To read attentively—not to be satisfied with “just getting the gist of it.” And not to fall for every smooth talker. (Location 824)
THE LITERARY CRITIC ALEXANDER Not to be constantly correcting people, and in particular not to jump on them whenever they make an error of usage or a grammatical mistake or mispronounce something, (Location 837)
Throw away your books; stop letting yourself be distracted. That is not allowed. (Location 930)
Stop allowing your mind to be a slave, to be jerked about by selfish impulses, to kick against fate and the present, and to mistrust the future. (Location 932)
Remember how long you’ve been putting this off, how many extensions the gods gave you, and you didn’t use them. At some point you have to recognize what world it is that you belong to; what power rules it and from what source you spring; that there is a limit to the time assigned you, and if you don’t use it to free yourself it will be gone and will never return. (Location 939)
Concentrate every minute like a Roman—like a man—on doing what’s in front of you with precise and genuine seriousness, tenderly, willingly, with justice. And on freeing yourself from all other distractions. Yes, you can—if you do everything as if it were the last thing you were doing in your life, and stop being aimless, stop letting your emotions override what your mind tells you, stop being hypocritical, self-centered, irritable. You see how few things you have to do to live a satisfying and reverent life? If you can manage this, that’s all even the gods can ask of you. (Location 942)
Yes, keep on degrading yourself, soul. But soon your chance at dignity will be gone. Everyone gets one life. Yours is almost used up, and instead of treating yourself with respect, you have entrusted your own happiness to the souls of others. (Location 946)
Do external things distract you? Then make time for yourself to learn something worthwhile; stop letting yourself be pulled in all directions. (Location 948)
People who labor all their lives but have no purpose to direct every thought and impulse toward are wasting their time—even when hard at work. (Location 950)
Ignoring what goes on in other people’s souls—no one ever came to grief that way. (Location 951)
You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think. (Location 961)
If it doesn’t harm your character, how can it harm your life? (Location 965)
Nothing is more pathetic than people who run around in circles, “delving into the things that lie beneath” and conducting investigations into the souls of the people around them, never realizing that all you have to do is to be attentive to the power inside you and worship it sincerely. (Location 976)
Even if you’re going to live three thousand more years, or ten times that, remember: you cannot lose another life than the one you’re living now, or live another one than the one you’re losing. (Location 981)
The present is all that they can give up, since that is all you have, and what you do not have, you cannot lose. (Location 987)
The body and its parts are a river, the soul a dream and mist, life is warfare and a journey far from home, lasting reputation is oblivion. (Location 1000)
So we need to hurry. Not just because we move daily closer to death but also because our understanding—our grasp of the world—may be gone before we get there. (Location 1015)
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. (Location 1033)
You need to avoid certain things in your train of thought: everything random, everything irrelevant. And certainly everything self-important or malicious. (Location 1036)
You need to get used to winnowing your thoughts, so that if someone says, “What are you thinking about?” you can respond at once (and truthfully) that you are thinking this or thinking that. And it would be obvious at once from your answer that your thoughts were straightforward and considerate ones—the thoughts of an unselfish person, one unconcerned with pleasure and with sensual indulgence generally, with squabbling, with slander and envy, or anything else you’d be ashamed to be caught thinking. (Location 1037)
How to act: Never under compulsion, out of selfishness, without forethought, with misgivings. Don’t gussy up your thoughts. No surplus words or unnecessary actions. Let the spirit in you represent a man, an adult, a citizen, a Roman, a ruler. Taking up his post like a soldier and patiently awaiting his recall from life. Needing no oath or witness. Cheerfulness. Without requiring other people’s help. Or serenity supplied by others. To stand up straight—not straightened. (Location 1051)
If, at some point in your life, you should come across anything better than justice, honesty, self-control, courage—than a mind satisfied that it has succeeded in enabling you to act rationally, and satisfied to accept what’s beyond its control—if you find anything better than that, embrace it without reservations—it must be an extraordinary thing indeed—and enjoy it to the full. (Location 1056)
Never regard something as doing you good if it makes you betray a trust, or lose your sense of shame, or makes you show hatred, suspicion, ill will, or hypocrisy, or a desire for things best done behind closed doors. (Location 1069)
