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Quotes about focus
People complained about distraction long before phones. Seneca worried about readers who skip between too many books, and about busy men who never arrive anywhere. Thoreau went to a cabin to live, in his word, deliberately.
William James was blunt about attention, writing that it can't be held on a dull object for long without something new to find in it. It's a helpful thought to have on a Lock Screen, the screen you check most.
From the books
Checked word for word against public-domain editions.
If thou art pained by any external thing, it is not this thing that disturbs thee, but thy own judgment about it.
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If thou art pained by any external thing, it is not this thing that disturbs thee, but thy own judgment about it. And it is in thy power to wipe out this judgment now. But if anything in thy own disposition gives thee pain, who hinders thee from correcting thy opinion? And even if thou art pained because thou art not doing some particular thing which seems to thee to be right, why dost …
Give thyself time to learn something new and good, and cease to be whirled around.
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Do the things external which fall upon thee distract thee? Give thyself time to learn something new and good, and cease to be whirled around. But then thou must also avoid being carried about the other way; for those too are triflers who have wearied themselves in life by their activity, and yet have no object to which to direct every movement, and, in a word, all their thoughts.
We must look a long time before we can see.
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… but it will seem as if every stone had been turned, and the bark on every tree ripped up. But, after all, it is much easier to discover than to see when the cover is off! It has been well said that “the attitude of inspection is prone.” Wisdom does not inspect, but behold. We must look a long time before we can see. Slow are the beginnings of philosophy. He has something demoniacal in him, who can discern a law or couple two facts. We can imagine a time when,—“Water runs down hill,”—may have been taught in the schools. The true man of science will know nature better by his finer …
Anger often comes to us, but we often go to it.
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A large part of mankind manufacture their own grievances either by entertaining unfounded suspicions or by exaggerating trifles. Anger often comes to us, but we often go to it. It ought never to be sent for: even when it falls in our way it ought to be flung aside. No one says to himself, “I myself have done or might have done this very thing which I am angry with another for doing.” No one considers the intention of the doer, but merely the thing …
Stand by a stone and revile it, and what will you gain?
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… spectacle is over, seat yourself in the place reserved for the Senators and sun yourself. For remember this general truth, that it is we who squeeze ourselves, who put ourselves in straits; that is, our opinions squeeze us and put us in straits. For what is it to be reviled? Stand by a stone and revile it, and what will you gain? If then a man listens like a stone, what profit is there to the reviler? But if the reviler has as a stepping-stone (or ladder) the weakness of him who is reviled, then he accomplishes something. Strip him. What do you mean by him? Lay hold of his garment, strip it off. I have …
Accustom thyself to attend carefully to what is said by another, and as much as it is possible, be in the speaker's mind.
Looking at small advantages prevents great affairs from being accomplished.
In every work you will take in hand mark well what must go before and what must follow, and so proceed.
Always believe that something will occur to offend you.
Of things some are in our power, and others are not.
Your intelligence should always be far in advance of your act.
Mere energy is not enough, it must be concentrated on some steady, unwavering aim.
Put your whole mind into present action.
The universe is transformation: life is opinion.
We have more idleness in the mind than in the body.
Make no tragedy show of the thing, but speak of it as it is.
Straightway then practise saying to every harsh appearance: You are an appearance, and in no manner what you appear to be.
Let nothing tempt you or swerve you a hair's breadth from your aim, and you will win.
You must be calm before you can utter oracles.
Take away the complaint, "I have been harmed," and the harm is taken away.
Thought is the seed of action; but action is as much its second form as thought is its first.
The air of ideas is the only air worth breathing.
We should earnestly desire but few things if we clearly knew what we desired.
Stay at home in your mind.
Let your feet run, but your mind need not.
All this you surely will see, and much more, if you are prepared to see it,—if you look for it.
Death subdues a man who is gathering flowers, and whose mind is distracted, before he is satiated in his pleasures.
Attend to the matter which is before thee, whether it is an opinion or an act or a word.
A man who does not think for himself does not think at all.
A man thinking or working is always alone, let him be where he will.
To do your best you must own every bit of yourself.
Do not craze yourself with thinking, but go about your business anywhere.
Gravity is the root of lightness; stillness, the ruler of movement.
UNTIL thought is linked with purpose there is no intelligent accomplishment.
Five minutes of today are worth as much to me as five minutes in the next millennium.
O, how clever is anger at inventing reasons for its frenzy!
Popular sayings
Widely repeated lines with no name attached, because nobody can honestly put one on them.
Wherever you are, be all there.
Worrying is like a rocking chair; it gives you something to do but gets you nowhere.
More haste, less speed.
Measure twice, cut once.
Your direction is more important than your speed.
Overthinking is the art of creating problems that aren't there.
Keep your eyes on the prize.
What you focus on grows.
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