Atharva31/Quotes_Collection · Datasets at Hugging Face

Unnamed: 0 int64 0 7.68k	quote stringlengths 1 3.91k	tags stringclasses 3 values
6,792	“Think of your many years of procrastination; how the gods have repeatedly granted you further periods of grace, of which you have taken no advantage. It is time now to realise the nature of the universe to which you belong, and of that controlling Power whose offspring you are; and to understand that your time has a limit set to it. Use it, then, to advance your enlightenment; or it will be gone, and never in your power again.”	stoicism
7,182	“Happiness is sweet; its pursuit, bitter.”	stoicism
6,799	“I hear my silence talked of in every lane; The suppression of a cry is itself a cry of pain.”	stoicism
7,576	“Not having expected an event makes it seem way better or worse than it really is.”	stoicism
6,877	“Nothing happens to any creature beyond it’s own natural endurance.”	stoicism
7,136	“It is foolish to expect a fool to act wisely.”	stoicism
7,050	“Many millions of people secretly feel caged by employment, marriage, and/or parenthood.”	stoicism
6,897	“Distractions are the relentless waves of the ocean, crashing against the shores of our consciousness. They erode our resolve, and little by little, wash away the sandcastles of our focus. They arrive in various guises: the allure of trivial pleasures, the lure of the inconsequential, the din of idle gossip, the chains of past regret and the ghostly shadows of future anxieties. Each wave seeks to pull us into the depths of irrelevance, away from the firm ground of meaningful pursuits.”	stoicism
6,998	“Even as the Sun doth not wait for prayers and incantations to rise, but shines forth and is welcomed by all: so thou also wait not for clapping of hands and shouts and praise to do thy duty; nay, do good of thine own accord, and thou wilt be loved like the Sun.”	stoicism
6,880	“Not just that every day more of our life is used up and less and less of it is left, but this too: if we live longer, can we be sure our mind will still be up to understanding the world—to the contemplation that aims at divine and human knowledge? If our mind starts to wander, we'll still go on breathing, go on eating, imagining things, feeling urges and so on. But getting the most of ourselves, calculating where our duty lies, analyzing what we hear and see, deciding whether it's time to call it quits—all the things you need a healthy mind for... all those are gone.”	stoicism
6,905	“Nie należy się gniewać na bieg wypadków. Nic ich to bowiem nie obchodzi.”	stoicism
7,131	“Our education system would be betraying its master, capitalism, if it taught us to be content with what we have. Or if it told us about the fruits of practicing minimalism.”	stoicism
6,955	“You never know what will be the consequence of misfortune; or, you never know what will be the consequences of good fortune”	stoicism
7,425	“More active and commendable still is the person who is waiting for the daylight and intercepts the first rays of the sun; shame on him who lies in bed dozing when the sun is high in the sky, whose waking hours commence in the middle of the day.”	stoicism
7,353	“If you work at that which is before you, following right reason seriously, vigorously, calmly, without allowing anything else to distract you, but keeping your divine part pure, as if you should be bound to give it back immediately; if you hold to this, expecting nothing, fearing nothing, but satisfied with your present activity according to nature, and with heroic truth in every word and sound which you utter, you will live happy. And there is no-one who is able to prevent this.”	stoicism
6,898	“The Stoic approach is the lighthouse that guides us amidst the tempest, leading us to the land of dreams crafted in the forge of the unyielding present.”	stoicism
7,645	“There is, I assure you, a medical art for the soul. It is philosophy, whose aid need not be sought, as in bodily diseases, from outside ourselves. We must endeavor with all our resources and all our strength to become capable of doctoring ourselves.”	stoicism
7,030	“... we find a complete contradiction in our wishing to live without suffering, a contradiction that is therefore implied by the frequently used phrase “blessed life.” This will certainly be clear to the person who has fully grasped my discussion that follows. This contradiction is revealed in this ethic of pure reason itself by the fact that the Stoic is compelled to insert a recommendation of suicide in his guide to the blissful life (for this is what his ethics always remains). This is like the costly phial of poison to be found among the magnificent ornaments and apparel of oriental despots, and is for the case where the sufferings of the body, incapable of being philosophized away by any principles and syllogisms, are paramount and incurable. Thus its sole purpose, namely blessedness, is frustrated, and nothing remains as a means of escape from pain except death. But then death must be taken with unconcern, just as is any other medicine. Here a marked contrast is evident between the Stoic ethics and all those other ethical systems mentioned above. These ethical systems make virtue directly and in itself the aim and object, even with the most grievous sufferings, and will not allow a man to end his life in order to escape from suffering. But not one of them knew how to express the true reason for rejecting suicide, but they laboriously collected fictitious arguments of every kind. This true reason will appear in the fourth book in connexion with our discussion. But the above-mentioned contrast reveals and confirms just that essential difference to be found in the fundamental principle between the Stoa, really only a special form of eudaemonism, and the doctrines just mentioned, although both often agree in their results, and are apparently related. But the above-mentioned inner contradiction, with which the Stoic ethics is affected even in its fundamental idea, further shows itself in the fact that its ideal, the Stoic sage as represented by this ethical system, could never obtain life or inner poetical truth, but remains a wooden, stiff lay-figure with whom one can do nothing. He himself does not know where to go with his wisdom, and his perfect peace, contentment, and blessedness directly contradict the nature of mankind, and do not enable us to arrive at any perceptive representation thereof. Compared with him, how entirely different appear the overcomers of the world and voluntary penitents, who are revealed to us, and are actually produced, by the wisdom of India; how different even the Saviour of Christianity, that excellent form full of the depth of life, of the greatest poetical truth and highest significance, who stands before us with perfect virtue, holiness, and sublimity, yet in a state of supreme suffering.”	stoicism
