HKB
5 passages · search this phrase →
Often appears with: will, choice, and freedom · temperance and self-mastery · immortality of the soul · wealth as unnecessary · true kingship as teaching · the passions and the emotions · the fear of death · reflection with ink and pen · reason and happiness · prudence and practical wisdom · plato read twice · moral preparation
Usually: argument (4) · exhortation (4) · the test or trial (2) · detachment (2) · reverence (2) · reflection (1) · confronting death (1)
“Is there anything more precious to thee than thyself? Nothing, thou wilt say. If, then, thou art master of thyself, thou wilt possess that which thou wilt never be willing to lose, and which Fortune cannot take from thee.” Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy · insight
“Yet he who reigns within himself, and rules / Passions, desires, and fears, is more a king—” John Milton, Paradise Regained · precept
Left with philosophers after others exit in tears, Cato argues that he needs no sword to escape life, regains self-mastery, sleeps briefly, then sends freedmen to check the departure of others at sea.
comes, he may find me unable to defend myself? To dispatch myself I want no sword; I need but hold my breath awhile, or strike my head against the wall." When he had thus spoken, his son went weeping out of the chamber, and with him all the rest, except Demetrius and Apollollides, to whom, being left alone with him, he began to speak more calmly. "And you," said he, "do you also think to keep a man of my age alive b…
Horace explains he learned self-control from his father’s warnings, using exemplary figures of vice to steer him away from wrongdoing, and he records small personal faults he corrects by reflection.
of malice, here The gall of fell detraction, pure and sheer: And these, I'swear, if man such pledge may give, My pen and heart shall keep from, while I live. But if I still seem personal and bold, Perhaps you'll pardon, when my story's told. When my good father taught me to be good, Scarecrows he took of living flesh and blood. Thus, if he warned me not to spend but spare The moderate means I owe to his wise care, '…
He continues on indifference: only the judgment is non-indifferent, so people must not neglect preparation or become abject over external events, and should value what they can choose.
not that which is acquired from the need (of such practice), but yield in that matter to those who have had practice, and be yourself content with firmness of mind. Go and salute a certain person. How? Not meanly. But I have been shut out, for I have not learned to make my way through the window; and when I have found the door shut, I must either come back or enter through the window. But still speak to him. In what…
Jesus explains that ruling oneself over passions is true kingship, and that true leadership guides others to worship God through doctrine; he argues wealth and outward crowns are unnecessary for this purpose.
Yet not for that a crown, Golden in shew, is but a wreath of thorns, Brings dangers, troubles, cares, and sleepless nights, 460 To him who wears the regal diadem, When on his shoulders each man’s burden lies; For therein stands the office of a king, His honour, virtue, merit, and chief praise, That for the public all this weight he bears. Yet he who reigns within himself, and rules Passions, desires, and fears, i…
Fortune explains that true happiness depends on what cannot be taken—mastery of the self and reason—arguing that if fortune can be lost it cannot be the highest good.
How manifestly wretched, then, is the bliss of earthly fortune, which lasts not for ever with those whose temper is equable, and can give no perfect satisfaction to the anxious-minded! 'Why, then, ye children of mortality, seek ye from without that happiness whose seat is only within us? Error and ignorance bewilder you. I will show thee, in brief, the hinge on which perfect happiness turns. Is there anything more p…