The more we value things outside our control, the less control we have.
-- Marcus Aurelius
For more about Marcus Aurelius, keep reading....
About the Quote
This is very closely related to what Napoleon Hill would say in the 1900s: "If you fail to control your mind, you will control nothing else." When we focus on those things which we don't control, we run the risk of having done those things for nothing. Time spent on those activities could have been better spent on those activities within our control, and along the way we take our mastery of what we control to a higher level.
We can't control the weather. We can't control cosmic rays. We can't control wild beasts. We can't even control what people think of us. All we can control is ourselves, each of us as individuals. If we focus on controlling what we can control-- our emotions, our ideas, our behaviors, our knowledge, our actions-- we will become better individuals, and better individuals are needed for the creation of a better society. We help each other as best as we can, but controling ourselves takes precedence.
Some (More) Information about Marcus Aurelius
At the time Marcus Aurelius was born, he had these connections to the emperor's throne:
- his paternal grandfather was in his 2nd tour as consul;
- his paternal grandfather was also Prefect of Rome, the highest position to which a Roman senator could aspire;
- his father's sister was married to the man who would become the next emperor (and his immediate predecessor as emperor)
His maternal grandmother was heiress to one of the largest fortunes held by a Roman.
While the first Roman emperors from Julius Caesar through Nero werer like the last generation of Roman republicans-- amoral, cynical, extravagant, urban, and xenophobic of non-Romans-- the next set of emperors were more of the following characteristics: provincial, sober, civic-minded, pious, and religious.
During his apprenticeship in preparation to rule Rome, one of Marcus Aurelius' teachers was Fronto. He taught Aurelius rhetoric and philosophy. After outgrowing his training in Greek and Latin, Aurelius discovered a philosophic work known as {Diatribai} (Discourses), written by the religious former slave we know as Epictetus.
-- Source
Post Details
- Index4INDEX image made by @magnacarta using MS Paint.
- Quotes I use for Index4INDEX are stored in an Excel 2007 spreadsheet. Recently I added database functionality for limited searching.
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