Atharva31/Quotes_Collection · Datasets at Hugging Face

Unnamed: 0 int64 0 7.68k	quote stringlengths 1 3.91k	tags stringclasses 3 values
7,439	“The present is the same for everyone; its loss is the same for everyone; and it should be clear that a brief instant is all that is lost. For you can’t lose either the past or the future; how could you lose what you don’t have?”	stoicism
7,363	“Sleep is often a form of escapism.”	stoicism
6,928	“me dulcis saturet quies; obscuro positus loco leni perfruar otio, nullis nota Quiritibus aetas per tacitum fluat. sic cum transierint mei nullo cum strepitu dies. plebeius moriar senex. illi mors gravis incubat qui, notus nimis omnibus, ignotus moritur sibi.”	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
6,829	“It is impossible to lose everything and still be alive.”	stoicism
7,586	“Everything worthwhile in your life draws its meaning from the fact you will die.”	stoicism
7,088	“Some children’s lives begin before the end of their parents’ childhood.”	stoicism
7,647	“If you apply yourself to study you will avoid all boredom with life, you will not long for night because you are sick of daylight, you will be neither a burden to yourself nor useless to others, you will attract many to become your friends and the finest people will flock about you.”	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
7,175	“Only those who are stupid mind coming across as stupid.”	stoicism
7,433	“Let whatever appears to be the best be to you an inviolable law. And if any instance of pain or pleasure, glory or disgrace, be set before you, remember that now is the combat, now the Olympiad comes on, nor can it be put off; and that by one failure and defeat honor may be lost or—won.”	stoicism
6,878	“An open eye in the dark, will find light...”	stoicism
6,845	“It is better to be despised for simplicity than to suffer agonies from everlasting pretense.”	stoicism
7,311	“Don't just say you have read books. Show that through them you have learned to think better, to be a more discriminating and reflective person. Books are the training weights of the mind. They are very helpful, but it would be a bad mistake to suppose that one has made progress simply by having internalized their contents.”	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
6,886	“Forces beyond your control can take away everything you possess except one thing, your freedom to choose how you will respond to the situation. You cannot control what happens to you in life, but you can always control what you will feel and do about what happens to you.”	stoicism
7,637	“In Tsurani culture, forgiveness was simply a less shameful form of weakness than capitulation.”	stoicism
7,473	“She looks as if she were thinking of something beyond her punishment—beyond her situation: of something not round nor before her.”	stoicism
6,788	“Misfortune nobly born is good fortune.”	stoicism
7,201	“The vast majority of people are each a puppet that is forever pulled in this or that direction, or pushed into this or that action, by things such as public opinion and an emotion.”	stoicism
7,454	“Love me for my affection, love me even for my weakness; I am satisfied myself. I prefer my feelings to all the fine sentiments of Seneca or Epictetus.”	stoicism
7,509	“You cannot attain everlasting peace of mind unless you stop seeing your mind as yourself and start seeing yourself as your mind’s guardian.”	stoicism
7,119	“Most people want more than they have without having made the most of what they have.”	stoicism
6,952	“True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future.”	stoicism
6,882	“Stand up straight, not straightened The Gods give us everything, but not all at once.”	stoicism
6,952	“True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future.”	stoicism
7,250	“Asia and Europe are corners in the Universe; every sea, a drop in the Universe; Mount Athos, a clod of earth in the Universe; every instant of time, a pin-prick of eternity. All things are petty, easily changed, vanishing away. All things come from that other world, starting from that common governing principle, or else are secondary consequences of it.”	stoicism
6,915	“Life is short but life is long”	stoicism
7,600	“Each of us is impermanent wave of energy folded into the infinite cosmic order. Acknowledgement of the fundamental impermanence of ourselves unchains us from the strictures of living a terrestrial life stuck like a needle vacillating between the magnetic pull of endless desire and the terror of death. Once we achieve freedom from any craving and all desires and we are relieved of all titanic fears, we release ourselves from living in perpetual distress. Once we rid ourselves from any impulse to exist, we discover our true place in the universal order. The composition of our life filament is exactly right when we accept the notion of living and dying with equal stoicism.”	stoicism
7,397	“The most common act of violence is the relentless mental violence we perpetrate upon ourselves with nothing other than our thoughts.”	stoicism
6,882	“Stand up straight, not straightened The Gods give us everything, but not all at once.”	stoicism
7,532	“One man’s bad day is another man’s good night.”	stoicism
7,245	“Living is the outside of dying.”	stoicism
7,532	“One man’s bad day is another man’s good night.”	stoicism
7,072	“Don’t seek for everything to happen as you wish it would, but rather wish that everything happens as it actually will — then your life will flow well.”	stoicism
7,594	“Yes, as my swift days near their goal, 'Tis all that I implore - In life and death, a chainless soul, With courage to endure.”	stoicism
6,887	“If you come across any special trait of meanness or stupidity … you must be careful not to let it annoy or distress you, but to look upon it merely as an addition to your knowledge—a new fact to be considered in studying the character of humanity. Your attitude towards it will be that of the mineralogist who stumbles upon a very characteristic specimen of a mineral.”	stoicism
