Thoughts & Quotes by Category

Perspective

Living from day to day

I was watching a documentary about David Bowie, and he said something that really resonated with me:

Reading the Stoics

Reading the stoics, especially Seneca: makes me want to be a better person makes me a better person makes me realize how far I am from bein...

Seneca’s hint at the format of his letters

Started reading Seneca’s Letter XXVII: On The Good Which Abides, and I was struck by the opening paragraph. It’s a hint at the format of his Epistulae, wh...

Dogs and other pets

As I walked around Fresh Pond in Cambridge, a runner caught my eye. He was accompanied by a large canine, who loped along at a comfortable distance. I rec...

Life in simple terms

Here is how life works. You are born, then you live for a while (for decades, if you are lucky), then you die. And none of this is up to you, this is the ...

To stay sane

To stay sane one needs to learn to tolerate insanity of everybody else.

The fastest path

Staying where you are is often the fastest path to your destination.

Reset your goals

As we embark on the journey towards fulfilling our goals, it is important that we set an expiration date for each of these objectives, otherwise we risk b...

What you know

You know what you know even if nobody else knows that you know it.

The greatest task

If you have been able to examine and manage your own life you have achieved the greatest task of all.

Because you are alive

You are not dying because you are ill: you are dying because you are alive.1 Seneca, Epist. moral., LXXVIII, 6 ↩

Because it must be lost

That is why I so order my ways that I can lose my life without regret, not however because it is troublesome or importunate but because one of its attribu...

Everybody is acting a part

Most of our occupations are farcical: ‘Mundus universus exercet histrionem.’ [Everybody in the entire world is acting a part.]12 Petroniu...

Princes

Princes give me plenty if they take nothing from me and do me enough good if they do me no harm.

I am content

I am content to enjoy the world without being over-occupied with it and to lead a life which is no more than excusable, neither a burden to myself nor to ...

Fortune and conscience

As though good fortune were incompatible with a good conscience, men never become moral except when fortune is bad.

The incompetent men

…the most ignorant and incompetent men whom you put in command of your wars never fail to become suddenly most worthy of command, because it is you who em...

The stupid people

Day after day I hear stupid people uttering words which are not stupid. They say something good; let us discover how deeply they understand it and where t...

Talk about yourself

…you never talk about yourself without loss: condemn yourself and you are always believed: praise yourself and you never are.

Old age

An ugly old age when openly avowed is in my opinion less old and less ugly than one smoothed out and painted over.

Marriage

I know no marriages which fail and come to grief more quickly than those which are set on foot by beauty and amorous desire. Marriage requires foundations...

To be alone

I find that it is somewhat more tolerable to be always alone than never able to be so.

Reading

The principal use of reading to me is, that by various objects it rouses my reason, and employs my judgment, not my memory.

To be better loved

I have no wish to be better loved or better valued when dead than when alive.

Education

Anyone can see that all things within a State depend upon the way it educates and brings up its children.

To do harm

To do harm and to experience harm are equal proofs of weakness.

To go according to nature

… to go according to nature is only to go according to our intelligence, as far as it can follow and as far as we can see; what is beyond is monstrous and...

Health against glory

Is there anyone not willing to barter health, leisure and life itself against reputation and glory, the most useless, vain and counterfeit coinage in circ...

Simply be one

No more of all this talk about what a good man should be, but simply be one!

Live according to nature

As if you had died and your life had extended only to this present moment, use the surplus that is left to you to live from this time onward according to ...

All things are ever alike

One who has seen the present world has seen all that has ever been from time everlasting and all that ever will be into eternity; for all things are ever ...

Perfect calm

How easy it is to repel and wipe away every disturbing or inappropriate thought, and recover at once a perfect calm.

Apart from nature

…to set your mind against anything that happens is to set yourself apart from nature.

What has not been said

…what has not been said is easy to say, while what has been once said can never be recalled.

Silence

…silence at the proper season is wisdom, and better than any speech.

Perfection

…perfection is only attained by neither speaking nor acting at random–as the proverb says, Perfection is only attained by practice.1 Plat...

Caesar on pets

One day in Rome, Caesar, seeing some rich foreigners nursing and petting young lapdogs and monkeys, enquired whether in their parts of the world the women...

