Philosophical Wisdom: Life, Virtue, and Self-Reflection

Understanding the concept of good and evil leads to forgiveness and a life free of fear or worry.

### Philosophical Wisdom and Life Lessons from Great Thinkers
* 🧠 "When someone wrongs you, ask yourself: what made him do it? Once you understand his **concept of good and evil**, you'll feel sorry for him and **cease to be either amazed or angry**."
* 🧘 "The first and most important field of philosophy is the application of principles, such as '**do not lie**'."
* 💡 "Remember that you must behave in life as at a **dinner party**."
* 🙏 "Gratitude is not only the **greatest of virtues**, but the **parent of all others**."
* 🤔 "The only way to make sense out of change is to **plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance**."
* 🌍 "A human being is a **part of the whole called by us the universe**, a part **limited in time and space**."
* 📚 "It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who, in the midst of the crowd, keeps with perfect sweetness the **independence of solitude**."
* 🎯 "Knowing yourself is the **beginning of all wisdom**."

when someone wrongs you, ask yourself: what made him do it? Once you understand his concept of good and evil, you'll feel sorry for him and cease to be either amazed or angry. If his concept is similar to yours, then you will be bound to forgive him since you would have acted as he did in similar circumstances. But if you do not share his ideas of good and evil, then you should find it even easier to overlook the wrongs of someone who is confused in a moral model. You know yourself, what you are worth in your own eyes and at what price you will sell yourself. For men sell themselves at various prices. This is why, when Florus was deliberating whether he should appear at Nero's shows, taking part in the performance himself, Agrippinus replied, Appear by all means. And when Florus inquired, But why do you not appear? He answered, Because I do not even consider the question. For the man who has once stooped to consider such questions and to reckon up the value of external things.

is not far from forgetting the manner of man he is. If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself but to your estimate of it, and this you have the power to revoke at any moment. The first and most important field of philosophy is the application of principles, such as do not lie. Next come the proofs, such as why we should not lie. The third field supports and articulates the proofs by asking, for example, how does this prove it? What exactly is proof? What is logical inference? What is contradiction? What is truth? What is falsehood? Thus, the third field is necessary because of the second, and the second because of the first. The most important, though the one that should occupy most of our time, is the first, but we do just the opposite. We are preoccupied with the third field and give that all our attention, passing the first by altogether. The result is that we lie but have no difficulty proving why we shouldn't. [Music] For I am not everlasting, but a human being, a part of the whole, as an hour is part.

of the day like an hour. I must come and like an hour pass away. Remember that you must behave in life as at a dinner party. Is anything brought around to you, put out your hand and take your share with moderation. Does it pass by you, don't stop it. Is it not yet come, don't stretch your desire towards it, but wait until it reaches you. Do this with regard to children, to a wife, to public posts, to riches, and you will eventually be a worthy partner of the feasts of the gods. And if you don't even take the things which are set before you, but are able even to reject them, then you will not only be a partner at the feasts of the gods, but also of their empire. [Music] Remember that all we have is on loan from fortune, which can reclaim it without our permission, indeed without even advanced notice. Thus we should love all our dear ones, but always with the thought that we have no promise that we may keep them forever, nay, no promise even that we may keep

them for long. Never call yourself a philosopher, nor talk a great deal among the unlearned about theorems, but act conformably to them. Thus, Saturn Entertainment, don't talk how persons ought to eat, but eat as you ought. For remember that in this manner, Socrates also universally avoided all ostentation, and when persons came to him and desired to be recommended by him to philosophers, he took and recommended them. So well did he bear being overlooked, so that if any talk should happen among the unlearned concerning philosophic theorems, be you for the most part silent. For there is great danger in immediately throwing out what you have not digested. And if anyone tells you that you know nothing, and you are not nettled at it, then you may be sure that you have begun your business. For sheep don't throw up the grass to show the shepherds how much they have eaten, but inwardly digesting their food, they outwardly produce wool and milk. Thus, therefore, do you likewise, not show

theorems to the unknown, but the actions produced by them after they have been digested. Philosophy is not an occupation of a popular nature, nor is it pursued for the sake of self-advertisement. Its concern is not with words, but with facts. It is not carried on with the objective passing the day in an entertaining sort of way and taking the boredom out of leisure. It molds and builds the personality, orders one's life, regulates one's conduct, shows one what one should do and what one should leave undone, sits at the helm, and keeps one on the correct course as one is tossed about in perilous seas. Without it, no one can live a life free of fear or worry. Every hour of the day, countless situations arise that call for advice, and for that advice we have to look to philosophy. For what prevents us from saying that the happy life is to have a mind that is free, lofty, fearless, and steadfast, a mind that is placed beyond the reach of fear.

