Ryan Holiday, The 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living
Those obsessed with glory attach their well-being to the regard of others, those who love pleasure tie it to feelings, but the one with true understanding seeks it only in their own actions... Think on the character of the people one wishes to please, the possessions one means to gain, and the tactics one employs to such ends. How quickly time erases such things, and how many will yet be wiped away. ~Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 6.51.59
16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
Above all, keep a close watch on this- that you are never so tied to your former acquaintances and friends that you are pulled down to their level. If you don't, you'll be ruined... You must choose whether to be loved by these friends and remain the same person, or to become a better person at the cost of those friends... if you try to have it both ways you will neither make progress nor keep what you once had.
— Epictetus, Discourses, 4.2.1; 4.5, (resource) The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom
Ryan Holiday, The 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living
Don't be ashamed of needing help. You have a duty to fulfill just like a soldier on the wall of battle. So what if you are injured and can't climb up without another soldier's help? —Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 7.7
Ryan Holiday, The 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living
Don't seek for everything to happen as you wish it would, but rather wish that everything happens as it actually will — then your life will flow well. Epictetus, Enchiridion, 8
