Musonius Rufus, Fragments 25

Musonius said that there was no more shameful inconsistency than to recall the weakness of the body under stress of pain, but to forget it in the enjoyment of pleasure.

 

I like to take credit whenever pleasant things happen to me, and I like to point fingers whenever unpleasant things happen to me. 

 

I am an achiever and a go-getter as long as the world does what I prefer, and I am oppressed and a victim as soon as the world does something I do not prefer. 

 

It is sadly no different when I look at the physical luggage I am carrying around. This bag of bones and flesh and blood is a noble and wonderful thing if it gratifies me, and then it suddenly becomes a terrible burden if it gets in my way. 

 

Providence has a wonderful way of calling out my hypocrisy, giving me the very things I don’t want, but yet also the very things I so desperately need, precisely for the purpose of reminding me that my head is screwed on wrong. 

 

These foolish contradictions only occur when I place my worth in anything other than the content of my own character.