7,284	“You can be invincible, if you enter into no contest in which it is not in your power to conquer.”	stoicism
7,218	“We all die having lived a full life, even those who die while they are being born.”	stoicism
7,669	“Fourteen years without a mother had me believe I could be stoic when I finally met her.”	stoicism
6,873	“For the military community, philosophy isn't something casually debated. But something that should be fully embodied in everyday thought and action, with the abandonment of all principles not shown practical in the most extreme of environments.”	stoicism
7,252	“The most fruitful breaks are often those we are or were forced to take by life.”	stoicism
6,993	“As for us, we face things that are not nearly as intimidating, and then we promptly decide we're screwed. This is how obstacles become obstacles. In other words, through our perception of events, we are complicit in the creation-as well as the destruction-of every one of our obstacles. There is no good or bad without us, there is only perception. There is the event itself and the story we tell ourselves about what it means.”	stoicism
7,601	“If you have assumed any character beyond your strength, you have both demeaned yourself ill in that and quitted one which you might have supported.”	stoicism
7,643	“The greatest obstacle to living is expectancy, which hangs upon tomorrow and loses today. You are arranging what is in Fortune's control and abandoning what lies in yours.”	stoicism
7,635	“When you give your items away, don’t keep the excess of your pride.”	stoicism
7,260	“Run down the list of those who felt intense anger at something: the most famous, the most unfortunate, the most hated, the most whatever: Where is all that now? Smoke, dust, legend…or not even a legend. Think of all the examples. And how trivial the things we want so passionately are. An emotional response is a human response, I get it. I too have succumbed to emotion, more often than I care to admit. But it is also a futile response. It isn’t an objectively beneficial response. This is central to Stoicism.”	stoicism
7,242	“Arrogance gives confidence … a bad name.”	stoicism
6,779	“Remember, it is not enough to be hit or insulted to be harmed, you must believe that you are being harmed. If someone succeeds in provoking you, realize that your mind is complicit in the provocation. Which is why it is essential that we not respond impulsively to impressions; take a moment before reacting, and you will find it easier to maintain control.”	stoicism
7,174	“No one is too old to live another day, or too young to die today.”	stoicism
7,665	“Quamquam scripsit artem rhetorieam Cleanthes, Chrysippus etiam, sed sic, ut si quis obmutescere concupierit, nihil aliud legere debeat.”	stoicism
7,071	“We suffer more in imagination than in reality.”	stoicism
7,000	“Will you never come to a realisation of who you are, what you have been born for and the purpose for which the gift of vision was made in our case?”	stoicism
7,500	“We ought not, therefore, to give over our hearts for good to any one part of the world. We should live with the conviction: 'I wasn‟t born for one particular corner: the whole world‟s my home country.”	stoicism
6,835	“The stoics divided philosophy into three branches: logic, physics, and ethics. Logic covered not only the rules of correct argumentation, but also grammar, linguistics, rhetorical theory, epistemology, and all the tools that might be needed to discover the truth of any matter. Physics was concerned with the nature of the world and the laws that govern it, and so included ontology and theology as well as what we would recognize as physics, astronomy, and cosmology. Ethics was concerned with how to achieve happiness, or how to live a fulfilled and flourishing life as a human being. A stoic sage was supposed to be fully expert in all three aspects.”	stoicism
6,881	“Conceal a flaw, and the world will imagine the worst.”	stoicism
6,782	“Feeling too much is a hell of a lot better than feeling nothing.”	stoicism
7,162	“Hunger is by far the best spice.”	stoicism
7,269	“The media’s goal is to literally challenge your ability to be still. A tough American, intent on improving upon their current self, is not tricked into an emotional reaction by these headlines. You do not write an angry tweet, you do not hurl an insult. You are cool and measured, and skeptical. You are curious what the agenda of the journalist might be and what facts or context they might be leaving out. You seek out a different story on the same topic from an opposing view, and you find out that many of the claims made in the original story were convincingly debunked. And just like that, you are a Zen master of stillness and Stoicism.”	stoicism
7,367	“Meditation can make an hour feel slightly longer … than a sneeze.”	stoicism
7,003	“We need to set our affections on some good man and keep him constantly before our eyes, so that we may live as if he were watching us and do everything as if he saw what we were doing.”	stoicism
7,371	“People often give us a piece of their mind with the intention to take away our peace of mind.”	stoicism
7,083	“Avoid talking often and excessively about your accomplishments and dangers, for however much you enjoy recounting your dangers, it's not so pleasant for others to hear about your affairs.”	stoicism
7,335	“Seeing that our birth involves the blending of these two things—the body, on the one hand, that we share with animals, and, on the other hand, rationality and intelligence, that we share with the gods—most of us incline to this former relationship, wretched and dead though it is, while only a few to the one that is divine and blessed.”	stoicism
