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"life, if courage to die be lacking, is slavery"

"the memory of this sorrow may one day bring delight"

"be your own spectator, seek your own applause"

"any life must seem short by those who measure their life by pleasures that are empty and are thus unbounded"

"that which is come expected comes more gently.  Yield not to adversity, trust not prosperity.  Keep in mind fortune's power". 

""if you wish to set a value on yourself, put away everything and look into your own soul.  At present you are taking others' word for what you are"

"the reward for all the virtues lie in the virtues themselves"

"Gratitude returns a lot,  justice does not"

"what is more wretched than a man who downgrades his benefits and clings on his injuries"

""we ought not to just read or to just write.  The fruits of reading come from the pen"

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"riches come from greed, which is not "a good"

"riches shower us with a semblance of good, which fools many men"

"There is only one liberal study- that which gives a man his liberty"

"a thatched roof covers free men; under marble and gold there are slaves"

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Your reward may not be honor, riches, or glory-thi ngs that are bestowed by others, or more often withheld-but a kind of inner glory and richness. You will see yourself not merely for what you may appear to be to others, but for what you in fact are, for what you have made yourself become, and the result, if what you then are is something truly worthy and wonderful, will be pride-that is, the justified love of yourself.

Directions cannot be given for achieving personal excellence, because we are all different. The gifts and potentialities of one person are not those of another. Indeed, each person is unique. His or her gifts and abilities are probably not exactly matched by anyone else on earth. And from this it follows that one person's excellence is his or hers alone. No one can tell you how to achieve yours.

This does not , of course, mean th at true pride require s th e recognition of greatness. Strength and virtue are generally honored, but not always, and sometimes your un ique worth can be hidden from everyone but yourself. Honor is often posthumous, and probably much more often it never comes at all even th ough deserved. Heroes die unsung, and so do great artists. Not every profound thought finds expression , and persons of geniu s are sometimes struck down before a single fruit of their great souls finds expression. None of this detracts from the virtu es of their possessors, however. Worth can only be measured by what one is_, not merely by what one is seen by others to be. Had Plato's Republic perished in the rubble of his culture the loss to th e civilizations that followed would have been immense, but such an accide nt would have detracted not at all from Plato's intrin sic greatne ss or worth. What is important is th at here was a man who could create such a work, and whose pride was therefore not misguided. The greatness of such an achievement is inher ent to it, as is th e virtue of its author."

Similarly, had Martin Luther King been murdered on his way to the march on Washin gton wher e he delivered, without notes or text, the speech that has come to be known as "I have a dream," then this would have been a gap in ou r history and would have diminished his fame, but it would not have diminished his greatness in the slightest chat here was a man capab le of such a feat, of creating something profoundl y moving and beautiful, whi~h n~ one else on earth could have done. Ot hers could have msp1red the civil rights movement, and of course many others did participate in those momentous events, but only he cou ld create the speech that has reverberated in our minds eve r since. His statu re would have been no less had no one ever heard it

The reward of personal excelle nce is your knowledge that you possess it. Th at reward is, in ot her words, pride. If others heap honors on you for your achievements this is, of course, not unpleasant, but a proud person does not need this. Such a person knows his or her worth, witho ut needing others to proclaim it. If you do a great deed -fo r example, save the life, health, or fortune of some deserving person through your own strength and witthen th e deed is done, and you kn ow it, without needing praise. You already have your reward. And the beauty of your deed is not that someone was rescued from disaster, no matter how overwhelmingl y important that may be to others. Its beauty lies in the strength and wit that you displayed, and that is your blessing.

