Quotes About Control

It is in our power to have no opinion about a thing, and not to be disturbed in our soul; for things themselves have no natural power to form our judgements

Otro segundo principio es el de saber qué cosas dependen de nosotros y qué cosas no, y cifrar la felicidad en las primeras.

For whatsoever it be, it is in thy power either to do it, or to say it, and therefore seek not any pretences, as though thou wert hindered.

Epictetus nicely likened this process to gaming: "The counters are indifferent and the dice are indifferent: how do I know which way they will fall? But to use the throw carefully and skillfully, that is my job.

28. Death. The end of sense-perception, of being controlled by our emotions, of mental activity, of enslavement to our bodies.

Don't bind yourself, with the chains of desire and fear, to things that are outside your sphere of control. This is a matter of sanity." —Epictetus

Her ÅŸey düÅŸüncenin verdiÄŸi biçimi al?r. Ve düÅŸüncenizin kontrolü sizin elinizdedir. Dolay?s?yla yarg?lar?n?z? ortadan kald?rmaya karar verdiÄŸinizde huzura kavuÅŸursunuz. T?pk?, burnu dolaÅŸan bir denizcinin sakin suya, dalgas?z bir koya eriÅŸmesi gibi.

If it's in your control, why do you do it? If it's in someone else's, then who are you blaming? Atoms? The gods? Stupid either way. Blame no one. Set people straight, if you can. If not, just repair the damage. And suppose you can't do that either. Then where does blaming people get you? No pointless actions.

Now it is in our power, not to print them; and if they creep in and lurk in some corner, it is in our power to wipe them off.

how many things may and do oftentimes follow upon such fits of anger and grief; far more grievous in themselves, than those very things which we are so grieved or angry for.

You'll find that none of the people who make you lose your temper has done anything that might affect your mind for the worse; and outside of the mind there's nothing that is truly detrimental or harmful for you… After all, you even had the resources, in the form of your ability to think rationally, to appreciate that he was likely to commit that fault, yet you forgot it and are now surprised that he did exactly that.

I will not allow things outside my mind to affect my mind. I will not let external events shake and shatter my inner peace. I will not waste my energy on things outside my control

Two points in the Stoic system deserve special mention. One is a careful distinction between things which are in our power and things which are not. Desire and dislike, opinion and affection, are within the power of the will; whereas health, wealth, honour, and other such are generally not so.

Don't waste the rest of your life worrying about what others think and do. Direct your thoughts to a useful end. When you dissipate your mental energy on things you can't control, you lose the opportunity to accomplish something yourself.

The directing mind is that which wakes itself, adapts itself, makes itself of whatever nature it wishes, and makes all that happens to it appear in the way it wants.

According to this theory, man is like a dog tied to a moving wagon. If the dog refuses to run along with the wagon he will be dragged by it, yet the choice remains his: to run or be dragged. In the same way, humans are responsible for their choices and actions, even though these have been anticipated by the logos and form part of its plan.

33. How the mind conducts itself. It all depends on that. All the rest is within its power, or beyond its control—corpses and smoke.

Things have no hold on the soul. They have no access to it, cannot move or direct it. It is moved and directed by itself alone. It takes the things before it and interprets them as it sees fit.

O imagination, go away, I intreat thee by the gods, as thou didst come, for I want thee not. But thou art come according to thy old fashion. I am not angry with thee: only go away.

In themselves, the things of the world have no effect on the mind; they can't get through to it, they can't sway it, and they can't stir it.

It is in our power to have no opinion about a thing. - Chapter VI, Verse 52.

If a thing is in thy own power, why dost thou do it? But if it is in the power of another, whom dost thou blame? The atoms (chance) or the gods? Both are foolish. Thou must blame nobody. For if thou canst, correct that which is the cause; but if thou canst not do this, correct at least the thing itself; but if thou canst not do even this, of what use is it to thee to find fault? For nothing should be done without a purpose.

Meditations 9.40. "But those are things the gods left up to me," protests one voice, to which another responds, "And what makes you think the gods don't care about what's up to us?

Consider that everything is opinion, and opinion is in thy power. Take away then, when thou choosest, thy opinion, and like a mariner who has doubled the promontory, thou wilt find calm, everything stable, and a waveless bay.