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Empty Wishes, part 2

The January 6th entry in Leo Tolstoy’s A Calendar of Wisdom has the following quote:

Put at least half of your energy into making yourself free of empty wishes, and very soon will see that in so doing you will receive much greater fulfillment and happiness

—After EPICTETUS

This sounds like a great quote, but seems a little vague. What is meant by “empty wishes”? It’s a neat phrase, but I’m not really familiar with it.

I tried Googling this for a while, and I can’t seem to find the original quote anywhere. Now I’m wondering at that “after” above, and thinking that maybe Uncle Leo took some liberties.

Excerpt From: Tolstoy, Leo. “A Calendar of Wisdom.” Scribner, 2010-05-11. Apple Books.

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Should Be My Family’s Motto

Outward Writing Thinking

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