My Blog

Tag: life

  • Counterfeit of piety

    “I know of no quality so easy to counterfeit as piety, if conduct and life are not made to conform with it.” III.2 “Of repentance” (p.748)

  • To listen to ourselves

    “The life of Caesar has no more to show us than our own; an emperor’s or an ordinary man’s, it is still a life subject to all human accidents. Let us only listen: we tell ourselves all we most need.” III.13 Of experience (p. 1001)

  • Myself now and myself a while ago

    “Myself now and myself a while ago are indeed two; but when better, I simply cannot say. It would be fine to be old if we traveled only toward improvement. It is a drunkard’s motion, staggering, dizzy, wobbling, or that of reeds that the wind stirs haphazardly as it pleases.” III.9 “Of vanity” (p.895)

  • An open way of speaking

    “An open way of speaking opens up another man’s speech and draws it out, as do wine and love” III.1 “Of the useful and the honorable” (p. 730)

  • Languid motion

    “Stability itself is nothing but a more languid motion.”  III.2 “Of repentance” (p.740)  

  • Man’s estate

    “I set forth a humble and inglorious life; that does not matter. You can tie up all moral philosophy with a common and private life just as well as with a life of richer stuff. Each man bears the entire form of man’s estate.” III.2 “Of repentance” (p. 740)

  • Life is full of fireworks

    ““Life is full of fireworks; death, of love and courtesy.” II.35 “Of three good women” (p 683)

  • The enjoyment of life

    “The enjoyment of life cannot be truly pleasant to us if we are in fear of losing it.” II.15 “That our desire is increased by difficulty” (p. 563)

  • To grow and to languish

    “It is possible that in those who employ their time well, knowledge and experience grow with living; but vivacity, quickness, firmness, and other qualities much more our own, more important and essential, wither and languish.” I.57 (p. 289)

  • The universe suffers by our annihilation

    “It seems that the universe somehow suffers by our annihilation and that is has compassion for our state.”   II. 13 “Of judging the death of others” (p. 556)