I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinions of himself than on the opinions of others.
Marcus AureliusRead
How powerful is man! He is able to do all that God wishes him to do. He is able to accept all that God sends upon him.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes human potential and resilience in fulfilling divine purpose and accepting lifeβs challenges.
Marcus Aurelius reflects on the immense strength and capability of humans, suggesting that we possess the power to fulfill our destinies as intended by God. He highlights the importance of both taking action towards our goals and embracing the trials that life presents, indicating a harmonious relationship between human agency and divine will.
In practice
In a motivational speech about overcoming obstacles.
I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinions of himself than on the opinions of others.
You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.
Do not act as if you were going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over you. While you live, while it is in your power, be good.
Vex not thy spirit at the course of things; they heed not thy vexation. How ludicrous and outlandish is astonishment at anything that may happen in life.
You don't have to turn this into something. It doesn't have to upset you. Things can't shape our decisions by themselves.
A man's worth is no greater than his ambitions.
When two texts, or two assertions, perhaps two ideas, are in contradiction, be ready to reconcile them rather than cancel one by the other; regard them as two different facets, or two successive stages, of the same reality, a reality convincingly human just because it is too complex.
It is of itself that the divine thought thinks (since it is the most excellent of things), and its thinking is a thinking on thinking.
First and last follow each other.
This very heart which is mine will forever remain indefinable to me. Between the certainty I have of my existence and the content I try to give to that assurance, the gap will never be filled. Forever I shall be a stranger to myself.
The newspaper that obstructs the law on a trivial pretext, for money's sake, is a dangerous enemy to the public weal. That awful power, the public opinion of a nation, is created in America by a horde of ignorant, self-complacent simpletons who failed at ditching and shoemaking and fetched up in journalism on their way to the poorhouse.
The world doesn't need what women have, it needs what women are.
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