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The Less You Want, The More You Have

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There is a line in Seneca’s famous play, Thyestes. “It is a vast kingdom,” Thyestes says, “to be able to come without a kingdom.” It reminds me of a line in Steven Pressfield’s novel on Alexander the Great, Virtues of War, where the an old philosopher accosts the great conqueror. This man has conquered the world, the soldiers should, what have you ever done? The philosopher responds, “I have conquered the need to conquer the world.” It calls to mind another line from the slave turned philosopher Publilius Syrus, “If you are to have a great kingdom, rule over yourself!”

Remember that the less you want, the more powerful you are.