beyond the reach of desire, it counts virtue the only good, baseness the only evil, and all else but a worthless mass of things which come and go without increasing or diminishing the highest good, and neither subtract any part from the happy life nor add any part to it. A man thus grounded must, whether he wills or not, necessarily be attended by constant cheerfulness and a joy that is deep and issues from deep within, since he finds delight in his own resources and desires. No joy is greater than his inner joys. [Music] My advice is really this: what we hear the philosophers saying and what we find in their writing should be applied in our pursuit of the happy life. We should hunt out the helpful pieces of teaching and the spirited and noble-minded sayings which are capable of immediate practical application, not far-fetched or archaic expressions of extravagant metaphors and figures of speech, and learn them so well that the words become works. No one, to my mind, lets humanity down quite so much as those who study.

philosophy as if it were a sort of commercial skill, and then proceed to live in quite a different manner from the way they tell other people to live. All you need are these: certainty of judgment in the present moment, action for the common good in the present moment, and an attitude of gratitude in the present moment for anything that comes your way. [Music] Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not. Remember that what you have now was once among the things that you only hoped for. True happiness is to enjoy the present without anxious dependence upon the future, not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears, but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is sufficient. For he that is so wants nothing. The greatest blessings of mankind are within us and within our reach. A wise man is content with his lot, whatever it may be, without wishing for what he has not. Pass through this brief patch of time in harmony with nature and come to your final resting place gratefully, just as a ripened olive might drop.

praising the earth that nourished it, and grateful to the tree that gave it growth. Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants. [Music] Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others. It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor. If you admit to having derived great pleasures, your duty is not to complain about what has been taken away, but to be thankful for what you have been given. [Music] Remember that you must behave in life as at a dinner party. Is anything brought around to you? Put out your hand and take your share with moderation. Does it pass by you? Don't stop it. Is it not yet come? Don't stretch your desire towards it, but wait until it reaches you. Do this with regard to children, to a wife, to public posts, to riches, and you will eventually be a worthy partner of the feasts of the gods. And if you don't even take the things which are set before you.

but are able even to reject them. Then you will not only be a partner at the feasts of the gods, but also of their empire. He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has. Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now take what's left and live it properly. We should try by all means to be as grateful as possible, for gratitude is a good thing for ourselves in a sense in which justice, that is commonly supposed to concern other persons, is not. Gratitude returns in large measure unto itself. There is not a man who, when he has benefited his neighbor, has not benefited himself. I do not mean for the reason that he whom you have aided will desire to aid you, all that he who you have defended will desire to protect you, or that an example of good conduct returns in a circle to benefit the doer, just as examples of bad conduct recoil upon their authors, and as men find no pity if they suffer.

wrongs, which they themselves have demonstrated the possibility of committing, but that the reward for all the virtues lies in the virtues themselves, for they are not practiced with a view to recompense. The wages of a good deed is to have it done. I am grateful not in order that my neighbor, provoked by the earlier act of kindness, may be more ready to benefit me, but simply in order that I may perform a most pleasant and beautiful act. I feel grateful not because it profits me, but because it pleases me. Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously, and because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude. [Music] The desire for imaginary benefits often involves the loss of present blessings. When you arise in the morning, think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love. [Music] The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself

which are externals not under my control, and which have to do with the choices I actually control. Where then do I look for good and evil? Not to uncontrollable externals, but within myself, to the choices that are my own. When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength. Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way. [Music] There is only one way to happiness, and that is to cease worrying about the things which are beyond the power of our will. [Music] Some things are within our power, while others are not within our power. Our opinion, motivation, desire, aversion, and inner word - whatever is of our own doing. Not within our power: our body, our property, reputation, office, and in a word, whatever is not of our own doing. In our control is the most beautiful and important thing, the thing because of

which even the god himself is happy namely the proper use of our impressions. We must concern ourselves absolutely with the things that are under our control and entrust the things not in our control to the universe. If you want your children and wife and friends to live forever, you are a fool because you're wanting things that aren't within your power to be within your power and the things that aren't your own to be your own. [Music] No person has the power to have everything they want, but it is in their power not to want what they don't have and to cheerfully put to good use what they do have. The content of your character is your choice. Day by day what you choose, what you think, and what you do is what you become. There are two things a person should never be angry at: what they can help and what they cannot. Make the best use of what is in your power and take the rest as it happens. Remember that among the things over which we have complete control are the goals we set for ourselves.

