The Good Book

by A. C. Grayling

7. Of such wisdom the poetic passion, the desire of beauty, the love of art,

  8. The desire of knowledge for its own sake and the sake of the human good, has most.

  9. To burn always with this hard, gemlike flame, to maintain this ecstasy, is success in life.

  10. The wise say that our failure is to form habits: for habit is the mark of a stereotyped world,

  11. And it is only the roughness of the eye that makes any two things seem alike.

  12. And the wise say: while all melts away under our feet, let us grasp at the exquisite passion,

  13. Let us use the knowledge that by a lifted horizon sets the heart free;

  14. Or that does so by the stirring of the senses, by colours, perfumes, the work of the artist’s hand, the face of a friend;

  15. Not to recognise, every moment, some passionate attitude in those about us, and in the brilliancy of their gifts some tragic dividing of their ways,

  16. Is, in life’s short day of frost and sun, to sleep before evening.

  17. With this sense of the splendour of experience and its awful brevity,

  18. Gathering all we are into one profound effort to see, to love, to achieve, to understand, we shall have time enough to live.

  19. Let us ever curiously test new ideas and court new impressions, never acquiescing in a facile orthodoxy.

  20. Philosophy may help us gather up what might otherwise pass unregarded, for philosophy is the microscope of thought;

  21. But theory which requires the sacrifice of any part of this experience, in consideration of some interest we cannot enter, has no claim upon us.

  22. It is life itself that has the first and last claim, and it is the fresh light and clear air that wisdom brings to life that answers it,

  23. For to love and to strive, to seek to know, to attend to the best that has been thought, said and done in the world, and to learn from it, is wisdom:

  24. And wisdom is life.

  25. The question to be asked at the end of each day is, ‘How long will you delay to be wise?’

  Chapter 4

  1. Who or what is the best counsellor, to counsel us to be wise? Nothing less than life itself.

  2. The beginning of wisdom is the question, the end of wisdom is acceptance;

  3. But in the interval, it is not enough to be wise only with the wisdom of one’s day, for wisdom is of all time.

  4. To be wise is to know when to act, and when to leave alone.

  5. To be wise is to know when to speak, and when to be silent.

  6. To be wise is to know that amity and peace do not come from nothing, nor do they sustain themselves without help, but require wisdom for their birth and continuance.

  7. The gaining of knowledge is accumulation; the acquisition of wisdom is simplification.

  8. Wisdom is the recognition of consequences, a respect for causality and the profit in foresight.

  9. Wisdom lies in bringing the past to serve the future, and in opening one’s ears to hear the voices of the past.

  10. Learning may be had without wisdom, and wisdom without learning; but nothing can overthrow their combination.

  11. No one came to be wise who did not sometimes fail;

  12. No one came to be wise who did not know how to revise an opinion.

  13. The wise change their minds when facts and experience so demand. The fool either does not hear or does not heed.

  14. But the wise man knows that even a fool can speak truth.

  15. Wisdom belongs to everyone, and is possible everywhere: none need lack it who will only allow experience to teach them.

  16. Happy are those who encounter someone wise: he reveals treasure when he reproves and guides.

  17. He will teach that as a rock is not shaken by the wind, so the wise are steadfast through both blame and praise.

  18. As a deep lake remains peaceful in all seasons, so are the wise when they reflect on good teaching.

  19. The question to be asked at the end of each day is, ‘How long will you delay to be wise?’

  Chapter 5

  1. Told of someone who had made a vast fortune, the wise man asked whether he had also made time to spend it.

  2. Told of someone who had conceived a great love for another, the wise man said, ‘It is better to love than to desire.’

  3. Told of someone who had children, the wise man said, ‘Let him treat his children as he would cook a small fish.’

  4. The wise do not expect always to be healthy, or never to suffer hardship or grief. Instead they prepare.

  5. The wise do not expect to master anything worthwhile without effort. Instead they make the effort.

  6. The wise do not expect never to have adversaries or to meet disagreement. Instead they contemplate beforehand the best way of making difficulties useful.

  7. From an enemy, a difficulty, an illness or a failure, the wise learn much, and grow wiser therefore.

  8. The wise know the value of friendship, and that it is wisdom to be a friend to oneself too.

  9. For who would harm a friend, instead of seeking the best for him, in advice and deed?

  10. As a friend to oneself, can wisdom allow one to do less?

  11. The question to be asked at the end of each day is, ‘How long will you delay to be wise?’

  Chapter 6

  1. The meditation of the wise man is a meditation on life, not on death.

  2. The wise see the necessity of things, and by this they free themselves from distress:

  3. For the pain arising from loss is mitigated as soon as its inevitability is perceived;

  4. And likewise no one pities a newborn baby for being unable to speak or walk, because this is natural to its state.

  5. Thus the recognition of necessities is a liberation, and the wise are those who distinguish between necessity and contingency.

