Category: Famous People Happiness

What is within our control? This simple question lies at the heart of Stoic philosophy. Epictetus begins his handbook for living with the disarming line: “Some things are up to us and some are not.” Within our power are opinion, motivation, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever is of…

Marcus Aurelius said that pain either affects the body or the soul. Only one of them do you have any say over. “The soul can choose not to be affected, preserving its own serenity, its own tranquillity. All our decisions, urges, desires, aversions lie within. No evil can touch them.”…

As human beings we all have the potential to be happy and compassionate people, and we also have the potential to be miserable and harmful to others. The potential for all these things is present within each of us. If we want to be happy, then the important thing is…