6,781	“The things you think about determine the quality of your mind.”	stoicism
6,978	“Me? I'm a Stoic. Every time my eyes are opened, I am eager to see the world anew.”	stoicism
6,783	“Why should we place Christ at the top and summit of the human race? Was he kinder, more forgiving, more self-sacrificing than Buddha ? Was he wiser, did he meet death with more perfect calmness, than Socrates ? Was he more patient, more charitable, than Epictetus ? Was he a greater philosopher, a deeper thinker, than Epicurus ? In what respect was he the superior of Zoroaster ? Was he gentler than Lao-tsze , more universal than Confucius ? Were his ideas of human rights and duties superior to those of Zeno ? Did he express grander truths than Cicero ? Was his mind subtler than Spinoza ’s? Was his brain equal to Kepler ’s or Newton ’s? Was he grander in death – a sublimer martyr than Bruno ? Was he in intelligence, in the force and beauty of expression, in breadth and scope of thought, in wealth of illustration, in aptness of comparison, in knowledge of the human brain and heart, of all passions, hopes and fears, the equal of Shakespeare , the greatest of the human race?”	stoicism
7,402	“For those who follow nature everything is easy and straightforward, whereas for those who fight against her life is just like rowing against the stream.”	stoicism
7,187	“We all too often invite a lie by asking someone how he or she is doing.”	stoicism
7,206	“We often mistake assuming or hoping for knowing.”	stoicism
7,146	“Some solutions are seeds of some problems.”	stoicism
6,789	“Regard [a friend] as loyal, and you will make him loyal.”	stoicism
7,356	“The vast majority of people make complaining seem to be a basic human need.”	stoicism
7,524	“We ought to be thankful not only for what we have but also for what we do not have.”	stoicism
7,504	“Finding peace of mind usually demands that we lose some things and some people.”	stoicism
6,839	“Il ne fait aucun doute pour moi que la sagesse est le but principal de la vie et c'est pourquoi je reviens toujours aux stoïciens. Ils ont atteint la sagesse, on ne peut donc plus les appeler des philosophes au sens propre du terme. De mon point de vue, la sagesse est le terme naturel de la philosophie, sa fin dans les deux sens du mot. Une philosophie finit en sagesse et par là même disparaît.”	stoicism
7,593	“[I]ndulge the body just so far as suffices for good health. It needs to be treated somewhat strictly to prevent it from being disobedient to the spirit. Your food should appease your hunger, your drink quench your thirst, your clothing keep out the cold, your house be a protection against inclement weather.”	stoicism
6,980	“You are scared of dying - and, tell me, is the kind of life you lead really any different from being dead?”	stoicism
6,870	“Nothing great is produced suddenly, since not even the grape or the fig is. If you say to me now that you want a fig, I will answer to you that it requires time: let it flower first, then put forth fruit, and then ripen. Is then the fruit of a fig-tree not perfected suddenly and in one hour, and would you possess the fruit of a man's mind in so short a time and so easily? Do not expect it, even if I tell you.”	stoicism
7,467	“It takes patience to nurture patience.”	stoicism
6,901	“Beware the folly of lending your focus to vain pursuits. Just as a river, when it is split into countless rivulets, loses its force and becomes but a whimper, a mind divided by trivial pursuits dissipates its strength. Focus, therefore, is not merely concentration, it is selection; not merely observation, it is dedication.”	stoicism
7,392	“Life is 99 percent attitude. Yet for the majority of people, it is the remaining one percent that dominates 99 percent of their life.”	stoicism
7,150	“Funerals greatly exaggerate the pleasantness of being alive, while they prevent us from thinking about the advantages of being dead.”	stoicism
6,901	“Beware the folly of lending your focus to vain pursuits. Just as a river, when it is split into countless rivulets, loses its force and becomes but a whimper, a mind divided by trivial pursuits dissipates its strength. Focus, therefore, is not merely concentration, it is selection; not merely observation, it is dedication.”	stoicism
6,789	“Regard [a friend] as loyal, and you will make him loyal.”	stoicism
7,675	“He is the kind of person I should expect to rescue one from a mad dog at any risk but then insist on a stoical indifference to the fright afterward." Jefferson Davis's future wife describing him at first meeting.”	stoicism
7,305	“Admitting that their child is, or can be, more educated than them is the closest most parents are willing to get to admitting that their child is, or can be, smarter or wiser than them.”	stoicism
6,996	“Which of us does not admire what Lycurgus the Spartan did? A young citizen had put out his eye, and been handed over to him by the people to be punished at his own discretion. Lycurgus abstained from all vengeance, but on the contrary instructed and made a good man of him. Producing him in public in the theatre, he said to the astonished Spartans: "I received this young man at your hands full of violence and wanton insolence; I restore him to you in his right mind and fit to serve his country.”	stoicism
6,923	“To be like the rock that the waves keep crashing over. It stands unmoved and the raging of the sea falls still around it. It's unfortunate that this has happened. No. It's fortunate that this has happened and I've remained unharmed by it - not shattered by the present or frightened of the future. It could have happened to anyone. But not everyone could have remained unharmed by it. Why treat the one as a misfortune rather than the other as fortunate? Can you really call something a misfortune that doesn't violate human nature? Or do you think something that's not against nature's will can violate it? But you know what its will is. Does what's happened keep you from acting with justice, generosity, self-control, sanity, prudence, honesty, humility, straightforwardness, and all the other qualities that allow a person's nature to fulfil itself? So remember this principle when something threatens to cause you pain: the thing itself was no misfortune at all; to endure it and prevail is great good fortune.”	stoicism