Your ability to control your thoughts—treat it with respect. It’s all that protects your mind from false perceptions—false to your nature, and that of all rational beings. (Location 1078)
Forget everything else. Keep hold of this alone and remember it: Each of us lives only now, this brief instant. The rest has been lived already, or is impossible to see. (Location 1080)
If you do the job in a principled way, with diligence, energy and patience, if you keep yourself free of distractions, and keep the spirit inside you undamaged, as if you might have to give it back at any moment— If you can embrace this without fear or expectation—can find fulfillment in what you’re doing now, as Nature intended, and in superhuman truthfulness (every word, every utterance)—then your life will be happy. No one can prevent that. (Location 1094)
Doctors keep their scalpels and other instruments handy, for emergencies. Keep your philosophy ready too—ready to understand heaven and earth. (Location 1098)
Stop drifting. You’re not going to re-read your Brief Comments, your Deeds of the Ancient Greeks and Romans, the commonplace books you saved for your old age. Sprint for the finish. Write off your hopes, and if your well-being matters to you, be your own savior while you can. (Location 1100)
People try to get away from it all—to the country, to the beach, to the mountains. You always wish that you could too. Which is idiotic: you can get away from it anytime you like. By going within. (Location 1120)
That things have no hold on the soul. They stand there unmoving, outside it. Disturbance comes only from within—from our own perceptions. (Location 1138)
That everything you see will soon alter and cease to exist. Think of how many changes you’ve already seen. (Location 1139)
“The world is nothing but change. Our life is only perception.” (Location 1140)
Choose not to be harmed—and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed—and you haven’t been. (Location 1152)
It can ruin your life only if it ruins your character. Otherwise it cannot harm you—inside or out. (Location 1153)
You have a mind? —Yes. Well, why not use it? Isn’t that all you want—for it to do its job? (Location 1162)
Many lumps of incense on the same altar. One crumbles now, one later, but it makes no difference. (Location 1166)
Now they see you as a beast, a monkey. But in a week they’ll think you’re a god—if you rediscover your beliefs and honor the logos. (Location 1167)
“If you seek tranquillity, do less.” Or (more accurately) do what’s essential—what (Location 1193)
Because most of what we say and do is not essential. If you can eliminate it, you’ll have more time, and more tranquillity. Ask yourself at every moment, “Is this necessary?” (Location 1195)
But we need to eliminate unnecessary assumptions as well. To eliminate the unnecessary actions that follow. (Location 1197)
Life is short. That’s all there is to say. Get what you can from the present—thoughtfully, justly. Unrestrained moderation. (Location 1202)
Poor: (adj.) requiring others; not having the necessities of life in one’s own possession. (Location 1208)
A key point to bear in mind: The value of attentiveness varies in proportion to its object. You’re better off not giving the small things more time than they deserve. (Location 1221)
Constant awareness that everything is born from change. The knowledge that there is nothing nature loves more than to alter what exists and make new things like it. All that exists is the seed of what will emerge from it. (Location 1230)
Look into their minds, at what the wise do and what they don’t. (Location 1235)
Nothing that goes on in anyone else’s mind can harm you. Nor can the shifts and changes in the world around you. —Then where is harm to be found? In your capacity to see it. (Location 1235)
“A little wisp of soul carrying a corpse.”—Epictetus. (Location 1242)
Suppose that a god announced that you were going to die tomorrow “or the day after.” Unless you were a complete coward you wouldn’t kick up a fuss about which day it was—what difference could it make? Now recognize that the difference between years from now and tomorrow is just as small. (Location 1254)
To be like the rock that the waves keep crashing over. It stands unmoved and the raging of the sea falls still around it. (Location 1265)
49a. —It’s unfortunate that this has happened. No. It’s fortunate that this has happened and I’ve remained unharmed by it—not shattered by the present or frightened of the future. (Location 1266)
So remember this principle when something threatens to cause you pain: the thing itself was no misfortune at all; to endure it and prevail is great good fortune. (Location 1272)
A trite but effective tactic against the fear of death: think of the list of people who had to be pried away from life. What did they gain by dying old? (Location 1273)
The things you think about determine the quality of your mind. Your soul takes on the color of your thoughts. (Location 1374)
Nothing happens to anyone that he can’t endure. (Location 1385)
The same thing happens to other people, and they weather it unharmed—out of sheer obliviousness or because they want to display “character.” Is wisdom really so much weaker than ignorance and vanity? (Location 1385)
Not to assume it’s impossible because you find it hard. But to recognize that if it’s humanly possible, you can do it too. (Location 1509)
