Donald Robertson > Quotes

“Men are disturbed not by events but by their opinions about them.”
― Donald Robertson, Stoicism and the Art of Happiness: Ancient Tips for Modern Challenges

“Evil is to be found not within things, but in the value judgements which people bring to bear upon things. People can therefore be cured of their ills only if they are persuaded to change their value judgements,”
― Donald Robertson, The Philosophy of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT): Stoic Philosophy as Rational and Cognitive Psychotherapy

“«La riqueza no lleva a la virtud, sino que la virtud hace de la riqueza y todo lo demás algo bueno para el hombre, tanto individual como colectivamente».”
― Donald Robertson, Piensa como un emperador romano / How to Think Like a Roman Emperor

“If the individual components of a situation taken one at a time, independently of one another, are bearable, then why should you be overwhelmed by them taken together?”
― Donald Robertson, Stoicism and the Art of Happiness: Ancient Tips for Modern Challenges

“Everything that we see is changing and will soon be gone, and we should bear in mind how many things have already changed over time, like the waters of streams flowing ceaselessly past—an idea that we can call the contemplation of impermanence.”
― Donald Robertson, How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius

“The freedom of the truly wise man consists in following his own rational nature, by doing what is within his control in accord with wisdom and virtue. His mind is like a blazing fire, which consumes anything cast into it. Every obstacle to his actions just becomes an opportunity for him to exhibit magnanimity and the other virtues”
― Donald Robertson, Stoicism and the Art of Happiness: Practical wisdom for everyday life: embrace perseverance, strength and happiness with stoic philosophy

“My third maxim was always to try to conquer myself rather than fortune, and to change my desires rather than the order of the world, and generally to accustom myself to believing that there is nothing that is completely within our power except our thoughts, so that, after we have done our best regarding things external to us, everything that is lacking for us to succeed is, from our point of view, absolutely impossible. And this alone seemed to me sufficient to prevent me in the future from desiring anything but what I was to acquire, and thus to make me contented.”
― Donald Robertson, The Philosophy of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT): Stoic Philosophy as Rational and Cognitive Psychotherapy

“The goal of philosophy is to cultivate rational and realistic beliefs, not just trying to think happy thoughts. Recent psychological research tends to show that people who are able to accept unpleasant thoughts and feelings, without being overwhelmed by them, are more resilient than people who try to distract themselves or avoid such experiences, through strategies such as positive thinking (Hayes, Strosahl, & Wilson, 2012; Robertson, 2012).”
― Donald Robertson, Stoicism and the Art of Happiness: Practical wisdom for everyday life: embrace perseverance, strength and happiness with stoic philosophy

“The stranger paused for a moment before asking another question: “Where, then, should one go in order to learn how to become a good person?”
― Donald Robertson, How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius

“as people very often place intrinsic value on things outside of their direct control, and doing so undoubtedly contributes to human suffering in many ways.”
― Donald Robertson, Stoicism and the Art of Happiness: Practical Wisdom for Everyday Life

“Epictetus compares the mind to a bottle of water with a ray of light shining through it, representing our perception of external events. If the water is shaken, the light is refracted and disturbed. Likewise, when our mind, judgements, and perceptions are”
― Donald Robertson, The Philosophy of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT): Stoic Philosophy as Rational and Cognitive Psychotherapy

“the majority of ordinary people lack fulfilment and peace of mind because their values are confused and internally conflicted. We waste our lives chasing after an illusion of Happiness, based on a mixture of hedonism, materialism and egotism – crazy, self-defeating values absorbed from the foolish world around us.”
― Donald Robertson, Stoicism and the Art of Happiness: Practical wisdom for everyday life: embrace perseverance, strength and happiness with stoic philosophy

“From the moment we’re born we’re constantly dying, not only with each stage of life but also one day at a time. Our bodies are no longer the ones to which our mothers gave birth, as Marcus put it. Nobody is the same person he was yesterday. Realizing this makes it easier to let go: we can no more hold on to life than grasp the waters of a rushing stream.”
― Donald Robertson

“Health, wealth and reputation, by themselves, cannot help a foolish and unjust man attain the good life. Nor can sickness, poverty or persecution harm the virtuous man’s wellbeing.”
― Donald Robertson, Stoicism and the Art of Happiness: Practical wisdom for everyday life: embrace perseverance, strength and happiness with stoic philosophy

“Health is generally preferable to illness and wealth to poverty, depending on how they’re used, but neither is of any value whatsoever when it comes to judging whether someone has lived a good life, according to the Stoics.”
― Donald Robertson, Stoicism and the Art of Happiness: Ancient Tips for Modern Challenges

“goal of life is therefore the goal of philosophy: to love and attain wisdom, particularly with regard to the way we actually live our lives, so we could call it moral or practical wisdom. In fact, practical wisdom, knowledge concerning what is good and bad, was thought by the Stoics to be the basis of all other forms of human excellence, which were typically subsumed under the four cardinal virtues of wisdom, justice, courage and moderation.”
― Donald Robertson, Stoicism and the Art of Happiness: Practical wisdom for everyday life: embrace perseverance, strength and happiness with stoic philosophy