i think that when a stoic concerns himself with things over which he has some, but not complete control, such as winning a tennis match, he will be very careful about the goals he sets for himself. In particular, he will be careful to set internal rather than external goals. Thus, his goals in playing tennis will not be to win a match, something external over which he has only partial control, but to play to the best of his ability in the match, something internal over which he has complete control. By choosing this goal, he will spare himself frustration and disappointment should he lose the match. Since it was not his goal to win the match, he will not have failed to attain his goal as long as he played his best. His tranquility will not be disturbed. Stoics would recommend, for example, that I not concern myself with whether my wife loves me, even though this is something over which I have some, but not complete control. But when I do concern myself with this, my goal should not be the external goal of making her love me. No matter how hard I try, I could fail to

achieve this goal and would as a result be quite upset. Instead, my goal should be an internal goal to behave to the best of my ability in a lovable manner. Similarly, my goal with respect to my boss should be to do my job to the best of my ability. These are goals I can achieve no matter how my wife and my boss subsequently react to my efforts. By internalizing goals in his daily life, the stoic is able to preserve his tranquility while dealing with things over which he has only partial control. [Music] Nothing in the world is permanent, and we're foolish when we ask anything to last. But surely we're still more foolish not to take delight in it when we have it. If change is of the essence of existence, one would have thought it only sensible to make it the premise of our philosophy. [Music] A human being is a part of the whole called by us the universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts, and feelings as something separate from the rest.

kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. I do nothing but go about persuading you all, old and young alike, not to take thought for your persons or your properties, but and chiefly to care about the greatest improvement of the soul. I tell you that virtue is not given by money, but that from virtue comes money and every other good of man, public as well as private. This is my teaching, and if it is the doctrine that corrupts the youth, I am a mischievous person. [Music] By three methods we may learn wisdom: first by reflection, which is the noblest; second by imitation, which is the easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest. In our control is the most beautiful and important thing, the thing because of which even the god

himself is happy, namely the proper use of our impressions. We must concern ourselves absolutely with the things that are under our control and entrust the things not in our control to the universe. Therefore, the seeker after the truth is not one who studies the writings of the ancients and, following his natural disposition, puts his trust in them, but rather the one who suspects his faith in them and questions what he gathers from them. The one who submits to argument and demonstration and not to the sayings of a human being whose nature is fraught with all kinds of imperfections and deficiency. Thus, the duty of the man who investigates the writings of scientists, if learning the truth is his goal, is to make himself the enemy of all that he reads and, applying his mind to the core and margins of its content, attack it from every side. He should also suspect himself as he performs his critical examination of it, so that he may avoid falling into either prejudice or leniency. Yesterday, I was clever, so I wanted to

change the world today. I am wise, so I am changing myself. Don't just say that you have read books; show that through them, you have learned to think better, to be a more discriminating and reflective person. Books are the training weights of the mind; they are very helpful, but it would be a bad mistake to suppose that one has made progress simply by having internalized their contents. It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who, in the midst of the crowd, keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude. [Music] I think it's much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong. I have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of uncertainty about different things, but I am not absolutely sure about anything, and there may be things I don't know anything about, such as whether it means anything to ask why we're here. I don't have to know an answer; I don't feel frightened not knowing.

things by being lost in a mysterious universe without any purpose. Which is the way it really is, as far as I can tell. An intellectual is someone whose mind watches itself. I like this because I am happy to be both halves, the watcher and the watched. Can they be brought together? This is a practical question, we must get down to it. I despise intelligence, really means I cannot bear my doubts. You live as if you were destined to live forever, no thought of your frailty ever enters your head of how much time has already gone by, you take no heed, you squander time as if you drew from a full and abundant supply, though all the while the day which you bestow on some person or thing is perhaps your last. [Music] To teach how to live without certainty and yet without being paralyzed by hesitation is perhaps the chief thing that philosophy in our age can still do for those who study it. The philosopher wants to know things as they are, he loves the truth, that is an intellectual virtue.