7,582	“The willing are led by fate, the reluctant are dragged.”	stoicism
6,930	“He is a slave.'' But shall that stand in his way? Show me a man who is not a slave; one is a slave to lust, another to greed, another to ambition, and all men are slaves to fear.”	stoicism
7,170	“You can wear an expensive watch and still be late.”	stoicism
6,967	“[A] man ought to be prepared in a manner for this also, to be able to be sufficient for himself and to be his own companion. [...] [S]o ought we also to be able to talk with ourselves, not to feel the want of others also, not to be unprovided with the means of passing our time; to observe the divine administration and the relation of ourselves to everything else; to consider how we formerly were affected toward things that happen and how at present; what are still the things which give us pain; how these also can be cured and how removed; if any things require improvement, to improve them according to reason.”	stoicism
7,029	“Man, if you are anything, both walk alone and talk to yourself, and do not hide yourself in the chorus. Examine a little at last, look around, stir yourself up, that you may know who you are.”	stoicism
7,429	“Zeno is our friend but truth is an even greater friend.”	stoicism
7,521	“We need not reply or even listen to people who are talking about—not to—us.”	stoicism
6,816	“The first and most important field of philosophy is the application of principles such as “Do not lie.” Next come the proofs, such as why we should not lie. The third field supports and articulates the proofs, by asking, for example, “How does this prove it? What exactly is a proof, what is logical inference, what is contradiction, what is truth, what is falsehood?” Thus, the third field is necessary because of the second, and the second because of the first. The most important, though, the one that should occupy most of our time, is the first. But we do just the opposite. We are preoccupied with the third field and give that all our attention, passing the first by altogether. The result is that we lie – but have no difficulty proving why we shouldn’t.”	stoicism
7,168	“We gain the highest degree of freedom when we lose the desire to live, and gain the second highest degree when we lose the desire to live as long as we possibly can.”	stoicism
7,479	“Most people will leave you with the impression that the main function of our emotions is to cloud our judgement.”	stoicism
7,328	“At the crisis of my fever, I besought Hollingsworth to let nobody else enter the room, but continually to make me sensible of his own presence… then he should be the witness how courageously I would encounter the worst. It still impresses me almost a matter of regret, that I did not die then, when I had tolerably made up my mind to do it”	stoicism
6,847	“Forever seeking, forever moving forward. To strive, to struggle.”	stoicism
6,893	“The world might rage around, yet within the Stoic’s mind, a tranquil sea prevails. The Stoic remains anchored, not carried away by the torrents of distraction, but rather cultivating a steadfast presence in each fleeting moment. In this ever-passing instant, the Stoic exercises his virtue, sharpens his wisdom, and wields his actions.”	stoicism
6,844	“To the wise, peace of mind is the result of being fine with how things are; to the foolish, the result of things being fine.”	stoicism
7,640	“What fortune has made yours is not your own.”	stoicism
6,906	“Pursuing similar results for dissimilar people will make fools of kings and kings of fools.”	stoicism
7,371	“People often give us a piece of their mind with the intention to take away our peace of mind.”	stoicism
7,169	“The triviality of a question does not make a profound answer an impossibility.”	stoicism
7,606	“In conformity with this spirit and aim of the Stoa, Epictetus begins with it and constantly returns to it as the kernel of his philosophy, that we should bear in mind and distinguish what depends on us and what does not, and thus should not count on the latter at all. In this way we shall certainly remain free from all pain, suffering, and anxiety. Now what depends on us is the will alone, and here there gradually takes place a transition to a doctrine of virtue, since it is noticed that, as the external world that is independent of us determines good and bad fortune, so inner satisfaction or dissatisfaction with ourselves proceeds from the will. But later it was asked whether we should attribute the names bonum et malum to the two former or to the two latter. This was really arbitrary and a matter of choice, and made no difference. But yet the Stoics argued incessantly about this with the Peripatetics and Epicureans, and amused themselves with the inadmissible comparison of two wholly incommensurable quantities and with the contrary and paradoxical judgements arising therefrom, which they cast on one another. An interesting collection of these is afforded us from the Stoic side by the Paradoxa of Cicero." —from_The World as Will and Representation_. Translated from the German by E. F. J. Paye in two volumes: volume I, pp. 88-89”	stoicism
7,274	“Growth is often the cause or the result of pain.”	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
7,342	“Silence is often the wisest reply.”	stoicism
6,907	“One will never be able to control all things that concern an endeavor, but the magic is in riding the wave.”	stoicism
6,819	“For death remembered should be like a mirror, Who tells us life’s but breath, to trust it error.”	stoicism
7,540	“A blind man’s thoughts almost never have anything to do with the things he is facing.”	stoicism
7,388	“When someone wrongs you, ask yourself: What made him do it? Once you understand his concept of good and evil, you'll feel sorry for him and cease to either be amazed or angry. If his concept is similar to yours, then you will be bound to forgive him since you would have acted as he did in similar circumstances. But if you do not share his ideas of good and evil, then you should find it even easier to overlook the wrongs of someone who is confused and in a moral muddle".”	stoicism