7,574	“Within, the only place where it is created, is the very last place most pursuers of happiness are likely to go.”	stoicism
7,511	“The pursuit of happiness is one of the most common symptoms of intellectual immaturity.”	stoicism
7,238	“A long life is a curse if you have a short temper.”	stoicism
7,591	“We might never rid ourselves of a lingering anxiety regarding our death; this is a kind of tax we pay in return for self-awareness.”	stoicism
7,640	“What fortune has made yours is not your own.”	stoicism
7,174	“No one is too old to live another day, or too young to die today.”	stoicism
6,971	“Be careful to leave your sons well instructed rather than rich, for the hopes of the instructed are better than the wealth of the ignorant.” ~ Epictetus”	stoicism
6,807	“I have always swung back and forth between alienation and relatedness. As a child, I would run away from the beatings, from the obscene words, and always knew that if I could run far enough, then any leaf, any insect, any bird, any breeze could bring me to my true home. I knew I did not belong among people. Whatever they hated about me was a human thing; the nonhuman world has always loved me. I can't remember when it was otherwise. But I have been emotionally crippled by this. There is nothing romantic about being young and angry, or even about turning that anger into art. I go through the motions of living in society, but never feel a part of it. When my family threw me away, every human on earth did likewise.”	stoicism
7,541	“As things are, there is about wisdom a nobility and magnificence in the fact that she didn't just fall to a person's lot, that each man owes her to his own efforts, that one doesn't go to anyone other than oneself to find her.”	stoicism
6,957	“Associate with those who will make a better of man. Welcome those whom yourself can improve. Men learn while they teach.”	stoicism
6,826	“Whatever happens, happens such as you are either formed by nature able to bear it, or not able to bear it. If such as you are by nature form’d able to bear, bear it and fret not: But if such as you are not naturally able to bear, don’t fret; for when it has consum’d you, itself will perish. Remember, however, you are by nature form’d able to bear whatever it is in the power of your own opinion to make supportable or tolerable, according as you conceive it advantageous, or your duty, to do so.”	stoicism
6,789	“Regard [a friend] as loyal, and you will make him loyal.”	stoicism
7,042	“Most people usually talk faster than they think.”	stoicism
6,888	“Above all, avoid falsehood, every kind of falsehood, especially falseness to yourself. Watch over your own deceitfulness and look into it every hour, every minute. Avoid being scornful, both to others and to yourself. What seems to you bad within you will grow purer from the very fact of your observing it in yourself. Avoid fear, too, though fear is only the consequence of every sort of falsehood. Never be frightened at your own faint-heartedness in attaining love.”	stoicism
7,352	“The wise willingly accept the unwillingness of the foolish to accept what is as part of what is.”	stoicism
7,285	“A truth whispered is not less truthful. And an untruth shouted is not less untruthful.”	stoicism
6,990	“Success is not a stamp of approval given by others.”	stoicism
7,295	“When you are alone, you should call this tranquility and freedom and when you are with many you shouldn’t call this a crowd, or trouble or uneasiness but festival and company and contentedly accept it.”	stoicism
7,284	“You can be invincible, if you enter into no contest in which it is not in your power to conquer.”	stoicism
7,497	“The man, though, whom you should admire and imitate is the one who finds it a joy to live and in spite of that is not reluctant to die.”	stoicism
7,510	“Each man has a character of his own choosing; it is chance or fate that decides his choice of job.”	stoicism
7,105	“Ideally, a Stoic will be oblivious to the services he does for others, as oblivious as a grapevine is when it yields a cluster of grapes to a vintner. He will not pause to boast about the service he has performed but will move on to perform his next service, the way the grape vine moves on to bear more grapes.”	stoicism
7,467	“It takes patience to nurture patience.”	stoicism
6,824	“Common man's patience will bring him more happiness than common man's power.”	stoicism
7,269	“The media’s goal is to literally challenge your ability to be still. A tough American, intent on improving upon their current self, is not tricked into an emotional reaction by these headlines. You do not write an angry tweet, you do not hurl an insult. You are cool and measured, and skeptical. You are curious what the agenda of the journalist might be and what facts or context they might be leaving out. You seek out a different story on the same topic from an opposing view, and you find out that many of the claims made in the original story were convincingly debunked. And just like that, you are a Zen master of stillness and Stoicism.”	stoicism
7,669	“Fourteen years without a mother had me believe I could be stoic when I finally met her.”	stoicism
7,657	“She (the First Lady, entering the room with her gravely wounded husband) would admit fear but not despair.”	stoicism
7,535	“[W]hat cause can there be for complaint, after all, in anything that was always bound to come to an end fading gradually away? What is troubling about that? [...] Moving to one's end through nature's own gentle process of dissolution - is there a better way of leaving life than that? Not because there is anything wrong with a sudden, violent departure, but because this gradual withdrawal is an easy route.”	stoicism
7,305	“Admitting that their child is, or can be, more educated than them is the closest most parents are willing to get to admitting that their child is, or can be, smarter or wiser than them.”	stoicism
6,931	“The Iliad consists of nothing more than impressions and the use of impressions. An impression prompted Paris to carry off the wife of Menelaus, and an impression prompted Helen to go with him. If an impression, then, had prompted Menelaus to feel that it was a gain to be deprived of such a wife, what would have come about? Not only the Iliad would have been lost, but the Odyssey too!”	stoicism

