“There are only four possible states in which the human being can live, according to revealed sources. A person is either receiving blessings (niʿmah) or tribulations (balā’) from God; or is either living in obedience (ṭāʿah) to God or in disobedience (maʿṣiyyah).” — Hamza Yusuf, Purification of the Heart: Signs, Symptoms and Cures of the Spiritual Diseases of the Heart

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” — Upton Sinclair, I, Candidate for Governor: And How I Got Licked

“At 50, everyone has the face he deserves.” — George Orwell

“I have never looked upon ease and happiness as ends in themselves -- this critical basis I call the ideal of a pigsty. The ideals that have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth. Without the sense of kinship with men of like mind, without the occupation with the objective world, the eternally unattainable in the field of art and scientific endeavors, life would have seemed empty to me.

“استغنِ عمن شئت تكن نظيره، واحتج إلى من شئت تكن أسيره، وأحسن إلى من شئت تكن أميره.” — علي بن أبي طالب

“Communist until you get rich. Feminist until you get married. Atheist until the airplane starts falling.” — juanda brahma metta

“It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.” — Epictetus

“There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power or our will. ” — Epictetus

“You become what you give your attention to.” — Epictetus, The Art of Living: The Classical Manual on Virtue, Happiness and Effectiveness

“Be discriminating about what images and ideas you permit into your mind. If you yourself don’t choose what thoughts and images you expose yourself to, someone else will, and their motives may not be the highest.” — Epictetus, The Art of Living: The Classical Manual on Virtue, Happiness, and Effectiveness