Consider yourself happy

Only consider yourself happy when all your joys are born of reason, and when—having marked all the objects which men clutch at, or pray for, or watch over...

None shall go unburied

I ask no man to perform the last rites for me; I entrust my remains to none. Nature has made provision that none shall go unburied.

Luxuries call for labour

The things that are indispensable require no elaborate pains for their acquisition; it is only the luxuries that call for labour.

Why feel sorrow

… the wise man will say just what a Marcus Cato would say, after reviewing his past life: “The whole race of man, both that which is and that which is to ...

Being in one’s own company

There is a pleasure in being in one’s own company as long as possible, when a man has made himself worth enjoying.

Remembering vs knowing

Remembering is merely safeguarding something entrusted to the memory; knowing, however, means making everything your own; it means not depending upon the ...

Be deaf to those who love you

Be deaf to those who love you most of all; they pray for bad things with good intentions. And, if you would be happy, entreat the gods that none of their ...

Wisdom is an art

That which takes effect by chance is not an art. Now wisdom is an art; it should have a definite aim, choosing only those who will make progress, but with...

Making use of you as my pretext

“WHAT,” SAY YOU, “are you giving me advice? Indeed, have you already advised yourself, already corrected your own faults? Is this the reason why you have ...

Foolish to be unhappy

It is indeed foolish to be unhappy now because you may be unhappy at some future time.

To live nobly or to live long

Men do not care how nobly they live, but only how long, although it is within the reach of every man to live nobly, but within no man’s power to live long...

Well said

Whatever is well said by anyone is mine.

To be admired

The power to inspire fear has caused many men to be in fear. Let us withdraw ourselves in every way; for it is as harmful to be scorned as to be admired.

The wholesome rule of life

Hold fast, then, to this sound and wholesome rule of life—that you indulge the body only so far as is needful for good health. The body should be treated ...

Withdraw into yourself

…you should not copy the bad simply because they are many, nor should you hate the many because they are unlike you. Withdraw into yourself, as far as you...

Who craves more

It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.

Well-ordered mind

The primary indication, to my thinking, of a well-ordered mind is a man’s ability to remain in one place and linger in his own company.

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Judgment

Faith and curiosity

You lose your faith by questioning it, you lose your curiosity by believing.

Being the best

What’s the point in being the best, if it only brings out your worst?1 Chester Lee (Rodney Dangerfield’s character in Ladybugs) ↩ ...

Not being there

The ability of not being there when you are not needed is at least as important as the ability of being there when you are needed.

Harm and pleasure

Anything the taste of which I find unpleasant does me harm: nothing does me harm if I swallow it hungrily and joyfully. I have never been bothered by anyt...

Because you are alive

You are not dying because you are ill: you are dying because you are alive.1 Seneca, Epist. moral., LXXVIII, 6 ↩

Princes

Princes give me plenty if they take nothing from me and do me enough good if they do me no harm.

Emptiness and tomfoolery

If others were to look attentively into themselves as I do, they would find themselves, as I do, full of emptiness and tomfoolery. I cannot rid myself of ...

A just deed

The essence of a just deed lies in being voluntary.1 Cicero, De officiis, I, ix, 28 ↩

Reading

The principal use of reading to me is, that by various objects it rouses my reason, and employs my judgment, not my memory.

Never call yourself a philosopher

Never call yourself a philosopher, and don’t talk among laymen for the most part about philosophical principles, but act in accordance with those principl...

You may be unconquerable

You may be unconquerable, if you enter into no combat in which it is not in your own control to conquer.

Perception

People are disturbed not by the things that happen but by their opinions about those things.

What has not been said

…what has not been said is easy to say, while what has been once said can never be recalled.

Silence

…silence at the proper season is wisdom, and better than any speech.

Caesar on pets

One day in Rome, Caesar, seeing some rich foreigners nursing and petting young lapdogs and monkeys, enquired whether in their parts of the world the women...

Consider yourself happy

Only consider yourself happy when all your joys are born of reason, and when—having marked all the objects which men clutch at, or pray for, or watch over...

Take pleasure in being praised

How mad is he who leaves the lecture-room in a happy frame of mind simply because of applause from the ignorant! Why do you take pleasure in being praised...