6,792

“Think of your many years of procrastination; how the gods have repeatedly granted you further periods of grace, of which you have taken no advantage. It is time now to realise the nature of the universe to which you belong, and of that controlling Power whose offspring you are; and to understand that your time has a limit set to it. Use it, then, to advance your enlightenment; or it will be gone, and never in your power again.”

stoicism

7,182

“Happiness is sweet; its pursuit, bitter.”

stoicism

6,799

“I hear my silence talked of in every lane; The suppression of a cry is itself a cry of pain.”

stoicism

7,576

“Not having expected an event makes it seem way better or worse than it really is.”

stoicism

6,877

“Nothing happens to any creature beyond it’s own natural endurance.”

stoicism

7,136

“It is foolish to expect a fool to act wisely.”

stoicism

7,050

“Many millions of people secretly feel caged by employment, marriage, and/or parenthood.”

stoicism

6,897

“Distractions are the relentless waves of the ocean, crashing against the shores of our consciousness. They erode our resolve, and little by little, wash away the sandcastles of our focus. They arrive in various guises: the allure of trivial pleasures, the lure of the inconsequential, the din of idle gossip, the chains of past regret and the ghostly shadows of future anxieties. Each wave seeks to pull us into the depths of irrelevance, away from the firm ground of meaningful pursuits.”

stoicism

6,998

“Even as the Sun doth not wait for prayers and incantations to rise, but shines forth and is welcomed by all: so thou also wait not for clapping of hands and shouts and praise to do thy duty; nay, do good of thine own accord, and thou wilt be loved like the Sun.”

stoicism

6,880

“Not just that every day more of our life is used up and less and less of it is left, but this too: if we live longer, can we be sure our mind will still be up to understanding the world—to the contemplation that aims at divine and human knowledge? If our mind starts to wander, we'll still go on breathing, go on eating, imagining things, feeling urges and so on. But getting the most of ourselves, calculating where our duty lies, analyzing what we hear and see, deciding whether it's time to call it quits—all the things you need a healthy mind for... all those are gone.”

stoicism

6,905

“Nie należy się gniewać na bieg wypadków. Nic ich to bowiem nie obchodzi.”

stoicism

7,131

“Our education system would be betraying its master, capitalism, if it taught us to be content with what we have. Or if it told us about the fruits of practicing minimalism.”

stoicism

6,955

“You never know what will be the consequence of misfortune; or, you never know what will be the consequences of good fortune”

stoicism

7,425

“More active and commendable still is the person who is waiting for the daylight and intercepts the first rays of the sun; shame on him who lies in bed dozing when the sun is high in the sky, whose waking hours commence in the middle of the day.”

stoicism

7,353

“If you work at that which is before you, following right reason seriously, vigorously, calmly, without allowing anything else to distract you, but keeping your divine part pure, as if you should be bound to give it back immediately; if you hold to this, expecting nothing, fearing nothing, but satisfied with your present activity according to nature, and with heroic truth in every word and sound which you utter, you will live happy. And there is no-one who is able to prevent this.”

stoicism

6,898

“The Stoic approach is the lighthouse that guides us amidst the tempest, leading us to the land of dreams crafted in the forge of the unyielding present.”

stoicism

7,645

“There is, I assure you, a medical art for the soul. It is philosophy, whose aid need not be sought, as in bodily diseases, from outside ourselves. We must endeavor with all our resources and all our strength to become capable of doctoring ourselves.”

stoicism

7,030

“... we find a complete contradiction in our wishing to live without suffering, a contradiction that is therefore implied by the frequently used phrase “blessed life.” This will certainly be clear to the person who has fully grasped my discussion that follows. This contradiction is revealed in this ethic of pure reason itself by the fact that the Stoic is compelled to insert a recommendation of suicide in his guide to the blissful life (for this is what his ethics always remains). This is like the costly phial of poison to be found among the magnificent ornaments and apparel of oriental despots, and is for the case where the sufferings of the body, incapable of being philosophized away by any principles and syllogisms, are paramount and incurable. Thus its sole purpose, namely blessedness, is frustrated, and nothing remains as a means of escape from pain except death. But then death must be taken with unconcern, just as is any other medicine. Here a marked contrast is evident between the Stoic ethics and all those other ethical systems mentioned above. These ethical systems make virtue directly and in itself the aim and object, even with the most grievous sufferings, and will not allow a man to end his life in order to escape from suffering. But not one of them knew how to express the true reason for rejecting suicide, but they laboriously collected fictitious arguments of every kind. This true reason will appear in the fourth book in connexion with our discussion. But the above-mentioned contrast reveals and confirms just that essential difference to be found in the fundamental principle between the Stoa, really only a special form of eudaemonism, and the doctrines just mentioned, although both often agree in their results, and are apparently related. But the above-mentioned inner contradiction, with which the Stoic ethics is affected even in its fundamental idea, further shows itself in the fact that its ideal, the Stoic sage as represented by this ethical system, could never obtain life or inner poetical truth, but remains a wooden, stiff lay-figure with whom one can do nothing. He himself does not know where to go with his wisdom, and his perfect peace, contentment, and blessedness directly contradict the nature of mankind, and do not enable us to arrive at any perceptive representation thereof. Compared with him, how entirely different appear the overcomers of the world and voluntary penitents, who are revealed to us, and are actually produced, by the wisdom of India; how different even the Saviour of Christianity, that excellent form full of the depth of life, of the greatest poetical truth and highest significance, who stands before us with perfect virtue, holiness, and sublimity, yet in a state of supreme suffering.”

