What is the quote/maxim that is central in your life?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyYnstGB3rM

File: shantideva-worry.jpg (318KB, 980x1363px) Image search: [Google]

318KB, 980x1363px

Everything is empty.

>>18182378
Act like the person you want to be.

Remember no man is a failure who has friends.

File: ebin5.jpg (13KB, 300x150px) Image search: [Google]

13KB, 300x150px

let's eat, drink and be marry, for tomorrow we die

Good Times don't last forever and neither do bad times.

Don't take life seriously, no one's made it out alive.

>>18182378
It's a quote from a song, and I dont know if it's what you're looking for, but this part, and the song in general, really helped me in some tough times and I go back to it constantly.

"But I'm just learning to cope, cause damn this depression is a slippery slope. Got this hard-ass climb, every grip in the rope. But in the midst of it all there's still a feeling of hope, cause if God dont got me then I got myself."

That end bit in particular is what really helped me and something I live my life by. I felt trapped, in my body in my mind, in my home, in my friend group, in my life. I felt like everything was happening at me and my control was non-existent, like I was waiting for things to get better and didn't understand why they wouldnt. Why did the people around me catch all these breaks? Why am I not like my friends? Why do I feel so alone and unliked? Why have I never had a relationship?

It helped me understand that I need to take pride in me, that I need to put effort in me, that I am in control, and ultimately, I am the one that matters the most to me. It's taken a long time to get to where I am now from where I was. I've made a lot of changes in only two years, My life is completely different, although not ideal, and I struggle with fixing those things that are still wrong. I was already going through those changes when I heard that song, but I was never able to capture that change in mindset and appreciate what I was changing, how much effort and courage and time it took to get to where I was, and the continuing struggle to get to where I want to be. It was a perfect encapsulation of how I was approaching my life and how important it was for me to persevere in spite of any setbacks I encountered along the way and continue to encounter.

I don't know if any of this will help you, but maybe you can pick up a certain piece of your own puzzle within mine. I understand how important this search can be and I wish you luck.

All things pass.

>>18182378
I wiII do what you WONT today
So i can do what you CANT tommorow

>>18182378
"Fuck it" is my mote

>>18182378

philosophy isnt baout making life easier to bear, its about making life easier to understand.

#YOLO

>>18182378
"You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist."

carpe diem :^)

za warudo toki wo tamare

>>18182535
Unironically this. Obviously not in the "let's finish this vodka bottle and start racing on the autobahn while getting a handjob" sense but simply leading the life I want to live and not letting opinions of other affect what I do.

File: GettyImages-523203676.jpg (171KB, 640x425px) Image search: [Google]

171KB, 640x425px

>>18182378
Memento mori

"Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today."
- Ben Franklin

>>18183030
That guy never heard of decision fatigue, eh?

Treat others how you would like to be treated

Nothing lasts forever.

>>18182378
Oh man, this is something I am struggling with so hard right now. I'm in my mid 20s and can't decide what values are the most important in life.
Is it getting what you want? Is it honor? Is it friendship? Is it family? Is it freedom? Is life worth valuing at all? Or is life completely overrated? So many questions...

Much of this is very dependent on your personal beliefs I think. Although I am not sure about many things, I can tell that I am fascinated by the design of living things and I also believe that the development of life is not mere coincidence. Our organic system is just too refined and complex to have been just randomly generated somehow in time. So I believe there must have been a designer at one point. I don't want to debate who this was -it could have been some kind of godly being or just alien experiments or a race of highly intellectual beings that wanted to create us like we seek to create images of ourselves in form of robots.

What I want to say is that I value life because I am impressed by our design. And this is basically the process for most questions. You have to ask yourself what you truly believe and answer this for yourself.
No one can tell you what you believe, you have to figure it out for yourself.

>>18182378
>le maxims/quotes
that's cringey

>>18183041
>>18183047
fine, this

>>18182378

"Altruism and hedonism."

>>18183030
"Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after."

"Will is free."
It reminds me that my life is what I make of it and that I and I alone am the master of my fate.

>>18183099
>master of my fate
Glorious contradiction.