Worry about the future

Consider individuals, survey men in general; there is none whose life does not look forward to the future. “What harm is there in this,” you ask? Infinite...

Our stupidity

Our stupidity may be clearly proved by the fact that we hold that “buying” refers only to the objects for which we pay cash, and we regard as free gifts t...

Remembering vs knowing

Remembering is merely safeguarding something entrusted to the memory; knowing, however, means making everything your own; it means not depending upon the ...

Be deaf to those who love you

Be deaf to those who love you most of all; they pray for bad things with good intentions. And, if you would be happy, entreat the gods that none of their ...

Foolish to be unhappy

It is indeed foolish to be unhappy now because you may be unhappy at some future time.

For the sake of being busy

…a good man will not waste himself upon mean and discreditable work or be busy merely for the sake of being busy.

The study of wisdom

…no man can live a happy life, or even a supportable life, without the study of wisdom.

To be admired

The power to inspire fear has caused many men to be in fear. Let us withdraw ourselves in every way; for it is as harmful to be scorned as to be admired.

Withdraw into yourself

…you should not copy the bad simply because they are many, nor should you hate the many because they are unlike you. Withdraw into yourself, as far as you...

Daily judgment seat

It was the custom of Sextius when the day was over, and he had betaken himself to rest, to inquire of his spirit: “What bad habit of yours have you cured ...

True wisdom

…true wisdom consists in not departing from nature and in moulding our conduct according to her laws and model.

What is best for us

…matters do not stand so well with mankind that the majority should prefer the better course: the more people do a thing the worse it is likely to be. Let...

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Natural order

Life in simple terms

Here is how life works. You are born, then you live for a while (for decades, if you are lucky), then you die. And none of this is up to you, this is the ...

Understanding through logic

Who has ever acquired understanding through logic? Where are its fine promises? Neither for living better nor for reasoning properly.1 Ci...

Conversation

To my taste the most fruitful and most natural exercise of our minds is conversation. […] Studying books has a languid feeble motion, whereas conversation...

To go according to nature

… to go according to nature is only to go according to our intelligence, as far as it can follow and as far as we can see; what is beyond is monstrous and...

Not even death

One to whom that alone is good which comes in good season, to whom it is all the same whether he performs a greater or a lesser number of actions accordin...

Live according to nature

As if you had died and your life had extended only to this present moment, use the surplus that is left to you to live from this time onward according to ...

All things are ever alike

One who has seen the present world has seen all that has ever been from time everlasting and all that ever will be into eternity; for all things are ever ...

Apart from nature

…to set your mind against anything that happens is to set yourself apart from nature.

Neither right nor wrong

Now death and life, fame and obscurity, wealth and poverty, happen to good and bad in equal measure, being neither right nor wrong in themselves; and so i...

Perfection

…perfection is only attained by neither speaking nor acting at random–as the proverb says, Perfection is only attained by practice.1 Plat...

None shall go unburied

I ask no man to perform the last rites for me; I entrust my remains to none. Nature has made provision that none shall go unburied.

Why feel sorrow

… the wise man will say just what a Marcus Cato would say, after reviewing his past life: “The whole race of man, both that which is and that which is to ...

Foolish to fear death

it is as foolish to fear death as to fear old age; for death follows old age precisely as old age follows youth. He who does not wish to die cannot have w...

Practice what you preach

Philosophy teaches us to act, not to speak; it exacts of every man that he should live according to his own standards, that his life should not be out of ...

True wisdom

…true wisdom consists in not departing from nature and in moulding our conduct according to her laws and model.

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Philosophy

Living from day to day

I was watching a documentary about David Bowie, and he said something that really resonated with me:

Reading the Stoics

Reading the stoics, especially Seneca: makes me want to be a better person makes me a better person makes me realize how far I am from bein...

Stoic philosophy as practice

For the Stoic, doing philosophy meant practicing how to “live”: that is, how to live freely and consciously. Consciously, in that we pass beyond the limit...

The task of philosophy

The task of philosophy … is to educate people, so that they seek only the goods they are able to obtain, and try to avoid only those evils which it is pos...

Everything has been said

Nothing so absurd can be said that it has not been said by some philosopher.1 Cicero, De divinat., II, lviii, 119. ↩

Rulers compared to philosophers

What are Alexander, Caesar, and Pompey when compared to Diogenes, Heraclitus, and Socrates? For these latter viewed all things in terms of both matter and...

