if they could achieve apatheia, as they called it—then the whole world could be at war, and they could still think well, work well, and be well. (Location 122)

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“You may be sure that you are at peace with yourself,” Seneca wrote, “when no noise reaches you, when no word shakes you out of yourself, whether it be flattery or a threat, or merely an empty sound buzzing about you with unmeaning sin.” (Location 123)

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stillness. To be steady while the world spins around you. To act without frenzy. To hear only what needs to be heard. To possess quietude—exterior and interior—on command. (Location 134)

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We are always reachable, which means that arguments and updates are never far away. (Location 146)

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The grind of work wears us down and seems to never stop. We are overfed and undernourished. Overstimulated, overscheduled, and lonely. (Location 147)

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“All of humanity’s problems,” Blaise Pascal said in 1654, “stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” (Location 152)

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The stillness required to become master of one’s own life. To survive and thrive in any and every environment, no matter how loud or busy. (Location 155)

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