There was a virtually infinite list of things to get worked up about in 2017: political chaos, celebrity scandals, hyper-polarized news, endless opinions, your Twitter feed. Sadly though, most of what provokes us today is either out of our control or just doesn’t matter that much.
It’s tempting and gratifying to indulge in whatever trivial, scandalous, or pointless junk is fed to us, and there’s no indication that the information flood will cease in 2018. That being said, these 15 quotes can help to ground us in reality and distinguish truth from bullshit:
“For every complex problem, there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.” – H.L. Mencken
“If you really want to escape the things that bother you, what you’re needing is not to be in a different place, but to be a different person.” – Seneca
“It is impossible to learn that which one thinks he already knows.” – Epictetus
“Dogs bark at what they cannot understand.” – Heraclitus
“You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do, what you say, and what you think.” – Marcus Aurelius
“In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.” – Desiderius Erasmus
“The only thing that we know is that we know nothing – and that is the highest flight of human wisdom.” – Leo Tolstoy
“If you live with a lame man, you will learn to limp.” – Plutarch
“When the tree has fallen, anyone can cut the wood.” – Publilius Syrus
“Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work.” – Chuck Close
“Nobody knows what’s going to happen to anybody besides the forlorn rags of growing old.” – Jack Kerouac
“If you ever find that you’re the most talented person in the room, you need to find another room.” – Austin Kleon
“Shallow men believe in luck…strong men believe in cause and effect.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Better to be ignorant of a matter than half know it.” – Publilius Syrus
And most importantly…
“No longer waste time arguing what a good person is. Be one.” – Marcus Aurelius
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