- “What do you mean by ‘thieves and robbers?’ They are simply confused about what is good and what is bad. Should we then be angry with them or pity them? [Epictetus D1.18]
- Observe these people – their principles, what they struggle for, and what they like and value. Picture their souls laid bare. They imagine their praise and blame can help others, or hurt others. How presumptuous! [Marcus Aurelius, M9.34]
- Children’s spirit is fueled by freedom and dampened by control. It rises when praised and forms the right expectations. Yet, the same things can also produce anger and arrogance in a child. So, we should avoid extremes and guide them towards the middle path - sometimes by encouraging, sometimes by curbing. [Seneca, A1.21]
- Moral capacity is the greatest asset of all. So, if some people lose their moral capacity, why add anger to their greatest loss? If you are affected by them, show them pity, not hatred. [Epictetus D1.18]
- Loss is nothing but change, but nature delights in change. Since the universe began and to this day, things have been ordered by her will. It will continue to be so in the endless future. How, then, can you say that things have always been and will be bad? [Marcus Aurelius, M9.35]
- Prosperity encourages anger. [Seneca, A1.21]
- Don’t be too ready to hate and take offence. Why use common curses like, “Away with those abominable idiots,” and the like? [Epictetus D1.18]
- We are made of stuff that is bound to decay: water, dust, bone, and filth. Marble rocks are nothing but bumps on the earth; gold and silver are her sediments; the garments, a bit of her hair; purple dye, shellfish blood. So, it is with everything else. So, is the very breath of our lives – changing from this to that. [Marcus Aurelius, M9.36]
- What is tender and unformed clings to what is near and takes its shape. The young grow up to resemble those who nurtured and taught them. [Seneca, A1.21] 1
- Since when have you become so smart as to go around correcting other people’s mistakes as though they are just fools? [Epictetus D1.18]
- Enough of this miserable, whining, monkey life. Why are you so disturbed? None of this is new. Why are you shaken? [Marcus Aurelius, M9.37] THE STOIC 13 FEBRUARY 2023
- Children derive the most significant benefit when you bring them up in a healthy way right from the start. [Seneca, A1.21]
- If you give up ownership of things that are not yours, who will you be angry with then? If you value material things, direct your anger at yourself and not at the thief or adulterer. [Epictetus D1.158
- Even at this late hour try to become a simpler and better person in the eyes of the gods. For mastering that lesson, three years are as good as one hundred. [Marcus Aurelius, M9.37]
- The cause of anger is the belief that we are injured. We should not casually accept this belief. We should not fly into a rage even when the injury appears to be clear and distinct, because some false things resemble truth. [Seneca, A1.22]
- When you have a headache or earache, practice not cursing. If you complain, don’t do it with your whole being. [Epictetus D1.18]
- If anyone has done anything wrong, it is their sin. But, probably they didn’t do anything wrong. [Marcus Aurelius, M9.38]
- Know and be on your guard against this fault of human nature - we are willing to believe without wanting to listen, and we become angry before we have formed our opinion. [Seneca, A1.22]
- Walk upright and free. Don’t trust the strength of your body as an athlete does. Don’t just rely on your physical strength as a donkey does. [Epictetus D1.18]
- There are two possibilities. One, all things spring from one intelligent source and fall into place to make up one body. In this case, no part should complain about what happens to the good of the whole. Two, the world is nothing but atoms and their confused mixing and dispersing. So why be troubled? [Marcus Aurelius, M9.39]
- [When you are angry] allow some time to elapse, for time reveals the truth. [Seneca, A1.22]
- You are invincible if nothing outside your will disturbs you. [Epictetus D1.18]
- The gods have the power, or they don’t. If they don’t, why pray at all? If they do, instead of praying for things to happen or not to happen, why not pray not to feel fear or desire or grief? [Marcus Aurelius, M9.40]
- Do not listen to slanderous gossip. [Seneca, A1.22]
- Uneducated people, if they have a real or imaginary advantage over others, will grow arrogant. [Epictetus D1.19]
- Then why don’t you use what is in your power to be a free human being? Why be a slave of things not in your power? [Marcus Aurelius, M9.40]
- What can I say? We are influenced not just by slander but by suspicions. [Seneca, A1.22]
- It is not us just being selfish. It is the way it is. Everything we do is done for our own ends. [Epictetus D1.19] D: Discourses. M: Meditations. A: On Anger
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