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You cannot expect to get the same results he got unless you are prepared to do everything he
was prepared to do. If you don’t flatter, you will not have the advantages a flatterer will have. Those who are servile to their superiors will be rewarded differently from those who are not.
Everything has a price. For example, let’s say that someone pays the retail price to get a head of lettuce. If you decide not to pay the price and go without the lettuce, you are not inferior to that person. He has the lettuce but you still have the money. It’s the same with social situations. If you are not invited to a pa...
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things to be in her good books. So if you want to be invited, pay the bill and don’t complain about the cost. But if you expect the benefits without paying the price you are not only greedy, you are being foolish. What if you are not invited to the party? You did not do things you didn’t want to do such a...
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No one sets up a target so others can miss it. Similarly, nature has not set up evil in this world so you can avoid it.
If your body was turned over to someone else, you would be ashamed and outraged. Should you not be equally ashamed when you turn over your mind to others so they can control it? Why do you let your mind be controlled by anyone who happens to criticize you?
If you don’t pause to consider
what is involved, you will end up like a child: wrestler one minute, gladiator the next; actor one minute, musician the next. You will be like a monkey that imitates whatever comes its way, drawn by different things. You have not paid attention, and you have not thought things through. You are being casual and arbitrary.
But first you should stop applying labels like “good” and “bad” to what is not under your control. The labels good and bad apply only to things under your control.
Piety does not exist apart from self-interest. Therefore, when you practice using desire and aversion in the right way, you practice being pious.
