It Is Your Own Convictions Which Compels

Neither The Victories Of The Olympic Games Nor Those Achieved In Battles Make The Man Happy. The Only Victories That Make Him Happy Are Those Achieved Against Himself. Temptations And Tests Are Combats. You Have Beaten One, Two, Many Times; Still Fight. If You Defeat At Last You Will Be Happy Your Entire Life, As If You Have Always Defeated.

Suffering Arises From Trying To Control What Is Uncontrollable, Or From Neglecting What Is Within Our Power.

Keep Silence For The Most Part, And Speak Only When You Must, And Then Briefly.

So You Wish To Conquer In The Olympic Games, My Friend? And I, Too... But First Mark The Conditions And The Consequences. You Will Have To Put Yourself Under Discipline; To Eat By Rule, To Avoid Cakes And Sweetmeats; To Take Exercise At The Appointed Hour Whether You Like It Or Not, In Cold And Heat; To Abstain From Cold Drinks And Wine At Your Will. Then, In The Conflict Itself You Are Likely Enough To Dislocate Your Wrist Or Twist Your Ankle, To Swallow A Great Deal Of Dust, To Be Severely Thrashed, And After All Of These Things, To Be Defeated.

No One Who Is In A State Of Fear Or Sorrow Or Tension Is Free, But Whosoever Is Delivered From Sorrows Or Fears Or Anxieties Is At The Same Time Delivered From Servitude.