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“Man exists for his own sake and not to add a laborer to the state.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson, Journals (1822–1863)

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I think of the retirement Seneca has been describing as a subtle discernment about our relationships, instead of a rash withdrawal from our relationships. . . .

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Salvator Rosa, Diogenes and Alexander (1662)

“Stay out of my light .”

The King demands, the Philosopher reprimands. . . .

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If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.

— Epictetus

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Aesop's Fables 82 

The Fox and the Goat 

By an unlucky chance a Fox fell into a deep well from which he could not get out. 

A Goat passed by shortly afterwards, and asked the Fox what he was doing down there. 

"Oh, have you not heard?" said the Fox; "there is going to be a great drought, so I jumped down here in order to be sure to have water by me. Why don't you come down too?" 

The Goat thought well of this advice, and jumped down into the well. 

But the Fox immediately jumped on her back, and by putting his foot on her long horns managed to jump up to the edge of the well. 

"Good-bye, friend," said the Fox; "remember next time, 

"Never trust the advice of a man in difficulties." 

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Cormac McCarthy

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The man who feeds on manipulation and conflict will ultimately feed on himself. . . .

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"Simplicity" 

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) 

How happy is the little Stone That rambles in the Road alone, And doesn't care about Careers And Exigencies never fears— Whose Coat of elemental Brown A passing Universe put on, And independent as the Sun Associates or glows alone, Fulfilling absolute Decree In casual simplicity— 

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If it does not offer me fulfillment, it isn’t worth chasing, and if it can be taken from me, it isn’t mine to begin with. . . .

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Francesco Maffei, Jacob's Dream (c. 1650) 

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Nicolas Dipre, Jacob's Dream (c. 1500) 

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Elias Moskos, Jacob's Ladder (c. 1666) 

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William Blake, Jacob's Dream (1805) 

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Sayings of Ramakrishna 269 

As one can ascend to the top of a house by means of a ladder or a bamboo or a staircase or a rope, so diverse also are the ways and means to approach God, and every religion in the world shows one of these ways. 

IMAGE: J.M.W. Turner, The Vision of Jacob's Ladder (1830) 

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Happiness will only appear mysterious or unattainable when I am looking for it in all the wrong places. . . .

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If it’s so good, why am I still restless? If it’s so fulfilling, why do I continue to want more? . . .

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Heracles, after all, was a sort of superhero. . . .