"Do not disturb yourself by picturing your life as a whole; do not assemble in your mind the many and varied troubles which have come to you in the past and will come again in the future, but ask yourself with regard to every present difficulty: 'What is there in this that is unbearable and beyond endurance?' You would be ashamed to confess it! And then remind yourself that it is not the future or what has passed that afflicts you, but always the present, and the power of this is much diminished if you take it in isolation and call your mind to task if it thinks that it cannot stand up to it when taken on its own."

Stoicism, Present, Mindfulness, Wisdom

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"Do not disturb yourself by picturing your life as a whole; do not assemble in your mind the many and varied troubles which have come to you in the past and will come again in the future, but ask yourself with regard to every present difficulty: 'What is there in this that is unbearable and beyond endurance?' You would be ashamed to confess it! And then remind yourself that it is not the future or what has passed that afflicts you, but always the present, and the power of this is much diminished if you take it in isolation and call your mind to task if it thinks that it cannot stand up to it when taken on its own."

Exlpore more Stoicism quotes

"He never complained. He seemed to have no instinct for the making much of oneself that complaining requires."

Wendell Berry, American Poet

Stoicism, Strength, Silence, Humility, Endurance

"I always say, if you must mount the gallows, give a jest to the crowd, a coin to the hangman, and make the drop with a smile on your lips."

Robert Jordan, American Author

Stoicism, Humor, Death, Acceptance, Execution

"She would only make me take my seat if I didn't act calm and Swiss about it all."

Bill Bryson, American Writer

Stoicism, Control, Emotion, Restraint, Behavior

"Being a stoic does not mean being a robot. Being a stoic means remaining calm both at the height of pleasure and the depths of misery."

Abhijit Naskar, Indian Author

Stoicism, Wisdom, Truth, Life, Power

"Ahab still stood like an anvil, receiving every shock, but without the least quivering of his own."

Herman Melville, American Novelist

Stoicism, Endurance, Strength, Resolve

"I do not weep: I loathe tears, for they are a sign of slavery."

Max Beckmann, German Artist

Stoicism, Slavery, Tears

"Let us train our minds to desire what the situation demands."

Marcus Annaeus Seneca, Roman Philosopher

Stoicism, Mindset, Discipline, Acceptance, Control

"Tears never were worth the effort of crying them."

Mary Balogh, Canadian Author

Stoicism, Tears, Worth, Sadness, Restraint

"Worrying about things you cannot control is folly. Focus only on those few things you have any control over, and your life becomes much simpler."

Jeffrey Fry, American Author

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"If we live we live if we die we die if we suffer we suffer if we are terrified we are terrified. There is no problem about it."

Alan Watts, English Philosopher

Stoicism, Acceptance, Life, Death, Suffering

Explore more quotes by Marcus Aurelius

"Be content with what you are, and wish not change; nor dread your last day, nor long for it."

Change

"Everything that happens happens as it should, and if you observe carefully, you will find this to be so."

Will

"Death is a release from the impressions of the senses, and from desires that make us their puppets, and from the vagaries of the mind, and from the hard service of the flesh."

Death

"Let men see, let them know, a real man, who lives as he was meant to live."

Man

"Death, like birth, is a secret of Nature."

Nature

"You have the power to strip away many superfluous troubles located wholly in your judgement, and to possess a large room for yourself embracing in thought the whole cosmos, to consider everlasting time, to think of the rapid change in the parts of each thing, of how short it is from birth until dissolution, and how the void before birth and that after dissolution are equally infinite."

Perspective

"Think not so much of what you lack as of what you have: but of the things that you have, select the best, and then reflect on how eagerly you would have sought them if you did not have them."

Gratitude

"When you are disturbed by events and lose your serenity, quickly return to yourself and don't stay upset longer than the experience lasts; for you'll have more mastery over your inner harmony by continually returning to it."

Mindfulness

"The true worth of a man is to be measured by the objects he pursues."

Character

"Human life. Duration: momentary. Nature: changeable. Perception: dim. Condition of Body: decaying. Soul: spinning around. Fortune: unpredictable. Lasting Fame: uncertain. Sum Up: The body and its parts are a river, the soul a dream and mist, life is warfare and a journey far from home, lasting reputation is oblivion."

Philosophy