  6. Emotion is bad if it hinders the mind from thinking. An emotion that opens the mind to contemplate several aspects of things at once is better than one that fixes thought to an obsession.

  7. By framing a system of right conduct and practical precepts, one better bears adversity and resists evil.

  8. The wise thus remember what is to their true advantage, and the good that follows from friendship, and the fact that men act by the necessity of their nature.

  9. The wise thus moderate anger and resentment by understanding the causes of others’ actions;

  10. The wise thus reflect on the value of courage, and on the good that can be found even in negative things.

  11. The wise ask themselves what they truly seek in wealth, or position, in love, or honour, in victory, or retirement from life;

  12. For only clear and distinct ideas of these things guard against false objects of ambition.

  13. He who would govern his emotions and appetites by the love of freedom strives, as far as he can, to gain knowledge of the virtues and their causes;

  14. He will not wish to dwell on men’s faults, or carp at his fellows, but by diligently observing and practising precepts he will direct his actions by the commandments of reason.

  15. The wise know that the good and the bad can be absolute, and can be relative:

  16. Absolute, when the demand is to seek good and act upon it;

  17. Relative, when one recognises that the same thing can be good, bad or indifferent according to circumstance,

  18. As when music is good to one who is melancholy, bad to one who mourns, indifferent to the deaf.

  19. The wise call things good when they enhance the activity of life and bring benefit;

  20. The wise call things bad when they hinder activity, and bring malignity, discord and pain.

  21. But the wise recognise too that misperception of things, and inadequacy of ideas, can make things seem bad that have good in them, or are inevitable and must be borne;

  22. For the grace of bearing life’s inevitable evils is itself a good, and makes goodness arise even from evils by opposing them or enduring them with courage.


  23. The mind has power over the emotions, and can be free. Whence it appears how potent are the wise, and how much they surpass the ignorant, who are driven by appetites and fears.

  24. For the ignorant are distracted by external causes which never gain the true acquiescence of their minds, so that they live unwitting of themselves and of things.

  25. Whereas the wise are less disturbed because they are more aware of themselves and of things, and understand necessities, and are capable of true acquiescence of mind.

  26. The question to be asked at the end of each day is, ‘How long will you delay to be wise?’

  Chapter 7

  1. Some things lie under our control and others not. Things we may control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever are our own actions.

  2. Things far less in our control are body, property, reputation, command, and, in one word, whatever are not our own actions.

  3. What we can ourselves control are by nature free, unrestrained, unhindered; but those not in our control are weak, slavish, limited, and belong to others.

  4. Remember, then, that if you wrongly suppose that things which are slavish by nature are also free, and that what belongs to others is your own, you will be hindered.

  5. You will lament, you will be disturbed, you will find fault both with the people about you and with the tools you use.

  6. But if you rightly suppose those things are your own which are truly your own, and what belongs to others is not your own, then no one will be able to compel or hinder you.

  7. And you will find fault with no one or accuse no one. To the extent possible in a world of conflicts, you will do nothing against your will, no one will hurt you, you will have no enemies, you will not be harmed.

  8. Aiming therefore at such great things, remember that you must not allow yourself to be carried, even with a slight tendency, towards the attainment of lesser things.

  9. Instead, entirely quit what is bad, and postpone what is doubtful. But if you would have these great things, and also desire power and riches, consider:

  10. How can he gain the latter with honour and peace, if he aims at the former too?

  11. Only the former guarantees happiness and freedom, while the latter are always uncertain.

  12. Work, therefore, to be able to say to every harsh appearance, ‘You are but an appearance, and not absolutely the thing you appear to be.’

  13. Examine appearances by the rules of reason, first and chiefly by this: whether it concerns the things which are in our own control, or those which are not;

  14. And, if it concerns anything not in our control, be prepared to say that it is nothing to you.

  15. The question to be asked at the end of each day is, ‘How long will you delay to be wise?’

  Chapter 8

  1. It has been said, that to learn how to philosophise is to learn how to die.

  2. The wise die less than the unwise; the wise die fewer times than the unwise; for the unwise die in their imaginations and fears as often as they think of death.

  3. But the evil of our own death is not death itself; it is the fear of death that is evil. To be free of the fear of one’s own death is to be free indeed.

  4. The death of others is the true sorrow of death; and the remedies of sorrow are love, courage and time.

  5. To learn how to philosophise is to learn how to bear the inevitability of loss. We desire life and are averse to death: this is the root of fearing death.

  6. Remember that following desire promises the attainment of what you desire; and aversion promises the avoiding of that to which you are averse.

  7. But he who fails to obtain what he desires, is disappointed; and he who suffers what he is averse to, is wretched.

  8. If you are averse to sickness, or death, or poverty, you will be wretched: for death must come, and sickness and poverty may come too.

  9. Remove aversion, then, from all things that are not in our control, and transfer it to things contrary to the nature of what is in our control.

