Quotes

The aim of an argument →

Published Oct 4, 2021  ·  All posts on Oct 4  ·  

The aim of an argument, or of a discussion, should not be victory but progress.

~ Karl Popper

Elsewhere, this is 4a606. — slipbox

Not in our power →

Published Oct 4, 2021  ·  All posts on Oct 4  ·  ,

And who can never be hindered? The man who sets his desire on nothing that is not his own. And what are those things that are not our own? Those that are not in our power, either to have or not to have, or to have them of a particular nature, or under specific conditions. Our body, therefore, is not our own, its parts are not our own, and our property is not our own. So if you become attached to any of these as your own, you will be punished, as he deserves to be who sets his desire on what is not his own.

~ Epictetus

Elsewhere, this is 4a205. — slipbox

For all who come →

Published Oct 3, 2021  ·  All posts on Oct 3  ·  ,

Does the road wind uphill all the way?
Yes, to the very end.
Will the day’s journey take the whole long day?
From morn to night, my friend.
Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak?
Of labour you shall find the sum.
Will there be beds for me and all who seek?
Yea, beds for all who come.

~ Christina Rossetti

Elsewhere, this is 4a581,. — slipbox

True freedom →

Published Oct 2, 2021  ·  All posts on Oct 2  ·  ,

And say while you are training yourself day after day, as you do here, not that you are pursuing philosophy (to claim that title would surely be pretentious), but that you are providing for your emancipation. For this is true freedom.

~ Epictetus

Elsewhere, this is 4a210. — slipbox

Towards the pebbled shore →

Published Oct 1, 2021  ·  All posts on Oct 1  ·  

Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore,
So do our minutes hasten to their end;
Each changing place with that which goes before,
In sequent toil all forwards do content.

~ William Shakespeare

Elsewhere, this is 4a580. — slipbox

More sweet than truth →

Published Sep 30, 2021  ·  All posts on Sep 30  ·  

I have known days like that, of warm winds drowsing in the heat of noon and all of summer spinning slowly on its reel, days briefly lived, that leave long music in the mind more sweet that truth; I play and rewind.

~ Russel Hoban

Elsewhere, this is 4a579. — slipbox

When thus prepared →

Published Sep 30, 2021  ·  All posts on Sep 30  ·  ,

And when you are thus prepared and thus trained to distinguish what is not your own from your own, what is subject to hindrance from what is not, to regard the latter as your concern and the form as not, and carefully keep your desire directed toward the latter, and your aversion directed towards the former, will there any longer be anyone for you to fear?

~ Epictetus

Elsewhere, this is 4a215. — slipbox

Great and noble and valuable →

Published Sep 29, 2021  ·  All posts on Sep 29  ·  

Further, then, answer me this: Do you think freedom to be something great and noble and valuable? — “How should I not?” Is it possible, then, that he who acquires anything so great and valuable and noble should be mean-spirited?

~ Epictetus

Elsewhere, this is 4a220. — slipbox

Normal →

Published Sep 28, 2021  ·  All posts on Sep 28  ·  

Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal.

~ Albert Camus

Elsewhere, this is 4a605. — slipbox

Conformity →

Published Sep 27, 2021  ·  All posts on Sep 27  ·  

I think the reward for conformity is that everyone likes you except yourself.

~ Rita Mae Brown

Elsewhere, this is 4a604. — slipbox