Stoic Philosophy - Tumblr Posts
“Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it.”
—Epictetus
“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”
—Epictetus
“Don't seek to have events happen as you wish, but wish them to happen as they do happen, and all will be well with you.”
—Epictetus
“We should not use philosophy like a herbal remedy, to be discarded when we're through. Rather, we must allow philosophy to remain with us, continually guarding our judgements throughout life, forming part of our daily regimen, like eating a nutritious diet or taking physical exercise.”
—Musonius Rufus
“And this, according to Musonius, should be one of the primary objectives of philosophy: to reveal to us our shortcomings so we can overcome them and thereby live a good life.”
—Musonius Rufus
“Philosophy teaches that we should be above pleasure and greed. It teaches that we should love frugality and avoid extravagance. It accustoms us to be modest and to control our tongue. It brings about discipline, order, decorum, and on the whole fitting behavior in action and in habit. If these things are present in a human being, they make him dignified and self-controlled.”
—Musonius Rufus
“We cannot control the evil tongues of others, but a good life enables us to disregard them.”
—Cato
“The only wealth which you will keep forever is the wealth you have given away.”
—Marcus Aurelius
“Give yourself a gift, the present moment.”
—Marcus Aurelius
“Each day provides its own gifts.”
—Marcus Aurelius
“You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”
—Marcus Aurelius
“The more we value things outside our control, the less control we have.”
—Marcus Aurelius
“He has his wish, whose wish can be to have what is enough.”
—Cleanthes
In other words, genuine contentment with what we already have without desiring more.
“The goal of life is living in agreement with nature.”
—Zeno
“We have two ears and one mouth, so we should listen more than we say.”
—Zeno
“ vindica te tibi „ – and what we should learn from an old stoic like Seneca
if you have ever studied latin or philosophy, you will certainly have stumbled upon Seneca, a very problematic dude who, however, occasionally said the right things.
“ vindica te tibi „ is my all-time-favorite latin quote, it litterally means “ vindicate yourself for yourself „, but we can translate it better with “ take control of yourself „. in order to deeply understand this statement, let's take a look at stoic philosophy.
stoicism [ from latin stōicus and ancient greek Στωϊκός ( stōïkós ) ]: it’s a philosophy designed to make us more resilient, happier, more virtuous and more wise and – as a result – better people, better parents and better professionals. it is a philosophical and spiritual current with a rational (human rationality is the basis of everything), pantheistic (everything is God, God is everywere, the whole universe is God), deterministic (nothing happens by chance but everything is regulated by precise logical laws), and dogmatic (all that is, as being, is real and concrete) imprint, with a strong ethical and tendentially optimistic orientation. stoicism was founded in Athens around 300 bc by Zeno of Citium and later it was introduced to rome by Panaetius of Rhodes in the 2nd century bc. stoicism is a tool in the pursuit of self-mastery, perseverance, and wisdom: something one uses to live a great life, rather than some esoteric field of academic inquiry. [ sources wikipedia and dailystoic ]
Seneca was a stoic philosopher who lived in rome in the 1st century ad, and he wrote this quote in a letter addressed to Lucilus, a friend of his much younger than him, interested in philosophy and politics.
in this letter ( the first of his epistolary ) he deals with the theme of time and the brevity of life, a subject that he would often return to in many of his works. basically Seneca claims that life isn't actually that short, as the majority of people complain, we're just very good at waste our time beign slaves of something, instead of using it wisley. there are many ways people waste their time, he calls them " the busy ones ", those people who spend their energies on useless business and relationships, which lead neither to their personal growth nor to an economic, social or psychological advantage, just because they're used to it.
Seneca is saying that we are so used to wasting time, doing certain things just because we have been taught to do so, that we don't realize that we could do much more for ourselves and for our enviroment if we only knew how to use our time correctly.
" vindica te tibi " means that you have to take control of your time, because no one can give it back to you. your future depends on the investment in yourself and in your time, your future and who you are as a person is up to you. take control of yourself.