th b f d ed l ·s not in its fruits but m the character 1t d1s- e eauty o a e plays and this requires no participation of ot~~rs. A poem of . th requi·res no audience to be what 1t 1s, nor does the umque wor . . . . . · pplause in order to re101ce m the creation of it poet require a . · Thus did Emily Dickinson write essenually for herself, and her genius was displayed in these poems themselves, not in the pre- . f them ror she kept them mostly to herself. Even if sentauon o , r, they had never been seen by another's eyes they wo~ld nevertheless have remained what they were, as would their creator. Similarly, the philosopher who thinks profoundly and truly is no less a philosopher for keeping his thoughts to himself. His contribution to culture is less for that, and so is his fame, but not his profundity and acumen. Van Gogh, whose paintings are sold at auctions for millions today, sold only one during his lifetime, for forty-five dollars. His aspiration was to paint, not to sell paintings. Genius is sometimes content with itself, and this is not hard to understand when you realize that things of great worth should be brought about for what they are and not for some additional ornamentation that they do not need.

two tota lly different kind s of human goodness are
kept apart . The first is simply benevolence. The second is personal
excellence. One can easily have one, and fall far short with respect
to the oth er. A Picasso can be quite lacking in the goodness of
Mother Teresa, and conversely, Mother Teresa can be quite lacking in the kind of goodness or human worth so dramatically displayed in a creative genius like Picasso. Both are paradigms of
what is good, but in two tota lly different senses of goodness. "

Let us, chen, think of living for yourself in this nobler way, which is really what the expression should mean, if you chink about it. If you really live for yourself, then you will cenainly not fit the image of being disregardful of others in a headlong drive to satisfy your ambition for wealth, power, and status. Indeed, that is the description of someone who does not live for himself, but lives for chose things-- wealth, power, and status. To live for yourself is to devote your suength, energy, and thought to what is good in yourself, and to make it better. It is a quest for personal excellence and nobility. That is something you are capable of attaining; so if you are really concerned with yourself and, literally, with your own good or well-being, then that is what you will tty to achieve, putting everything else aside in order to do it. And this means, of course, putting aside any fondness you might have for such things as wealth and status, in favor of what really matters to you, namely, yourself. No one was ever made better as a person by the acquisition of money, or a more powerful position. On the contrary, these are strong forces for the corruption of whatever is good in you. Therefore, if you really, in the strictest sense, "just live for yourself," then you will scorn specious externals such as these, no matter how they might glitter and tempt you. There is something that glows with more beauty than these, and that is your own nobility as a person.

Of wha~ does this nobi~ity consist? Well, consider that which is best m you, that whtch secs You l from all the other creature s on the earth, but fro apart,"

"What your thought, reason, and creative power ach ieve may or may not dazzle the world. The chances are overwhelming chat it will not. But that is of little importance. What is important is that you, as a person, will have done something worthwhile that perhaps no one else could do. You will have left the mark of your nobility and goodness on something, and even if it turns out that on ly you ever see or appreciate that mark, you still will have succeeded in everyth ing that counts. You will indeed have lived for your self, and justified your love for yourself. And you can be proud."

Sometimes, indeed, people find deep fulfillment in the humbl est of projects, which still require their unique creative gifts even though they are of little interest to most people. Th ese are the putterers and inventors of all kinds. Their goal is not primarily to draw applause or to enrich themselves, but just to show themselves that there is somethin g quite original that they can do, and which few, if any, othe rs can do. They do not merely laboriously assemble somethin g, but carry out some imaginative dream . Having done it, they can note, with deep satisfaction, what they h ave wrought, with the realization that, but for them, it would never h ave been done. 

