Caison Britt > Recent Status Updates

When they blame you and scold you and discuss you, then you should rejoice; when they praise you and admire you, then you should be sad. Libel and a false reputation which you can destroy is the best school of goodness. The blaming and criticism of other people is bad. But at the same time it is understandable, and it is valuable as the only test of your love for God and your neighbor. —Tolstoy

It’s fun to think about the future. It’s easy to ruminate on the past. It’s harder to put that energy into what’s in front of us right at this moment—especially if it’s something we don’t want to do. We think: This is just a job; it isn’t who I am. It doesn’t matter. But it does matter. Who knows—it might be the last thing you ever do. —Holiday

“Truth is not virtue, but the lack of vices. The most common and the most widely used deceit is the wish to deceive not other people, but yourself. And this kind of life is the most harmful.” —Tolstoy

Do you think that anybody can damage your soul? Then why are you so embarrassed? I laugh at those who think they can damage me. They do not know who I am, they do not know what I think, they cannot even touch the things which are really mine and with which I live. —EPICTETUS

If an actor focuses on public reception of their project—whether critics like it, they will be constantly disappointed. But if they love their performance—and put everything they have into making it the best that they’re capable of—they will always find satisfaction. Like them, we should take pleasure from our actions—in taking the right actions—rather than the results that come from them. —Holiday

“Such as are your habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of your mind..” —Marcus Aurelius

A wise man always finds some support for himself in everything, because his gift is in obtaining goodness from everything. —JOHN RUSKIN

You should live your life as if you are ready to say good-bye to it at any moment, as if the time left you is some pleasant surprise. —MARCUS AURELIUS

Most rudeness, meanness, and cruelty are a mask for deep-seated weakness. Kindness in these situations is only possible for people of great strength. —Holiday

A person who sails far from the shore can see some shore-lines or cliffs. But when sailors go really far away from the shore, they can be guided only by the stars high up in the sky, and the compass which indicates their direction, and both these things are given to us.

No matter how low a person may fall, he will always be able to see that perfection toward which he should move. —Tolstoy

There is nothing more attractive than humbleness and kindness. But you should not seek kindness which advertises itself. —Tolstoy

“Reflect, then, that your ancestors set up those trophies, not that you may gaze at them in wonder, but that you may also imitate the virtues of the men who set them up.” —Seneca

“If you don’t have a consistent goal in life, you can’t live it in a consistent way.”

Religious teaching, that is, the explanation of the purpose and meaning of life, should be the basis of any education. —Tolstoy

“The raw material for the work of a good and excellent person is their own guiding reason, the body is that of the doctor and the physical trainer, and the farm the farmer’s.” —EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 3.3.1

“To stop talking about what the good man is like, and just be one.”

“Indifference to external events. And a commitment to justice in your own acts. Which means: thought and action resulting in the common good. What you were born to do.”

“External things are not the problem. It’s your assessment of them. Which you can erase right now. If the problem is something in your own character, who’s stopping you from setting your mind straight? And if it’s that you’re not doing something you think you should be, why not just do it?”