The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.
I think therefore I am
Man lives by time. Inventing the future has been his favourite game of escape. We think that changes in ourselves can come about in time, that order in ourselves can be built up little by little, added to day by day. But time doesn’t bring order or peace, so we must stop thinking in terms of gradualness. This means that there is no tomorrow for us to be peaceful in. We have to be orderly on the instant.
In a culture that favours activity over inactivity, we’ve been hardwired to believe that doing something, anything, is greater than doing nothing
When learning is purposeful, creativity blossoms. When creativity blossoms, thinking emanates. When thinking emanates, knowledge is fully lit
We sit in perfectly controlled environments at 68 degrees, order fast food to be delivered in minutes, suck off of 72 oz energy drinks, all the while seeking likes and hearts. Like a heroin addict, we are chasing for the next quick hit of momentary pleasure. Each time extracting less and less enjoyment from each hit. Rather than focusing on fleeting pleasure, find what leads to satisfaction: a purpose in life. Long-lasting achievement, accomplishment, and meaning that will propel you forward in life to thrive.
Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.
It is paradoxical, yet true, to say, that the more we know, the more ignorant we become in the absolute sense, for it is only through enlightenment that we become conscious of our limitations. Precisely one of the most gratifying results of intellectual evolution is the continuous opening up of new and greater prospects.
Everything man is and does is modified by learning and is therefore malleable. But once learned, these behaviour patterns, these habitual responses, these ways of interacting gradually sink below the surface of the mind and, like the admiral of a submerged submarine fleet, control from the depths. The hidden controls are usually experienced as though they were innate simply because they are not only ubiquitous but habitual as well.
Concentrate every minute like a Roman— like a man— on doing what’s in front of you with precise and genuine seriousness, tenderly, willingly, with justice. And on freeing yourself from all other distractions. Yes, you can— if you do everything as if it were the last thing you were doing in your life, and stop being aimless, stop letting your emotions override what your mind tells you, stop being hypocritical, self-centered , irritable. You see how few things you have to do to live a satisfying and reverent life? If you can manage this, that’s all even the gods can ask of you.
Words are, in my not so humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic, capable of both inflicting injury and remedying it. Words can do wondrous and terrible things, and it's important for people to remember that.
Solitude makes us tougher towards ourselves and tenderer towards others; in both ways, it improves our character.
