Quote collection
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"We are not to give credit to the many, who say that none ought to be educated but the free; but rather to the philosophers, who say that the well-educated alone are free."
"Survey and test a prospective action before undertaking it. Before you proceed, step back and look at the big picture, lest you act rashly on raw impulse."
"It is better to advise than upbraid, for the one corrects the erring; the other only convicts them."
"You can be invincible, if you enter into no contest in which it is not in your power to conquer."
"No man is disturbed by things, but by his opinion about things."
"Remember that you are an actor in a drama of such sort as the Author chooses: if short, then in a short one; if long, then in a long one. If it be His pleasure that you should enact a poor man, or a cripple, or a ruler, or a private citizen, see that you act it well. For this is your business, to act well the given part. But to choose it belongs to Another."
"Your master is he who controls that on which you have set your heart or wish to avoid."
"I am not eternity, but a man; a part of the whole, as an hour is of the day."
"The Beginning of Philosophy is a Consciousness of your own Weakness and inability in necessary things."
"Shall I show you the sinews of a philosopher? What sinews are those? - A will undisappointed; evils avoided; powers daily exercised; careful resolutions; unerring decisions."
"You are but an appearance, and not absolutely the thing you appear to be."
"Do nothing in a depressed mood, nor as one afflicted, nor as thinking that you are in misery, for no one compels you to that."
"Caretake this moment. Immerse yourself in its particulars. Respond to this person, this challenge, this deed. Quit evasions. Stop giving yourself needless trouble. It is time to really live; to fully inhabit the situation you happen to be in now."
"Be not diverted from your duty by any idle reflections the silly world may make upon you, for their censures are not in your power and should not be at all your concerns."
"Dare to look up to God and say, Deal with me in the future as Thou wilt; I am of the same mind as Thou art; I am Thine; I refuse nothing that pleases Thee; lead me where Thou wilt; clothe me in any dress Thou choosest."
"Each man's life is a kind of campaign, and a long and complicated one at that. You have to maintain the character of a soldier, and do each separate act at the bidding of the General."
"Act well your given part; the choice rests not with you."
"If you wish to live a life free from sorrow, think of what is going to happen as if it had already happened."
"Truth is a thing immortal and perpetual, and it gives to us a beauty that fades not away in time, nor does it take away the freedom of speech which proceeds from justice; but it gives to us the knowledge of what is just and lawful, separating from them the unjust and refuting them."
"Neither the victories of the Olympic Games nor those achieved in battles make the man happy. The only victories that make him happy are those achieved against himself. Temptations and tests are combats. You have beaten one, two, many times; still fight. If you defeat at last you will be happy your entire life, as if you have always defeated."