stoicism

7,284

“You can be invincible, if you enter into no contest in which it is not in your power to conquer.”

stoicism

7,218

“We all die having lived a full life, even those who die while they are being born.”

stoicism

7,669

“Fourteen years without a mother had me believe I could be stoic when I finally met her.”

stoicism

6,873

“For the military community, philosophy isn't something casually debated. But something that should be fully embodied in everyday thought and action, with the abandonment of all principles not shown practical in the most extreme of environments.”

stoicism

7,252

“The most fruitful breaks are often those we are or were forced to take by life.”

stoicism

6,993

“As for us, we face things that are not nearly as intimidating, and then we promptly decide we're screwed. This is how obstacles become obstacles. In other words, through our perception of events, we are complicit in the creation-as well as the destruction-of every one of our obstacles. There is no good or bad without us, there is only perception. There is the event itself and the story we tell ourselves about what it means.”

stoicism

7,601

“If you have assumed any character beyond your strength, you have both demeaned yourself ill in that and quitted one which you might have supported.”

stoicism

7,643

“The greatest obstacle to living is expectancy, which hangs upon tomorrow and loses today. You are arranging what is in Fortune's control and abandoning what lies in yours.”

stoicism

7,635

“When you give your items away, don’t keep the excess of your pride.”

stoicism

7,260

“Run down the list of those who felt intense anger at something: the most famous, the most unfortunate, the most hated, the most whatever: Where is all that now? Smoke, dust, legend…or not even a legend. Think of all the examples. And how trivial the things we want so passionately are. An emotional response is a human response, I get it. I too have succumbed to emotion, more often than I care to admit. But it is also a futile response. It isn’t an objectively beneficial response. This is central to Stoicism.”

stoicism

7,242

“Arrogance gives confidence … a bad name.”

stoicism

6,779

“Remember, it is not enough to be hit or insulted to be harmed, you must believe that you are being harmed. If someone succeeds in provoking you, realize that your mind is complicit in the provocation. Which is why it is essential that we not respond impulsively to impressions; take a moment before reacting, and you will find it easier to maintain control.”

stoicism

7,174

“No one is too old to live another day, or too young to die today.”

stoicism

7,665

“Quamquam scripsit artem rhetorieam Cleanthes, Chrysippus etiam, sed sic, ut si quis obmutescere concupierit, nihil aliud legere debeat.”

stoicism

7,071

“We suffer more in imagination than in reality.”

stoicism

7,000

“Will you never come to a realisation of who you are, what you have been born for and the purpose for which the gift of vision was made in our case?”

stoicism

7,500

“We ought not, therefore, to give over our hearts for good to any one part of the world. We should live with the conviction: 'I wasn‟t born for one particular corner: the whole world‟s my home country.”

stoicism

6,835

“The stoics divided philosophy into three branches: logic, physics, and ethics. Logic covered not only the rules of correct argumentation, but also grammar, linguistics, rhetorical theory, epistemology, and all the tools that might be needed to discover the truth of any matter. Physics was concerned with the nature of the world and the laws that govern it, and so included ontology and theology as well as what we would recognize as physics, astronomy, and cosmology. Ethics was concerned with how to achieve happiness, or how to live a fulfilled and flourishing life as a human being. A stoic sage was supposed to be fully expert in all three aspects.”

stoicism

6,881

“Conceal a flaw, and the world will imagine the worst.”

stoicism

6,782

“Feeling too much is a hell of a lot better than feeling nothing.”

stoicism

7,162

“Hunger is by far the best spice.”

stoicism

7,269

“The media’s goal is to literally challenge your ability to be still. A tough American, intent on improving upon their current self, is not tricked into an emotional reaction by these headlines. You do not write an angry tweet, you do not hurl an insult. You are cool and measured, and skeptical. You are curious what the agenda of the journalist might be and what facts or context they might be leaving out. You seek out a different story on the same topic from an opposing view, and you find out that many of the claims made in the original story were convincingly debunked. And just like that, you are a Zen master of stillness and Stoicism.”

stoicism

7,367

“Meditation can make an hour feel slightly longer … than a sneeze.”

stoicism

7,003

“We need to set our affections on some good man and keep him constantly before our eyes, so that we may live as if he were watching us and do everything as if he saw what we were doing.”

stoicism

7,371

“People often give us a piece of their mind with the intention to take away our peace of mind.”

stoicism

7,083

“Avoid talking often and excessively about your accomplishments and dangers, for however much you enjoy recounting your dangers, it's not so pleasant for others to hear about your affairs.”

stoicism

7,335

“Seeing that our birth involves the blending of these two things—the body, on the one hand, that we share with animals, and, on the other hand, rationality and intelligence, that we share with the gods—most of us incline to this former relationship, wretched and dead though it is, while only a few to the one that is divine and blessed.”

stoicism

6,781

“The things you think about determine the quality of your mind.”

stoicism

6,978

“Me? I'm a Stoic. Every time my eyes are opened, I am eager to see the world anew.”

