Nature has given to men one tongue, but two ears, that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak.

The computer allows me to collect a massive amount of digital junk: Music, pictures, musings/ramblings. I tell myself that it’s not hoarding until I refuse to let them go and I tell myself I could delete this trash at any time, but I still hold on because storage is cheap and I enjoy thumbing through my collections occasionally.

I’ve started deleting stuff that I haven’t looked at in over a year and it’s been pretty useful. If nothing else, it’s a mental exercise in letting go of stuff I don’t need and taking stock in the things I have that I do need.

In addition to my collection of digital junk, I collect quotes from books. The Kindle is horrible for me because I can just highlight a quote and move on. There’s an ebook called “My Clippings” that has piles of quotes that, at the time, struck a chord in me. Looking back, some of them seem so trite or out of character that I wonder what compelled me to save them in the first place.

In an attempt to re-assess my quote collection, I’ve decided to go through them, share them here, and write a few thoughts.

The first few quotes to document come from Enchiridion by Epictetus. His writings form the genesis of Stoic philosophy which I stumbled into after reading a book called Go Suck a Lemon by Michael Cornwall. His book outlines Emotional Intelligence and some tools for better seeing things as they are and managing your emotions when things are not as you would like. One of the professors she references points to an Epictetus quote that summarizes the point of the book reasonably well and definitely came as a Eureka moment for me.

I find people are not disturbed by things but by their view of things.

Again, from this quote I read Enchiridion, Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, and Seneca’s Letters From a Stoic. All three authors have completely different life experiences but all express a common theme which I’ve found extremely useful for finding direction and sure-footedness in my life. I still struggle here but at least I have some pillars to lean against when I feel lost.

For today, I’ll just catalog the quotes I pulled from Enchiridion. Perhaps I’ll do a write up on some of them later or just a write up on Stoicism in general.

When you have decided that a thing ought to be done and are doing it, never avoid being seen doing it, though the many shall form an unfavorable opinion about it. For if it is not right to do it, avoid doing the thing, but if it is right, why are you afraid of those who shall find fault wrongly?

 

Nothing is superior to magnanimity, and gentleness, and the love of mankind, and beneficence.

 

A man ought to know that it is not easy for him to have an opinion (or fixed principle) if he does not daily say the same things, and hear the same things, and at the same time apply them to life.

 

As a goose is not frightened by the cackling nor a sheep by bleating, so let not the clamor of the senseless multitude alarm you.

 

What we ought not to do, we should not even think of doing.

 

Deliberate much before saying or doing anything, for you will not have the power of recalling what has been said or done.