Dian Fossey 1932-1985
American zoologist who undertook an extensive study of gorilla groups over a period of 18 years. She studied them daily in the mountain forests of Rwanda, initially encouraged to work there by famous anthropologist Louis Leakey. She was murdered in 1985; the case remains open.
“When you realize the value of all life, you dwell less on what is past and concentrate more on the preservation of the future.”—
Dian Fossey
December 27, 1985 - The last entry written in her diary.
“Sigourney Weaver was very brave while filming ‘Gorillas in the Mist’. She was really right in amongst the gorillas and it was quite amazing.”
For those who missed it when it aired back in January, here is: The Real T. rex with Chris Packham
“I’m not a typical autistic person because there is no typical autistic person.”— Chris Packham
“Sometimes, even to live is an act of courage.” -Lucius Annaeus Seneca
From the TED-Ed Lesson The philosophy of Stoicism - Massimo Pigliucci
Animation by Compote Collective
Marcus Aurelius on Getting Out of Bed,
At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: “I am rising to do the work of a human being. What do I have to complain about, if I’m going to do what I was born for—the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?” But it’s nicer here …
So were you born to feel “nice”? Instead of doing things and experiencing them? Don’t you see the plants, the birds, the ants and spiders and bees going about their individual tasks, putting the world in order, as best they can? And you’re not willing to do your job as a human being? Why aren’t you running to do what your nature demands? But we have to sleep sometime… Agreed. But nature set a limit on that, as it did on eating and drinking. And you’re over the limit. You’ve had more than enough of that. But not of working. There’s still more of that to do.
You don’t love yourself enough. For if you did, you’d love your nature too, and what it demands of you. People who love what they do wear themselves down doing it, they even forget to wash or eat. Do you have less respect for your own nature than the engraver does for engraving, the dancer for the dance, the miser for money or the social climber for status? When they’re really possessed by what they do, they’d rather stop eating and sleeping than give up practicing their arts. Is not then your labor in the world just as worthy of respect and worth your effort?
Meditations, Book 5, Paragraph 1
Life is hard and dissatisfying, so you have to get used to your circumstances, complain about them as little as possible, and grasp whatever advantage they have to offer: no condition is so bitter that a stable mind cannot find some consolation in it.
Seneca (via thebuddhistmind)
