Epictetus
What concerns me is not the way things are, but rather the way people think things are.
Fortify yourself with contentment, for this is an impregnable fortress.
No man is free who is not master of himself.
Only the educated are free.
First say to yourself what you would be , and then do what you have to do.
There is only one way to happiness, and that is to cease worrying things which are beyond the power of our will.
First say to yourself what you would be, and then do what you have to do.
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They made us many promises, more than I can remember, but they kept only one. They promised to take our land, and they did.
Love is a little haven of refuge from the world.
First say to yourself what you would be , and then do what you have to do.
Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism -- how passionately I hate them !
This is the first day, of the rest of your life.
The dedicated life is the life worth living. You must give with your whole heart.
I never had a policy, I have just tried to do my very best each and every day.
He who seeks rest finds boredom. He who seeks work finds rest.
You complete me.
The course of true love never did run smooth.
I think people should mate for life, like pigeons or catholics.
We come to beginnings only at the end.
The surest way not to fail is to determine to succeed.
You might well remember that nothing can bring you success but yourself.
When our actions do not, our fears make us traitors.
Make the second effort your second nature.
Knowledge is proud that she knows so much , Wisdom is humble that she knows no more.
The struggle of the mind to keep itself free from every sort of bondage -- to remain curious, open, unsatiated in all its relations with nature -- is tenfold more difficult than the cultivation of a stable, satisfying point of view, but a thousandfold more precious.
The person who tries to live alone will not succeed as a human being. His heart withers if it does not answer another heart. His mind shrinks away if he hears only the echoes of his own thoughts and finds no other inspiration.
I have been astonished that men could die martyrs for their religion. I have shuddered at it. I shudder no more. I could be martyr'd for my religion. Love is my religion. And I could die for that. I could die for you.
Badges ? We ain't got no badges ! We don't need no badges ! I don't have to show you any stinking badges !
To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.
Its obvious that we don't know one millionth of one percent about anything.
The sweetest joy, the wildest woe is love.
A life lived with integrity -- even if it lacks the trappings of fame and fortune is a shinning star in whose light others may follow in the years to come.
No act of kindness, no matter how small is ever wasted.
And let it spring from love, born out of concern for all beings.
Plan your progress carefully , hour-by hour, day-by-day, month-by-month. Organized activity and maintained enthusiasm are the wellsprings of your power. Planning for happiness is rarely successful. Happiness just happens.
Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived, stop thinking and go in.
This life is a hard fact, work your way through it boldly, though it may be adamantine, no matter, the soul is stronger. I have seen in life those who are overcautious about themselves fall into dangers at every step, those who are afraid of losing honor and respect, get only disgrace, and those who are always afraid of loss, always lose.
Joy is the feeling of grinning inside.
Bumper Sticker - Join the Army. See the world, travel to far away places, meet exotic people and kill them.
If you want to get the best out of a man, you must look for the best that is in him.
Love is a mutual self-giving which ends in self-recovery.
Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises.
The grand essentials of happiness are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.
Character may almost be called the most effective means of persuasion
Oh, love is real enough, you will find it someday, but it has one archenemy and that is life.
Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination, full of hope.
You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction overnight.
In order to grasp the reality, we must see the possibilities. In the present, a formulation of the possibilities is the area in which I gain uncertainty concerning what I decide, without a vision of the possibilities, I act blindly, only a knowledge of the possibilities enables me to know what I am actually doing.
You will never find time for anything. If you want time you must make it.
In order to succeed you must fail so that you know what not to do the next time.
If anything is worth trying at all, it's worth trying at least ten times.
You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm.
I think there is something, more important than believing : Action ! The world is full of dreamers, there aren't enough who will move ahead and begin to take concrete steps to actualize their vision.
Everything is created twice -- first mentally, then physically.
One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man. One man tells a lie, dozens repeat it as the truth.
Where's the rest of me ?
Follow your dreams.
To me, at least the way that I teach it, all types of knowledge ultimately means self-knowledge. So, therefore they're coming in and asking me to teach them not so much how to defend themselves or how to do somebody in. Rather, they want to learn to express themselves through some movement, be it anger, be it determination or whatever. So, in other words, they're paying me to show them, in combative form, the art of expressing the human body.
Laughter is the best medicine.
The road to success is lined with many tempting parking spaces.
It takes a great deal of character strength to apologize quickly out of one's heart rather than out of pity. A person must possess himself and have a deep sense of security in fundamental principles and values in order to genuinely apologize.
Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you.
The more credit you give away, the more will come back to you. The more you help others, the more they will want to help you.
A little more moderation would be good. Of course, my life hasn't exactly been one of moderation.
We must all suffer one of two things : the pain of discipline or the pain of regret or disappointment.
If I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
Believe it is possible to solve your problem. Tremendous things happen to the believer. So believe the answer will come. It will.
Never say anything about yourself you do not want to come true.
Love is never lost. If not reciprocated, it will flow back and soften and purify the heart.
Tolerance can lead to learning something.
I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream.
That'll do, pig. That'll do.
Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive.
Peace and friendship with all mankind is our wisest policy, and I wish we may be permitted to pursue it.
We are each of us angels with only one wing, and we can fly only by embracing each other.
Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight ?
He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes. He who does not ask a question remains a fool forever.
Formal education will make you a living, self education will make you a fortune.
When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.
The only guide to man is his conscience , the only shield to his memory is the rectitude and sincerity of his actions. It is very imprudent to walk through life without this shield, because we are so often mocked by the failure of our hopes and the upsetting of our calculations, but with this shield, however the fates may play, we march always in the ranks of honor.
Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it
If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything.
It took more than one man to change my name to Shanghai Lily.
Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.
I maintained my edge by always being a student, you will always have something new to learn.
The United States, and other advanced nations, will someday be able to produce instruments of death so terrible the world will be in abject terror of itself and its ability to end civilization... . Such war-making weapons should be developed - but only for purposes of discovery and experimentation
A man can succeed at almost anything for which he has unlimited enthusiasm.
Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit.
We can not always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.
Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality.
Tell me your friends, and I'll tell you who you are.
Nobody puts baby in a corner.
Try to be happy in this present moment, and put not off being so to a time to come, as though that time should be of another make from this which has already come and is ours.
What you cannot enforce, Do not command.
A generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion are the things which renew humanity.
The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time.
Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish. A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle.
You have not lived until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.
It is not what we take up, but what we give up, that makes us rich.
If you don't learn from your mistakes, there's no sense making them.
From every human being there rises a light that reaches straight to heaven, and when two souls that are destined to be together find each other, the streams of light flow together and a single brighter light goes forth from that united being.
In any situation, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing you can do is the wrong thing, the worst thing you can do is nothing.
The point is that you can't be too greedy.
To err is human. To really screw up, you need a computer.
At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet.
In the hopes of reaching the moon men fail to see the flowers that blossom at their feet.
The art of choosing men is not nearly so difficult as the art of enabling those one has chosen to attain their full worth.