7,394	“We sometimes learn, not from something, but from not having learned from it.”	stoicism
7,631	“Emilio was certainly within his rights not to reveal the sordid details of his childhood even to his friends. Or perhaps especially to his friends, whose good opinion of him, he might feel, would not survive the revelations.”	stoicism
7,023	“Where is the harm or surprise in the ignorant behaving as the ignorant do?”	stoicism
7,399	“That you are about to bury or have just buried your loved one does not make you and your loved ones immortal for a while.”	stoicism
7,479	“Most people will leave you with the impression that the main function of our emotions is to cloud our judgement.”	stoicism
7,618	“Oh, dear me!" he lamented. "The raft has floated off and I suppose it's gone down that awful hole by now." "Well, never mind. We're not on it," said Snufkin gaily. "What's a kettle here or there when you're out looking for a comet!”	stoicism
7,646	“Sometimes in life we must fight not only without fear, but also without hope.”	stoicism
7,332	“Zu den herrlichsten Schätzen, die durch die Bemühungen anderer aus der Finsternis ans Licht gezogen sind, werden wir geführt; kein Zeitalter ist uns verschlossen, zu allen haben wir Zutritt [...] Die Zusammenfassung aller Zeiten macht ihm [/ihr] das Leben lang.”	stoicism
7,526	“The happiest people are not those who have the most, but those who are the most grateful for what they have.”	stoicism
7,195	“Disappointment is an unwanted—but invited—guest.”	stoicism
7,316	“Some people deny the existence of God in order to give themselves credit for their successes. Some accept His existence in order to deny responsibility for their failures.”	stoicism
7,071	“We suffer more in imagination than in reality.”	stoicism
7,350	“We prefer our way into things such as regret, unhappiness, and anxiety.”	stoicism
7,118	“Intelligent people question everything. Stupid people answer every question.”	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
6,818	“40. The gods either have power or they have not. If they have not, why pray to them? If they have, then instead of praying to be granted or spared such-and-such a thing, why not rather pray to be delivered from dreading it, or lusting for it, or grieving over it? Clearly, if they can help a man at all, they can help him in this way. You will say, perhaps, ‘But all that is something they have put in my own power.’ Then surely it were better to use your power and be a free man, than to hanker like a slave and a beggar for something that is not in your power. Besides, who told you the gods never lend their aid even towards things that do lie in our own power? Begin praying in this way, and you will see. Where another man prays ‘Grant that I may possess this woman,’ let your own prayer be, ‘Grant that I may not lust to possess her.’ Where he prays, ‘Grant me to be rid of such-and-such a one,’ you pray, ‘Take from me my desire to be rid of him.’ Where he begs, ‘Spare me the loss of my precious child,’ beg rather to be delivered from the terror of losing him. In short, give your petitions a turn in this direction, and see what comes.”	stoicism
6,843	“For in this Case, 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.”	stoicism
7,473	“She looks as if she were thinking of something beyond her punishment—beyond her situation: of something not round nor before her.”	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
7,125	“He who has more money or possessions than you is not necessarily happier than you, happy more often than you, or happy like you.”	stoicism
7,351	“Some people who have been sentenced for life for crimes they did not commit are usually blissful, whereas many people who can go to any part of planet earth are usually miserable.”	stoicism
7,371	“People often give us a piece of their mind with the intention to take away our peace of mind.”	stoicism
7,029	“Man, if you are anything, both walk alone and talk to yourself, and do not hide yourself in the chorus. Examine a little at last, look around, stir yourself up, that you may know who you are.”	stoicism
7,407	“[W]e can have the things we need for our ordinary purposes if we will only be content with what the earth has made available on its surface.”	stoicism
7,512	“It is a rare blessing to see things, and to accept people, as they are.”	stoicism
7,064	“Hatred is as powerful an intoxicant as love.”	stoicism
7,410	“[A] man is wealthy if he has attuned himself to his restricted means and has made himself rich on little.”	stoicism
7,561	“[M]aking noble resolutions is not as important as keeping the resolutions you have made already. (Letter XVI)”	stoicism
7,082	“The more we value things outside our control, the less control we have.”	stoicism
7,381	“It takes, not cowardice, but courage to kill yourself.”	stoicism
7,607	“Perhaps struggle is all we have because the god of history is an atheist, and nothing about his world is meant to be. So you must wake up every morning knowing that no promise is unbreakable, least of all the promises of waking up at all. This is not despair. These are the preferences of universe itself: verbs over nouns, actions over states, struggle over hope.”	stoicism
7,578	“Når det kommer til stykket, er jeg ikke sikker på om De har moralsk rett til å blande dem i saken. Dessuten tror jeg fremdeles ikke det er noen fare på ferde. Etter min mening er det absurd å gå fra konseptene fordi om noen mennesker har fått lyst til å skifte ham. Det får bli deres egen sak. Det står enhver fritt for.”	stoicism
6,951	“The only way to know what lies ahead is by continuing onward.”	stoicism
7,455	“The older you are, and the faster you walk, the crazier you look.”	stoicism
7,597	“You should, I need hardly say, live in such a way that there is nothing which you could not as easily tell your enemy as keep to yourself.”	stoicism
7,133	“Sometimes the only thing you can do is accept the fact that there is nothing you can do.”	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