>>18182464
Oh god this.
Thank You whoever wrote this, i don't know why but i connect to this situation a lot and am going through this time, where nothing actually is bad, i don't have life threatening problems or issues, but somehow the mental behaviour doesn't resonate day to day, am doing what i love, but there's still a need and urge to go and achieve things i feel are tough. When people/friends/families around me seem to break about but i do know everyone goes through a lot so i seem to calm myself down in such situations. I hope i actually get to develop attitude where nothing external truly matters on the inside (many a times i seem to fake this to my family/myself but really, it does matter afterall)

>>18182378

''Never do to others what you don't want them to do to you. Always do to others what you want them to do to you''

>>18183060
>Is life worth valuing at all? Or is life completely overrated?
This is basically my mindset for everything: I see no reason to value this particular thing or adhere to this particular rule. In fact, it would personally benefit me much more if I didn't. However, everyone else seems to adhere to this rule therefore I have this gnawing feeling that I should adhere to and value this rule as well.

Everyone says life is valuable but sometimes I really wonder if that's true, or if someone is just saying that to keep the peace.

Same thing goes for a lot of things like personal life, work ethic, should I feel bad for (hypothetically) committing crime X, etc...

Your mind shapes your world.

We're all gonna make it, brah.

>>18182378
Always focus on the long run. Cut out anyone thats poisenous in behaviour.

Hope for the best but expect the worst

I say this to myself almost everyday

>>18182955
How would you go about this if you work for most of your day? Just sounds like wishful thinking...

>>18183147
You're welcome, it was very cathartic to write, I had to compose myself typing it out. This is my first time writing my thoughts about my change in mindset like that and I'm glad someone else got something from it. I can't offer you any specific advice as I dont know you, but believing and trusting yourself to do right by you is a continuous process that takes work and time to bear fruit. I cant say if there is a final stopping point, maybe the rejection of external influence for validation or what have you, is it, maybe its just a pitstop, maybe it was never the destination, but I hope you continue to work on you, as will I, and we reap the rewards someday.

>>18183258
> if you work for most of your day
Ideally do something about that but depending on where you live and what skills you already have it can be the biggest challenge, so the second thing is to make the best out of the time you have. Even in worst case scenario you have about 4h for yourself on work days which would be 120h every month, time that can be used to obtain skills to get job leaves you with more time and energy until it's eventually a job that doesn't feel like one. Obviously the money you safe up on the way helps too.

All easier said than done, heavily relies on your starting conditions, requires discipline, chance and so on. Oh and of course taking risks, which might leave you in a worse position than you was before.

Besides, obviously it depends on what the fuck you actually want. For me it was just financial independence to have a nice place, travel and buy Apple toys while working minimal hours, so not exactly much.

>>18183342
>>18183147
>>18182464
Thank you, really helped, specially:
>where nothing actually is bad, i don't have life threatening problems or issues, but somehow the mental behaviour doesn't resonate day to day, am doing what i love, but there's still a need and urge to go and achieve things i feel are tough.
This is exactly my situation. I'm getting my driving license, slowly getting my work, have some friends, yet I don't have a gf and it makes me so fucking depressed because everyone I know has one (or can get one easily).
Trying to look physically better. It will take time but now you gave me courage. Thank you.

>>18182378
grab her by the pussy.

>>18182378
Balance in all things.

Time is too valuable wasting it with people that you have to wonder what you mean to them.

Above all else, i must survive.
Sounds a bit egotistical i know, but it kept me sane all these years

http://classics.mit.edu/Epictetus/epicench.html

Use the Stoic teachings to help bring balance to your life broseph, it helps with the hard stuff

>>18182378
Dealing with shit you can't actively fix:
"Eventually you get used to anything". I'm paraphrasing but its from "The Stranger" by some guy.

This really stuck with me I think because I read the book in high school a long time ago around the same time my brother was killed. Eventually I did get used to it.

For everything else:
"Is this getting me where I want to go?" It keeps me from being a lazy bastard.

