7th January 2022
“If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants”.
This is what Isaac Newton wrote in a letter to Robert Hooke in 1675. Learning from the failures and the understanding of those before in order to see further and achieve higher. The following quotes I have come across during the course of the pandemic. From ancient thinkers to modern thought leaders. From all the round the world on our Earth, our species ‘Homo Sapiens’, so called ‘Wise Man’, produced wonderful individuals who were able to reflect on the nature of humans and reality itself. Quotes from Stoic philosophers, world religions & scientists have similar messages expressed differently. I hope you may find these of interest:
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Those who are able to see beyond the shadows and lies of their culture will never be understood, let alone be believed by the masses
It is the nature of the wise to resist pleasures, but the fools to be a slave to them
Be discriminating about what images and ideas you permit into your mind
Sugar is to the body, what news is to the mind
No man is free who is not a master of himself
Never depend on the admiration of others. There is no strength in it. Personal merit cannot be derived from an external source
Writing is the geometry of the soul
Death smiles at us all but all a man can do is smile back
Your mind will take the shape of what your frequently hold in thought, for the human spirit is coloured by such impressions
You have power over your mind not outside events. Realise this, and you will find strength
Very little is needed to make a happy life: it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking
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
A gem cannot be polished without friction. Nor a man perfected without trials
The one who falls and gets up is stronger than the one who never tried. Do not fear failure but rather never trying
It takes a wise man to learn from his mistakes but an ever wiser man to learn from others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself
The greatest blessings of mankind are within us and within our reach. A wise man is content with his lot, whatever it may be
If you really want to escape the things that harass you, what you’re needing is not to be in a different place but to be a different person
It is not the man that has too little, but the man who craves more that is poor
Some people are so poor… all they have is money
The greatest wealth is to live content with little
What ought one to say when each hardship comes? I was practicing for this. I was training for this
The trials you encounter will introduce you to your strengths. Remain steadfast… And one day you will build something that endures: something worthy of your potential
Attach to yourself what is spiritually superior, regardless of what other people think or do. Hold to your true aspirations, no matter what is going on around you
Seek not the good in external things. Seek it in yourselves
The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you. Whose presence calls forth your best
Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something
Ignorance, the root and stem of every evil
When someone speaks ill of you; live so as nobody will believe them
No human should bring children into this world who is unwilling to persevere to the end in their nature and education
The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honours the servant and has forgotten the gift
Be where you are; other wise you will miss your life
Holding on to anger is like grasping hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned
If you can’t even clean up your own room, who the hell are you to give advice to the world
Do not look for a sanctuary in anyone except yourself
Conquer the angry one by not getting angry; conquer the wicked by goodness; conquer the stingy by generosity, and the liar by speaking the truth
Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom
Every lie is two lies, the lie we tell others and the lie we tell ourselves to justify it
The worst of our faults is our interest in other people’s faults
When proven wrong, the wise man will correct himself and the ignorant will keep arguing
He that is a friend to all, is a friend to none; he that sincerely is a friend to one, is truly a friend to himself: for a friend is second self
There is no enemy, there is no stranger
Everyone according to their own intellect, describes the source of consciousness differently
The past is already gone, the future is not yet here. There is only one moment for you to live
Realise deeply that the present moment is all you will ever have
Awareness is the greatest agent for change
You are not your mind or thoughts
Become conscious of being conscious
Pleasure is always derived by something outside of you, whereas joy arises from within
As long as you make an identity for yourself out of pain, you cannot be free of it
Words reduce reality to something the human mind can grasp, which isn’t very much
When you complain you make yourself a victim. Leave the situation, change the situation, or accept it. All else is madness
People may spend their whole lives climbing the ladder of success only to find, once they reach the top, that the ladder is leaning against the wrong wall
Thousands of clever tricks, yet not one of them will go with you in the end
Life isn’t as serious as the mind makes it out to be
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Hope you enjoyed reading from The Ancient Greeks, Far East & Indian Thinkers, Islamic World, Einstein himself and many others, can you spot which Giants’ shoulders you’ve been standing on?
-Jhoty
Jhoty 