Quotes I've found interesting

We are wrong to think that death is ahead of us. Much of our life has already passed. The years we have lived so far are in death's hands.

Seneca,   Moral Letters 1

Let us strive to be worthy of appreciation but indifferent to whether we get it.

Ryan Holiday,   Daily Stoic Email

Burnout isn't the number of hours you work. It's too much effort on things that are against your core interests and values.

Sarah Drasner,   Twitter

No role is so well suited to philosophy as the one you happen to be in right now.

Marcus Aurelius  

When your efforts are not directed at a cause or a purpose, how will you know what to do day in and day out? How will you know what to say no to and what to say yes to? How will you know when you’ve had enough, when you’ve reached your goal, when you’ve gotten off track, if you’ve never defined what those things are?

Ryan Holiday,   Daily Stoic

It was this thing that happened today. But other things happen other days. Things will happen tomorrow.

Shane Botwin,   Weeds, s05e10

Deliberately designing one’s life isn’t only possible. It’s imperative.

@intentionally,   Twitter

The man who has anticipated the coming of troubles takes away their power when they arrive.

Seneca  

Character - the willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life - is the source from which self-respect springs.

Joan Didion,   Slouching Towards Bethlehem

You deserve moments like that. Moments where you watch the snow fall. Moments where you sit quietly with a book. Moments where you look out the train window, not on a conference call, not checking email, not wondering how long until you arrive in the city, but a moment to check in with yourself, to think about your life and what you want to do with it. Moments with loved ones. Moments where you are grateful, connected, happy, creative, in the zone—doing whatever it is that you do best.  When the Stoics talk about stillness, they aren’t talking about some abstract notion. They are talking about maybe the most important thing you can be doing in your life. They are saying that all the “work” you are doing, all the thoughts you’re expending trying to get ahead, trying to force a breakthrough, are pointless.  The real way to charge ahead is to slow down. To clear your mind. To rejoice in perfect stillness, free of the future and the past, fully present and locked in. You can do it. You deserve that.

Ryan Holiday,   Daily Stoic Email, 4/23/2021