he does not love to tell the truth. That is a moral virtue. Presumably, he would prefer not to practice deception, but if it is a condition of his survival, he has no objection to it. The hopes of changing mankind almost always end up in changing not mankind, but one's thought. [Music] A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices. The greatest obstacle to living is expectancy, which hangs upon tomorrow and loses today. You are arranging what lies in fortune's control and abandoning what lies in yours. What are you looking at? To what goal are you straining? The whole future lies in uncertainty. Live immediately. The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man. There are three classes of intellects: one which comprehends by itself, another which appreciates what others comprehend, and a third which neither comprehends by itself nor by the showing of others. The first is the most excellent. The second

is good. The third is useless. [Music] Look back over the past with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future too. [Music] Until we have begun to go without them, we fail to realize how unnecessary many things are. We've been using them not because we needed them, but because we had them. [Music] As a philosopher, if I was speaking to a purely philosophic audience, I should say that I ought to describe myself as agnostic because I do not think that there is a conclusive argument by which one can prove that there is not a god. On the other hand, if I am to convey the right impression to the ordinary man in the street, I think that I ought to say that I am an atheist. Because when I say that I cannot prove that there is not a god, I ought to add equally that I cannot prove that there are not the Homeric gods. Words do not express thoughts very well. Everything immediately becomes a little different, a little distorted, a little foolish, and

yet it also pleases me and seems right that what is a value and wisdom of one man seems nonsense to another. [Music] Aspire to be like Mount Fuji with such a broad and solid foundation that the strongest earthquake cannot move you, and so tall that the greatest enterprises of common men seem insignificant from your lofty perspective. With your mind as high as Mount Fuji, you can see all things clearly, and you can see all the forces that shape events, not just the things happening near you. [Music] Simplicity, patience, compassion, these three are your greatest treasures. Simple in actions and thoughts, you return to the source of being. Patient with both friends and enemies, you accord with the way things are. Compassionate towards yourself, you reconcile all beings in the world. [Music] What you are basically deep, deep down, far, far in, is simply the fabric and structure of existence itself. [Music] I have realized that the past and the future are real illusions, that they exist in the present, which is what there is.

and all there is you are a function of what the whole universe is doing. In the same way that a wave is a function of what the whole ocean is doing. Tomorrow and plans for tomorrow can have no significance at all unless you are in full contact with the reality of the present. Since it is in the present and only in the present that you live. There is no other reality than present reality. So that even if one were to live for endless ages. To live for the future would be to miss the point everlastingly. The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves. [Music] When you get free from certain fixed conceptions of the way the world is. You find it is far more subtle and far more miraculous than you thought it was. [Music] You are an aperture through which the universe is looking at and exploring itself. The only way to make sense out of change.

is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance. A scholar tries to learn something every day. A student of Buddhism tries to unlearn something every day. [Music] I'll tell you what the hermits realize. If you go off into a far, far forest and get very quiet, you'll come to understand that you're connected with everything. If then my awareness of the past and future makes me less aware of the present, I must begin to wonder whether I am actually living in the real world. Meditation is the discovery that the point of life is always arrived at in the immediate moment. [Music] The only Zen you'll find on the mountain top is the Zen you bring up there with you. Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone. [Music] Every intelligent individual wants to know what makes him tick, and yet is at once fascinated and frustrated by the fact that oneself is the most difficult of all things to know. [Music] Problems that remain persistently insoluble should always be suspected as questions.

asked in the wrong way. [Music] One is a great deal less anxious if one feels perfectly free to be anxious, and the same may be said of guilt. If you say that getting the money is the most important thing, you'll spend your life completely wasting your time. You'll be doing things you don't like doing in order to go on living, that is, to go on doing things you don't like doing, which is stupid. When we attempt to exercise power or control over someone else, we cannot avoid giving that person the very same power or control over us. Things are as they are. Looking out into the universe at night, we make no comparisons between right and wrong stars, nor between well and badly arranged constellations. Philosophy is a man's expression of curiosity about everything and his attempt to make sense of the world, primarily through his intellect. Zen does not confuse spirituality while thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen's spirituality is just to peel the potatoes. If we cling to belief in God, we cannot

