, this is 4a506. — slipbox

Expectations →

Published June 17, 2021  ·  All posts on Jun 17  ·  ,

When you start something, don’t raise other people’s expectations. What is highly praised seldom measures up to expectations. Reality never catches up to imagination. It is easy to imagine something is perfect, and difficult to achieve it. […] Honorable beginnings should serve to awaken curiosity, not to heighten people’s expectations. We are much better off when reality surpasses our expectations, and something turns out better than we thought it would.

~ Baltasar Gracián

Elsewhere, this is 4a307. — slipbox