The State of Hellenistic Philosophy Five Minutes Before Stoicism

If you stub your toe, there's really nothing you can do besides scream and cry about it.

Plights and acceptance have nothing to do with each other, I bet.

It's probably pretty easy to achieve eudaimonia without ever having to practice virtue. Not that eudaimonia is very important, because it isn't.

Thanks to the power of the imagination, we never have to confine ourselves to the present moment, instead reimagining the past or litigating the future over and over again in our minds, to endless profit.

If it feels good – do it!

I can step into the same river any time I want.

I'm sure today I will not meet with interference, ingratitude, insolence, disloyalty, ill-will, or selfishness. And if I did, it would be because those who offend me are conscious of the difference between good and evil and have deliberately chosen evil.

External things, like health or money, are definitely good or bad in themselves.

Squeaky wheel gets the grease!

It's not possible to suffer in your imagination. It's your imagination! If you start suffering in your imagination, just imagine something good is happening to you, and then your problems are solved.

Nothing is ever going to rule my desires! And certainly not reason! Reason is the last thing I would ever allow to rule my desires, I tell you what.

It doesn't really matter if your will is in alignment with Nature or not. You can align it to whatever!

Wise people are often ostentatious.

When something bad happens to you, it's a good idea to make a lot of noise, so everyone knows they need to hurry over to help and feel sorry for you.

Peace of mind isn't very important, because it's so dependent on outside factors all going right at the same time.

Anyone can implicate me in what is degrading, and it's very easy to be angry with my brother.

Let it all out, baby!!

I have been made for this: to lie under the blankets and keep myself warm.

And I'll tell you something else: I'll bet I have more power over external events than I do over the state of my thoughts.

I might be able to escape death!

It's okay to do something shameful in pursuit of pleasure, because the shame will pass away just as quickly as the pleasure does, and it will be like nothing ever happened!

[Image via Wikimedia Commons]