Dale note: over the years I've seen famous quotes from figures of the past (many of them misattributed, poorly translated, etc.) on the open web. I have done due diligence and created quotes from reliable & scholarly sources (all cited) to mitigate this. These quotes show precedence for our desire to understand and control our passions & emotions, and sometimes the poor decision making that follows.
Gautama Buddha, 6th or 5th Century, BCE
And this is the Noble Truth of the Stopping of Sorrow. It is the complete stopping of that craving, so that no passion remains, leaving it. Being emancipated from it, being released from it, giving no place to it.
Chung, Edward Y. J., and Jea Sophia Oh. 2022. Emotions in Korean Philosophy and Religion: Confucian, Comparative, and Contemporary Perspectives. Palgrave Studies in Comparative East-West Philosophy. Cham: Springer Nature.
Gorgias, 483-375 BCE
(on Gorgias) For the spoken word can on its own ‘stop fear, remove distress, create joy, and increase pity ’. He compares the effect of drugs.
Sorabji, Richard. 2002. Emotion and Peace of Mind: From Stoic Agitation to Christian Temptation. Oxford: University Press.
Zeno of Citium, 334-262 BCE
...emotion involves not a mistake of reason, but actual disobedience to one's own reason.
Sorabji, Richard. 2002. Emotion and Peace of Mind: From Stoic Agitation to Christian Temptation. Oxford: University Press.
Cicero, 106-43 BCE
...so the disturbing effect of corrupt beliefs and their fight against one another rob the soul of health and introduces the disorder of disease.
Knuuttila, Simo. 2004. Emotions in Ancient and Medieval Philosophy. Oxford: University Press.
Epictetus, 50-135 CE ...make it your habit to tell every jarring thought or *impression: “You are just an appearance and in no way the real thing.”
It is not things themselves that trouble people, but their opinions about things.
It is better to starve to death in a calm and confident state of mind than to live anxiously amidst abundance.
Epictetus, and Anthony Long. 2018. How to Be Free: An Ancient Guide to the Stoic Life. Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers. Princeton: University Press.
I must die: and must I die groaning too?... Can anyone prevent me, then, from going with a smile and good cheer and serenity?
Russell, Daniel C. 2012. Happiness for Humans. Oxford: University Press.
Marcus Aurelius, 121-180 CE The only thing which turns and moves the mind is itself
Gill, Christopher. 2013. Marcus Aurelius: Meditations. Clarendon Later Ancient Philosophers. Oxford: University Press, Incorporated.
Chan master Huineng, 638-713 CE If you stop thinking of the myriad things and cast aside all thoughts …, you will be reborn in another realm …. The deluded man, however, does not himself see...
Chung, Edward Y. J., and Jea Sophia Oh. 2022. Emotions in Korean Philosophy and Religion: Confucian, Comparative, and Contemporary Perspectives. Palgrave Studies in Comparative East-West Philosophy. Cham: Springer Nature.
William Shakespeare, 1564-1616 CE
Rosencrantz We think not so, my lord.
Hamlet Why, then, 'tis none to you, for there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so. To me it is a prison.
Shakespeare, William. 2003. Hamlet. The Annotated Shakespeare. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Immanuel Kant, 1724-1804 CE
...my Stoic remedy of fixing my thought forcibly on some neutral object that I chose at random (for example, the name Cicero, which contains many associated ideas), and so diverting my attention from that sensation… and I can repeat this procedure with equally good results every time that attacks of this kind recur in the brief interruptions of my night's sleep
Robertson, Donald. 2010. The Philosophy of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT): Stoic Philosophy as Rational and Cognitive Psychotherapy. London: Karnac.
Robert Burns, 1759-1796 CE
Contented with little and joyous with more
Whenever I meet with Sorrow and Care
I gave them a slap, as they’re creeping along
With a cup o’ good ale and an auld Scottish song
Robertson, Donald. 2010. The Philosophy of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT): Stoic Philosophy as Rational and Cognitive Psychotherapy. London: Karnac.
Qian Zhongshu, 1910–1998 CE To have grief and joy but not to allow the emotions to become excessive, this is the Confucian teaching. To have grief and joy but not to be really moved by them, this is the Daoist doctrine.
Machek, David. 2015. “‘Emotions That Do Not Move’: Zhuangzi and Stoics on Self-Emerging Feelings.” Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy 14 (4): 521–44.
Albert Camus, 1913-1960 CE
(on the main character awaiting his execution at dawn) ..I woke up with the stars in my face. Sounds of the countryside were drifting in. Smells of night, earth, and salt air were cooling my temples. The wondrous peace of that sleeping summer flowed through me like a tide.
Camus, Albert. 1988. The Stranger. New York: Knopf.
