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What
is really important in life?
Do
not pursue what is illusory – property and position. Live with a steady
superiority over life. Don’t be afraid of misfortune, and do not yearn
after happiness; it is, after all, all the same: the bitter doesn’t last
for ever, and the sweet never fills the cup to overflowing
It
is enough that you don’t freeze in the cold, and if thirst and hunger
don’t claw at your insides. If your back isn’t broken, if your feet can
walk, if both arms can bend, if both eyes can see, and if both ears can
hear, then whom should you envy?
And
why?
Our
envy of others devours us most of all.
Rub
your eyes and purify your heart – and prize above all else in the world
those who love you and who wish you well. Do not hurt them or scold them,
and never part from any of them in anger; after all, you simply do not know
but it might be your last act, and that will be how you are imprinted in
their memory.
(Alexander
Solzhenitsyn, Gulag
Archipelgo,
Vol. I, p.591)
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