Little Chad was a shy, quiet young fella. One day he came home and told his mother he'd like to make a valentine for everyone in his class. Her heart sank. She thought, I wish he wouldn't do that! because she had watched the children when they walked home from school.
This is a wonderful time to be alive. There have never been more opportunities for more people to accomplish more of their goals, both personally and professionally, than exist today And if anything, our situation is getting better and better with each passing year.
Ryan Holiday, The 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living
This is the very thing which makes up the virtue of the happy person and a well-flowing life — when the affairs of life are in every way turned to the harmony between the individual divine spirit and the will of the director of the universe. — Chrysippus, Quoted in Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the Eminent Philosophers, 7.1.88
Ryan Holiday, The 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living
But what is philosophy? Doesn't it simply mean preparing ourselves for what may come? Don't you understand that really amounts to saying that if I would so prepare myself to endure, then let anything happen that will? Otherwise, it would be like the boxer exiting the ring because he took some punches. Actually, you can leave the boxing ring without consequence, but what advantage would come from abandoning the pursuit of wisdom? So, what should each of us say to every trial we face? This is what I've trained for, for this my discipline! ~Epictetus, Discourses, 3.10.6-7
Contentment is... Ruth Senter, Startled by Silence
I heard the voice but couldn't see the person. She was on the other side of the locker, just coming in from her early morning swim. Her voice sounded like the morning itself- bright, cheerful, and full of life. At 6:15 in the morning, it would catch anyone's attention. I heard its affirming tone.