>>18182378
https://youtu.be/wU0PYcCsL6o

I like alan watts.
offers some pretty neat perspectives based on religious and cultural practices, but doesnt push bullshit or whimsy on you like you must accept or else or tell you you have to change.

His whole philosophy in a nut shell if i had to sum it up is "you just kind of do what you do. Heres why its fantastically amazing."

Also hes 20th century so theres recordings and video of him. Hes a beauty to listen to.

After youre done with above (short) video, heres one more, also short. A great sampler.

https://youtu.be/mMRrCYPxD0I

>>18182378
We are all going to do three things in life. We are all gunna laugh. We are all gunna cry. And we are all gunna take painful shits.

>>18182378
Before enlightenment chop wood, carry water.
After enlightenment chop wood, carry water.

File: 1482213098972.jpg (111KB, 805x569px) Image search: [Google]

111KB, 805x569px

The value of attentiveness varies in proportion to its object

Don't get upset because a certain situation isn't playing out how you'd like it to. Instead, accept it for what it is, and do the best you can with it

Hinduism may help you. Don't pay a lot of money for someone to come to your house and speak sanskrit in front of made up deities. Read the Vedas and the Bhagavad Gita by yourself. The classic "muh lol look it's a man with a elephant's head LOL GARNESH!!" could not be farther from the truth. Every deity is a representation of an already existing force, and those are just supposed to be illustrations, not actual beings.

Please give it a chance. I used to be agnostic until someone I knew told me to go to this religious organization called Swadhyay and now I feel much better. Try it and see if you like it.

>>18184090
Useless barbarian superstitions

Read Seneca and Epictetus and come to accept God as nature personified in Zeus. The classic Theogony and Metamorphoses with muh minotaur and muh cyclops couldn't be further from the truth. There are no deities at all, only nature with its own rational direction. Unswayed by prayers or sacrifices, but a source you're able to tap into with reflection and meditation to find true acceptance and peace of mind

Please give it a chance. I used to be agnostic

>>18182378
No fatties.

File: 46789908089.png (212KB, 420x420px) Image search: [Google]

212KB, 420x420px

>>18182449

>>18182378
boys make the best kind of children

>>18182378
All cruelty springs from weakness.

>>18183361
Is it even possible to get a job without a degree these days, unless it's a physical job or IT? Just seems like more wishful thinking T B H.

>>18182378
I'm sure I have a few but I can't think of any without them being forced. Guess I'm kinda weird huh?
>>18183041
Hahaha have fun being a doormat. I did this for far too long and it didn't pay off since people would shit up my lives then go awol.

File: It don't matter.jpg (146KB, 600x404px) Image search: [Google]

146KB, 600x404px

>>18182378
Picture related

>>18182378
"It's crackers to slip a rozzer the dropsy in snide"

File: ddbad0f988d5d5671875d9bcee07b4c6.jpg (50KB, 572x601px) Image search: [Google]

50KB, 572x601px

For real, bro?
>It's all swings 'n' roundabouts. What comes around goes around.

Just put good shit out there and you're bound to get some back. Calm your shit, anon.

File: 1444228314736.gif (543KB, 320x261px) Image search: [Google]

543KB, 320x261px

i guess extreme nihilism.
treating some quote or dogma as absolute truth is retarded,things just happen everything else is people trying to make sense out of it because we are afraid of the truth that there is none.

Life is nothing special, you are nothing special. You are nothing in the grand scale of things, your time will come. You will die. What comes next is entirely up to you.

>>18184428
>Hahaha have fun being a doormat. I did this for far too long and it didn't pay off since people would shit up my lives then go awol.
It's not about what I get from them, it's how I would like to be treated if I was in their shows. It's called empathy.

I live my life one chicken nugget at a time.

Only I alone am responsible for how I choose to interpret my experiences.

>>18182378
You gotta live a litte before you die- Me
Said it to my bosses when I got fired for beating up a guy in the managers office. Partially ripped it off from a Rolling Stones song

>>18184865
Why did you beat up a guy in the managers office?

