Though the whole world should praise him, he would not be stimulated to greater endeavour, and though the whole world should condemn him, he would not be depressed. So fixed was he in the difference between the internal judgement of himself and the external judgement of others.
The effect of life in society is to complicate and confuse our existence, making us forget who we really are by causing us to become preoccupied with what we are not.
Those who are fond of praising men to their faces are also fond of damning them behind their backs.
Marcus Aurelius·173 ADEverything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.
Friedrich Nietzsche·1882And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.
Friedrich Nietzsche·1886Against that positivism which stops before phenomena, saying "there are only facts," I should say: no, it is precisely facts that do not exist, only interpretations...
