DO, Soul, do; abuse and contemn thyself; yet a while and the time for thee to respect thyself, will be at an end. Every man's happiness depends upon himself, but behold thy life is almost at an end, whilst affording thyself no respect, thou dost make thy happiness to consist in the souls, and conceits of other men.
Why should any of these things that happen externally, so much distract thee? Give thyself leisure to learn some good thing, and cease roving and wandering to and fro. Thou must also take heed of another kind of wandering, for they are idle in their actions, who toil and labour in this life, and have no certain scope to which to direct all their motions, and desires.
Why should any of these things that happen externally, so much distract thee? Give thyself leisure to learn some good thing, and cease roving and wandering to and fro. Thou must also take heed of another kind of wandering, for they are idle in their actions, who toil and labour in this life, and have no certain scope to which to direct all their motions, and desires.
MARCUS AURELIUS. MEDITATIONS. Book ii. 3, 4.
Quote: "Every man's happiness depends upon himself... [so] why should any of these things that happen externally, so much distract thee?"
ReplyDeleteWe allow ourselves to be distracted by the small things in life, the passing details that, while they seem important in the moment, have no greater meaning. While we should care for things under our responsibility, we should not allow ourselves to be completely absorbed by them. Give yourself time, time to respect yourself, time to grow beyond your current self-imposed boundaries.