Life

We learn the same lessons over and over, forgetting and remembering, forget­ting and remembering. That’s not failure — it’s life! It’s being human

That is, be systematically ascetic or heroic in little unnecessary points, do every day or two something for no other reason than that you would rather not do it, so that when the hour of dire need draws nigh, it may find you not unnerved.

No matter how full a reservoir of maxims one may possess, and no matter how good one's sentiments may be, if

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when you get rid of life’s annoyances, you also have gotten rid of life. Small nuisances provide texture, repose, form, cushioning. Also, a lot of our social bonding is created out of shared annoyance—much of what connects us is our small, similarly timed miseries. The more you opt out of our collective material imprisonment, the more you opt out... See more