Marcus Aurelius on emotion

In the life of a man, his time is but a moment…his sense, a dim rushlight. All that is body is as coursing waters…all that is of the soul, as dreams, and vapors.

I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinion of himself than on the opinion of others.

It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.

Mankind are governed more by their feelings than by reason.

Samuel Adams1722–1803Letter to Samuel Cooper (30 April 1776)

I am very conscious of the fact that our feelings and strivings are often contradictory and obscure and that they cannot be expressed in easy and simple formulas.

Albert Einstein1879–1955Why Socialism? (1949)

Never apologize for showing feeling, my friend. Remember that when you do so, you apologize for truth.

Benjamin Disraeli1804–1881Contarini Fleming (1832), Part 1, Chapter 13