Highlights
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Other books that I found particularly soothing at this time were the Tao Te Ching and Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Nature.
Location 51
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If you wish to have peace and contentment, release your attachment to all things outside your control. This is the path of freedom and happiness. If you want not just peace and contentment, but power and wealth too, you may forfeit the former in seeking the latter, and will lose your freedom and happiness along the way.
Location 67
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Do not wish that all things will go well with you, but that you will go well with all things.
Location 113
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Do not say of anything “I have lost it,” but rather, “I have given it back.” Has your wife died? You have given her back. Has your child died? You have given him back. Have you lost your home? You have given it back. “But,” you may retort, “a bad person took it.” It is not your concern by what means something returns to the Source from which it came. For as long as the Source entrusts something to your hands, treat it as something borrowed, like a traveller at an inn.
Location 125
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If you are praised by others, be skeptical of yourself. For it is no easy feat to hold onto your inner harmony while collecting accolades. When grasping for one, you are likely to drop the other.
Location 141
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Think of life as a banquet. If a dish is handed to you, sample it with gratitude. If you’re waiting for a particular platter to come around, do not lunge for it—be patient. If it passes you by, don’t complain. Act in this way regarding spouses, children, honors, offices, and wealth, and you will become worthy to feast with the gods. More than this—if you abstain from the rich desserts that come your way, passing them on to others, you will become worthy to rule with the gods. This was the way of Diogenes and Heraclitus, and they are now venerated as divine.
Location 151
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Think of life as a play, and yourself as an actor. Your role and time on stage is up to the Author’s choosing. Whether you are cast as a pauper, a cripple, a congressman, or a king, play your part to the best of your ability. You cannot choose the era, nationality, family, and body into which you are born. But to act well in your given role—this is your sphere of power.
Location 164
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If you find yourself acting to impress others, or avoiding action out of fear of what they might think, you have left the path. Find satisfaction in following your philosophy. If you want to be respected, start by respecting yourself.
Location 194
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Whatever your vocation, pursue it wholeheartedly. Consider, choose, and commit.
Location 253
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It betrays a lack of an interior life when a person is overly focused on bodily things—whether indulging in food and drink, exercising to exhaustion, or spending excessive time on grooming. Care for your body as needed, but put your main energies and efforts into cultivating your mind.
Location 336