7,439

“The present is the same for everyone; its loss is the same for everyone; and it should be clear that a brief instant is all that is lost. For you can’t lose either the past or the future; how could you lose what you don’t have?”

stoicism

7,363

“Sleep is often a form of escapism.”

stoicism

6,928

“me dulcis saturet quies; obscuro positus loco leni perfruar otio, nullis nota Quiritibus aetas per tacitum fluat. sic cum transierint mei nullo cum strepitu dies. plebeius moriar senex. illi mors gravis incubat qui, notus nimis omnibus, ignotus moritur sibi.”

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

6,829

“It is impossible to lose everything and still be alive.”

stoicism

7,586

“Everything worthwhile in your life draws its meaning from the fact you will die.”

stoicism

7,088

“Some children’s lives begin before the end of their parents’ childhood.”

stoicism

7,647

“If you apply yourself to study you will avoid all boredom with life, you will not long for night because you are sick of daylight, you will be neither a burden to yourself nor useless to others, you will attract many to become your friends and the finest people will flock about you.”

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

7,175

“Only those who are stupid mind coming across as stupid.”

stoicism

7,433

“Let whatever appears to be the best be to you an inviolable law. And if any instance of pain or pleasure, glory or disgrace, be set before you, remember that now is the combat, now the Olympiad comes on, nor can it be put off; and that by one failure and defeat honor may be lost or—won.”

stoicism

6,878

“An open eye in the dark, will find light...”

stoicism

6,845

“It is better to be despised for simplicity than to suffer agonies from everlasting pretense.”

stoicism

7,311

“Don't just say you have read books. Show that through them you have learned to think better, to be a more discriminating and reflective person. Books are the training weights of the mind. They are very helpful, but it would be a bad mistake to suppose that one has made progress simply by having internalized their contents.”

