Head-dibs

“Whatever anyone does or says, I must be good; just as if the emerald were always saying this: ‘Whatever anyone does or says, I must still be emerald, and keep my color.’” (Marcus Aurelius) The story is told of Abraham Lincoln asking the question, “If you were to count a dog’s tail as another leg, how many legs would a dog have?” The answer, of course, is “five.” However, Lincoln disagreed, pointing out that the dog only has four legs despite what one calls or counts the tail. There are two observances to be made of this. The first relates to duty. When God created all things, He declared all things to be good with one exception. It was not good that man should be alone, so He created a help-meet, woman, and gave her to the man. The first man and woman had one duty: to do good by filling the earth and subduing it as God’s vice-regent. The first man and first woman disobeyed God and all mankind in kind has fallen after them, yet duty remains the same. The edict has never changed. Man’s...

Looking up the history of the meaning of a word is more important to me than searching for a definition for a couple of reasons. First, the general rule of thumb in serving a definition is that a word is never to be explained by itself. Consider Marriam-Webster's definition of the verb form of "fortune": "to give good or bad fortune to" and "to endow with a fortune." Nothing learned except to find another dictionary. Second, by considering etymology, one returns to the source of a word and there we find the core of a word. "Fortune," in this case means, "that which is brought." Think now on what this means: a wealthy man may be considered "fortunate" if one considers fortune to be money, property or all the good things in life. Does this mean the unhealthy are not fortunate? One philosopher observed that to want nothing is to own everything.  One of the greatest philosophical debates of all time is found in Shakespeare...

"It was for the best. Nature had to do it."  (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 4.9)

"Don't waste the rest of your time here worrying about other people--unless it affects the common good. It will keep you from doing anything useful. You'll be too preoccupied with what so-and-so is doing and why, and what they're saying and what they're thinking, and what they're up to and all the other things that throw you off and keep you from focusing on your own mind." (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 3.4)

"Some things nature is indifferent to; if it privileged one over the other it would hardly have created both. And if we want to follow nature, to be of one mind with it, we need to share its indifference. To privilege pleasure over pain—life over death, fame over anonymity—is clearly blasphemous. Nature certainly doesn’t." (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations , 9.1d)

"Things cannot touch the soul. They have no access to the soul. The cannot produce our judgments. They are outside of us. They themselves know nothing and by themselves they affirm nothing." (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 4:3,10; 5:19; 6:52; 9:15, Hadot translation)

" . . . the straightforward and good person should be like a smelly goat--you know when they are in the room with you."  (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations  11.15)

“Yes, getting your wish would have been so nice. But isn’t that exactly why pleasure trips us up? Instead, see if these things might be even nicer—a great soul, freedom, honesty, kindness, saintliness. For there is nothing so pleasing as wisdom itself when you consider how sure-footed and effortless the works of understanding and knowledge are.”   (MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 5.9)

"One way to read The Odyssey is that it’s a story of human perseverance. Odysseus is cunning and determined, he’s willing to do everything and anything to get back to Ithaca...and eventually, because of that, he finally does. That’s certainly the interpretation of Tennyson in his poem 'Ulysses ': 'We are not now that strength which in old days Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are; One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.' But there is also a way to read The Odyssey as illustrating the exact opposite lesson. Because basically every delay and impediment on Odysseus’s long journey home is completely his fault. He says he wants to get back to Ithaca, and then proceeds to constantly undermine himself. It’s only towards the end when he finally stops and actually listens to the gods (most of whom favor him) that he quickly makes any real progress. In f...

“It is essential for you to remember that the attention you give to any action should be in due proportion to its worth, for then you won’t tire and give up if you aren’t busying yourself with lesser things beyond what should be allowed.” (Marcus Aurelius)

"Wherever a person can live there one can also live well; life is also in the demands of the court, there too one can live well." (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 5.16)

"It's the pursuit of these things and your attempts to avoid them that leave you in such turmoil. And yet they aren't seeking you out; you are the one seeking them. Suspend judgment about them. And at once they will lie still and you will be freed from fleeing and pursuing." (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 11.11)

“Observation and perception are two different things. The observing eye is stronger. The perceiving eye is weaker.” (Miyamoto Musashi, 1584-1645)

“It’s a wonder I haven’t abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart...I see the world being slowly transformed into a wilderness, I hear the approaching thunder that, one day, will destroy us too, I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too shall end, that peace and tranquility will return once more. In the meantime, I must hold on to my ideals.” (Anne Frank) “Just that you do the right thing. The rest doesn't matter. Cold or warm. Tired or well-rested. Despised or honored. Dying...or busy with other assignments.” (Marcus Aurelius)

 . . . stop digging." "How much more harmful are the consequences of anger and grief than the circumstances that aroused them in us." (Marcus Aurelius, 11.18.8)

"If you find something very difficult to achieve yourself, don't imagine it impossible--for anything possible and proper for another person can be achieved as easily by you." (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 6.19) There are two kinds of people: the first says "Why them and why not me?" and the second says, "If that can do it, why can't I?" 

"It's normal to feel pain in your hands and feet if you're using your feet as feet and hands as hands. And for a human being to feel stress is normal--if he's living a normal human life. And if it's normal, how can it be bad?" (Marcus Aurelius, 6.32)