likewise have faith, since faith is not clinging but letting go. What we have forgotten is the thoughts and words of conventions, and that it is fatal to take conventions too seriously. A convention is a social convenience, as for example money, but it is absurd to take money too seriously, to confuse it with real wealth. In somewhat the same way, thoughts, ideas, and words are coins for real things. Other people teach us who we are; their attitudes to us are the mirror in which we learn to see ourselves. But the mirror is distorted. We are perhaps rather dimly aware of the immense power of our social environment. It's like you took a bottle of ink and threw it to the wall - smash - and all that ink spread. And in the middle, it is dense, isn't it? And as it gets out to the edge, the little droplets get finer and finer and make more complicated patterns, see? So, in the same way, there was a big bang at the beginning of things, and it spread, and you and I sitting here in this room as complicated human beings

are way, way out on the fringe of that bang. We are the complicated little patterns at the end of it. Very interesting, but so we define ourselves as being only that. If you think that you are only inside your skin, you define yourself as one very complicated little curlicue way out on the edge of that explosion, way out in space, and way out in time. Billions of years ago, you were a big bang, but now you're a complicated human being. And then we cut ourselves off and don't feel that we're still the big bang, but you are, depending on how you define yourself. You actually are. If this is the way things started, if there was a big bang in the beginning, you're not something that's a result of the big bang. You're not something that is a sort of puppet on the end of the process. You are still the process. You are the big bang, the original force of the universe, coming on as whoever you are. When I meet you, I see not just what you define yourself as, Mr. So-and-So, Miss So-and-So, Misses So.

and so I see every one of you as the primordial energy of the universe coming on at me in this particular way. I know I'm that too, but we've learned to define ourselves as separate from it. [Music] Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution. It represents the wise choice of many alternatives. Choice, not chance, determines your destiny. I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies, for the hardest victory is over self. [Music] The high-minded man must care more for the truth than for what people think. [Music] It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. Anybody can become angry; this is easy. But to be angry with the right person, and to the right degree, and at the right time, and for the right purpose, and in the right way, this is not within everybody's power and is not easy. The self-indulgent man craves for all

pleasant things and is led by his appetite to choose these things at the cost of everything else. Where your talents and the needs of the world cross, there lies your vocation. Happiness is a quality of the soul, not a function of one's material circumstances. The only stable state is the one in which all men are equal before the law. Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom. My best friend is the man who, in wishing me well, wishes it for my sake. Learning is an ornament in prosperity, a refuge in adversity, and a provision in old age. One swallow does not make a summer, neither does one fine day; similarly, one day your brief time of happiness does not make a person entirely happy. To write well, express yourself like the common people, but think like a wise man. First, have a definite, clear, practical ideal, a goal, an objective. Second, have the necessary means to achieve your ends: wisdom, money, materials, and methods. Third, adjust all your means to that end. It is in our darkest moments that we

must focus to see the light. Man is a goal-seeking animal. His life only has meaning if he is reaching out and striving for his goals. It is easy to perform a good action but not easy to acquire a settled habit of performing such actions. Democracy arose from men's thinking that if they are equal in any respect, they are equal absolutely. [Music] Character is that which reveals moral purpose, exposing the class of things a man chooses or avoids. Poetry is finer and more philosophical than history, for poetry expresses the universal and history only the particular. Bad people are in conflict with themselves. They desire one thing and will another, like the incontinent who choose harmful pleasures instead of what they themselves believe to be good. Man is by nature a social animal. An individual who is unsocial naturally and not accidentally is either beneath our notice or more than human. Society is something that precedes the individual. Anyone who either cannot lead the common life or is so self-sufficient as not to need to and therefore does not

partake of society he's either a beast or a god. [Music] Time crumbles things, everything grows old under the power of time and is forgotten through the lapse of time. [Music] I have gained this by philosophy. I do without being ordered what some are constrained to do by their fear or the law. It is not enough to win a war, it is more important to organize the peace. [Music] All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth. [Music] The wise man does not expose himself needlessly to danger, since there are few things for which he cares sufficiently. He is willing in great crisis to give even his life, knowing that under certain conditions it is not worthwhile to live. He is of a disposition to do men's service, though he is ashamed to have a service done to him. To confer a kindness is the mark of superiority, to receive one is a mark of subordination. He does not take part in public displays.

