Don’t be overheard complaining about life at court. Not even to yourself.
~ Marcus Aurelius
Elsewhere, this is 4a521. — slipbox
Complaining →
Already knowing →
The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him.
~ Leo Tolstoy
Elsewhere, this is 4a392. — slipbox
Perfection of character →
Perfection of character: To live your last day, every day, without frenzy, or sloth, or pretense.
~ Marcus Aurelius
Elsewhere, this is 4a536. — slipbox
Better left alone →
Many see the trees but not the forest, or bark up the wrong tree, speaking endlessly, reasoning uselessly, without going to the pith of the matter. They go round and round, tiring themselves and us, and never get to what is important. This happens to people with confused minds who do not know how to clear away the brambles. They waste time and patience on what it would be better to leave alone, and later there is no time for what they left.
~ Baltasar Gracián
Elsewhere, this is 4a347. — slipbox
Right or wrong →
Then the only proper response for me to make is this: You are much mistaken, my friend, if you think that any man worth his salt cares about the risk of death and doesn’t concentrate on this alone: whether what he’s doing is right or wrong, and his behavior a good man’s or a bad one’s.
~ Marcus Aurelius
Elsewhere, this is 4a560. — slipbox
Contentment →
Thoughts like this →
To watch the courses of the stars as if you revolved with them. To keep constantly in mind how the elements alter into one another. Thoughts like this wash off the mud of life below.
~ Marcus Aurelius
Elsewhere, this is 4a289. — slipbox
Being valuable →
Today’s society is characterized by achievement orientation, and consequently it adores people who are successful and happy and, in particular, it adores the young. It virtually ignores the value of all those who are otherwise, and in so doing blurs the decisive difference between being valuable in the sense of dignity and being valuable in the sense of usefulness.
~ Viktor Frankl
Elsewhere, this is 4a405. — slipbox
Each existing only briefly →
Nature takes substance and makes a horse. Like a sculpture with wax. And then melts it down and uses the material for a tree. Then for a person. Then for something else. Each existing only briefly. It does the container no harm to be put together, and none to be taken apart.
~ Marcus Aurelius
Elsewhere, this is 4a572. — slipbox
Express it →
The person who says he knows what he thinks but cannot express it usually does not know what he thinks.
~ Mortimer Adler
Elsewhere, this is 4a387. — slipbox