There are only a few who control themselves and their affairs by a guiding purpose; the rest do not proceed; they are merely swept along, like objects afloat in a river.
The most important knowledge
The most important knowledge is that which guides the way you lead your life. Find knowledge that helps you deal with your troubles and worries and generously apply it throughout your life.
True friendship is a refuge
There is no enjoying the possession of anything valuable unless one has someone to share it with.
We suffer more from imagination than from reality
Fear keeps pace with hope. Nor does their so moving together surprise me; both belong to a mind in suspense, to a mind in a state of anxiety through looking into the future. Both are mainly due to projecting our thoughts far ahead of us instead of adapting ourselves to the present.
We are more often frightened than hurt; and we suffer more from imagination than from reality.
Limiting one’s desires actually helps to cure one of fear. ‘Cease to hope,’ he says, ‘and you will cease to fear.’
Good conscience, honourable purposes and right actions
It comes from a good conscience, from honorable purposes, from right actions, from contempt of the gifts of chance, from an even and calm way of living which treads but one path…There are only a few who control themselves and their affairs by a guiding purpose; the rest do not proceed; they are merely swept along, like objects afloat in a river.
And of these objects, some are held back by sluggish waters and are transported gently; others are torn along by a more violent current; some, which are nearest the bank, are left there as the current slackens; and others are carried out to sea by the onrush of the stream. Therefore, we should decide what we wish, and abide by the decision.
The way to improvement
This is the way to improvement: Incremental, consistent, humble, persistent work.
Acquire something that will fortify you against poverty, against death, indeed against other misfortunes, as well.
This is the way to improvement: Incremental, consistent, humble, persistent work. Your business, your book, your career, your body—it doesn’t matter—you build them with little things, day after day. Epictetus called it fueling the habit bonfire.
We should all be the toughest misers with our time
No person hands out their money to passersby, but to how many do each of us hand out our lives! We’re tight-fisted with property and money, yet think too little of wasting time, the one thing about which we should all be the toughest misers.
We are not given a short life but we make it short, and we are not Ill-supplied but wasteful of it.
References and Resources
Moral letters to Lucilius
Freemind Newsletter
Live creatively by trusting your intuition, following your passions and staying open to new experiences and possibilities. https://freemind.substack.com/