You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.
Marcus AureliusRead
I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinions of himself than on the opinions of others.
Interpretation
This quote reflects on the paradox of self-love and the tendency to value others' opinions more than our own.
Marcus Aurelius highlights the contradictory nature of human self-perception, where individuals may love themselves deeply yet often disregard their own judgments in favor of others' views. This speaks to the universal human experience of seeking validation from external sources despite a fundamental self-regard.
In practice
In a speech about self-acceptance, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of trusting one's own judgments.
You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.
Do not act as if you were going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over you. While you live, while it is in your power, be good.
Vex not thy spirit at the course of things; they heed not thy vexation. How ludicrous and outlandish is astonishment at anything that may happen in life.
You don't have to turn this into something. It doesn't have to upset you. Things can't shape our decisions by themselves.
A man's worth is no greater than his ambitions.
A person's life is dyed with the color of his imagination.
The Witch's Life" When I was a child there was an old woman in our neighborhood whom we called The Witch. All day she peered from her second story window from behind the wrinkled curtains and sometimes she would open the window and yell: Get out of my life! She had hair like kelp and a voice like a boulder. I think of her sometimes now and wonder if I am becoming her.
I emphasize in it [my Orientalism] accortdingly that neither the term Orient nor the concept of the West has any ontological stability; each is made up of human effort, partly affirmation, partly identification of the Other.
The truly great man is he who would master no one, and who would be mastered by none.
The gods envy us. They envy us because we’re mortal, because any moment may be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we’re doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again.
The charm of history and its enigmatic lesson consist in the fact that, from age to age, nothing changes and yet everything is completely different.
When you surrender completely to God, as the only truth worth having, you find yourself in service of all that exists. It becomes your joy and recreation. You never tire of serving others.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.