"Ifit be a thing external that causes..." - Quote by Marcus Aurelius
Ifit be a thing external that causes thy grief, know, that it is not that properly that doth cause it, but thine own conceit and opinion concerning the thing: which thou mayest ridthyself of, when thou wilt.
More by Marcus Aurelius
“People find pressure in different ways. I find it in keeping my mind clear. In not turning away from people or the things that happen to them. In accepting and welcoming everything I see. In treating each thing as it deserves.”
“Adorn thyself with simplicity and with indifference towards the things which lie between virtue and vice. Love mankind. Follow God. The poet says that Law rules all. And it is enough toremember that law rules all.”
“Men are born for each other's sake, so either teach people or endure them”
More on Perception
“The human mind may perceive truth only through thinking, as is clear from Augustine.”
“While we are actually subjected to them, the 'moods' and 'spirits' of nature point no morals. Overwhelming gaiety, insupportable grandeur, sombre desolation are flung at you. Make what you can of them, if you must make at all. The only imperative that nature utters is, 'Look. Listen. Attend.”
“The healthy eye ought to see all visible things and not to say, I wish for green things; for this is the condition of a diseased eye.”
More on Control
“Deliberate violence is more to be quenched than a fire”
“The three most powerful and most apparent means used by Rome to retain her power over the minds of her votaries are Ignorance, Superstition, and Persecution.”
“I thought that my invincible power would hold the world captive, leaving me in a freedom undisturbed. Thus night and day I worked at the chain with huge fires and cruel hard strokes. When at last the work was done and the links were complete and unbreakable, I found that it held me in its grip.”