The art is long, life is short
HippocratesRead
From nothing else but the brain come joys, delights, laughter and sports, and sorrows, griefs, despondency, and lamentations
Interpretation
The mind is the source of all our emotions and experiences, both positive and negative.
Hippocrates emphasizes the pivotal role of the brain in shaping our emotional experiences and joys, highlighting that it is through our thoughts and mental processes that we derive happiness as well as sorrow. This underscores the dual capability of the mind where it can produce both the heights of joy and the depths of despair, suggesting that our mental state profoundly impacts our overall experience of life.
In practice
During a motivational speech about mental health, I might quote Hippocrates to illustrate the impact of our thoughts.
The art is long, life is short
The body of man has in itself blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile; these make up the nature of this body, and through these he feels pain or enjoys health. Now he enjoys the most perfect health when these elements are duly proportioned to one another in respect of compounding, power and bulk, and when they are perfectly mingled.
That which is used - develops. That which is not used wastes away.
Cure sometimes, treat often, comfort always.
Wine is an appropriate article for mankind, both for the healthy body and for the ailing man.
Walking is man's best medicine.
Awareness is that state of mind which takes in everything-the crows flying across the sky, the flowers on the trees, the people sitting in front, the colors they are wearing - being extensively aware, which needs watching, observing, taking in the shape of the leaf, the shape of the trunk, the shape of the head of another, what he is doing.
Men (people) are rarely aware of the real reasons which motivate their actions.
I thought if war did not include killing, I'd like to see one every year.
Existence permeates sexuality and vice versa, so that it is impossible to determine, in a given decision or action, the proportion of sexual to other motivations, impossible to label a decision or act ‘sexual’ or ‘non-sexual’ . There is no outstripping of sexuality any more than there is sexuality enclosed within itself. No one is saved and no one is totally lost.
Everyone around me says, You're a genius! You're great! That's your voice! But I'm not sure if they're right.
Conservatism, however, is too often a welcome excuse for lazy minds, loath to adapt themselves to fast changing conditions.
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