#stoic

Life is such unutterable hell, solely because it is sometimes beautiful. If we could only be miserable all the time, if there could be no such things as love or beauty or faith or hope, if I could be absolutely certain that my love would never be returned: how much more simple life would be. One could plod through the Siberian salt mines of existence without being bothered about happiness. ↗

— T.H. White

#dichotomy #happiness #pain #stoicism #beauty

The scene was not a happy one yet we looked upon it in the cold stoical spirit of a soldier; a slight chilling pang and then a return soul and body to the enemy before us. ↗

— Knute Nelson

#body #chilling #cold #enemy #happy

Submission, when it is submission to the truth — and when the truth is known to be both beautiful and merciful — has nothing in common with fatalism or stoicism as these terms are understood in the Western tradition, because its motivation is different. According to Fakhr ad-Din ar-RazT, one of the great commentators upon the Quran: The worship of the eyes is weeping, the worship of the ears is listening, the worship of the tongue is praise, the worship of the hands is giving, the worship of the body is effort, the worship of the heart is fear and hope, and the worship of the spirit is surrender and satisfaction in Allah. ↗

— Fakhr ad-Din ar-Razi

#fatalism #islam #quran #stoicism #worship

I don't worry. I'm more stoical. Of course I have insecurities. I fear getting older. I fear death and illness. I'm not prone to depression, but I get depressed because everybody gets depressed. Suddenly I'm away from my family or doing a job I'm not enjoying. ↗

— David Thewlis

#because #course #death #depressed #depression

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. ↗

— Emil Cioran

#stoicism #wisdom #life

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

— Nora Roberts

#passion #stoicism #empathy

Everyone praises the endurance of the ascetic, but no one appreciates the stamina of the hedonist. To laugh until the throat burns and smoke a cigar to soothe it, to black out but not pass out, to love without climax, to be immortal in the moment – what stoic has such fortitude? ↗

— Bauvard

#hedonism #humor #pleasure #stoicism #funny

The stoical scheme of supplying our wants by lopping off our desires, is like cutting off our feet when we want shoes. ↗

— Jonathan Swift

#desires #feet #like #off #our

Complaining does not work as a strategy. We all have finite time and energy. Any time we spend whining is unlikely to help us achieve our goals. And it won't make us happier. ↗

— Randy Pausch

#stoicism #goals

...it is more civilized to make fun of life than to bewail it. ↗

— Lucius Annaeus Seneca

#hardship #inspirational #life #stoic #stoicismism