Beauty will save the world.
Or something along those lines, I think Dostoyevski said that. It's my maxim because I made it my mission to experience something beautiful every day, like seeing blossoming trees while on a walk, listening to a nice song that just fits the time and place, having a nice conversation. There are many ways to live and mottos to go by, but I noticed that through the aesthetic experience I can tell a person much better than through anything else. You can tell a lot about a person, when you are able to see/hear them experiencing what's beautiful for them, and people enjoying beauty rarely do evil things.
For everything else I find comfort in the stoics.

"Why would anything nice ever happen" sums it up pretty well.

Nothing mattress

>>18182464
What's the song

>>18184362
Anything relying on practical skills is fair game given you have them and the ability to present that you do, then obviously tons of self-employed and freelance shit. Getting promoted from a shitty job is always a chance too and of course the magic of connections.

Also the IT thing isn't even that easy unless it's webdev shit. Besides you can always catch up on a degree, although it's much harder in US of A with the insane costs.

My clan's motto: Disce Pati. Learn to suffer.

Only by overcoming hardship can humanity achieve its' true potential.

Spite and pride are the finest traits god ever gave humanity.

>>18182378
"the person that makes the most mistakes has the most opportunities to learn"
makes me feel better about being wrong also keeps me from being pessimistic about my intelligence.

Mine is a quote I developed for a character I play in WoW, but it works in real life too.

"Without the darkness, the light holds no meaning."

I try to live a balanced life, and that reminds me that everything is necessary for that, not just the good things.

>>18184705
What is this normalfag mobileposting?
Look, not everyone is the same or interpret things the same so some people won't understand how you want to be treated. You have to make it known how you want to be treated and defend it. In an ideal world that philosophy works, but there are a ton of reasons why it doesn't.

In omnia operibus tuis memomare novissima tua, at in aeternum non peccabis.

>In all thy works remember thy last end, and thou shalt never sin

>>18182378
Empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless, like water. You put water into a cup, it becomes the cup; you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle; you put water into a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Be water, my friend.

>>18182378
Life is suffering. Reduce your suffering as much as possible, and aid others in reducing theirs.

>>18183361
>Besides, obviously it depends on what the fuck you actually want. For me it was just financial independence to have a nice place, travel and buy Apple toys while working minimal hours, so not exactly much.
And what exactly is your occupation that you work minimal hours and are able to live comfortably?

>>18183754
>Dealing with shit you can't actively fix:
>"Eventually you get used to anything". I'm paraphrasing but its from "The Stranger" by some guy
Albert Camus, French author

>>18185426
Cringed so hard

Live and let live.
aka "leave me the fuck alone, I'm not bothering you either after all."

>>18182892
That's a nice one

>>18182378
Listen to simple man by either shinedown or lynyrd skynyrd

simplicity is bliss friends

>>18185778
Currently it's pretty complicated, I am basically the guy for everything (booking flights, doing passports, taking care of IT side, taking calls, shit you can learn in a day or two) at a traveling agency but it's a sketchy place with most customers being old people who barely speak the official language and needing help at other shit, so there is also easy money in helping them with IT shit, forwarding them to lawyers/accountants/tutor for their grand-kid/nursing service (good lord, the nursing industry is such an easy way to earn money, I should go for it next) and well shit like that. The official job itself doesn't pay that good but it's just a part time gig and the extra stuff is easy, tax free 500-1k+ each month for minimum amount of work, that could be more because the demand is crazy. Now this shit is obviously hard to emulate and needs the perfect conditions. Got it over the the-friend-of-my-girlfriends-fathers friend- method.

Before that I worked at a retail chain with online store, six months as work drone than got promoted to assistant manager (aka. answer mails/calls, make sure people know what to do, make sure the numbers from last week fit and help out if there is a time crunch, so again things everyone can learn pretty fast), while the official working hours were much higher, 80% of the time was spent on smoking breaks and doing whatever the fuck I want in the office , which totally included shitposting and watching anime. The only downside was that while what I did there didn't matter as long shit got done, there was strictness about coming there on time and I am not much of a waking-up-at-6am- person. Got it the generic way.

