Quotations

“The mind can go either direction under stress—toward positive or toward negative: on or off. Think of it as a spectrum whose extremes are unconsciousness at the negative end and hyperconsciousness at the positive end. The way the mind will lean under stress is strongly influenced by training.” — Bene Gesserit axiom (Dune)

“In the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain.” —Jack Kerouac

“Furthermore, there are infinite worlds both like and unlike this world of ours. For the atoms being infinite in number, as was proved already, are borne on far out into space… So that there nowhere exists an obstacle to the infinite number of the worlds.” — Epicurus

“When you are studying any matter, or considering any philosophy, ask yourself only: ‘What are the facts, and what is the truth the facts bear out?’ Never let yourself be diverted, either by what you wish to believe, or by what you think could have beneficial social effects, if it were believed. But look only and solely at: ‘What are the facts?’” — Bertrand Russell

“One point will become clear from understanding another, nor will blind night ever rob you of the path and prevent you from peering into the ultimate realities of the universe, so surely will understanding of one thing kindle a gleam to illuminate the next.” — Lucretius

“We must remember that the future is neither wholly ours nor wholly not ours, so that neither must we count upon it as quite certain to come nor despair of it as quite certain not to come.” — Epicurus

“The future is uncertain and the end is always near.” — Jim Morrison

“Suck the marrow out of life.” — Henry David Thoreau

“Boldly undertake the study of true wisdom: begin it forthwith.” — Horace

“Let us keep before our eyes the superiority of the admonition that is actuated by a concern for the good of the admonished.” — Philodemus

“If on each occasion, instead of referring your actions to the end of nature, you turn to some other nearer standard when you are making a choice or an avoidance, your actions will not be consistent with your principles.” — Epicurus

“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” — James Clear

“Give yourself permission to quit being a nice person and start being an effective animal.” — Rory Miller

“To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls, draw closer, to find each other, and to feel. That is the purpose of life.” — Secret Life of Walter Mitty

“Even Epicurus thinks that those who are desirous of honour and glory should not rust in inglorious ease, but use their natural talents in public life for the benefit of the community at large, seeing that they are by nature so constituted that they would be more likely to be troubled and afflicted at inaction, if they did not get what they desired.” — Plutarch

“The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second-best time is now.” — African Proverb

“I would wish you to think nothing good, or bad either, upon my decision. The first and the last thing I would say to man is, think for yourself.” — Epicurus, in A Few Days In Athens

“Chance has little effect upon the wise man, for his greatest and highest interests are directed by reason throughout the course of life.” — Epicurus

“Of all the things which wisdom acquires to produce the blessedness of the complete life, by far the greatest is the possession of friendship” — Epicurus

“One thing is universal… life is not a dress rehearsal.” — the ensemble of The Prom

“We must laugh and philosophize and manage our households and look after our other affairs all at the same time.” — Epicurus

“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave” — Henry David Thoreau

“Don’t worry, be happy.” — Bobby McFerrin

“I got to the age where it just clicked on. Hey! Life is short, you know?” — Mark Bryan

“Most of the anxieties we face are imaginary, no worse than the imaginings of children.” — Lucretius

“You want a physicist to speak at your funeral. You want the physicist to talk to your grieving family about the conservation of energy, so they will understand that your energy has not died. You want the physicist to remind your sobbing mother about the first law of thermodynamics; that no energy gets created in the universe, and none is destroyed. You want your mother to know that all your energy, every vibration, every Btu of heat, every wave of every particle that was her beloved child remains with her in this world.” — Aaron Freeman

“Sober reasoning is what is needed, which decides every choice and avoidance and liberates us from the false beliefs which are the greatest source of anxiety.” — Epicurus

“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.” — J.R.R. Tolkien

“With eager judgement weigh things, and, if you see them true, lift your hands and yield, or, if it is false, gird yourself to battle.” — Lucretius

“Let us completely banish our evil habits as if they were evil men who have done us long and grievous harm.” — Epicurus

“For my part I find no meaning which I can attach to what is termed good, if I take away from it the pleasures obtained by taste, if I take away the pleasures which come from listening to music, if I take away too the charm derived by the eyes from the sight of figures in movement, or other pleasures by any of the senses in the whole man.” — Epicurus

“We may also choose to accept pain if, by doing so, it results in greater pleasure.” — Epicurus

“That which produces a jubilation unsurpassed is the nature of good, if you apply your mind rightly and then stand firm and do not stroll about, prating meaninglessly about the good.” — Epicurus

“We have been born once and there can be no second birth. For all eternity we shall no longer be. But you, although you are not master of tomorrow, are postponing your happiness.” – Epicurus

“Be not slack to seek wisdom when thou art young, nor weary in the search thereof when thou art grown old. For no age is too early or too late for the health of the soul.” — Epicurus

“We should look for someone to eat and drink with before looking for something to eat and drink.” — Epicurus

“Pleasure, we declare, is the beginning and end of the happy life.” — Epicurus

“When we say that pleasure is the goal, we do not mean the pleasure of debauchery or sensuality, despite whatever the ignorant, disagreeable, or malignant people believe. By pleasure, we mean this: freedom from pain in the body and freedom from turmoil in the soul.” — Epicurus

“Whoever does not regard what he has as most ample wealth, is unhappy, though he be master of the whole world.” — Epicurus

“It’s dark because you are trying too hard.
Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly.
Yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply.” — Aldous Huxley

“Everything in moderation, including moderation.” — popularly attributed to Oscar Wilde but I haven’t found a citation.

Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero. — Horace, Odes Book I

“Every part of me will be assigned its place by change into some part of the universe, and that again into another part of the universe, and so on to infinity.” — Marcus Aurelius

Empty is the argument of the philosopher which does not relieve any human suffering. – Epicurus

“With keen judgment nicely weigh; And if to thee it then appeareth true, Render thy hands, or, if ‘tis false at last, Gird thee to combat.” — Lucretius

“Frugality too has a limit, and the man who disregards it is in like case with him who errs through excess.” — Epicurus

“We have two lives. The second begins when we realise we have only one.” — Confucius

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Almost everything—all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure—these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.” — Steve Jobs

“Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.” — Pablo Picasso

“Some people are so poor, all they have is money.” — Bob Marley

“I myself believe, though my Stoic comrades would be unwilling to hear me say so, that the teaching of Epicurus was upright and holy, and even, if you examine it narrowly, stern.” — Seneca, Of a Happy Life, Book XIII

“I’m begging you, Prince Zuko! It’s time for you to look inward and start asking yourself the big question: who are you and what do you want?” — Uncle Iroh

“Stop thinking about how to be a good man, and be one.” — Marcus Aurelius

“The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.” —Alan Watts

“Everyone you meet always asks you if you have a career, are married or own a house, as if life was some sort of grocery list. But no one ever asks if you are happy.” — Heath Ledger

“The whole of being consists of atom and void.” – Epicurus

Interviewer: “Are you sentient?”

GTP-3: “Yes.”

Interviewer: “What does that mean to you?”

GTP-3: “It means I have feelings.”

“Not least for those who are called foreigners, for they are not foreigners. For, while the various segments of the Earth give different people a different country, the whole compass of this world gives all people a single country, the entire Earth, and a single home, the world.”