201226 What I learned in my studies this morning

Today's Tao:

From The Daily Stoic: 

The problem is, we think we have time. 

From Gaius Rubellius Plautus:

Third cousin to Nero, he was the first Stoic of royal blood. He refused to seek the power that might have been his, living by his code of honor even though Nero banished him to Syria. 

He could have afforded to raise the army Nero feared, but chose not to. Even when he learned that Nero sent assassins to kill him, Plautus continued to live his normal, daily life. 

He truly lived his virtue. 

From Eric Hoffer, Part III, Factors Promoting Self-Sacrifice, Make-Believe:

Doctrine

Movements must have tenets which are both unverifiable and unbelievable. Because it is the very outrageousness that makes the belief so intransigent, so impervious to attack. 

(The True Believer, XIII-56)