Quotes

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

Then act accordingly →

Published September 9, 2021  ·  All posts on Sep 9  ·  ,

First tell yourself what sort of man you want to be; then act accordingly in all you do. For in almost everything else we see this to be the practice. Athletes first determine what kind of athlete they want to be, and then act accordingly. … You will find the same in the arts. If you are a carpenter, you will have these procedures, if a blacksmith, those. For, if we do not refer each of our actions to some standard, we shall be acting at random; if to an improper standard, we shall fail utterly.

~ Epictetus

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Meditation →

Published September 9, 2021  ·  All posts on Sep 9  ·  ,

Meditation is intermittent fasting for the mind. Too much sugar leads to a heavy body, and too many distractions lead to a heavy mind. Time spent undistracted and alone, in self-examination, journaling, meditation, resolves the unresolved and takes us from mentally fat to fit.

~ Naval Ravikant

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What he means →

Published September 8, 2021  ·  All posts on Sep 8  ·  

If you remember what an author says, you have learned something from reading him. If what he says is true, you have even learned something about the world. But whether it is a fact about the book or a fact about the world that you have learned, you have gained nothing but information if you have exercised only your memory. You have not been enlightened. Enlightenment is achieved only when, in addition to knowing what an author says, you know what he means and why he says it.

~ Mortimer Adler

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True nature of the good →

Published September 7, 2021  ·  All posts on Sep 7  ·  ,

What, then, is wrong with you? I tell you, it is this, that you have neglected and corrupted that part of you, whatever it may be, with which we feel desire or aversion, and the impulse to act or not to act. Neglected in what way? By letting it remian ignorant of the true nature of the good, to which it was born, and of the nature of evil, and of what it has as its own and what is not its own.

~ Epictetus

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Due consideration →

Published September 6, 2021  ·  All posts on Sep 6  ·  ,

Like an ape, you imitate whatever you see, and one thing after another is sure to please you, but no longer to please you as soon as it becomes familiar. For you have never entered upon anything with due consideration, nor after examining the whole matter carefully and systematically, but always approach things in a random and poorly motivated manner.

~ Epictetus

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Connoisseurs of the new →

Published September 6, 2021  ·  All posts on Sep 6  ·  

To thrive amid unprecedented amounts of novelty, we must shift from being mere seekers of the new to being connoisseurs of it.

~ Winifred Gallagher

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But if you ask them →

Published September 5, 2021  ·  All posts on Sep 5  ·  ,

You know, Phaedrus, that is the strange thing about writing, which makes it truly correspond to painting. The painter’s products stand before us as though they were alive. But if you question them, they maintain a majestic silence. It is the same with written words. They seem to talk to you as though they were intelligent, but if you ask them anything about what they say from a desire to be instructed they go on telling just the same thing forever.

~ Socrates

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Serenity, Freedom →

Published September 4, 2021  ·  All posts on Sep 4  ·  ,

When you have considered all these things with care, then, if you think fit, approach philosophy, and be willing to give up all of this in exchange for serenity, freedom and an undisturbed mind. Otherwise, do not come near; do not, like children, be at one time a philosopher, later a tax-collector, then a rhetorititian, and then one of Caesar’s procurators. These things are not compatible. You must be one man, either good or bad. You must cultivate either your own ruling faculty or externals, and apply yourself either to things within or those outside; that is, you must assume either the attitude of a philosopher or that of a layman.

~ Epictetus

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Involve me →

Published September 3, 2021  ·  All posts on Sep 3  ·  

Tell me and I’ll forget;
Show me and I may remember;
Involve me and I’ll understand.

~ Chinese proverb

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On becoming somebody →

Published September 2, 2021  ·  All posts on Sep 2  ·  ,

No sign of any good habit, no attention or regard to yourselves. You do not watch yourself closely and ask, “How do I deal with the impressions that befall me? In accordance with nature or contrary to nature? As I ought, or as I ought not to? Do I say to the things that lie outside the sphere of choice that they are nothing to me?” If you are not yet in this state, fly from your former habits, fly from all laymen, if you ever want to make a start on becoming somebody.

~ Epictetus

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