All of us can stand to gain from musing on the thoughts echoed through the ages, the ideas passed on, immortal ideas, the gifts of those who came before us and were students enough of life to not only think, but be generous with their thoughts. It is one of the greatest gifts of all.

On Activity ~

A delight in bustling about is not industry–it is only the restless energy of a hunted mind. And the state of mind that looks on all activity as tiresome is not true repose, but a spineless inertia. Some men have shrunk so far into dark corners that objects in bright daylight seem blurred to them. A balanced combination of the two attitudes is what we want; the active man should be able to take things easily, while the man who is inclined towards repose should be capable of action. Ask nature: she will tell you that she made both day and night.

On Fear ~

Wild animals run from the dangers they actually see, and once they have escaped them worry no more. We however are tormented alike by what is past and what is to come–such needless fear, that we may not live in the present, savoring its fruits, bitter and sweet alike.

On Self-Love ~

Hecato said in his writings, “What progress have I made? I am beginning to be my own friend.” That is progress indeed. Such a person will never be alone, and you may be sure he is a friend of all.

On Living and Dying ~

We should cherish our old age and enjoy it. It is full of pleasure if you know how to use it. Though one may say, “It is not very pleasant to have death right before one’s eyes,” death ought to be right before the eyes of a young man just as much as an old one–it does not discriminate.

Every day should be regulated as if it were the one that rounds out and completes our lives, that we may be able to say in all joyfulness and cheerfulness as we retire to our beds, “I have lived. I have completed now the course that fortune long ago allotted me.”

And if God adds the morrow we should accept it joyfully. The man who looks for the morrow without worrying over it knows a peaceful independence and a happiness beyond all others. Whoever has said, “I have lived,” receives a windfall every day he gets up in the morning.

On Enduring Suffering ~

There are times when even to live is an act of bravery . . .

Do not go out of your way to make your troubles any more tiresome than they are and burden yourself with fretting. Provided that one’s thinking has not been adding to it, pain is a trivial sort of thing. Give yourself encouragement, saying, “It’s nothing–or nothing much anyway–let’s stick it out, it’ll be over presently,” and in thinking it a trivial matter, you will be ensuring that it actually is. Everything hangs on one’s thinking. The love of power or money or luxurious living are not the only things which are guided by popular thinking. We take our cue from people’s thinking even in the way we feel pain.

A man is as unhappy as he has convinced himself he is. And complaining about one’s sufferings after they are over is useless. What’s the good of dragging up sufferings which are over, of being unhappy now just because you were then? Besides, there is a pleasure in having succeeded in enduring something unpleasant. Thus, in recollecting the troubles of the past as well as the fear of troubles to come, the first is no longer any concern and the second has yet to be so. And when a man is in the grip of difficulties he should say:

“There may be pleasure in the memory of even these events one day.”

He should put his whole heart into fighting against them. Let us overcome all things, with out reward consisting of moral worth, strength of spirit, and peace that is won forever once in any contest adversity has been utterly defeated.