Quite apart from any inventory of creative goals, there is one creative pursuit that is open to anyone possessed of imaginatio · f h n, intelligence, courage, and a correct concep tion o w at life is all about. That pursuit is the creat ion of a life-o ne's own life. You have within you che power to do somethin g that few others, and possibly no one else, can do. It may be something that, perhaps unpredictably, will leave a mark on the world and make your name known for generations, or more likely, it will tum out to be something chat is more or less unnoti ced by the rest of the world. That does not matte r. It will be noticed by you, and you are the only person on earth who needs to be impressed. For remember, you are your own judge, and a severe one. What the rest of the world chinks of you is of little importance. It has its own concerns and values. But what you think of yourself is of overwhelming importance, for you, too, have your own concerns and values. You need only make sure chat what concerns you tests and fulfills your own, perhaps unique, creat ive power, and that your values lie in chis direction. You do not have to take your va lues from others. You do not need to merely absorb what the world offers like a sponge, or imitate ochers like an ape; howeve r plea sant may be their applause (if it is ever given), the only person whose applause you will really ever need is your own . It is your life, and you are the final judge of it. If you make of your own life a work of art, and it becomes beautiful in your eyes, bearing in mind that your standards are high and severe, then what do you care if the world is blind to the worth of what you have created? You will have satis· fied the judge who counts, for that is no one but you. All this sounds straightforward, perh aps eve n easy, but do not be fooled. Thi s is the way of th e proud, and it is un common anddiff1cu · ave een h co do almost from the moment you first drew b h I caug t rear . c . es you to disrega rd, as truly worthless, what othe requ1r rs may think of you, and to set your own standard. You have a life to live; . easy eno ugh. But to create your own life is hard · d d chat 1s . . m ee , t hough it may be a life of utt er simplicity even Most people can never, even for a moment, disentangle themI S from the restraint s imposed by those around them nor se ve , can chey disregard their approva l.

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Th ese are not the proud. They would of course deny this, with vehemence, for few people would deny themselves the virtue of pride, but in fact they are not proud in any true sense of the word. Th ey take their values from others, and their love for them selves rests overy on what oth ers think of them rathe r than on h helrn1ng . . w at w we think of themselve~. Lookmg good m their own eyes simply th Y looking good m the eyes of everyone else If they h duces to · ave re I use of the world , th en they feel justified in applaud' the app a . mg themselves. But they have th ereby subordinated the judge who l\y counts."

a If you can at some point look clearly at your own life, and if l ·n truth declare to yourself that this life that is the wa you can . . ' , y u have Jived and the thm gs you have achieved, are your own yo ·on then you can love yourself justifiably. You can be proud creatl • . . · But if to any extent the ~ay yo~ live yo~r life is a response to how others would have you live 1t, it really 1s not your life at all, and there is nothin g in it to form a basis of pride. Indeed, to the extent that your actions and pursuits are your responses co the will and the approval of other people, you are the very opposite of a proud person, for you are th e slave of othe rs. A willing slave, to be sure-b ut a slave, still.

Th e only judge whose opini on matters to you is you, but make sure that this judge is a demandin g one. Th is judge, if a wise and proud one, does not care wheth er you are rich or poor, whether you are admired or ridiculed. This judge is concerned only with what you are as a person; with what you are capable of becomin g as a person; and with whether, through your own creative power, you in fact become that person . If you can, and if th e ideal that guides you is truly your own, and not somethin g handed down to you by tradition or church or family or what ever, then your reward will be fulfillment and pride, no matt er what you may be lackin g in the esteem of oth ers, about which you should care nothin g.

The great men and women of h istory are judged by their impact- battl es and wars won, books th at altered the course of things, inventi ons, and so on . But personal greatness is something quit e different from thi s and often forgotten, or indeed never known to any except its possessor. And it is within the reach of nearly everyone-eve ryone, that is, who is capable of creating a personal ideal and th en achieving it.

Fame is but the public recognition of greatness. Persona l greatness is somethin g within a pe rson, an d it may bein fact, it often is---quite unknown to all but its possessor. What matters is what you are, th at is, what through your own creative effort you become. Th at vast numbers of oth ers should see this is of secondary importance. Someone of total obscurity can embody it. Personal greatness is thu s its own reward, and does not depend on recognition by oth ers. Appl ause and recogniti on may be pleasant, but the reality that draws it- and which may fail to draw itis the genuin e treasure.

While it is hard to separate the ideas of personal greatness and fame, we have tried to emphasize that the two are not only not the same, they are often not even connected. Greatness must not be measured solely by its impact or the recognition it brings its possessor, for these are but the occasional effects of greatness. Since personal greatness is a quality of its possessor, it can exist and never be recognized by ochers at all except, perhaps, by a very few

If you ob.serve people in their various roles, some important and some not, you will find examples everywhere. On the one hand there will be those whose self-love must be constantly reinforced by the deference of others, people who cast themselves in the role of having position and power in order to obtain this deference, thereby easing their own insecurity. On the other hand, you will find persons of great powho appear bent on minimizing the appearance of this d aurhontY w Th th 1 ' aese are e tru y proud, whose love choug l is 1 · ustified by what they know themselves to be, and [hernse ves for need whatever to have others prove anything to them. 

