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To change your experience, change your opinion. If you’re upset by something outside you, it’s not the thing itself that upsets you, but your opinion of it. And it’s in your power to wipe away that opinion immediately.
They showed that by changing my thoughts about a situation, I could let go of pain.
I made it part of my daily morning routine to study a passage from an old translation of their words and re-write it in simple, contemporary language.
When you do anything insincere, halfhearted, or thoughtless, you harm yourself. Even the smallest action should be performed with a goal in mind.
Be cheerful, too, and self-reliant. Stand on your own two feet without needing to be propped up by others.
you focus on the task at hand, shed all distractions, and reason with steadfast determination, the divine spark within you will burst into flame.
Enjoy the present moment. Expect nothing, fear nothing, speak truly, and act heroically. No one can stop you.
Focus on what’s important. Give great attention to great matters, and little attention to little matters.
yourself: I am rising to resume my life’s work. How can I be unhappy when I have another opportunity to do what I was born to do?
Accept everything that comes your way, trusting that it’s part of the universe’s grand design, for the greater good of all.
Imagine your ideal future and how you will feel when you’ve “arrived.” It’s in your power to feel that way today—to think the same thoughts and have the same attitude that you would if your surroundings were ideal.
head is hanging low, you’ll miss the opportunities hidden in “misfortune.”
world does not shape the soul so much as it is shaped by it. For as your interior faculties change, the world around you changes in exact proportion.
Why wish for words you’ll never hear from people you’ll never see?
Exert your efforts within your sphere of power, and be indifferent to everything else. (By “indifferent,” I don’t mean apathetic, but accepting of all that Fate gives you.)
The best doctors respect and follow the principles of their discipline, too, and their patients are grateful for the results.
The universe you will use you regardless, but it’s better to be a conscious collaborator than an unconscious tool.
“After all, virtue is not to be confused with saving your own skin. In these situations, we must entrust ourselves to Fate. As the oracles say, no one can escape their destiny. The only question is how best to live in our remaining time.”
A person is content when their thoughts are in harmony with reason (clear, purposeful, truth-seeking, just); when their actions are beneficial for themselves and others; when they limit their desires and dislikes to what is within their sphere of power; and when they accept all that Fate gives them.
Our minds alone are responsible for our judgments, opinions, and interpretations. Don’t be fooled by how things first appear—examine everything in the light of reason.
surround yourself with thoughtful, encouraging friends.
If you expect an ignorant person to act like a knowledgable one, that’s your mistake.
The thread of your destiny is woven into the universal tapestry, inseparable from the fates of all.
Stop wasting energy in fear and procrastination. Your job is to see what needs to be done and then do it. If you see the way forward, proceed without looking back.
If you are unsure which way to go, stop and find a trustworthy guide.
If something blocks your way, make that obstacle a stepping stone on your journey. If you fail or die, it will be in pursuit of a w...
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Stop talking about what makes a person good. Be a good person.
Whenever you are offended by another person’s words or deeds, look inside and see whether you have the same fault. You may be disgusted by gluttony, greed, or pride in another, while these same vices are hiding in your own heart.
Focus on improving yourself—others are outside of your control, after all—and you’ll be more sympathetic and tolerant of your fellow humans.
Does your body move by itself and do what it wills? No. What’s pulling its strings? An invisible power, hidden within. It is life; it is intelligence; it is you.
Here is what the rational soul does: It sees, analyzes, shapes, and directs the self. It bears fruit in rational thoughts, words, and actions. It makes goals and devises plans to achieve them. It brings order to chaos, fits pieces into patterns, and makes the incomplete whole.
Why do people enjoy watching tragedies acted out on stage? Because they remind us of things that can happen in life, and show us that these events are prescribed by nature and Fate.
Comedies also serve a purpose; in bursting the bubbles of the powerful and pompous, they bring us all back down to earth. They use common speech to promote common sense.
If you become angry and hateful, you focus on the obstacle and lose sight of your goal.
There’s never a reason to announce beforehand that you’re going to be fair or generous—do it, and your actions will speak for themselves.
Speak what you really think, not what you think people want to hear.
Your separate, diverse actions will build on each other like the notes that add up to make a symphony.
“What do you want, rational minds or irrational?” Rational minds. “What sort of rational minds, calm or disturbed?” Calm. “How can you acquire calm, rational minds?” We already have them. “Really? Then why are you squabbling among yourselves?” —Socrates
cling only to the divine spark within you.
* * * I often wonder how it is that most people value their own lives above others, yet value other’s opinions of them over their own self-opinions. *
internalize your principles so they become part of you.