stoicism

6,783

“Why should we place Christ at the top and summit of the human race? Was he kinder, more forgiving, more self-sacrificing than Buddha ? Was he wiser, did he meet death with more perfect calmness, than Socrates ? Was he more patient, more charitable, than Epictetus ? Was he a greater philosopher, a deeper thinker, than Epicurus ? In what respect was he the superior of Zoroaster ? Was he gentler than Lao-tsze , more universal than Confucius ? Were his ideas of human rights and duties superior to those of Zeno ? Did he express grander truths than Cicero ? Was his mind subtler than Spinoza ’s? Was his brain equal to Kepler ’s or Newton ’s? Was he grander in death – a sublimer martyr than Bruno ? Was he in intelligence, in the force and beauty of expression, in breadth and scope of thought, in wealth of illustration, in aptness of comparison, in knowledge of the human brain and heart, of all passions, hopes and fears, the equal of Shakespeare , the greatest of the human race?”

stoicism

7,402

“For those who follow nature everything is easy and straightforward, whereas for those who fight against her life is just like rowing against the stream.”

stoicism

7,187

“We all too often invite a lie by asking someone how he or she is doing.”

stoicism

7,206

“We often mistake assuming or hoping for knowing.”

stoicism

7,146

“Some solutions are seeds of some problems.”

stoicism

6,789

“Regard [a friend] as loyal, and you will make him loyal.”

stoicism

7,356

“The vast majority of people make complaining seem to be a basic human need.”

stoicism

7,524

“We ought to be thankful not only for what we have but also for what we do not have.”

stoicism

7,504

“Finding peace of mind usually demands that we lose some things and some people.”

stoicism

6,839

“Il ne fait aucun doute pour moi que la sagesse est le but principal de la vie et c'est pourquoi je reviens toujours aux stoïciens. Ils ont atteint la sagesse, on ne peut donc plus les appeler des philosophes au sens propre du terme. De mon point de vue, la sagesse est le terme naturel de la philosophie, sa fin dans les deux sens du mot. Une philosophie finit en sagesse et par là même disparaît.”

stoicism

7,593

“[I]ndulge the body just so far as suffices for good health. It needs to be treated somewhat strictly to prevent it from being disobedient to the spirit. Your food should appease your hunger, your drink quench your thirst, your clothing keep out the cold, your house be a protection against inclement weather.”

stoicism

6,980

“You are scared of dying - and, tell me, is the kind of life you lead really any different from being dead?”

stoicism

6,870

“Nothing great is produced suddenly, since not even the grape or the fig is. If you say to me now that you want a fig, I will answer to you that it requires time: let it flower first, then put forth fruit, and then ripen. Is then the fruit of a fig-tree not perfected suddenly and in one hour, and would you possess the fruit of a man's mind in so short a time and so easily? Do not expect it, even if I tell you.”

stoicism

7,467

“It takes patience to nurture patience.”

stoicism

6,901

“Beware the folly of lending your focus to vain pursuits. Just as a river, when it is split into countless rivulets, loses its force and becomes but a whimper, a mind divided by trivial pursuits dissipates its strength. Focus, therefore, is not merely concentration, it is selection; not merely observation, it is dedication.”

stoicism

7,392

“Life is 99 percent attitude. Yet for the majority of people, it is the remaining one percent that dominates 99 percent of their life.”

stoicism

7,150

“Funerals greatly exaggerate the pleasantness of being alive, while they prevent us from thinking about the advantages of being dead.”

stoicism

6,901

“Beware the folly of lending your focus to vain pursuits. Just as a river, when it is split into countless rivulets, loses its force and becomes but a whimper, a mind divided by trivial pursuits dissipates its strength. Focus, therefore, is not merely concentration, it is selection; not merely observation, it is dedication.”

stoicism

6,789

“Regard [a friend] as loyal, and you will make him loyal.”

stoicism

7,675

“He is the kind of person I should expect to rescue one from a mad dog at any risk but then insist on a stoical indifference to the fright afterward." Jefferson Davis's future wife describing him at first meeting.”

stoicism

7,305

“Admitting that their child is, or can be, more educated than them is the closest most parents are willing to get to admitting that their child is, or can be, smarter or wiser than them.”

stoicism

6,996

“Which of us does not admire what Lycurgus the Spartan did? A young citizen had put out his eye, and been handed over to him by the people to be punished at his own discretion. Lycurgus abstained from all vengeance, but on the contrary instructed and made a good man of him. Producing him in public in the theatre, he said to the astonished Spartans: "I received this young man at your hands full of violence and wanton insolence; I restore him to you in his right mind and fit to serve his country.”

stoicism

6,923

“To be like the rock that the waves keep crashing over. It stands unmoved and the raging of the sea falls still around it. It's unfortunate that this has happened. No. It's fortunate that this has happened and I've remained unharmed by it - not shattered by the present or frightened of the future. It could have happened to anyone. But not everyone could have remained unharmed by it. Why treat the one as a misfortune rather than the other as fortunate? Can you really call something a misfortune that doesn't violate human nature? Or do you think something that's not against nature's will can violate it? But you know what its will is. Does what's happened keep you from acting with justice, generosity, self-control, sanity, prudence, honesty, humility, straightforwardness, and all the other qualities that allow a person's nature to fulfil itself? So remember this principle when something threatens to cause you pain: the thing itself was no misfortune at all; to endure it and prevail is great good fortune.”

