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“No man can have a peaceful life who thinks too much about lengthening it.”
An obsession with extending life can undermine the peace of the life already present, because fear of ending displaces attention from living.
Source note: Moral Letters to Lucilius, Letter 4.
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“Men are disturbed not by the things which happen, but by the opinions about the things.”
Epictetus separates an event from the judgment placed on it, making interpretation a practical point of leverage.
Source note: Enchiridion 5 in George Long’s translation; the passage distinguishes events from the opinions that disturb us.
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“Take away thy opinion, and then there is taken away the complaint, “I have been harmed.””
The statement asks whether part of suffering is sustained by the story attached to an event rather than by the event alone.
Source note: Meditations, Book IV, in George Long’s translation.
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“True instruction is this:—to learn to wish that each thing should come to pass as it does.”
Stoic instruction begins by reducing the conflict between reality and demand, leaving judgment and action to work with what actually occurs.
Source note: The Golden Sayings of Epictetus, saying XXVI, Hastings Crossley translation.
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“Fortify thyself with contentment: that is an impregnable stronghold.”
Contentment creates a form of inward security because satisfaction becomes less dependent on circumstances that can be taken away.
Source note: The Golden Sayings of Epictetus, saying XVII, Hastings Crossley translation.
Source identified
“What I advise you to do is, not to be unhappy before the crisis comes.”
Anticipatory fear can make a person suffer an event that has not occurred, so Seneca asks the reader not to spend present peace on an uncertain future.
Source note: Moral Letters to Lucilius, Letter 13, section 4, Richard M. Gummere translation.