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

6,886

“Forces beyond your control can take away everything you possess except one thing, your freedom to choose how you will respond to the situation. You cannot control what happens to you in life, but you can always control what you will feel and do about what happens to you.”

stoicism

7,637

“In Tsurani culture, forgiveness was simply a less shameful form of weakness than capitulation.”

stoicism

7,473

“She looks as if she were thinking of something beyond her punishment—beyond her situation: of something not round nor before her.”

stoicism

6,788

“Misfortune nobly born is good fortune.”

stoicism

7,201

“The vast majority of people are each a puppet that is forever pulled in this or that direction, or pushed into this or that action, by things such as public opinion and an emotion.”

stoicism

7,454

“Love me for my affection, love me even for my weakness; I am satisfied myself. I prefer my feelings to all the fine sentiments of Seneca or Epictetus.”

stoicism

7,509

“You cannot attain everlasting peace of mind unless you stop seeing your mind as yourself and start seeing yourself as your mind’s guardian.”

stoicism

7,119

“Most people want more than they have without having made the most of what they have.”

stoicism

6,952

“True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future.”

stoicism

6,882

“Stand up straight, not straightened The Gods give us everything, but not all at once.”

stoicism

6,952

“True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future.”

stoicism

7,250

“Asia and Europe are corners in the Universe; every sea, a drop in the Universe; Mount Athos, a clod of earth in the Universe; every instant of time, a pin-prick of eternity. All things are petty, easily changed, vanishing away. All things come from that other world, starting from that common governing principle, or else are secondary consequences of it.”

stoicism

6,915

“Life is short but life is long”

stoicism

7,600

“Each of us is impermanent wave of energy folded into the infinite cosmic order. Acknowledgement of the fundamental impermanence of ourselves unchains us from the strictures of living a terrestrial life stuck like a needle vacillating between the magnetic pull of endless desire and the terror of death. Once we achieve freedom from any craving and all desires and we are relieved of all titanic fears, we release ourselves from living in perpetual distress. Once we rid ourselves from any impulse to exist, we discover our true place in the universal order. The composition of our life filament is exactly right when we accept the notion of living and dying with equal stoicism.”

stoicism

7,397

“The most common act of violence is the relentless mental violence we perpetrate upon ourselves with nothing other than our thoughts.”

stoicism

6,882

“Stand up straight, not straightened The Gods give us everything, but not all at once.”

stoicism

7,532

“One man’s bad day is another man’s good night.”

stoicism

7,245

“Living is the outside of dying.”

stoicism

7,532

“One man’s bad day is another man’s good night.”

stoicism

7,072

“Don’t seek for everything to happen as you wish it would, but rather wish that everything happens as it actually will — then your life will flow well.”

stoicism

7,594

“Yes, as my swift days near their goal, 'Tis all that I implore - In life and death, a chainless soul, With courage to endure.”

stoicism

6,887

“If you come across any special trait of meanness or stupidity … you must be careful not to let it annoy or distress you, but to look upon it merely as an addition to your knowledge—a new fact to be considered in studying the character of humanity. Your attitude towards it will be that of the mineralogist who stumbles upon a very characteristic specimen of a mineral.”

stoicism

7,582

“The willing are led by fate, the reluctant are dragged.”

stoicism

6,930

“He is a slave.'' But shall that stand in his way? Show me a man who is not a slave; one is a slave to lust, another to greed, another to ambition, and all men are slaves to fear.”

stoicism

7,170

“You can wear an expensive watch and still be late.”

stoicism

6,967

“[A] man ought to be prepared in a manner for this also, to be able to be sufficient for himself and to be his own companion. [...] [S]o ought we also to be able to talk with ourselves, not to feel the want of others also, not to be unprovided with the means of passing our time; to observe the divine administration and the relation of ourselves to everything else; to consider how we formerly were affected toward things that happen and how at present; what are still the things which give us pain; how these also can be cured and how removed; if any things require improvement, to improve them according to reason.”

stoicism

7,029

“Man, if you are anything, both walk alone and talk to yourself, and do not hide yourself in the chorus. Examine a little at last, look around, stir yourself up, that you may know who you are.”

stoicism

7,429

“Zeno is our friend but truth is an even greater friend.”

stoicism

7,521

“We need not reply or even listen to people who are talking about—not to—us.”

stoicism

6,816

“The first and most important field of philosophy is the application of principles such as “Do not lie.” Next come the proofs, such as why we should not lie. The third field supports and articulates the proofs, by asking, for example, “How does this prove it? What exactly is a proof, what is logical inference, what is contradiction, what is truth, what is falsehood?” Thus, the third field is necessary because of the second, and the second because of the first. The most important, though, the one that should occupy most of our time, is the first. But we do just the opposite. We are preoccupied with the third field and give that all our attention, passing the first by altogether. The result is that we lie – but have no difficulty proving why we shouldn’t.”

