Quotes from Pierre Hadot

It is not things that trouble us," as Epictetus said, "but our judgment about things

For us, nature's final accomplishment is contemplation, becoming aware, and a way of living in harmony with nature.

In the first place, sensation (aisthesis) is a corporeal process which we have in common with animals, and in which the impression of an exterior object is transmitted to the soul. By means of this process, an image (phantasia) of the object is produced in the soul, or more precisely in the guiding part (hegemonikon) of the soul

the only thing each of us lives and loses is the present.

breathe the intellect which embraces all things as if it were the surrounding air....

From the point of view of the imminence of death, one thing counts, and one alone: to strive always to have the essential rules of life present in one's mind, and to keep placing oneself in the fundamental disposition of the philosopher, which consists essentially in controlling one's inner discourse, in doing only that which is of benefit to the human community, and in accepting the events brought to us by the course of the Nature of the All.

Podríamos decir, además, que hay en la humanidad un estoicismo universal, quiero decir con ello que la actitud que llamamos «estoica» es una de las posibilidades permanentes y fundamentales del ser humano, cuando busca la sabiduría.

politics cannot be separated from the great human and cosmic perspectives That are opened up for us by our recognition of a transcendent universality - Reason or Nature - which, by means of its harmony with itself, founds both people's love for one another and their love for that Whole of which they are the part.

Entre el estoicismo y Nietzsche se abre un abismo. Mientras que el «sí» estoico es consentimiento a la racionalidad del mundo, la afirmación dionisíaca de la existencia de la que habla Nietzsche es un «sí» dado a la irracionalidad, a la crueldad ciega de la vida, a la voluntad de poder más allá del bien y del mal

Se habla a sí mismo, pero tenemos la impresión de que se dirige a cada uno de entre nosotros.

Do what you must, let happen what may

Ancient philosophy proposed to mankind an art of living. By contrast, modern philosophy appears above all as the construction of a technical jargon reserved for specialists.

Socrates had no system to teach. Throughout, his philosophy was a spiritual exercise, an invitation to a new way of life, active reflection, and living consciousness.