“Constantly observe that all things take place by change, and accustom yourself to consider that the nature of the universe loves nothing so much as to change the things that are.” - Marcus Aurelius
Stoic
@stoic1.bsky.social
Just posting mostly positive, mostly Stoic quotes that I find meaningful to try and dilute the negativity on the internet.
"Sometimes people let the same problem make them miserable for years when they could just say, So what. That's one of my favorite things to say. So what.” -Andy Warhol
“So the unwanting soul sees what's hidden, and the ever-wanting soul sees only what it wants.” -Lao Tzu
“Constitutional democracy, you see, is no romantic notion. It's our defense against ourselves, the one foe who might defeat us.” -Bill Moyers
“Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral. ” -Paulo Freire
“The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.” -Ida B. Wells-Barnett
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” -Albert Einstein
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” -Viktor E. Frankl
“I have learned to seek my happiness by limiting my desires, rather than in attempting to satisfy them.” -John Stuart Mill
“For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.” -Carl Sagan
"We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter defeats, so we can know who the hell we are." -Maya Angelou
"Time, which wears down and diminishes all things, augments and increases good deeds, because a good turn liberally offered to a reasonable man grows continually through noble thought and memory." -Francois Rabelais
“I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies, for the hardest victory is over self.” -Aristotle
“The soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts.” -Marcus Aurelius
“Civilization is but a thin veneer stretched across the passions of the human heart. And civilization doesn't just happen; we have to make it happen.” -Bill Moyers
"I should like to be able to love my country and still love justice." -Albert Camus
“The spirit there was very decentralized. The individual was incredibly empowered. It was all based on there being no central authority that you had to go to to ask permission. That feeling of individual control, that empowerment, is something we’ve lost.” ― Tim Berners-Lee
"Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich, by promising to protect each from the other." -Oscar Ameringer
“Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.” -Benjamin Franklin
“I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better.” -Maya Angelou
“Nothing is more important than that you see and love the beauty that is right in front of you, or else you will have no defense against the ugliness that will hem you in and come at you in so many ways.” -Neal Stephenson
"Sit in a room and read--and read and read. And read the right books by the right people. Your mind is brought onto that level, and you have a nice, mild, slow-burning rapture all the time." -Joseph Campbell
“We in America do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate.” -Thomas Jefferson
“The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.” -Jack London
“Ignore those that make you fearful and sad, that degrade you back towards disease and death.” -Rumi
“You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once.” -Robert A. Heinlein
"Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less." -Marie Curie