Philosophy is our guide

In human life, the time of our existence is a point, our substance a flux, our senses dull, the fabric of our entire body subject to corruption, our soul ...

Never call yourself a philosopher

Never call yourself a philosopher, and don’t talk among laymen for the most part about philosophical principles, but act in accordance with those principl...

Prepare to be laughed at

If you have an earnest desire of attaining to philosophy, prepare yourself from the very first to be laughed at.

Philosophy

…philosophy is the only cure for the maladies and disorders of the soul. For with her as ruler and guide we can know what is honorable, what is disgracefu...

What a wonderful privilege

Philosophy wields her own authority; she appoints her own time and does not allow it to be appointed for her. She is not a thing to be followed at odd tim...

For the sake of being busy

…a good man will not waste himself upon mean and discreditable work or be busy merely for the sake of being busy.

Practice what you preach

Philosophy teaches us to act, not to speak; it exacts of every man that he should live according to his own standards, that his life should not be out of ...

The study of wisdom

…no man can live a happy life, or even a supportable life, without the study of wisdom.

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Death

Life in simple terms

Here is how life works. You are born, then you live for a while (for decades, if you are lucky), then you die. And none of this is up to you, this is the ...

Because you are alive

You are not dying because you are ill: you are dying because you are alive.1 Seneca, Epist. moral., LXXVIII, 6 ↩

Because it must be lost

That is why I so order my ways that I can lose my life without regret, not however because it is troublesome or importunate but because one of its attribu...

To be better loved

I have no wish to be better loved or better valued when dead than when alive.

Not even death

One to whom that alone is good which comes in good season, to whom it is all the same whether he performs a greater or a lesser number of actions accordin...

Be content with the time

You are not aggrieved, surely, because you weigh only so many pounds and not three hundred? Then why be aggrieved that you will live only a certain number...

Neither right nor wrong

Now death and life, fame and obscurity, wealth and poverty, happen to good and bad in equal measure, being neither right nor wrong in themselves; and so i...

None shall go unburied

I ask no man to perform the last rites for me; I entrust my remains to none. Nature has made provision that none shall go unburied.

Why feel sorrow

… the wise man will say just what a Marcus Cato would say, after reviewing his past life: “The whole race of man, both that which is and that which is to ...

Pain

He who dies just because he is in pain is a weakling, a coward; but he who lives merely to brave out this pain, is a fool.

Foolish to fear death

it is as foolish to fear death as to fear old age; for death follows old age precisely as old age follows youth. He who does not wish to die cannot have w...

To live nobly or to live long

Men do not care how nobly they live, but only how long, although it is within the reach of every man to live nobly, but within no man’s power to live long...

Peaceful life

No man can have a peaceful life who thinks too much about lengthening it.

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Humans

Dogs and other pets

As I walked around Fresh Pond in Cambridge, a runner caught my eye. He was accompanied by a large canine, who loped along at a comfortable distance. I rec...

Shrinking attention spans

As technology advances, human attention spans are shrinking, yet there is still a desire to appear wise without exerting much effort. This is why the inte...

Princes

Princes give me plenty if they take nothing from me and do me enough good if they do me no harm.

I am content

I am content to enjoy the world without being over-occupied with it and to lead a life which is no more than excusable, neither a burden to myself nor to ...

Fortune and conscience

As though good fortune were incompatible with a good conscience, men never become moral except when fortune is bad.

The incompetent men

…the most ignorant and incompetent men whom you put in command of your wars never fail to become suddenly most worthy of command, because it is you who em...

The stupid people

Day after day I hear stupid people uttering words which are not stupid. They say something good; let us discover how deeply they understand it and where t...

There is nothing certain

There is nothing certain but uncertainty, and nothing more miserable and arrogant than man.1 Pliny ↩

Caesar on pets

One day in Rome, Caesar, seeing some rich foreigners nursing and petting young lapdogs and monkeys, enquired whether in their parts of the world the women...

Worry about the future

Consider individuals, survey men in general; there is none whose life does not look forward to the future. “What harm is there in this,” you ask? Infinite...