The proud never swa arget never invite attention to themselves or their ach ievem gger, anq have no need to. They wish prima rily to look good in e;ts: lhei, eyes, and have little need for the admiration of others. eir o\\>t

Thus the only way wealth can be a destroyer of pride is by becoming a lure, by divertin g you from what is important, yourself, to what is not , to externa ls

The conspicuous display of wealth, let us note at Is Used. once · unmistakable sign of vulgarity"

"A slave is someone who can not set his own goals and live his own life, but exists to fulfill the aims of someone else. That, and not abstract ownership, is th e essen ce of slavery."

"Prid . th . ourse , c d th' e is e Jusy d I e of yourself, an ts can never be derived me I fr ·fie ov re y om ti val of others, however exalted these may be p 'd the appro . n e can I upon what you do for yourself, not what you d th est on y . . h o at e r . f others. Epictetus was ng t: If you say "Master I" fr th biddtng O . . · om e and with feelmg-wh1ch today would mean if you kn l heart f . ' ee , defer even to someone o immense stature and po boW, or th werchen you are a slave even ough, perhaps, a rich and blessed Freedom is measured not by what you own and not b slave. ' Y any . 'ble glory that you can claim, but solely by your heeding v1s1 . . your wn will with respect to what ts important to you.

for trul impressive "gifts" a building will be named for you, and your nam~ will survive there for generations, long after you have been totally forgotten. It is a kind of fake immortality. Your name lives on, to be sure, but not for anything you have actually achieved. It is a straightforward deal: the college gets some cash, you indulge your vanity. Nothing permanent is achieved, except an inscription of a name which, very soon, could be anyone's name, so far as those who see it are concerned."

"if you are a truly proud person you care little about what others may think of you; you certainly see the worthlessness of your mere name's perpetuation. The inscription of his or her name on a bridge, highway, building, or whatever has no more meaning to a proud person than its inscription on a tombstone. If you are proud you care about yourself, and your sense of your own worth rests, not on what name you are called by, but on whatI achieve. Whether some greater or smaller herd of acrua y . f th h. . yof acrua y . f th h. . you rsons is aware o ose ac 1evements is of little value k ownPe l u!l fl A d it is certain ly of nova ue whatever that those persons u n f co yo · . d d by the appearance o your name here or there of errun e • • are r rned status you have achieved. They do not care. And rne presu so ·ther should you

"People confuse pride with arrogance.  In truth they are so different as to be mutually exclusive"

"I Iis response y not was th of a profoundly proud man, and he knew it. Its very playfulne at the exp ression of Lincoln's seriousness. He was a man of s ff~ was th th h ld d. . . h fr' 1· h u ic1ent streng at e cou 1sm1ss, wit 1vo 1ty, w at a lesse rpe~n would treat as an insult. An arrogant president would have flush with rage at this apparent insubordination, would have summ ed . . Oned the cabinet member into his presence for a tongue lashing and to demand an apo logy. A truly great man, co nscious of his own worth, feels no inclination to such behavior."

"Arrogance is an expression not of pride, but of basic inse CUrity. O ne tends to be arrogant to just the extent that he or she is lacking in a sense of true self-worth . It is an attempt to prove, not just to others but to one self, that one possesses power and, in that sense, superiority ove r other s. A proud person needs no proof of his or her supe riority, and ce rtainl y has no need to prove it to anyone else. 

Vulgarity (from the course. Latin vulgus, meaning crowd or throng) is commonness, and a vulgarian is simply a common person, someone lackin g in wit, sensitivity, and education. Indeed, the vu lgar were origina lly thought of simply as the illiterate, and were thus contrasted with the educated, whom they vastly outnumber ed. Th e thoughts and opinions of "the vulgar" were acco rdingl y those of common, ordinary people, therefore th oughts and op inions that were not based upon learning or trained judgment."

