Craig Constantine

The dedications of philosophy

August 11, 2020 · All posts on Aug 11

[T]he dedications of philosophy are impregnable; age cannot erase their memory or diminish their force. Each succeeding generation will hold them in even higher reverence; what is close at hand is subject to envy, whereas the distant we can admire without prejudice. The philosopher’s life is therefore spacious; he is not hemmed in and constricted like others. He alone is exempt from the limitations of humanity; all ages are at his service as at a god’s. Has time gone by? He holds it fast in recollection. Is time now present? He utilizes it. Is it still to come? He anticipates it. The amalgamation of all time into one makes his life long.
~ Seneca

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The meaning of life

August 7, 2020 · All posts on Aug 7

We need to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life—daily and hourly. Our answer must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual.
~ Viktor Frankl

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The appropriate inner resource

August 1, 2020 · All posts on Aug 1

If you encounter an attractive person, then self-restraint is the resource needed; if pain or weakness, then stamina; if verbal abuse, then patience. As time goes by and you build on the habit of matching the appropriate inner resource to each incident, you will not tend to get carried away by life’s appearances. You will stop feeling overwhelmed so much of the time.
~ Epictetus

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A clear and precise picture

July 26, 2020 · All posts on Jul 26

Emotion, which is suffering, ceases to be suffering as soon as we form a clear and precise picture of it.
~ Baruch Spinoza

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Do it yourself

July 21, 2020 · All posts on Jul 21

Nobody cares. Do it yourself.
~ Hugh MacLeod

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The faculty of choice

July 21, 2020 · All posts on Jul 21

What else does the eye do, when it is opened, than see? But whether we ought to look upon somebody’s wife, and in what manner, what tells us that? The faculty of choice. Whether we ought to believe, or to disbelieve, what is said; or whether, if we do believe, we ought to be moved by it or not; what tells us that? Is it not the faculty of choice?
~ Epictetus

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The impulse to blame

July 20, 2020 · All posts on Jul 20

Small-minded people habitually reproach others for their own misfortunes. Average people reproach themselves. Those who are dedicated to a life of wisdom understand that the impulse to blame something or someone is foolishness, that there is nothing to be gained in blaming, whether it be others or oneself.
~ Epictetus

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Commitment

July 15, 2020 · All posts on Jul 15

People who are interested in doing something will do it when it’s convenient. People who are committed will do it no matter what.
~ Bob Proctor

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Dawning of moral progress

July 14, 2020 · All posts on Jul 14

One of the signs of the dawning of moral progress is the gradual extinguishing of blame. We see the futility of finger-pointing. The more we examine our attitudes and work on ourselves, the less we are apt to be swept away by stormy emotional reactions in which we seek easy explanations for unbidden events.
~ Epictetus

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Our responsibility

July 8, 2020 · All posts on Jul 8

We are at the very beginning of time for the human race. It is not unreasonable that we grapple with problems. But there are tens of thousands of years in the future. Our responsibility is to do what we can, learn what we can, improve the solutions, and pass them on.
~ Richard Feynman

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Success

July 2, 2020 · All posts on Jul 2

To win the lotto, you need a miracle. To be successful, you need hard work. More people are playin’ the lotto than working hard.
~ Eric Thomas

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Difficulties will arise

June 26, 2020 · All posts on Jun 26

It is not so much what you are doing as how you are doing it. When we properly understand and live by this principle, while difficulties will arise—for they are part of the divine order too—inner peace will still be possible.
~ Epictetus

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Learn something worthwhile

June 20, 2020 · All posts on Jun 20

Do external things distract you? Then make time for yourself to learn something worthwhile; stop letting yourself be pulled in all directions. But make sure you guard against the other kind of confusion. People who labor all their lives but have no purpose to direct every thought and impulse toward are wasting their time—even when hard at work.
~ Marcus Aurelius

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Suspend judgement

June 14, 2020 · All posts on Jun 14

We are not privy to the stories behind people’s actions, so we should be patient with others and suspend judgement of them, recognizing the limits of our understanding.
~ Epictetus

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Desire and aversion

June 8, 2020 · All posts on Jun 8

Desire and aversion, though powerful, are but habits. And we can train ourselves to have better habits. Restrain the habit of being repelled by all those things that aren’t within your control, and focus instead on combating things within your power that are not good for you.
~ Epictetus

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The time assigned to you

June 2, 2020 · All posts on Jun 2

Remember how long you’ve been putting this off, how many extensions have been given you, and you didn’t use them. At some point you have to recognize what world it is that you belong to; what power rules it and from what source you spring; that there is a limit to the time assigned you, and if you don’t use it to free yourself it will be gone and will never return.
~ Marcus Aurelius

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Serious work

May 27, 2020 · All posts on May 27

Well, then, are we teachers the only idle dreamers? No; it is you young men who are much more so. For, indeed, we old men, when we see young ones at play, are keen to join in that play ourselves. Far more so, then, if I saw them wide awake and keen to join us in our studies, should I be eager myself to join with them in serious work.
~ Epictetus

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Influence

May 20, 2020 · All posts on May 20

Into the hands of every individual is given a marvelous power for good or evil—the silent, unconscious, unseen influence of his life. This is simply the constant radiation of what man really is, not what he pretends to be.
~ William George Jordan

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Fear is a friend

May 15, 2020 · All posts on May 15

You must understand fear so you can manipulate it. Fear is like fire. You can make it work for you: It can warm you in winter, cook your food when you’re hungry, give you light when you’re in the dark, and produce energy. Let it go out of control and it can hurt you, even kill you… Fear is a friend of exceptional people.
~ Cus D’Amato

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True happiness

May 9, 2020 · All posts on May 9

True happiness is to enjoy the present without anxious dependence upon the future, not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied, for he that is wants nothing. The greatest blessings of mankind are within us and within our reach. A wise man is content with his lot, whatever it may be, without wishing for what he has not.
~ Seneca

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