⚡ Bold

Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.

To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.

It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a great deal of it.

The best revenge is not to be like that.

If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it.

He who is brave is free.

Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it.

No man is free who is not master of himself.

That which does not kill us makes us stronger.

You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.

To find yourself, think for yourself.

The measure of a man is what he does with power.

The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.

Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you.

Commitment is an act, not a word.

To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.

When we are hindered, or disturbed, or grieved, let us never attribute it to others, but to ourselves; that is, to our own principles.

Sickness is a hindrance to the body, but not to your will, unless itself wills it.

You may be unconquerable, if you enter into no combat in which it is not in your own power to conquer.

For this is your business: to act well the character assigned you; to choose it belongs to another.

If you desire philosophy, prepare yourself from the very first to be ridiculed and mocked by the multitude.

If you wish your children, and your wife, and your friends to live for ever, you are stupid; for you wish to be in control of things which you cannot.

Whoever would be free, let him wish for nothing, have aversion to nothing, which depends on others; else he must necessarily be a slave.

He who has gained freedom by the faculty of reason may go where he wills and say: 'No one has power over me; I have been set free by God.'

What is the first business of one who practices philosophy? To throw away self-conceit. For it is impossible for anyone to begin to learn that which he thinks he already knows.

Any person capable of angering you becomes your master; he can anger you only when you permit yourself to be disturbed by him.

I must die. But must I die groaning? I must be imprisoned. But must I whine as well?

'Tell the secret.' I refuse, for this is in my power. 'But I will chain you.' What are you saying? You may chain my leg, but not my will; not even Zeus can conquer that.

God has entrusted me with myself. No man is my master, for God has made me free.

To this God you ought to swear an oath, such as the soldiers swear to Caesar. They swear to prefer the safety of Caesar before all things; and will you not swear to prefer your own safety?

He is free who lives as he chooses; who is neither subject to compulsion, nor hindrance, nor violence.

No bad man, then, lives as he wishes; and therefore no bad man is free.

How long are you going to wait before you demand the best for yourself, and in no instance bypass the discriminations of reason?

You have been given the principles that you ought to endorse, and you have endorsed them. What kind of teacher, then, are you still waiting for?

Let whatever appears to you to be best be to you an inviolable law.

The condition and characteristic of a philosopher is that he looks to himself for all help or harm.

In one word, he keeps watch over himself as over an enemy and an intriguer.

Do you not know that a good man does nothing for the sake of appearance, but solely for the sake of doing right?

Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner.

When a raven croaks in an inauspicious manner, let not the impression carry you away, but immediately distinguish in your mind and say: 'None of these omens is for me; but either for my body, or my property, or my reputation, or my children.'

Care about people's approval and you will be their prisoner.

If you don't trust the people, you make them untrustworthy.

Give up learning, and you will be free from all your worries.

What is the difference between yes and no? What is the difference between good and evil? Must I fear what others fear? What nonsense!

If you want to be given everything, give everything up.

Because he does not compete, no one can compete with him.

He who conquers himself is the mightiest warrior.

Why should the lord of ten thousand chariots act lightly in public? If you act lightly, you lose your root. If you are restless, you lose your power.

Do you want to improve the world? I don't think it can be done. The world is sacred. It can't be improved.

His victory is not a cause for rejoicing. To rejoice in a conquest is to rejoice in the slaughter of men.

To see what is right and not do it is a lack of courage.

The softest thing in the world dashes against and overcomes the hardest; that which has no substance enters where there is no crevice.

Hardness and rigidity are companions of death. Softness and flexibility are companions of life.

The hard and strong will fall. The soft and weak will overcome.

One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star. I say unto you: you still have chaos in you.

I love those who do not know how to live unless by going under, for they are the ones who cross over.

You must be ready to burn yourself in your own flame; how could you rise anew if you have not first become ashes?

Of all that is written, I love only what a person hath written with his blood. Write with blood, and thou wilt find that blood is spirit.

Not by wrath, but by laughter, do we slay. Come, let us slay the spirit of gravity!

You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.

Flee, my friend, into your solitude! I see you stung by poisonous flies. Flee where a rough, strong breeze blows!

Are you a new strength and a new right? A first movement? A self-rolling wheel? Can you also compel stars to revolve around you?

