Quotes About Philosophy

Now to conclude; upon all occasion of sorrow remember henceforth to make use of this dogma, that whatsoever it is that hath happened unto thee, is in very deed no such thing of itself, as a misfortune; but that to bear it generously, is certainly great happiness.

not to busy myself about vain things, and not easily to believe those things, which are commonly spoken

Si len úbohá duÅ¡i?ka nesúca mÅ•tvolu," ako vravel Epiktetos.

And as grief doth proceed from weakness, so doth anger. For both, both he that is angry and that grieveth, have received a wound, and cowardly have as it were yielded themselves unto their affections.

So there are two reasons to embrace what happens. One is that it's happening to you. It was prescribed for you, and it pertains to you. The thread was spun long ago, by the oldest cause of all. The other reason is that what happens to an individual is a cause of well-being in what directs the world—of its well-being, its fulfillment, of its very existence, even.

thou wilt cease to be held by pains and pleasures, and to be a slave to the vessel, which is as much inferior as that which serves it is superior: for the one is intelligence and deity; the other is earth and corruption.

let it judge that nothing is either bad or good which can happen equally to the bad man and the good.

The rational commanding part, as it alone can stir up and turn itself; so it maketh both itself to be, and everything that happeneth, to appear unto itself, as it will itself.

When a man kisses his child, said Epictetus, he should whisper to himself, To-morrow perchance thou wilt die.- But those are words of bad omen.- No word is a word of bad omen, said Epictetus, which expresses any work of nature; or if it is so, it is also a word of bad omen to speak of the ears of corn being reaped.

Now say I, if so be that this be both hurtful unto them, and yet unavoidable, would not, thinkest thou, the whole itself be in a sweet case, all the parts of it being subject to alteration, yea and by their making itself fitted for corruption, as consisting of things different and contrary

An angry countenance is much against nature, and it is oftentimes the proper countenance of them that are at the point of death. But were it so, that all anger and passion were so thoroughly quenched in thee, that it were altogether impossible to kindle it any more, yet herein must not thou rest satisfied, but further endeavour by good consequence of true ratiocination, perfectly to conceive and understand, that all anger and passion is against reason.

Acuérdate de esto y de lo siguiente, que de poquísimas cosas depende tener una vida feliz. Y

To my soul: Are you ever going to achieve goodness? Ever going to be simple, whole and naked--as plain to see as the body that contains you?

If any god told thee that thou shalt die to-morrow, or certainly on the day after to-morrow, thou wouldst not care much whether it was on the third day or on the morrow, unless thou wast in the highest degree mean-spirited- for how small is the difference?- So think it no great thing to die after as many years as thou canst name rather than to-morrow.

no renuncies a ser libre, decente, comunitario, dócil ante dios.

We cannot step twice into the same river

Everything material soon disappears in the substance of the whole; and everything formal (causal) is very soon taken back into the universal reason; and the memory of everything is very soon overwhelmed in time.

56. Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now take what's left and live it properly

The universal nature out of the universal substance, as if it were wax, now moulds a horse, and when it has broken this up, it uses the material for a tree, then for a man, then for something else; and each of these things subsists for a very short time. But it is no hardship for the vessel to be broken up, just as there was none in its being fastened together

There were under the early empire two rival schools which practically divided the field between them, Stoicism and Epicureanism.

Your mind is your only strength; your reason is your only power.

What is this, fundamentally? What is its nature and substance, its reason for being? What is it doing in the world? How long is it here for?

Always bear this in mind; and another thing too, that very little indeed is necessary for living a happy life.

49. Look at the past—empire succeeding empire—and from that, extrapolate the future: the same thing. No escape from the rhythm of events. Which is why observing life for forty years is as good as a thousand. Would you really see anything new?