An ongoing collection of the most meaningful quotes I have come across.
“The purpose of life is a life of purpose.”
Robert Byrne – American Author
I mostly quote from Stoicism, below is a little more detail on Stoicism for those that are not familiar.
Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded by Zeno of Citium in Athens in the early 3rd century BC. It is a philosophy of personal ethics informed by its system of logic and its views on the natural world. According to its teachings, as social beings, the path to eudaimonia is found in accepting the moment as it presents itself, by not allowing oneself to be controlled by the desire for pleasure or by the fear of pain, by using one’s mind to understand the world and to do one’s part in nature’s plan, and by working together and treating others fairly and justly.
Zeno of Citium, the founder of Stoicism, in the Farnese collection, Naples – Photo by Paolo Monti, 1969.
Wikipedia
For a complete list visit this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Stoic_philosophers
“The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself with are externals, not under my control, and which have to do with the choice 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.”
Epictetus
In a beautifully worded passage, strongly discusses the shortness of life:
” It’s not that we have too short a time to live, but that we squander a great deal of it. Life is long enough, and it’s given in sufficient measure to do many great things if we spend it well. But when it’s poured down the drain of luxury and neglect, when it’s employed to no good end, we’re finally driven to see that it has passed by before we even recognized it passing. And so it is – we don’t receive a short life, we make it so.”
Seneca
“Get rid of everything that doesn’t matter so you can focus on what does”.
Unknown
“In general, therefore, if you want to do something make a habit of it; if you want not to do something, refrain from doing it, and accustom yourself to something else instead.”
Epictetus, Discourses, 2.18
Jeff Ryan 