Can you give yourself your own evil and your own good and hang your will above yourself like a law?

He who cannot command himself should obey. And many a one can command himself, but still lacks much of self-obedience!

Only where there is life is there also will: not will to live, but—so I teach you—will to power!

Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames.

The sick are the greatest danger for the healthy; it is not from the strongest that harm comes to the strong, but from the weakest.

To live alone one must be a beast or a god, says Aristotle. Leaving out the third case: one must be both—a philosopher.

Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion.

Is man one of God's blunders? Or is God one of man's blunders?

Out of life's school of war: What does not destroy me, makes me stronger.

Formula for my happiness: A Yes, a No, a straight line, a goal.

The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.

Not merely bear what is necessary, still less conceal it—all idealism is mendacity in the face of what is necessary—but love it.

For believe me, the secret for harvesting from existence the greatest fruitfulness and the greatest enjoyment is: to live dangerously!

Live in conflict with your equals and with yourselves! Be robbers and conquerors as long as you cannot be rulers and possessors, you seekers of knowledge!

He who has a firm will molds the world to himself.

Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies.

The tree that would grow to heaven must send its roots to hell.

I want to have my lions and my eagles about me, that I may always have hints and premonitions to know whether my strength increaseth or decreaseth.

To endure my solitude I was in need of war; I had to force myself into the open, to defend myself.

How much truth does a spirit endure, how much truth does it dare? More and more that became for me the real measure of value.

The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.

Remain faithful to the earth, and do not believe those who speak to you of other-worldly hopes!

One must be a sea, to receive a polluted stream without becoming impure.

No amount of anxiety makes any difference to anything that is going to happen.

When you get the message, hang up the phone. For spiritual practices are just tools, not the living truth itself.

Insecurity is the very condition of life. To resist it is to resist life itself.

To be afraid of life is to be afraid of death. And to be afraid of death is to be unable to live.

The menu is not the meal. The map is not the territory.

Hospitals should be arranged like night clubs: places where people go to celebrate life and heal with joy, rather than grim temples of fear.

The only Zen you find on the tops of mountains is the Zen you bring there.

The more you give up control, the more power you have. Real power is the power of yielding, like water.

He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing, and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing.

The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely.

I'd rather be whole than good.

We cannot change anything unless we accept it. Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses.

If you have nothing at all to create, then perhaps you create yourself.

No tree, it is said, can grow to heaven unless its roots reach down to hell.

Find out what you fear most; that is where you will find your next growth.

A man who has not passed through the inferno of his passions has never overcome them.

To live what you think is good and not what other people think is good is the highest form of courage.

The word 'belief' is a difficult thing for me. I don't believe. I must have a reason for a certain hypothesis. I know. I don't need to believe.

Children are educated by what the grown-up is and not by his talk.

In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity.

Bizarre as it may sound, there are times when it is better to be unfaithful to one's principles than to one's soul.

The greatest danger to mankind is not nature, but man himself, because we are the origin of all coming evil.

We need more psychology, we need more understanding of human nature, because the only real danger that exists is man himself.

The highest, most decisive moments of life are often accompanied by fear.

To be normal is the ideal aim of the unsuccessful.

I cannot teach anybody anything; I can only make them think.

Do not value the applause of the crowd above the quiet verdict of reason.

The god appointed me to the duty of leading the philosophical life, examining myself and examining others.

I would rather die having spoken after my manner, than speak in your manner and live.

The first and greatest victory is to conquer oneself; to be conquered by one's own weakness is of all things most shameful.

Do not let the unexamined opinions of the multitude dictate the health of your soul.

I spend my whole life in going about, persuading you not to care for your bodies or your wealth, but first and foremost to care about the greatest improvement of the soul.

Are you not ashamed of heaping up the greatest amount of money and honor, while caring so little about wisdom and truth and the greatest improvement of the soul?

A man who is good for anything ought not to calculate the chance of living or dying; he ought only to consider whether what he is doing is right or wrong.

When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser.

The greatest honor you can pay to virtue is to practice it when no one is watching and no reward is promised.

Wisdom begins with self-discipline; an undisciplined mind is blown about by every passing wind of appetite.

The shortest and surest way to live with honor in the world is to be in reality what we would appear to be.

Better to stumble while running toward the truth than to sit contentedly in the lap of error.

