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From Vol. 4, Issue 6, June 2022

Stoic quotes for every day of the month

Stoic Everyday || Editor

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1  - A pure mind is, therefore, one that makes right judgments. That kind of mind alone can escape confusion and pollution of its own actions. [Epictetus D4.11]

2  -  Take away your opinion of what is painful. You will find yourself perfectly secure. [Marcus Aurelius, M8.40]

3  -  Anger has no ground to stand on, and it is not built on a firm and steady foundation. It has a fleeting and empty quality, which is as far removed from greatness as recklessness is from courage, [Seneca, A1.20]

4  -  In our body, as in everything else, we should show ourselves to be appealing and untroubled. [Epictetus D4.11]

5   - If you had failed because you didn’t make allowance for an obstacle, such an obstacle is harmful to you as a rational being. [Marcus Aurelius, M8.41]

6  -  Anger doesn’t bring about anything tremendous or beautiful. [Seneca, A1.20]

7  -  Is anyone demanding that you make yourself beautiful? By no means, except in those things that nature requires: the reason, its judgments, and its activities. [Epictetus D4.11]

8  -  No one can harm or frustrate your mind. Fire, swords, oppression, slander, and everything else are powerless to touch it. [Marcus Aurelius, M8.41]

9  -  It seems to me that, to be always be irritated is the result of a lazy and unhappy mind, conscious of its own weakness. It is like those with sick bodies covered with sores and hurt at the slightest touch. [Seneca, A1.20]

10  -  When you relax your attention for a short while, don’t imagine that you can get it back whenever you like. [Epictetus D4.11]

11  -  I have no business causing pain to myself because I have not intentionally caused pain to anyone else. [Marcus Aurelius, M8.42]

12  -  You should not believe the words of the angry whose speech is very loud and threatening, but their minds are as timid as can be. [Seneca, A1.20]

13  -  Surely, there’s no area of life that’s not covered by attention. Is there anything that you will do better by not attending than by attending? Is there anything at all in life that’s not done better by those who pay attention than by those who don’t? [Epictetus D4.12]

14  -  Different things delight different people. I find delight in keeping my reasoning mind clear. By not turning away from human beings and what happens to them. By seeing and accepting everything with kindness, dealing with them as they deserve. [Marcus Aurelius, M8.43]

15  -  One must be good to be great, because a great mind is unshaken, always sound, and its foundation is firm and uniform. It cannot exist along with evil nature, which is terrible, frantic, and destructive. [Seneca, A1.20]

16  -  No one has the power to secure you in any good or involve you in any evil. [Epictetus D4.12]

17  -  Make the best of the present. [Marcus Aurelius, M8.44]

18  -  There is nothing exceptional or noble in anger, not even when it seems to be powerful or scornful of both gods and humans. [Seneca, A1.21]

19  -  Why do you have to trouble yourself with externals? What bully can intimidate you? What disease? What poverty? What obstacle? . [Epictetus D4.12]

20  -  Lift me up and throw me, if you will. I will still have the divinity within me, serene and content, as long as I feel and act in accordance with nature. [Marcus Aurelius, M8.45]

21  -  Anyone who thinks that anger produces greatness would also believe that extravagance creates greatness. [Seneca, A1.21]

22  -  Why then do you get you annoyed with those who are critical of you in these most important matters? Why should you be troubled in that way? For no other reason except that you lack training in this area. [Epictetus D4.12]

23  -  Nothing happens to human beings that is not appropriate to the nature of human beings […] If everything that happens is usual or natural, why should you complain? [Marcus Aurelius, M8.46]

24  -  It doesn’t matter how far passions may go. They are narrow, pathetic, groveling. Virtue alone is lofty and sublime. Nothing is great unless it is also peaceful at the same time. [Seneca, A1.21]

25  -  So, is it possible to be altogether faultless? No, that is unrealistic. But it is possible to strive continuously to avoid faults. [Epictetus D4.12]

26  -  The nature that is common to all does not bring about anything unbearable. [Marcus Aurelius, M8.46]

27  -  An impulse is a simple act. This is a complex one, composed of several parts. You understand something has happened; you become indignant, condemn it, and want to avenge it. All these things cannot come about without your mind agreeing to them. [Seneca, A2.1]

28  -  But if it is good for you to pay attention tomorrow, how much better it would be to do so today? [Epictetus D4.12]

29  -  If you are pained by anything external, the pain is not due to the external thing. It is due to the way you look at it. You have the power to change this at any moment. [Marcus Aurelius, M8.47]

30  -  Anger can be fought by rational principles, because it is a voluntary defect of the mind. [Seneca, A2.2]

D: Discourses. M: Meditations. A: On Anger