We should every night call ourselves to an account: What infirmity have I mastered today? What passions opposed! What temptation resisted? What virtue acquired?
Seneca The ElderRead
What you think about yourself is much more important than what others think of you.
Interpretation
Self-perception is more crucial than how others perceive you.
This quote by Seneca the Elder emphasizes the importance of self-worth and self-identity over external validation. It suggests that how you view yourself shapes your reality more significantly than the opinions of others, encouraging individuals to focus on their inner beliefs and values rather than being swayed by external judgments.
In practice
During a motivational speech to inspire self-confidence among students.
We should every night call ourselves to an account: What infirmity have I mastered today? What passions opposed! What temptation resisted? What virtue acquired?
We can be thankful to a friend for a few acres or a little money; and yet for the freedom and command of the whole earth, and for the great benefits of our being, our life, health, and reason, we look upon ourselves as under no obligation.
True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future, not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is sufficient, for he that is so wants nothing.
The sun also shines on the wicked.
Let us be brave in the face of adversity.
The courts of kings are full of people, but empty of friends.
But neither of us knows, because a fight's worth nothing if you know from the start that you're going to win it.
Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, be fortified by it, do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it.
The best way to handle responsibility is to break it down into smaller parts. Take care of one small thing at a time.
We often repent of our first thoughts, and scarce ever of our second.
People don't really believe in words. Or rather, people believe in words only for a stretch of time. Then they start to look for action.
The person of analytic or critical intellect finds something ridiculous in everything. The person of synthetic or constructive intellect, in almost nothing.
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