One must never do wrong in return, nor mistreat any human being, no matter what one has suffered at their hands.

It is better to suffer an injustice than to commit one, for suffering an injustice harms only the body, but committing one ruins the soul.

If I were forced either to do wrong or to suffer wrong, I would choose to suffer rather than to do wrong.

Do not be angry with me for speaking the truth; for no man will preserve his life who genuinely opposes the multitude and prevents many unjust deeds from taking place.

Neither in war nor in the courts of law ought any man to use every craft to escape death.

Wherever a man has taken a position that he believes to be best, there he must remain and face danger, taking into account neither death nor anything else before dishonor.

The difficult thing, my friends, is not to flee from death, but much rather to flee from wickedness, for it runs swifter than death.

Not life, but a good life, is to be chiefly valued; and a good life is equivalent to a just and honorable life.

No citizen has a right to be an amateur in the matter of physical and mental training; what a disgrace it is for a man to grow old without seeing the strength and beauty of which his body and mind are capable.

Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances.

God has attached me to this city as to a great and noble horse which is sluggish by reason of its size and needs to be stirred by a gadfly.

You can do no harm to me; for it is not permitted that a better man be harmed by a worse.

You may bury my body however you please, if only you can catch me, and I do not slip away from you.

The gods give nothing that is really good and noble without labor and careful attention.

We shall be better and braver and less helpless if we believe that one must search for what one does not know, than if we believe it impossible to find.

I am not only now but always a man who obeys nothing in me except the reason that seems best to me upon reflection.

Men of Athens, I honor and love you; but I will obey the god rather than you, and as long as I have breath and strength I will never cease from philosophy.

The truly good and prudent man bears all the chances of life with dignity and always does the best with what is available to him.

A life of mere sensual indulgence makes human beings slavish in their tastes, preferring the life of grazing cattle.

We become just by performing just acts, temperate by performing temperate acts, and brave by performing brave acts.

Man, when perfected, is the best of animals, but when separated from law and justice, he is the worst of all.

Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees all others.

The brave man is not he who feels no fear, but he who noble-mindedly faces that which is terrible.

I never lose. I either win or learn.

Moral excellence comes about as a result of habit; we become what we do repeatedly.

The magnanimous person does not run into trifling dangers, but in great dangers he is unsparing of his life, knowing that there are terms on which life is not worth living.

Self-indulgence is justly censured, because it belongs to us not as human beings, but as animals.

Justice is the bond of men in states, for the administration of justice is the principle of order in political society.

The only stable state is the one in which all men are equal before the law.

Without virtue, man is the most unholy and the most savage of animals, and the most full of lust and gluttony.

He who has overcome his fears will truly be free.

A friend to all is a friend to none.

The antidote for fifty enemies is one true friend.

Courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.

No one loves the man whom he fears.

It is neither easy nor right to abandon a longstanding friendship that was grounded in virtue.

If you're going through hell, keep going.

The energy of the mind is the essence of life.

To write well, express yourself like common people, but think like a wise man.

Law is reason, free from passion.

He who has never learned to obey cannot be a good commander.

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.

Truth and justice are by nature more powerful than their opposites; when the right cause is defeated, it is due to the fault of its defenders.

Of all the means of persuasion, personal character is the most effective.

Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime.

The wise man does not expose himself needlessly to danger, since there are few things for which he cares sufficiently; but he is ready, in great crises, to give even his life.

We make war that we may live in peace.

Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.

Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now.

Human existence cannot be meaningless. As long as we have breath, as long as we are conscious, we are responsible to answer the demands of reality.

Freedom is only part of the story and half of the truth. Freedom is in danger of degenerating into mere arbitrariness unless it is lived in terms of responsibleness.

Man is not fully conditioned and determined but rather determines himself whether he gives in to conditions or stands up to them.

Decisions, not conditions, determine who a human being is.

Never, never, never give up.

Tragic optimism means that one is, and remains, optimistic in spite of the 'tragic triad': pain, guilt, and death.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.

To live is to be questioned by life, and to answer is to live responsibly.

No therapy can be truly complete if it treats the human being merely as a biological mechanism rather than a spiritual being capable of transcendence.

A man's character is shaped not by what happens to him, but by the attitude he takes toward what happens.

