Even if you’re going to live three thousand more years, or ten times that, remember: you cannot lose another life than the one you’re living now, or live another one than the one you’re losing. The longest amounts to the same as the shortest. The present is the same for everyone, its loss is the same for everyone, and it should be clear that a brief instant is all that is lost. For you can’t lose either the past or the future; how could you lose what you don’t have? (Page 21)
Fearing Death Is Non-Sensical
The end of life is not an evil—it doesn’t disgrace us. It’s a good thing—scheduled by the world, promoting it, promoted by it. (Page 166)
Your Soul Is Your Refuge
People try to get away from it all—to the country, to the beach, to the mountains... Which is idiotic: you can get away from it anytime you like. By going within…Nowhere you can go is more peaceful—more free of interruptions—than your own soul. An instant’s recollection and there it is: complete tranquility. (Page 37)
Fame Fades; Memories Die
People who are excited by posthumous fame forget that the people who remember them will soon die too. And those after them in turn. Until their memory, passed from one to another like a candle flame, gutters, and goes out. But suppose that those who remembered you were immortal and your memory undying. What good would it do you? What use is praise except to make your lifestyle a little more comfortable? (Page 39)
Get Out Of Bed
At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself 'I have to go to work—as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was born for?’ (Page 53)
If It Exists, It Can Be Endured
Nothing happens to anyone that he can’t endure. The same things happen to other people, and they weather it unarmed—out of sheer obliviousness or because they want to display 'character.’ (Page 60)
Fight For Your Mind
Fight to be the person philosophy tried to make you. (Page 75)
Stop Avoiding Stress
For a human being to feel stress is normal—if he’s living a normal life. And if it’s normal, how can it be bad? (Page 76)
(This Needs No Summary)
Ambition means tying your well-being to what other people say or do. Self-indulgence means tying it to the things that happen to you. Sanity means tying it to your own actions. (Page 81)
Gratefulness Is A Wonderful Trick
Treat what you don’t have as nonexistent. Look at what you have, the things you value most, and think of how much you’d crave them if you didn’t have them. (Page 84)
Nothing Remains Of Outrage
In all that happens, keep before your eyes those who experienced it before you, and felt shock and outrage and resentment at it. And now where are they? Nowhere. (Page 94)
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