Such as are thy habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of thy mind; for the soul is dyed by the thoughts.

Marcus Aurelius · Written in his private notebook while on campaign; George Long's translation is the source of the popular paraphrase "the happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts".

Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.

Marcus Aurelius · Written in Greek in his private notebook while on campaign; the Long translation of 1862 is the wording everyone knows.

The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.

Marcus Aurelius · Written in Greek as a private note to himself; this is the Gregory Hays translation, the form everyone now shares.

You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think.

Marcus Aurelius · Private notes written on campaign and never meant for publication; Gregory Hays's 2002 translation.

I firmly believe that love [of a subject or hobby] is a better teacher than a sense of duty—at least for me.

Albert Einstein · From a 1940 draft letter to his friend the physicist Philipp Frank; the shared "Love is a better teacher than duty" is a shortening, and the bracketed gloss is the editor's.

Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead.

Attributed to Oscar Wilde · Recorded by Harold Mellor, a friend who travelled with Wilde in 1898 to 1900, and printed only in 1949 in the Marquess of Queensberry's Oscar Wilde and the Black Douglas; Quote Investigator finds it plausible but resting on one man's memory half a century on.

A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.

Mignon McLaughlin · An aphorism from the second collection of the Glamour editor's "Neurotic's Notebook" sayings.

“Such as are thy habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of thy mind; for the soul is dyed by the thoughts.”

“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.”

“The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.”

“You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think.”

“I firmly believe that love [of a subject or hobby] is a better teacher than a sense of duty—at least for me.”

“Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead.”

“A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.”

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