he is open in his dislikes and preferences. He talks and acts frankly because of his contempt for men and things. He is never fired with admiration, since there is nothing great in his eyes. He cannot live in complacence with others, except it be a friend. Complacence is the characteristic of a slave. He never feels malice and always forgets and passes over injuries. He is not fond of talking. It is no concern of his that he should be praised or that others should be blamed. He does not speak evil of others, even of his enemies, unless it be to themselves. His carriage is sedate, his voice deep, his speech measured. He is not given to hurry, for he is concerned about only a few things. He is not prone to vehemence, for he thinks nothing very important. A shrill voice and hasty steps come to a man through care. He bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of his circumstances like a skillful general who marshals his

limited forces with the strategy of war. He is his own best friend and takes delight in privacy, whereas the man of no virtue or ability is his own worst enemy and is afraid of solitude. [Music] Knowledge of the facts differs from knowledge of the reason for the facts. Man is a tamed or civilized animal; nevertheless, he requires proper instruction and a fortunate nature, and then of all the animals, he becomes the most divine and most civilized. But if he be insufficiently or ill-educated, he becomes the most savage of earthly creatures. If men learn this, it will implant forgetfulness in their souls. They will cease to exercise memory because they rely on that which is written, calling things to remembrance no longer from within themselves but by means of external marks. What you have discovered is a recipe not for memory but for reminder, and it is no true wisdom that you offer your disciples but only its semblance. For by telling them of many things without teaching them, you will make them seem to know much while for the most part they know

nothing and as men filled not with wisdom but with the conceit of wisdom they will be a burden to their fellows. The man who finds that in the course of his life he has done a lot of wrong often wakes up at night in terror like a child with a nightmare, and his life is full of foreboding. But the man who is conscious of no wrongdoing is filled with cheerfulness and with the comfort of old age. Knowledge is the food of the soul, and we must take care, my friend, that the sophist does not deceive us when he praises what he sells, like the dealers wholesale or retail who sell the food of the body, for they praise indiscriminately all of their goods without knowing what are really beneficial or hurtful. For this feeling of wonder shows that you are a philosopher, since wonder is the only beginning of philosophy. [Music] To be afraid of death is only another form of thinking that one is wise when one is not. It is to think that one knows what one

does not know no one knows with regard to death whether it is not really the greatest blessing that can happen to man. But people dread it as though they were certain it is the greatest evil. Rhetoric, it seems, is a producer of persuasion for belief, not for instruction in the matter of right and wrong. And so, the rhetorician's business is not to instruct a law court or public meeting in matters of right and wrong, but only to make them believe. Then the case is the same in all other arts. For the orator and his rhetoric, there is no need to know the truth of actual matters, but one merely needs to have discovered some divisive persuasion which will make one appear to those who do not know to know better than those who know. Actions give strength to ourselves and inspire good actions in others. [Music] It would be better for me that multitudes of men should disagree with me, rather than that I, being one, should be out of harmony with myself. [Music] Those who are able to see beyond the

shadows and lies of their culture will never be understood let alone believed by the masses. [Music] Since those who rule in the city do so because they own a lot, I suppose they're unwilling to enact laws to prevent young people who've had no discipline from spending and wasting their wealth. So that by making loans to them secured by the young people's property and then calling those loans in, they themselves become even richer and more honored. Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws. People are like dirt, they can either nourish you and help you grow as a person, or they can stunt your growth and make you wilt and die. [Music] A hero is born among a hundred, a wise man is found among a thousand, but an accomplished one might not be found even among a hundred thousand men. You know that the beginning is the most important part of any work, especially in the case of a young and tender thing, for that is the time at which character

is being formed, and the desired impression is more readily taken. Shall we just carelessly allow children to hear any casual tales which may be devised by casual persons, and to receive into their minds ideas for the most part the very opposite of those which we should wish them to have when they are grown up? [Music] Anything received into the mind at that age is likely to become indelible and unalterable, and therefore it is most important that the tales which the young first hear should be models of virtuous thoughts. The inexperienced in wisdom and virtue, ever occupied with feasting and such, are carried downward, and there, as is fitting, they wander their whole life long, neither ever looking upward to the truth above them nor rising toward it, nor tasting pure and lasting pleasures. Like cattle always looking downward with their heads bent towards the ground and the banquet tables, they feed, fatten, and fornicate in order to increase their possessions. They kick and butt with horns and hooves of steel and kill each other, insatiable as they are.

