#stoicism

You know yourself what you are worth in your own eyes; and at what price you will sell yourself. For men sell themselves at various prices. This is why, when Florus was deliberating whether he should appear at Nero's shows, taking part in the performance himself, Agrippinus replied, 'Appear by all means.' And when Florus inquired, 'But why do not you appear?' he answered, 'Because I do not even consider the question.' For the man who has once stooped to consider such questions, and to reckon up the value of external things, is not far from forgetting what manner of man he is. ↗

— Epictetus

#integrity #path #stoicism #men

It is the power of the mind to be unconquerable. ↗

— Lucius Annaeus Seneca

#dissociation #mind #stoicism #transcendence #zen

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. ↗

— Wendy Rose

#alienation #changelings #humans #me #relatedness

If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment. ↗

— Marcus Aurelius

#distress #mind-over-body #pain #stoicism #attitude

He liked the English and their peculiarities. He liked their stoicism under pressure; on the wall in his factory he kept a copy of a war poster emblazoned with the Crown of King George and underneath the words “Keep Calm and Carry On. ↗

— Natasha Solomons

#stoicism #dreams

There will never come a time when I will be able to resist my emotions. ↗

— Louise Erdrich

#stoicism #love

How do you defeat terrorism? Don’t be terrorized. ↗

— Salman Rushdie

#stoicism #terrorism #terrorism

Always resignation and acceptance. Always prudence and honour and duty. Elinor, where is your heart? ↗

— Jane Austen

#duty

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

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