The quote database

The present alone is true and actual; it is the only time which possesses full reality, and our existence lies in it exclusively.

all the misfortunes of men arise from one thing only, that they are unable to stay quietly in their own chamber

Whatsoever thwarts, or puts me out of my way, brings death into my mind.

but to have the spleen, and to dream upon't, is a punishment I would not wish my greatest enemy

Men are disturbed not by the things which happen, but by the opinions about the things

Seek not that the things which happen should happen as you wish; but wish the things which happen to be as they are, and you will have a tranquil flow of life

Will you not go back, and you will see clearer when you have laid aside fear?

Apprehension, uncertainty, waiting, expectation, fear of surprise, do a patient more harm than any exertion.

The robbers of time are the past and the future.

Finally we must have courage and self-confidence to cling to our own methods and conceptions of human society. After all, the greatest danger that can befall us in coping with this problem of Soviet communism, is that we shall allow ourselves to become like those with whom we are coping.

The strong man who in the confidence of sturdy health courts the sternest activities of life and rejoices in the hardihood of constant labor may still have lurking near his vitals the unheeded disease that dooms him to sudden collapse.

Whether one be fearful or fearless, foolish or wise, troubled or serene, within that soul lies the cause of its own state or states, and never without.

Conscious of my own deficiency, I cannot enter on these duties without great anxiety for the result.

Beside, that the ills which he fears he may suffer, he suffers in the very fear of them.

A good conscience fears no witnesses, but a guilty conscience is solicitous even of solitude.

Not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears, but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is abundantly sufficient; for he that is so, wants nothing.

Where the mind is tinctured with philosophy, there is no place for grief, anxiety, or superfluous vexations.

Whoever expects punishment already suffers it, and whoever has deserved it expects it.

Therefore, if he who rules a principality cannot recognize evils until they are upon him, he is not truly wise; and this insight is given to few.

the foolish overlook and neglect present blessings, through their thoughts being ever intent on the future; but the wise make the past clearly present to them through memory

the immoderate desire for each, implanting a most immoderate fear of losing them, makes the enjoyment of them weak and wavering, like a flame under the influence of a wind

One protects himself by solitude, and one by courtesy, and one by an acid, worldly manner,--each concealing how he can the thinness of his skin and his incapacity for strict association.

To be beautiful and to be calm, without mental fear, is the ideal of nature. If I cannot achieve it, at least I can think it.

Futurity is the proper abode of hope and fear, with all their train and progeny of subordinate apprehensions and desires.

The disturbers of our happiness, in this world, are our desires, our griefs, and our fears; and to all these, the consideration of mortality is a certain and adequate remedy.