Matthew Russell

“If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.” –Marcus Aurelius Emperor of Rome and Stoic philosopher, author of Meditations”
― Timothy Ferriss, Tribe Of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World

“It's now very common to hear people say, 'I'm rather offended by that.' As if that gives them certain rights. It's actually nothing more... than a whine. 'I find that offensive.' It has no meaning; it has no purpose; it has no reason to be respected as a phrase. 'I am offended by that.' Well, so fucking what."

[I saw hate in a graveyard -- Stephen Fry, The Guardian, 5 June 2005]”
― Stephen Fry

“Begin each day by telling yourself: Today I shall be meeting with interference, ingratitude, insolence, disloyalty, ill-will, and selfishness – all of them due to the offenders’ ignorance of what is good or evil. But for my part I have long perceived the nature of good and its nobility, the nature of evil and its meanness, and also the nature of the culprit himself, who is my brother (not in the physical sense, but as a fellow creature similarly endowed with reason and a share of the divine); therefore none of those things can injure me, for nobody can implicate me in what is degrading. Neither can I be angry with my brother or fall foul of him; for he and I were born to work together, like a man’s two hands, feet or eyelids, or the upper and lower rows of his teeth. To obstruct each other is against Nature’s law – and what is irritation or aversion but a form of obstruction.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

“In this life, there are always three parts to our path. The first is what our minds want to do. We think we know, and sometimes we use logic to uncover our way. But in the end, that isn’t always the right decision. “The second part comes from our hearts,” he continued. “Like the young lady said, we long to make our hearts happy. Reason would make you think that if we make our hearts happy, our minds would be at peace.” Sean hadn’t heard the professor talk like this since he’d met the grouch. Now, all of the sudden, he was a philosopher? Still, he listened patiently to see where the old man was going with his point. “The last, and probably most important part has nothing to do with our hearts or our minds. In fact, it has very little to do with us as individuals. It has to do with the bigger picture, the grand scale of things. It is what we are called to do.” He let the words hang in the old sanctuary for a few moments. Sean understood what Firth was saying. Sometimes, what people wanted didn’t really even matter. It was what the world needed of them, what life needed of them. Firth narrowed his eyes. “What the universe needs of us takes all precedence. And sometimes, it may not be what is best for us. It may even call us to give up our lives. But if that is what is needed, that is what we must do.”
― Ernest Dempsey, The Last Chamber