stoicism

7,168

“We gain the highest degree of freedom when we lose the desire to live, and gain the second highest degree when we lose the desire to live as long as we possibly can.”

stoicism

7,479

“Most people will leave you with the impression that the main function of our emotions is to cloud our judgement.”

stoicism

7,328

“At the crisis of my fever, I besought Hollingsworth to let nobody else enter the room, but continually to make me sensible of his own presence… then he should be the witness how courageously I would encounter the worst. It still impresses me almost a matter of regret, that I did not die then, when I had tolerably made up my mind to do it”

stoicism

6,847

“Forever seeking, forever moving forward. To strive, to struggle.”

stoicism

6,893

“The world might rage around, yet within the Stoic’s mind, a tranquil sea prevails. The Stoic remains anchored, not carried away by the torrents of distraction, but rather cultivating a steadfast presence in each fleeting moment. In this ever-passing instant, the Stoic exercises his virtue, sharpens his wisdom, and wields his actions.”

stoicism

6,844

“To the wise, peace of mind is the result of being fine with how things are; to the foolish, the result of things being fine.”

stoicism

7,640

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

stoicism

6,906

“Pursuing similar results for dissimilar people will make fools of kings and kings of fools.”

stoicism

7,371

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

stoicism

7,169

“The triviality of a question does not make a profound answer an impossibility.”

stoicism

7,606

“In conformity with this spirit and aim of the Stoa, Epictetus begins with it and constantly returns to it as the kernel of his philosophy, that we should bear in mind and distinguish what depends on us and what does not, and thus should not count on the latter at all. In this way we shall certainly remain free from all pain, suffering, and anxiety. Now what depends on us is the will alone, and here there gradually takes place a transition to a doctrine of virtue, since it is noticed that, as the external world that is independent of us determines good and bad fortune, so inner satisfaction or dissatisfaction with ourselves proceeds from the will. But later it was asked whether we should attribute the names *bonum et malum* to the two former or to the two latter. This was really arbitrary and a matter of choice, and made no difference. But yet the Stoics argued incessantly about this with the Peripatetics and Epicureans, and amused themselves with the inadmissible comparison of two wholly incommensurable quantities and with the contrary and paradoxical judgements arising therefrom, which they cast on one another. An interesting collection of these is afforded us from the Stoic side by the *Paradoxa* of Cicero." —from_The World as Will and Representation_. Translated from the German by E. F. J. Paye in two volumes: volume I, pp. 88-89”

stoicism

7,274

“Growth is often the cause or the result of pain.”

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

7,342

“Silence is often the wisest reply.”

stoicism

6,907

“One will never be able to control all things that concern an endeavor, but the magic is in riding the wave.”

stoicism

6,819

“For death remembered should be like a mirror, Who tells us life’s but breath, to trust it error.”

stoicism

7,540

“A blind man’s thoughts almost never have anything to do with the things he is facing.”

stoicism

7,388

“When someone wrongs you, ask yourself: What made him do it? Once you understand his concept of good and evil, you'll feel sorry for him and cease to either be amazed or angry. If his concept is similar to yours, then you will be bound to forgive him since you would have acted as he did in similar circumstances. But if you do not share his ideas of good and evil, then you should find it even easier to overlook the wrongs of someone who is confused and in a moral muddle".”

stoicism

7,394

“We sometimes learn, not from something, but from not having learned from it.”

stoicism

7,631

“Emilio was certainly within his rights not to reveal the sordid details of his childhood even to his friends. Or perhaps especially to his friends, whose good opinion of him, he might feel, would not survive the revelations.”

stoicism

7,023

“Where is the harm or surprise in the ignorant behaving as the ignorant do?”

stoicism

7,399

“That you are about to bury or have just buried your loved one does not make you and your loved ones immortal for a while.”

stoicism

7,479

“Most people will leave you with the impression that the main function of our emotions is to cloud our judgement.”

stoicism

7,618

“Oh, dear me!" he lamented. "The raft has floated off and I suppose it's gone down that awful hole by now." "Well, never mind. We're not on it," said Snufkin gaily. "What's a kettle here or there when you're out looking for a comet!”