"The vulgar are the common. They do not all share the same opinions and tastes, but their opinions and tastes are all equally ground less. In general, the vu lgar believe wh h at t ey w believe, and either do not see or do not understa d ant to th n anyevid to e contrary, or else they deny its relevance ,.,_ ence · 1 ney ge take their beliefs and tastes from those around the h _nerally m, t at 1s fr the larger class of the vulgar"

Th e vulgar cling to the governing beliefs, tastes, and atti· tude s that they imbibed in adolescence, and the decades that fol. low might as well never have been, so far as any influence on the se people is concerned. The music they liked then they like still, their tastes having underg one no refinement at all. And so it is with everything. What they were once comfortable with they find comfortable still. While the world changes around them, they remain essentia lly unchanged. Vulgarism is thus not a distinction of class, power, or wealth. The richest and most powerful among us are likely to be no less vulgar th an the least. Nor can the vulgar be distinguished by a use of what has come to be thought of as vu lgar language. Strictly speaking, vulgar language is simp ly language that is misused, Ian· guage in which significant distinctions are never made

The contrast to the vulgarian is someone who is uncommon,, whose beliefs, tastes, and attitudes have been tested and refined through experience and education.   Inner life and outward behavior are a testament to the highest self-created standards.

Meanwhil e, the precious · days came and went, not for him but for the least known of people who had learned how to make them count. Instead of stonng up gold, they were enh anc ing what Plato would have called the treasures of the soul. Avo iding the religious overtones of this, we can make the same point by saying th at there are people who have learned not to waste their time in pointless acc umulation, whether of gold, nuts, or jelly beans, but to use their precious days to enhance the on ly thing they possess that is truly precious, and chat is, themselves. To set for yourse lf an ideal, not of what you want to own, but of what you want to be as a person - this, and only chis, is the way to use your time to advantage to yourself

Someone has said that you should liv e each day as if it were your last, but there cannot rea lly be very mu ch truth in this. Thus i~ wou ld be b~tter to say that you should live each day as though it were your first- that is, the beginning of the new person that you at last aspire to be. The time has come for ll co face an unflattering self-apprai sal and to ask not h yo w atyou want co do, or even what you want to do the rest of your life, but rather what you want co be.

Th ere is somethi ng of lastin g worth that you can do, wh1c~ 1s s~ch that, unless you do it, it will never be done at all. Maybe 1t will be some maste rpi ece of arc or ti·te b , rature , ut probably not; more likely it will be somet hin g of great worth noticed by no one but yo u, and maybe it will be the le f gacy o your character_ conferr ed upon your children."

"Suppase, for examp le, that you have cheat d 1i b . Id h . d d' e · o e sure no one wou want · r t ts egra k ing fact known tooth ers, b ut the real ' price you pay . . ,s 1orever newing it yourse lf · annot possibly be It c reconciled with your sense of your own sclf-wo th S h h · · h r · o t e reason for not c eanng ,s not t at you might be caught v If · IOU are already caught, by yourse , and the price you pay is al d rea y much t high, because you pay with yourself.

Aproud person creates his or her own rules, but we must be careful not to read into this implications that are not there. It does not mean that a proud person is disregardful of ochers, or that this person is heedless of the basic principles on which civil society rests. Moreover, while the proud live by their own rules, they are also their own judges-and ve:ry severe ones. This means that the proud set very high standards for themselves. Such persons are not shaken by th e disapproval of others, although they do care deeply about self-approv al. The real failure is failure not in the eyes 0£ others, but in one's own eyes. This is an essential mark of pride."

"Aperson with an untrained, slovenly, and childish mind cannot possibly have a sense of personal excellence , for it is the refinement and precision of thought and sensitivity of feeling chat, more than anything else, sets the proud apart from everyone else. To be a worthwhile human being, you must be more than just another human being. The latter exist in abundance; the former, though not rare, are in the minority. To be among these is more important than wealth or power or any ocher external good, for it is what you are and not merely what you have.