Discourses, Fragments, Handbook (Oxford World's Classics)

Why don’t you reflect, then, that for man the source of all evils, and of his meanness of spirit and cowardice, is not death itself, but rather the fear of death? It is to confront this that you must train yourself, [39] and it is towards that end that all your reasonings, all your studies, and all your readings should be directed, and then you’ll

For as soon as you subordinate what is truly your own to external things, you must be a slave ever afterwards, and don’t allow yourself to be drawn in different directions, so that you’re willing to act the slave at one moment and unwilling to do so at the next, [13] but choose unequivocally and wholeheartedly to be either the one thing or the othe

Some things are within our power, while others are not. Within our power are opinion, motivation, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever is of our own doing; not within our power are our body, our property, reputation, office, and, in a word, whatever is not of our own doing. 2. The things that are within our power are by nature free, and immun

‘our end lies in following the gods, and the essence of the good in the correct use of impressions’?

it requires a good deal of practice in listening if one is to listen to philosophers.

You must begin, then, by purifying your own ruling centre, and adopting this as your plan in life: [20] ‘From this time forth, the material that I must work upon is my own mind, just as that of a carpenter is wood, and that of a cobbler is leather; for my work lies in making right use of my impressions. [21] This poor body of mine is nothing to me,

Things follow the same course in the present case too. You haven’t been invited to somebody’s dinner party? Of course not, because you haven’t paid the host the price at which he sells the dinner; he sells it for praise, he sells it for attention. Very well, then, pay him the price for which it is sold, if it is in your interest. But if you want to

Let not sleep descend on your weary eyes Before having reviewed every action of the day. [3] Where did I go wrong? What did I do? What duty leave undone? Starting here, review your actions, and afterwards, Blame yourself for what is badly done, and rejoice in the good

since habit is a powerful force that leads us where it will, when we’ve become accustomed to exercising our desires and aversions in relation to these external things alone, we must set a contrary habit in opposition to that habit, and when impressions are most inclined to make us slip, there we must apply our training as a counteracting force.