Men are disturbed not by things, but by the views which they take of things.
Source: The Enchiridion, chapter 5 (1948)
Topic
Control — what we actually have it over, what we only imagine we have it over, and how to live with the difference — is one of the most practically important questions in philosophy and psychology. The quotes here draw on Stoic wisdom, modern behavioral science, and the hard-won insights of people who have faced genuine powerlessness. The Stoic distinction between what is "up to us" (judgment, intention, desire) and what is not (outcomes, others' behavior, fortune) remains one of the most useful frameworks for reducing unnecessary suffering ever articulated. These reflections examine control in multiple registers: the personal discipline that expands genuine self-mastery, the organizational design that creates reliable systems, and the spiritual acceptance that releases the demand for control over what cannot be controlled. Understanding where your actual control ends may be the single most clarifying thing you can do for your own peace of mind, and these voices help locate that boundary with precision.
Men are disturbed not by things, but by the views which they take of things.
Man is made or unmade by himself; in the armoury of thought he forges the weapons by which he destroys himself; he also fashions the tools with which he builds for himself heavenly mansions of joy and strength and peace.
CALMNESS of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom. It is the result of long and patient effort in self-control.
Demand not that events should happen as you wish; but wish them to happen as they do happen, and you will go on well.
Would you have a great empire? Rule over yourself.
Man is a growth by law, and not a creation by artifice, and cause and effect is as absolute and undeviating in the hidden realm of thought as in the world of visible and material things.
Good thoughts bear good fruit, bad thoughts bad fruit.
A man only begins to be a man when he ceases to whine and revile, and commences to search for the hidden justice which regulates his life.