Darrell

“35. A healthy pair of eyes should see everything that can be seen and not say, “No! Too bright!” (which is a symptom of ophthalmia). A healthy sense of hearing or smell should be prepared for any sound or scent; a healthy stomach should have the same reaction to all foods, as a mill to what it grinds. So too a healthy mind should be prepared for anything. The one that keeps saying, “Are my children all right?” or “Everyone must approve of me” is like eyes that can only stand pale colors, or teeth that can handle only mush.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

“In every man’s memories there are certain things that he will not reveal to everyone but only to his friends. And there are things that he will not even disclose to his friends, only to himself and even then under a veil of secrecy. But, finally, there are things that he’s afraid of divulging even to himself and every decent man has quite an accumulation of these. It might even be the case that the more respectable a person is the more he will have of them.”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky, Notes from Underground & The Double

“Perhaps I was the only clerk in the whole office who always looked upon himself as a coward and slave and that’s precisely why I felt I was cultivated.”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky, Notes from Underground & The Double

“4. Have I done something for the common good? Then I share in the benefits. To stay centered on that. Not to give up.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations