Echoes

Without accepting the fact that everything changes, we cannot find perfect composure.

Seek not that the things which happen should happen as you wish; but wish the things which happen to be as they are, and you will have a tranquil flow of life.

What cannot be eschewed must be embraced

My formula for greatness in a human being is amor fati: that one wants nothing to be different, not forward, not backward, not in all eternity. Not merely bear what is necessary, but love it.

Face the facts of being what you are, for that is what changes what you are.

Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens.

It is to this law that our souls must adjust themselves, this they should follow, this they should obey. Whatever happens, assume that it was bound to happen, and do not be willing to rail at Nature. That which you cannot reform, it is best to endure, and to attend uncomplainingly upon the God under whose guidance everything progresses; for it is a bad soldier who grumbles when following his commander.

Everything that happens is either endurable or not. If it's endurable, then endure it. Stop complaining. If it's unendurable . . . then stop complaining. Your destruction will mean its end as well.

True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future.

Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them; that only creates sorrow.

Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together.

Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are.

Be detached from desire your whole life long.

It is indeed foolish to be unhappy now because you may be unhappy at some future time.

The greatest thing in the world is to know how to be oneself.

The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.

When you are content to be simply yourself, everybody will respect you.

The whole future lies in uncertainty: live immediately.

The only certainty is that nothing is certain.

O God, give us the serenity to accept what cannot be changed, the courage to change what should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.

You shall have joy, or you shall have power, said God; you shall not have both.

By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try, the world is beyond the winning.

No need to hurry. No need to sparkle. No need to be anybody but oneself.

Become what you are.

One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.