Our stupidity

Our stupidity may be clearly proved by the fact that we hold that “buying” refers only to the objects for which we pay cash, and we regard as free gifts t...

To live nobly or to live long

Men do not care how nobly they live, but only how long, although it is within the reach of every man to live nobly, but within no man’s power to live long...

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Suffering

Suffering

Anyone who is afraid of suffering suffers already of being afraid.

Harm and pleasure

Anything the taste of which I find unpleasant does me harm: nothing does me harm if I swallow it hungrily and joyfully. I have never been bothered by anyt...

My maladies

I present my maladies, at most, for what they are and I avoid studied groans and words of foreboding. If not merriness at least composure is appropriate f...

Pleasure and pain

Following Epicurus I believe pleasures are to be avoided if they result in greater pain, and pain is to be welcomed if it results in greater pleasure.

On pain

On pain: if it is unbearable, it carries us off, if it persists, it can be endured. The mind, too, can preserve its calm by withdrawing itself, and the ru...

Supreme Good is that which is honorable

… what good is there in breaking it up into tiny bits, when you can say: the Supreme Good is that which is honorable? Besides (and you may be still more s...

Pain

He who dies just because he is in pain is a weakling, a coward; but he who lives merely to brave out this pain, is a fool.

Pity vs help

Sorrow is not suited to seeing things accurately, to understanding how to get things done, to avoiding dangers, or to knowing what is just. So the wise ma...

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Virtue

My maladies

I present my maladies, at most, for what they are and I avoid studied groans and words of foreboding. If not merriness at least composure is appropriate f...

All the glory in the world

…all the glory in the world was not worth that a man of discretion should merely stretch out a finger to acquire it.1 Cicero, De finibus,...

Simply be one

No more of all this talk about what a good man should be, but simply be one!

What are you thinking of

you must train yourself only to think such thoughts that if somebody were suddenly to ask you, ‘What are you thinking of?’ you could reply in all honesty ...

Why feel sorrow

… the wise man will say just what a Marcus Cato would say, after reviewing his past life: “The whole race of man, both that which is and that which is to ...

Supreme Good is that which is honorable

… what good is there in breaking it up into tiny bits, when you can say: the Supreme Good is that which is honorable? Besides (and you may be still more s...

Virtue

Virtue is nothing else than right reason.

For the sake of being busy

…a good man will not waste himself upon mean and discreditable work or be busy merely for the sake of being busy.

The study of wisdom

…no man can live a happy life, or even a supportable life, without the study of wisdom.

Withdraw into yourself

…you should not copy the bad simply because they are many, nor should you hate the many because they are unlike you. Withdraw into yourself, as far as you...

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Doubt

Doubt

Doubt is not a transitory stage in the quest for truth, but a permanent state of mind. This concept, highly valued by the Stoics, as well as by Dante and ...

There is nothing certain

There is nothing certain but uncertainty, and nothing more miserable and arrogant than man.1 Pliny ↩

On doubt

Only fools are certain and immoveable: It pleases me as much to doubt as to know.1 [Dante, Inferno, XI, 93] ↩

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Reading

Good books vs great books

Good books can enhance one’s intelligence, while great books have the power to awaken one’s inherent wisdom. Examples of such great works include Montaign...

Reading

The principal use of reading to me is, that by various objects it rouses my reason, and employs my judgment, not my memory.

What to read

…you should always read standard authors; and when you crave a change, fall back upon those whom you read before.

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Education

Education

Anyone can see that all things within a State depend upon the way it educates and brings up its children.

What has not been said

…what has not been said is easy to say, while what has been once said can never be recalled.

Perfection

…perfection is only attained by neither speaking nor acting at random–as the proverb says, Perfection is only attained by practice.1 Plat...

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Quoting

Well said

Whatever is well said by anyone is mine.

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Vanity

All the glory in the world

…all the glory in the world was not worth that a man of discretion should merely stretch out a finger to acquire it.1 Cicero, De finibus,...

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Pleasure

Harm and pleasure

Anything the taste of which I find unpleasant does me harm: nothing does me harm if I swallow it hungrily and joyfully. I have never been bothered by anyt...

Pleasure and pain

Following Epicurus I believe pleasures are to be avoided if they result in greater pain, and pain is to be welcomed if it results in greater pleasure.

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Religion

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