Before ... well, no need to turn this into a blog. In the end chance will remain the biggest factor but you can improve the odds by widening your skills, showing initiative and making work for your boss and co workers easier in a way that frames you as valuable and hard to replace. Also connections. B social.

File: 6ce.png (197KB, 350x350px) Image search: [Google]

197KB, 350x350px

It doesn't get any better when you grow up.

But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow.
Even darkness must pass.
A new day will come.
And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer.

>>18185531
Like I said, it's not about what I get. I don't care if I don't receive the same treatment in return. I merely act on principle on how I would like to be treated. I'm always kind and giving, and if I have to be hard on someone, it's for their benefit, not mine.

>>18186388
Well then you need people to be hard on you because that would be for your benefit. It's too arrogant to believe that people will understand and fulfill your expectations. Doesn't mean you should be an ass, but don't be nice because you'd like people to be nice to you.

>>18182378
Whether you think you can or you think you cant...you are right-Henry Ford

This is something i repeat to my self typically when im sad "My self this earth"

>>18182892
this

>>18186580
that one is good

If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.”

>>18182378
There are two for me:
"Get busy livin', or get busy dyin'." from The Shawshank Redemption.
"Your life is yours alone. Rise up and live it." from The Sword of Truth.

>>18186208
>The official job itself doesn't pay that good but it's just a part time gig and the extra stuff is easy, tax free 500-1k+ each month for minimum amount of work
You live on your own? I make about $1800/mo net, and I still can't afford my own place.

>In the end chance will remain the biggest factor but you can improve the odds by widening your skills, showing initiative and making work for your boss and co workers easier in a way that frames you as valuable and hard to replace. Also connections. B social.
None of that matters if management is full of dicks and hates you and makes sure there's no doubt in your mind about it.

>>18182378
>There is no such thing as failure, only learning experiences.

>Heaven is a state of mind

Get on that positive existentialism m8, it changed my life.

File: 1472938947110.png (1MB, 1920x1080px) Image search: [Google]

1MB, 1920x1080px

>>18182449
haha ow that hurt a lot

>>18187108
>I make about $1800/mo net, and I still can't afford my own place.
Heh, Cali?

My rent is 550 (which is lower middle around here) 100-150 for random bills, 100 for food (it's a lot cheaper here in Europe afaik) and 100 for cigs/alc/random shit that shouldn't be considered food, so even at my lowest paid job, I had about 900-1k by the end of the month for everything else and I am a frugal fuck sans a guilty pleasure or two. All Euros though. Also there is pretty much no need for a car around here, so it saves me quite a bit compared to general situation in Murica I bet.

>None of that matters if management is full of dicks and hates you and makes sure there's no doubt in your mind about it.
Yeah, true. As I said, pure chance wins in the end as the biggest factor and if you got dickhead managers, getting a promotion is basically impossible, not to mention the extra stress coming from working under people like that which affects performance at work and makes relaxing harder, which makes improving harder and so on.

But the place where you work now can't be the only one around and perhaps it's worth getting something else (obviously easier said than done), even if there is a temporary hit on the salary. (Though from what I heard from the friends in the states, shitty managers are depressingly common, specially on the lower end jobs. Out of 7 different jobs I probably had a single shitty manager, so again pretty lucky on my end)

This is ridiculously basic so someone probably posted this already but I skimmed and didn't see it and it's something that really has helped me.


"Don't fear god,
Don't worry about death;
What is good is easy to get,
What is terrible is easy to endure"

>>18183099
>Will is free
Good, he didnt deserve prison

>>18183523
I can dig this. Thanks

>>18185260
Made me laugh,thanks I needed that

I hate myself and I want to die

this is the first time I've ever told anyone that

“Pain is mandatory. Suffering is optional.”

I forgot the source of the quote, but I still think about it from time to time.

>>18187805
Sorry to hear that. May I ask why?

"Don't Sweat the Small Stuff . . . and It's All Small Stuff"

File: 1362062502246.jpg (68KB, 516x350px) Image search: [Google]

68KB, 516x350px

Money is the purest expression of will
collecting vast wealth is a triumph of the will
excess and decadence are the vehicle by which your own equity grows but only when you don't partake in it

File: hxz8E (1).jpg (127KB, 1024x1024px) Image search: [Google]

127KB, 1024x1024px

>>18182378
"Procrastination makes perfect."