  10. Have regard to desire: for, if you desire any of the things which are not under your control, you must necessarily be disappointed;

  11. And of those which are, and which it would be laudable to desire, do not desire them only, but pursue them.

  12. Use only the appropriate actions of pursuit and avoidance; and even these lightly, and with gentleness and reservation.

  13. The question to be asked at the end of each day is, ‘How long will you delay to be wise?’

  Chapter 9

  1. With regard to the things that give you delight, are useful, or which you deeply love,

  2. Remember to tell yourself of what general nature they are, beginning from the most insignificant things.

  3. If, for example, you are fond of a specific cup, remind yourself that it is only a cup. Then, if it breaks, you will not be disturbed.

  4. If you kiss your child, or your wife, say that you kiss what is human, and prepare to bear the grief that is the cost of loving, should you lose them.

  5. When you are going about any action, remind yourself what nature the action is:

  6. People are disturbed, not by things, but by the principles and notions which they form concerning things.

  7. Death, for instance, is not terrible, otherwise it would have appeared so to Socrates. Rather, the terror consists in our belief that death is terrible.

  8. When therefore we are hindered, or disturbed, or grieved, let us never attribute the cause to others, but to ourselves; that is, to our own principles.

  9. An uninstructed person will lay the fault of his own bad condition upon others.

  10. Someone just starting instruction will lay the fault on himself.

  11. Someone who is perfectly instructed will place blame neither on others nor on himself if it is something from outside his control,

  12. But he will say: this is in the nature of things.

  13. The question to be asked at the end of each day is, ‘How long will you delay to be wise?’

  Chapter 10

  1. Do not be proud of any excellence that is not your own. If a horse should be proud and say, ‘I am handsome’, it would be supportable.

  2. But when you are proud and say, ‘I have a handsome horse’, know that you are proud of something that belongs not to you but to the horse.

  3. What, then, is your own? Only your reaction to the appearances of things.

  4. Thus, when you react to how things appear in true accordance with their nature, you will be proud with reason; for you will take pride in some good of your own.

  5. Consider when, on a voyage, your ship is anchored; if you go on shore to get water you may amuse yourself along the way with picking up a shellfish.

  6. However, your attention must also be towards the ship, waiting for the captain to call you on board;

  7. For when he does so, you must immediately leave all these things, otherwise you will miss the ship as it sails.

  8. So it is with life. Whatever you find while, so to say, wandering on the beach, is fine.

  9. But if necessity calls, you must run to the ship, leaving these things, and regarding none of them.

  10. For there is a proper time for all things, including a proper time to grieve, and to prepare to die.

  11. The question to be asked at the end of each day is, ‘How long will you delay to be wise?’

  Chapter 11

  1. Do not demand that things should happen as you wish, but wish that they happen as they do happen, and you will go on well.

  2. Sickness is a hindrance to the body, but not to your ability to choose, unless that is your choice. Lameness is a hindrance to the leg, but not to your ability to choose.

  3. Say this to yourself with regard to everything that happens, then you will see such obstacles as hindrances to something else, but not to yourself.

  4. With every accident, ask yourself what abilities you have for making a proper use of it.


  5. If you see an attractive person, you will find that self-restraint is the ability you have against your desire.

  6. If you are in pain, you will find fortitude. If you hear unpleasant language, you will find patience. And thus habituated, the appearances of things will not hurry you away along with them.

  7. Never say of anything, ‘I have lost it’; but, ‘I have returned it’. For things come, even when we labour for them, as if it were a gift; and in the end all things are returned.

  8. Be content to be thought unconventional with regard to external things.

  9. Do not wish to be thought to know anything; and even if you appear to be somebody important to others, distrust yourself.

  10. If you do not wish your desires to be frustrated, this is in your own control. Exercise, therefore, what is in your control.

  11. He is the master of every other person who is able to confer or remove whatever that person wishes either to have or to avoid.

  12. Whoever, then, would be free, let him not wish too earnestly for anything that depends on others.

  13. Behave in life as at a dinner party. Is anything brought around to you? Put out your hand and take your share with moderation.

  14. Does it pass by you? Do not stop it.

  15. Is it not yet come? Do not stretch your desire towards it, but wait till it reaches you.

  16. Do this with regard to children, to a spouse, to public posts, to riches, and you will eventually be a worthy guest at the feast of life.

  17. And if you do not even take all the things that are set before you, but are able willingly to reject them, then you will not only be a partner at the feasts of life, but one of its princes.

  18. The question to be asked at the end of each day is, ‘How long will you delay to be wise?’

  Chapter 12

  1. When you see anyone weeping in grief because his loved one has gone abroad, or is dead, or because he has suffered in his affairs, be careful that the appearance may not misdirect you.

  2. Instead, distinguish within your own mind, and be prepared to say, ‘It’s not the accident that distresses this person, because it does not distress another person; it is the judgement he makes about it.’