13 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Ryan Holiday, The 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living
What if someone despises me? Let them see to it. But I will see to it that I won't be found doing or saying anything contemptible. What if someone hates me? Let them see to that. But I will see to it that I'm kind and good-natured to all, and prepared to show even the hater where they went wrong. Not in a critical way, or to show off my patience, but genuinely and usefully. — Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 11.13
Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God's right hand.
24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all.Who hopes for what they already have?25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.
22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ,23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Ryan Holiday, The 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living
Some people are sharp and others dull; some are raised in a better environment, others in worse, the latter, having inferior habits and nurture, will require more by way of proof and careful instruction to master these teachings and to be formed by them — in the same way that bodies in a bad state must be given a great deal of care when perfect health is sought. — Musonius Rufus, Lectures, 1.1.33-1.3.1-3