>>18188196
but in all honesty i take mine from my favorite childhood movie. "You are who you chose to be."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgH3cGW6mbo

If you've done something right, people won't be sure that you've done anything at all.

>>18188217
Depressing as hell. Good movie though.

>>18185344
https://soundcloud.com/dadailydos/sunshine-beautiful-mess?

>>18182378
Why don't you actually read philosophy then?

Inherent chaos exists in all things

>>18189330
I've tried starting with Thus Spoke Zarathustra but after a few pages I just didn't see a point to a man rambling on about the shitty aspects of humans. Should I finish it anyway or should I read something else?

>>18189463
Not the person you've responded to but I've never thought of philosophy as an end-all be-all summary of life or a way of approaching the world. I see it as an ongoing dialogue with people building off previous philosophies or rejecting them and offering countering views, thus adding new and contrary ideas, which can further be built upon or rejected, etc. Reading Nietzsche and Aquinas, and Descartes, for example, will give you a broader view than if you had only read Nietzsche, which you can then interpret and incorporate and/or reject into your own life view. The more you read, the broader your scope and therefore the more material you have to work with.

>>18189463
no, thats the only philosophy book. sorry

>>18182378
and so I will be with you until the completeness of time - Matthew 28:20

What 80yo me like me to do today?

If there is nothing in this universe but what we make of it; let us make good.

>>18182378
Knowledge is power. Wisdom is listening.

Learn as much as you can, while you can. As well as understanding when it is the best time to stop and listen to other perspectives.

>>18189542
So just push through the books and one might stumble onto something that will help them?

"Don't build your life around clever short sentences."

File: hq-wallpapers_ru_games_68918_1680x1050.jpg (217KB, 1680x1050px) Image search: [Google]

217KB, 1680x1050px

https://youtu.be/K0dDSDBBkOY

Everything in this song, but particularly this line.

>Doctor or lawyer... I'll never be.
>Life of a drifter... (the) only life for me.

"This too shall pass" reminds me that, as long as I am alive I must believe the bad things will end eventually. Only way I can be proven wrong is if I die... In which case it doesn't matter I was wrong.

"Keep on keeping on" is so stupid, yet I got it in a fortune cookie years ago when I was severely depressed. That stupid little reminder I kept in my wallet and looked at every day to remind myself I still wanted to live.

File: 1491278298994.jpg (267KB, 802x1024px) Image search: [Google]

267KB, 802x1024px

"i do the things I do, because I am me, and not you"

Life is pointless and empty from the beginning to the end. It's only YOU who can fill it with passion, love and a meaning. rom you. You're the captain of this ship, do you want to sail to a sad place or a happy?

>>18182378
Nothing Else Comes Close.

>>18184445
Heavy!

>>18182521
Top kek

>>18186297
End? No, the journey doesn't end here. Death is just another path, one that we all must take. The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass, and then you see it. White shores, and beyond, the far green country

>>18182439
Tldr: fuck it

Life is just a brief spark of existence in an eternity of nothingness, so fill it with things you won't regret.

>>18187175
>But the place where you work now can't be the only one around and perhaps it's worth getting something else (obviously easier said than done), even if there is a temporary hit on the salary.
At one point, the bullying was so bad, I considered quitting, but foolishly convinced myself not to. I just recently learned without my paycheck, the the household will struggle, so I can't take lower paying work. I've been looking for a better job, but it will take at least a year to find one. (Took me a year to find this one, and dumb luck played a large role, the other being connections.)

>>18187175
>>18191734
No, east coast.

>>18182450

what is every single fucking senior quote in my high school yearbook. Ofc, it was made popular to my classmates by Dave Matthews and David Matthews alone

>>18183099
getaloadofthisguy.png
>until a truck fully loaded with 50 tons of dildos with a driver high on meth obliterates you to a pulp one day while you were walking sipping your coffee