How lucky I am......................................

49.   Be like the headland against which the waves break and break;  it stands firm, until presently the watery tumult around it subsides once more to rest.  "How unlucky I am, that this should have happened to me!"  By no means, say rather, "How lucky I am, that it has left me with not bitterness; unshaken by the present, and undismayed by the future."  The thing could have happened to anyone, but not everyone would have emerged unembittered.  So why put the one down to misfortune, rather than the other to good fortune?  Can a man call anything at all a misfortune, if it is not a contravention of his nature;  and can it be a contravention of his nature if it is not against that nature's will.  Does this thing that has happened hinder you from being just, magnanimous, temperate, judicious, discreet, truthful, self-respecting, independent, and all else by which a man's nature comes to its fulfilment?  So here is a rule to remember in future, when anything tempts you to feel bitter : not, "This is a misfortune," but "To bear this worthily is good fortune."


-Marcus Aurelius,  Meditations,  Book IV