There are two races of men in this world, but only these two: the 'race' of the decent man and the 'race' of the indecent man. Both are found everywhere.

To smile in the face of misfortune is to assert the supremacy of the human spirit over external circumstance.

Do not fear the passage of time; fear only the squandering of the opportunities it offers.

Man has the capacity to rise above his biological, psychological, and sociological conditions—and to defy them.

The defiant power of the human spirit is the ability to turn a tragedy into a personal triumph, an obstacle into an opportunity for moral greatness.

What is called for is not to endure fate passively, but to shape our attitude toward it with heroic resolve.

Everything can be taken from a man but the unassailable sovereignty of his inner choice; in that choice lies his eternal freedom.

We are spinning our own fates, good or evil, and never to be undone.

Be systematically ascetic or heroic in little unnecessary points; do every day or two something for no other reason than that you would rather not do it.

In the acquisition of a new habit, or the leaving off of an old one, we must take care to launch ourselves with as strong and decided an initiative as possible.

Never suffer an exception to occur till the new habit is securely rooted in your life.

Security is mostly a superstition. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.

We must make automatic and habitual, as early as possible, as many useful actions as we can.

My experience is what I agree to attend to. Only those items which I notice shape my mind.

The greatest effort of the human will is the effort of attention.

Genius, in truth, means little more than the faculty of perceiving in an unhabitual way.

A mind that cannot hold an idea steadily before itself is at the mercy of every transient impulse.

Whatever holds the attention controls the action.

The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.

To feel brave, act as if we were brave, use all our will to that end, and a courage-fit will very likely replace the fit of fear.

Pessimism leads to weakness, optimism to power.

If you want a quality, act as if you already had it.

Courage is grace under pressure.

Compared to what we ought to be, we are only half awake.

Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.

In the ascent of a mountain, your belief that you can leap the chasm is the very factor that produces the spring in your muscles.

Refuse to believe, and you hesitate; hesitate, and you fall.

In the battle of life, belief is not an intellectual luxury; it is an active weapon.

Man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated.

Better by far to risk being deceived than to forfeit all possibility of truth through morbid dread of error.

You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.

The greatest thing, then, in all education, is to make our nervous system our ally instead of our enemy.

The world is all the richer for having a devil in it, so long as we keep our foot upon his neck.

If this life be not a real fight, in which something is eternally gained for the universe by success, it is no better than a game of private theatricals.

Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can't practice any other virtue consistently.

True peace of mind does not come from the absence of storms, but from knowing yourself sovereign over the ship.

To refuse to choose is itself a choice, and often the most cowardly choice of all.

Self-love is more cunning than the most cunning man in the world.

The head is always the dupe of the heart.

Our virtues are most frequently but vices in disguise.

We reprimand others not so much to correct their errors as to persuade them that we are exempt from them.

We only confess our little faults to persuade people that we have no big ones.

We would rather speak ill of ourselves than not speak of ourselves at all.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

The glory of great men should always be measured by the means they used to acquire it.

Nobody deserves to be praised for goodness unless he has the strength to be bad: all other goodness is most often only sloth or lack of will.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

We have more strength than will; and it is often to excuse ourselves in our own eyes that we fancy things are impossible.

There is more self-love than love in jealousy.

The greatest effort of friendship is not to show our own faults to a friend, but to let him see his own.

Self-love is the love of self, and of all things for self; it makes men idolaters of themselves, and tyrants to others if fortune gives them the power.

A wise man benefits more from his enemies than a fool from his friends.

True courage is to do without witnesses what one would be capable of doing before all the world.

Intrepidity is an extraordinary strength of soul that raises it above the troubles, disorders, and emotions which the sight of great dangers produces.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

Few people have the wisdom to prefer blame that is useful to them over praise that betrays them.

We are more easily governed through our vices than through our virtues.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

It is more necessary to study men than books.

Confidence contributes more to conversation than wit.

The intellect is always the dupe of the heart; when vanity whispers, reason obeys.

Stand for something or you will fall for anything. Today's mighty oak is yesterday's nut that held its ground.

Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached.

An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high; where knowledge is free; into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

No one succeeds without effort... Mind control is not your birthright. Those who have succeeded owe their success to perseverance.

