How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius
- Zengani Mhangohas quotedlast month
Cynicism focused on cultivating virtue and strength of character through rigorous training that consisted of enduring various forms of “voluntary hardship.” - Zengani Mhangohas quotedlast month: “Go to the rising sun,” he said, “for I am already setting.”5
- Zengani Mhangohas quotedlast monthIt feels pointless to lament over something inevitable and beyond anyone’s control.
- Zengani Mhangohas quotedlast monthFrom the moment we’re born we’re constantly dying, not only with each stage of life but also one day at a time.
The idea that each day I draw closer to my own demise is heartbreaking but assuring because if there is one thing I can be certain of in all the confusion is I will die.
There is a sense of peace that comes with such knowledge.
But also the idea that at each new phase of life there is death that comes before it.
The boy died and now the man exists.
The child died and the boy existed.
A life devoid responsibility died and now a life focused on responsibility to God and my fellow man exists.
This Is life, to die. - Zengani Mhangohas quotedlast monthHe no longer adds to his natural grief by complaining and shaking his fist at the universe.
Don't add to your pain unnecessarily.
You're ready in terms because of loss, do not add the burden of thoughts, those you can avoid, fight or ignore and so you should for the sake of not turning a crack in a ship into a massive hole that sinks you instantly. - Zengani Mhangohas quotedlast monthWaste no more time arguing about what a good man should be; just be one.4
- Zengani Mhangohas quotedlast monthWhere, then, should one go in order to learn how to become a good person?” Xenophon was dumbstruck. He had no idea how to answer.
- Zengani Mhangohas quotedlast monthAnyone, I reasoned, who could adopt a healthier and more rational set of core values, with greater indifference toward the things most of us worry about in life, should be able to become much more emotionally resilient.
- Zengani Mhangohas quotedlast monthour emotions are mainly determined by our beliefs.
- Zengani Mhangohas quotedlast monthA “philosopher,” in Socrates’s sense, is therefore a person who lives according to these values: someone who literally loves wisdom, the original meaning of the word.