stoicism

7,574

“Within, the only place where it is created, is the very last place most pursuers of happiness are likely to go.”

stoicism

7,511

“The pursuit of happiness is one of the most common symptoms of intellectual immaturity.”

stoicism

7,238

“A long life is a curse if you have a short temper.”

stoicism

7,591

“We might never rid ourselves of a lingering anxiety regarding our death; this is a kind of tax we pay in return for self-awareness.”

stoicism

7,640

“What fortune has made yours is not your own.”

stoicism

7,174

“No one is too old to live another day, or too young to die today.”

stoicism

6,971

“Be careful to leave your sons well instructed rather than rich, for the hopes of the instructed are better than the wealth of the ignorant.” ~ Epictetus”

stoicism

6,807

“I have always swung back and forth between alienation and relatedness. As a child, I would run away from the beatings, from the obscene words, and always knew that if I could run far enough, then any leaf, any insect, any bird, any breeze could bring me to my true home. I knew I did not belong among people. Whatever they hated about me was a human thing; the nonhuman world has always loved me. I can't remember when it was otherwise. But I have been emotionally crippled by this. There is nothing romantic about being young and angry, or even about turning that anger into art. I go through the motions of living in society, but never feel a part of it. When my family threw me away, every human on earth did likewise.”

stoicism

7,541

“As things are, there is about wisdom a nobility and magnificence in the fact that she didn't just fall to a person's lot, that each man owes her to his own efforts, that one doesn't go to anyone other than oneself to find her.”

stoicism

6,957

“Associate with those who will make a better of man. Welcome those whom yourself can improve. Men learn while they teach.”

stoicism

6,826

“Whatever happens, happens such as you are either formed by nature able to bear it, or not able to bear it. If such as you are by nature form’d able to bear, bear it and fret not: But if such as you are not naturally able to bear, don’t fret; for when it has consum’d you, itself will perish. Remember, however, you are by nature form’d able to bear whatever it is in the power of your own opinion to make supportable or tolerable, according as you conceive it advantageous, or your duty, to do so.”

stoicism

6,789

“Regard [a friend] as loyal, and you will make him loyal.”

stoicism

7,042

“Most people usually talk faster than they think.”

stoicism

6,888

“Above all, avoid falsehood, every kind of falsehood, especially falseness to yourself. Watch over your own deceitfulness and look into it every hour, every minute. Avoid being scornful, both to others and to yourself. What seems to you bad within you will grow purer from the very fact of your observing it in yourself. Avoid fear, too, though fear is only the consequence of every sort of falsehood. Never be frightened at your own faint-heartedness in attaining love.”

stoicism

7,352

“The wise willingly accept the unwillingness of the foolish to accept what is as part of what is.”

stoicism

7,285

“A truth whispered is not less truthful. And an untruth shouted is not less untruthful.”

stoicism

6,990

“Success is not a stamp of approval given by others.”

stoicism

7,295

“When you are alone, you should call this tranquility and freedom and when you are with many you shouldn’t call this a crowd, or trouble or uneasiness but festival and company and contentedly accept it.”

stoicism

7,284

“You can be invincible, if you enter into no contest in which it is not in your power to conquer.”

stoicism

7,497

“The man, though, whom you should admire and imitate is the one who finds it a joy to live and in spite of that is not reluctant to die.”

stoicism

7,510

“Each man has a character of his own choosing; it is chance or fate that decides his choice of job.”

stoicism

7,105

“Ideally, a Stoic will be oblivious to the services he does for others, as oblivious as a grapevine is when it yields a cluster of grapes to a vintner. He will not pause to boast about the service he has performed but will move on to perform his next service, the way the grape vine moves on to bear more grapes.”

stoicism

7,467

“It takes patience to nurture patience.”

stoicism

6,824

“Common man's patience will bring him more happiness than common man's power.”

stoicism

7,269

“The media’s goal is to literally challenge your ability to be still. A tough American, intent on improving upon their current self, is not tricked into an emotional reaction by these headlines. You do not write an angry tweet, you do not hurl an insult. You are cool and measured, and skeptical. You are curious what the agenda of the journalist might be and what facts or context they might be leaving out. You seek out a different story on the same topic from an opposing view, and you find out that many of the claims made in the original story were convincingly debunked. And just like that, you are a Zen master of stillness and Stoicism.”

stoicism

7,669

“Fourteen years without a mother had me believe I could be stoic when I finally met her.”

stoicism

7,657

“She (the First Lady, entering the room with her gravely wounded husband) would admit fear but not despair.”

stoicism

7,535

“[W]hat cause can there be for complaint, after all, in anything that was always bound to come to an end fading gradually away? What is troubling about that? [...] Moving to one's end through nature's own gentle process of dissolution - is there a better way of leaving life than that? Not because there is anything wrong with a sudden, violent departure, but because this gradual withdrawal is an easy route.”

stoicism

7,305

“Admitting that their child is, or can be, more educated than them is the closest most parents are willing to get to admitting that their child is, or can be, smarter or wiser than them.”

stoicism

6,931

“The Iliad consists of nothing more than impressions and the use of impressions. An impression prompted Paris to carry off the wife of Menelaus, and an impression prompted Helen to go with him. If an impression, then, had prompted Menelaus to feel that it was a gain to be deprived of such a wife, what would have come about? Not only the Iliad would have been lost, but the Odyssey too!”

stoicism