Liam Milburn
@stoicbreviary.bsky.social
Author of A Stoic Breviary: Classical Wisdom in Daily Practice
stoicbreviary.substack.com
stoicbreviary.substack.com
Pinned
First, do nothing inconsiderately, nor without a purpose.
Second, make your acts refer to nothing else than to a social end.
—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 12.20
IMAGE: Rembrandt, The Night Watch (1642)
Second, make your acts refer to nothing else than to a social end.
—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 12.20
IMAGE: Rembrandt, The Night Watch (1642)
January 19, 2026 at 10:10 PM
First, do nothing inconsiderately, nor without a purpose.
Second, make your acts refer to nothing else than to a social end.
—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 12.20
IMAGE: Rembrandt, The Night Watch (1642)
Second, make your acts refer to nothing else than to a social end.
—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 12.20
IMAGE: Rembrandt, The Night Watch (1642)
J.M.W. Turner, Modern Rome—Campo Vaccino (1839)
January 17, 2026 at 7:26 PM
J.M.W. Turner, Modern Rome—Campo Vaccino (1839)
Arnold Böcklin, Plague (1898)
January 17, 2026 at 7:21 PM
Arnold Böcklin, Plague (1898)
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, The Dream (1883)
I was always struck by how the three spirits in this dream image are presenting our sleeping wanderer with roses, representing romantic love, a garland, representing fame, and coins, representing wealth, the very illusions that keep many of us diverted.
I was always struck by how the three spirits in this dream image are presenting our sleeping wanderer with roses, representing romantic love, a garland, representing fame, and coins, representing wealth, the very illusions that keep many of us diverted.
January 17, 2026 at 4:49 PM
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, The Dream (1883)
I was always struck by how the three spirits in this dream image are presenting our sleeping wanderer with roses, representing romantic love, a garland, representing fame, and coins, representing wealth, the very illusions that keep many of us diverted.
I was always struck by how the three spirits in this dream image are presenting our sleeping wanderer with roses, representing romantic love, a garland, representing fame, and coins, representing wealth, the very illusions that keep many of us diverted.
Him I call indeed a Brahmana who in this world is above good and evil, above the bondage of both, free from grief from sin, and from impurity.
—Dhammapada 412
—Dhammapada 412
January 15, 2026 at 11:26 PM
Him I call indeed a Brahmana who in this world is above good and evil, above the bondage of both, free from grief from sin, and from impurity.
—Dhammapada 412
—Dhammapada 412
Leonaert Bramer, Mors Triumphans (c. 1650)
January 15, 2026 at 2:32 PM
Leonaert Bramer, Mors Triumphans (c. 1650)
Fortune has no more power over our destiny than our own actions.
—Publilius Syrus
—Publilius Syrus
January 13, 2026 at 10:55 PM
Fortune has no more power over our destiny than our own actions.
—Publilius Syrus
—Publilius Syrus
Life seems so vulgar, so easily content with the commonplace things of every day, and yet it always nurses and cherishes certain higher claims in secret, and looks about for the means of satisfying them.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
IMAGE: Jacopo Bassano, The Good Samaritan (c. 1563)
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
IMAGE: Jacopo Bassano, The Good Samaritan (c. 1563)
January 11, 2026 at 2:32 AM
Life seems so vulgar, so easily content with the commonplace things of every day, and yet it always nurses and cherishes certain higher claims in secret, and looks about for the means of satisfying them.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
IMAGE: Jacopo Bassano, The Good Samaritan (c. 1563)
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
IMAGE: Jacopo Bassano, The Good Samaritan (c. 1563)
Reposted by Liam Milburn
🗣️ In the words of Epictetus:
“God save me from fools with a little philosophy—no one is more difficult to reach.”
“God save me from fools with a little philosophy—no one is more difficult to reach.”
January 10, 2026 at 3:00 PM
🗣️ In the words of Epictetus:
“God save me from fools with a little philosophy—no one is more difficult to reach.”
“God save me from fools with a little philosophy—no one is more difficult to reach.”