The greatest pride, or the greatest despondency, is the greatest ignorance of one's self.
Baruch SpinozaRead
Those who know the true use of money, and regulate the measure of wealth according to their needs, live contented with few things.
Interpretation
True wealth comes from understanding how to use money wisely and appreciating what you have.
Baruch Spinoza emphasizes that contentment is achieved not through the accumulation of wealth but through a profound understanding of money's true purpose. By managing one's desires and needs effectively, individuals can lead fulfilling lives with fewer possessions, highlighting the importance of moderation and gratitude over materialism.
In practice
During a financial literacy seminar, you could quote Spinoza to emphasize making wise financial choices.
The greatest pride, or the greatest despondency, is the greatest ignorance of one's self.
A man is as much affected pleasurably or painfully by the image of a thing past or future as by the image of a thing present.
He who seeks to regulate everything by law is more likely to arouse vices than to reform them. It is best to grant what cannot be abolished, even though it be in itself harmful. How many evils spring from luxury, envy, avarice, drunkenness and the like, yet these are tolerated because they cannot be prevented by legal enactments.
No one doubts but that we imagine time from the very fact that we imagine other bodies to be moved slower or faster or equally fast. We are accustomed to determine duration by the aid of some measure of motion.
Fear cannot be without hope nor hope without fear. [They are the two sides of a coin, so learning how to manage fear through learning, understanding, rationality, controlled imagination, preparation, mental focus (including distraction) and a gratitude attitude is very helpful.]
He who wishes to revenge injuries by reciprocal hatred will live in misery. But he who endeavors to drive away hatred by means of love, fights with pleasure and confidence; he resists equally one or many men, and scarcely needs at all the help of fortune. Those whom he conquers yield joyfully
Dostoevsky gives me more than any scientist, more than Gauss.
We must use a good deal of economy in our wood, never cutting down new, where we can make the old do.
A reputable lawyer will advise you to keep out of the law, make the best of a foolish bargain, and not get caught again.
Come, live with the doors of the senses guarded, diligent and mindful, vigilant and mindful, with the ways of the mind well watched, possessed of a mind that is awake and observing.
Because in the school of the Spirit man learns wisdom through humility, knowledge by forgetting, how to speak by silence, how to live by dying.
Do you live in a mine field or a garden? When we live in a minefield mentality, we explode with the weeds of worry, doubt, fear, lack and limitation. Choose to cultivate your inner garden!
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