stoicism

7,646

“Sometimes in life we must fight not only without fear, but also without hope.”

stoicism

7,332

“Zu den herrlichsten Schätzen, die durch die Bemühungen anderer aus der Finsternis ans Licht gezogen sind, werden wir geführt; kein Zeitalter ist uns verschlossen, zu allen haben wir Zutritt [...] Die Zusammenfassung aller Zeiten macht ihm [/ihr] das Leben lang.”

stoicism

7,526

“The happiest people are not those who have the most, but those who are the most grateful for what they have.”

stoicism

7,195

“Disappointment is an unwanted—but invited—guest.”

stoicism

7,316

“Some people deny the existence of God in order to give themselves credit for their successes. Some accept His existence in order to deny responsibility for their failures.”

stoicism

7,071

“We suffer more in imagination than in reality.”

stoicism

7,350

“We prefer our way into things such as regret, unhappiness, and anxiety.”

stoicism

7,118

“Intelligent people question everything. Stupid people answer every question.”

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

6,818

“40. The gods either have power or they have not. If they have not, why pray to them? If they have, then instead of praying to be granted or spared such-and-such a thing, why not rather pray to be delivered from dreading it, or lusting for it, or grieving over it? Clearly, if they can help a man at all, they can help him in this way. You will say, perhaps, ‘But all that is something they have put in my own power.’ Then surely it were better to use your power and be a free man, than to hanker like a slave and a beggar for something that is not in your power. Besides, who told you the gods never lend their aid even towards things that do lie in our own power? Begin praying in this way, and you will see. Where another man prays ‘Grant that I may possess this woman,’ let your own prayer be, ‘Grant that I may not lust to possess her.’ Where he prays, ‘Grant me to be rid of such-and-such a one,’ you pray, ‘Take from me my desire to be rid of him.’ Where he begs, ‘Spare me the loss of my precious child,’ beg rather to be delivered from the terror of losing him. In short, give your petitions a turn in this direction, and see what comes.”

stoicism

6,843

“For in this Case, 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.”

stoicism

7,473

“She looks as if she were thinking of something beyond her punishment—beyond her situation: of something not round nor before her.”

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

7,125

“He who has more money or possessions than you is not necessarily happier than you, happy more often than you, or happy like you.”

stoicism

7,351

“Some people who have been sentenced for life for crimes they did not commit are usually blissful, whereas many people who can go to any part of planet earth are usually miserable.”

stoicism

7,371

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

stoicism

7,029

“Man, if you are anything, both walk alone and talk to yourself, and do not hide yourself in the chorus. Examine a little at last, look around, stir yourself up, that you may know who you are.”

stoicism

7,407

“[W]e can have the things we need for our ordinary purposes if we will only be content with what the earth has made available on its surface.”

stoicism

7,512

“It is a rare blessing to see things, and to accept people, as they are.”

stoicism

7,064

“Hatred is as powerful an intoxicant as love.”

stoicism

7,410

“[A] man is wealthy if he has attuned himself to his restricted means and has made himself rich on little.”

stoicism

7,561

“[M]aking noble resolutions is not as important as keeping the resolutions you have made already. (Letter XVI)”

stoicism

7,082

“The more we value things outside our control, the less control we have.”

stoicism

7,381

“It takes, not cowardice, but courage to kill yourself.”

stoicism

7,607

“Perhaps struggle is all we have because the god of history is an atheist, and nothing about his world is meant to be. So you must wake up every morning knowing that no promise is unbreakable, least of all the promises of waking up at all. This is not despair. These are the preferences of universe itself: verbs over nouns, actions over states, struggle over hope.”

stoicism

7,578

“Når det kommer til stykket, er jeg ikke sikker på om De har moralsk rett til å blande dem i saken. Dessuten tror jeg fremdeles ikke det er noen fare på ferde. Etter min mening er det absurd å gå fra konseptene fordi om noen mennesker har fått lyst til å skifte ham. Det får bli deres egen sak. Det står enhver fritt for.”

stoicism

6,951

“The only way to know what lies ahead is by continuing onward.”

stoicism

7,455

“The older you are, and the faster you walk, the crazier you look.”

stoicism

7,597

“You should, I need hardly say, live in such a way that there is nothing which you could not as easily tell your enemy as keep to yourself.”

stoicism

7,133

“Sometimes the only thing you can do is accept the fact that there is nothing you can do.”

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