Quotes I've found interesting

This is what you deserve. You could be good today, but instead you choose tomorrow.

Marcus Aurelius,   @dailystoic

Decisions are made and consequences follow, it is the way. Our task is to deal with the present.

King Alfred,   The Last Kingdom, s02e06

Is this not the time when a man must take time to appreciate what he has?

Brandon Sanderson,   Towers of Midnight

When so much is being thrown at you, when there is so much you could be thinking about or doing, the strength to tune it out and do the one thing that must be done is essential.

Ryan Holiday,   Daily Stoic Email, 4/16/2021

Our great mistake is to try to exact from each person virtues which he does not possess, and to neglect the cultivation of those which he has.

Marguerite Yourcenar,   Memoirs of Hadrian

To Marcus the true measure of his wealth was that whenever he saw someone in need of help, he could provide it. Moreover, that wealth afforded him a unique luxury: he would never have to ask for such a favor in return.

Ryan Holiday,   Daily Stoic Email, 11/19/2021

The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.

Jack London  

When change comes, you can scream and try to force things to stay the same. But you usually end up getting trampled. However, if you can direct the changes, they can serve you.

Brandon Sanderson,   Towers of Midnight

A very small part of an historical piece of fiction I stumbled upon: the hero goes through a prison. He crosses path with a very secondary character locked behind bars that say to him: "Hero, I envy you to go on adventures while I rot here in prison with a life sentence. I deserved it but now my life is useless, I'll spend it here in this small cell, there's no point to it." Poor man. He can't have a family, accumulate wealth or be useful to his community. The hero then tranquillises him: "Don't worry friend, because even in prison you can still practice and live a virtuous life."

@aka457,   Reddit

If you’re going a thousand miles an hour, if you see everything as a problem to be solved, what kind of life is that? Especially in a world where time once past can never be recovered, where everything is so fleeting, it’s a terrible shame to waste it.

Ryan Holiday,   Daily Stoic Email, 3/31/2022