Hidden nature is secret divinity. Man is a transitional being; he is not final. For in man and high beyond him rise the radiant degrees of the divine consciousness.

Before you start some work, always ask yourself three questions: Why am I doing it, What the results might be, and Will I be successful? Only when you think deeply and find satisfactory answers to these questions, go ahead.

A man is great by deeds, not by birth.

Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.

Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist.

He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.

The greatest religion is to be true to your own nature. Have faith in yourselves!

Stand up, be bold, be strong. Take the whole responsibility on your own shoulders, and know that you are the creator of your own destiny.

Strength is Life, Weakness is Death. Expansion is Life, Contraction is Death. Love is Life, Hatred is Death.

Do one thing at a time, and while doing it put your whole soul into it to the exclusion of all else.

You cannot believe in God until you believe in yourself.

Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.

They alone live, who live for others, the rest are more dead than alive.

The secret of religion lies not in theories but in practice. To be good and to do good—that is the whole of religion.

Be an atheist if you will, but do not be a hypocrite.

Fear is the greatest cause of all our sufferings and weakness.

Anything that makes you weak physically, intellectually and spiritually, reject it as poison.

Great work requires great and persistent effort for a long time. Character has to be established through a thousand stumbles.

The power of concentration is the only key to the treasure-house of knowledge.

Blessed are they whose bodies get destroyed in the service of others.

The cheerful mind perseveres and the strong mind hews its way through a thousand difficulties.

Do not look back, look forward! Infinite energy, infinite enthusiasm, infinite daring, and infinite patience—then alone can great deeds be accomplished.

In the day when you have not come across any problems—you can be sure that you are traveling in a wrong path.

A brave, frank, clean-hearted, courageous and aspiring youth is the only foundation on which the future can be built.

To succeed, you must have tremendous perseverance, tremendous will. 'I will drink the ocean,' says the persevering soul.

Renunciation and service are the twin ideals of human life. Intensify her in those channels and the rest will take care of itself.

The mind uncontrolled will drag you down forever; the mind controlled will save you.

Truth does not pay homage to any society, ancient or modern. Society has to pay homage to Truth or die.

Never think yourself weak. The greatest sin is to think yourself weak.

Let us not talk so much of religion, but live it.

A single moment of total concentration can unlock decades of learning.

The brave alone can afford to be generous and forgiving.

Stand upon the rock of your own convictions.

To be free is to be master of oneself.

Let your actions speak with the force of thunder.

The mind that knows no fear knows no defeat.

Truth requires no defense; it stands by its own light.

The measure of life is not its duration, but its donation.

Never compromise your dignity for temporary applause.

Live like a lion in the forest of life, fearless and serene.

Where there is selflessness, there is ultimate victory.

A 'No' uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a 'Yes' merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.

Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.

Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.

Action expresses priorities.

Non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind.

I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.

My life is my message.

Truth is the ultimate sovereign. Where Truth is, there is God.

To lose patience is to lose the battle.

You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.

A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave.

To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest.

In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place.

There are many causes that I am prepared to die for but no cause that I am prepared to kill for.

A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.

Truth never damages a cause that is just.

Morality is the basis of things, and truth is the substance of all morality.

In wildness is the preservation of the world.

A principle is a principle only when it is kept even when it loses you money or comfort.

Rights that do not flow from duty well performed are not worth having.

To practice non-violence requires more courage than to wield a sword.

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.

Whenever you are confronted with an opponent, conquer him with love.

Fear has no place in our hearts when we are anchored in truth.

The soul is not conquerable by external chains.

To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.

The path of truth is as narrow as it is straight.

A life without discipline is like a ship without a rudder.

Where there is no courage, there is no virtue.

Never return injury for injury; answer cruelty with dignity.

Truth needs no external badge; it validates itself.

Let honesty be the sole currency of your life.

Walk forward with truth, and fear will vanish like mist.

You can't cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.

Let us not pray to be sheltered from dangers, but to be fearless when facing them.

A lamp can only light another lamp when it continues to burn in its own flame.

Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain, but for the heart to conquer it.

Walk where your wild heart leads, but walk with sacred reverence.

Truth is not a commodity to be hoarded, but a light to be shared.

Truth is beautiful in its simplicity; falsehood alone requires ornament.

It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.

Fear twists our ideas and makes us crooked.