excellence is not a gift, but a skill that takes practice. We do not act rightly because we are excellent; in fact, we achieve excellence by acting rightly. Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge. That's what education should be. I said the art of orientation. Educators should devise the simplest and most effective methods of turning minds around. It shouldn't be the art of implanting sight in the organ, but should proceed on the understanding that the organ already has the capacity, but it is improperly aligned and isn't facing the right way. [Music] The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men. The society we have described can never grow into reality or see the light of day, and there will be no end to the troubles of states or indeed of humanity itself till philosophers become rulers in this world, or till those we call kings and rulers really and truly become philosophers, and political power and philosophy thus come into the same hands. [Music]

never discourage anyone who continually makes progress no matter how slow. The difficulty, my friends, is not in avoiding death, but in avoiding unrighteousness, for that runs faster than death. There are two things a person should never be angry at: what they can help and what they cannot. Bodily exercise when compulsory does not harm the body, but knowledge when it is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind.

1 Hour Of The Greatest Motivational Quotes From History

Orion Philosophy is a project to help people learn about practical and usable philosophy with the aim of developing the way we think about ourselves, other people, and the world around us.

We have other social media and a core website (linked on our YouTube channel), but the purpose of this YouTube channel, alongside our growing community, is to share the best bits of philosophy with you. Our goal is to share high-quality narration and philosophy as clearly as possible and help people learn some tools to use in their own lives.

Specifically, the philosophy is to help with resilience, peace of mind, happiness, gratitude, and a more constructive outlook on life itself and our place within it.

I hope you find something useful!

*Disclaimer: The content we provide is meant for educational and inspirational purposes. This is not a replacement for clinical or professional mental health services.


Orion Philosophy

Understanding Others and Living with Virtue

Empathize with others' concepts of good and evil to forgive and understand them.

Remember your own worth and don't be distressed by external things.

Focus on applying principles in life, rather than just talking about them.

Philosophy is not for self-advertisement but for building character and guiding conduct, providing advice for a fearless and steadfast mind.

Embracing Virtue and Gratitude for a Happy Life

Virtue is the ultimate good, leading to constant cheerfulness and deep inner joy.

The key to a happy life is to be grateful for the present without constantly desiring more, as true wealth comes from having few wants.

Gratitude is a virtue that benefits the individual, and one should continuously give thanks for all the blessings in life.

Finding Strength and Happiness Through Internal Control

Good and evil are not found in external factors, but in our own choices and attitudes.

When we can't change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves, finding power in controlling our minds.

The key to happiness lies in ceasing to worry about things beyond our control and focusing on the things we can control, such as our own choices and actions.

One should focus on what they can control and trust the universe with the rest, while constantly questioning and examining their own beliefs.

It is important to not just passively consume knowledge, but to actively challenge and apply it to become a better thinker.

Living in the present and embracing uncertainty is key to personal and intellectual growth.

Finding Wisdom and Clarity in Zen Teachings

Zen teachings emphasize simplicity, patience, and compassion as the greatest treasures, guiding individuals to return to the source of being.

The philosophy highlights the importance of living in the present moment, letting go of fixed conceptions, and embracing the subtle miracles of the world.

Zen also encourages self-discovery, freedom from anxiety, and the release of clinging to conventional beliefs for true faith and understanding of the self.

- The concept of self-identity is explored in relation to the universe and the big bang theory, challenging the idea of being separate from the original force of the universe.

- The quotes touch on the themes of excellence, truth, anger management, and the pursuit of happiness, emphasizing the importance of self-improvement and moral purpose.

- The text also delves into the social nature of humanity, the passage of time, the art of governance, and the qualities of a wise individual, highlighting the significance of education and kindness.

A virtuous man is honest, calm, and self-sufficient, with a disdain for praise and a forgiving nature.

He values knowledge and inner wisdom, finding wonder in philosophy.

The fear of death and the power of rhetoric are also discussed in relation to virtue and wisdom.

Socrates discusses the influence of rulers and the importance of philosophy in governance.

He emphasizes the impact of education on the formation of virtuous thoughts and the pursuit of excellence.

Socrates also highlights the significance of progress, righteousness, and the limitations of anger.