Shadowing Practice: Powerful Stoic Quotes That Will Change Your Life - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Marcus Aurelius Concentrate every minute on doing what's in front of you.
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You don't have to turn this into something.
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It doesn't have to upset you.
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The present is all we have to live in, or to lose.
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Stop whatever you're doing for a moment and ask yourself, Am I afraid of death because I won't be able to do this anymore?
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Let each thing you would do, say, or intend be like that of a dying person.
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The things you think about determine the quality of your mind mind.
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Your soul takes on the color of your thoughts.
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Today, I escaped anxiety.
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Or no, I discarded it because it was within me, in my own perceptions, not outside.
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You have You have to assemble your life yourself, action by action.
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The impediment to action advances action.
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What stands in the way becomes the way.
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The best revenge is not to be like your enemy.
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You can also commit injustice by doing nothing.
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Receive without pride.
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Let go without attachment.
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If it's endurable, then endure it.
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Stop complaining.
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Have I done something for the common good?
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and I share in the benefits.
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It never ceases to amaze me.
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We all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own.
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It's unfortunate that this has happened.
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No, it's fortunate that this has happened and I've remained unharmed.
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If it is not right, do not do it.
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If it is not true, do not say it.
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You always own the option of having no opinion.
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Ask yourself at every moment.
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Is this necessary?
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If something is humanly possible, it's attainable by you too.
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Think of yourself as dead.
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You have lived your life.
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Now take what's left and live it properly.
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Everyone despises me, that's their problem.
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Everything is born from change.
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You have power over your mind, not outside events.
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When jarred, unavoidably by circumstance,
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revert at once to yourself and don't lose Use the rhythm more than you can help.
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You could leave life right now.
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Let that determine what you do, say and think.
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Our life is what our thoughts make it.
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If you don't have a consistent goal in life, you can't live it in a consistent way.
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Get back up when you fail.
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Celebrate behaving like a human.
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Limit yourself to the present.
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The tranquility that comes when you stop caring what they say, or think, or do, only what you do.
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But you see how much you have to offer, and yet you still settle for less.
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Mastery of reading and writing requires a master.
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The struggle is great, the task divine, to gain mastery, freedom, happiness and tranquility.
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Do not let others hold you back.
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A blazing fire makes flame and brightness out of everything that is thrown into it.
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To love only what happens, no greater harmony.
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If it's humanly possible, you can do it too.
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Choose not to be harmed, and you won't feel harmed.
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Don't feel harmed, and you haven't been.
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Don't procrastinate.
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Don't confuse.
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Don't wander.
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Don't be passive or aggressive.
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Don't be all about business.
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Love the hand that fake deals you, and play it as your own.
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Practice even what seems impossible.
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There is never any need to get worked up about things you can't control.
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People exist for one another.
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The nearer a man comes to a calm mind, the closer he is to strength.
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Seneca We suffer more in imagination than in reality.
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Difficulties strengthen the mind as labor does the body.
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Being poor is not having too little, it is wanting more.
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If a man knows not to which port he sails, no wind is favorable.
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It's better to conquer grief than to deceive it.
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Life is very short and anxious for those who forget the past, neglect the present, and fear the future.
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No man is more unhappy than he who never faces adversity, for he is not permitted to prove himself.
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Everything hangs on one's thinking.
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A man is as unhappy as he has convinced himself he is.
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It's not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it.
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All cruelty springs from weakness.
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A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials.
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He who is everywhere is nowhere.
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As long as you live, keep learning how to live.
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It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more that is poor.
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Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.
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You can tell the character of every man when you see how he gives and receives praise.
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It is not that we have a short space of time, but that we waste much of it.
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The greatest remedy for anger is delay.
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How much progress shall I make, you ask, just as much as you try to make?
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wisdom comes haphazard to no man.
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This is our big mistake, to think we look forward to death.
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Most of death is already gone.
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Whatever time has passed is owned by death.
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If what you have seems insufficient to you, then though you possess the world, you will yet be miserable.
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Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power.
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It does not matter what you bear, but how you bear it.
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Nothing delights the mind as much as loving in loyal friendship.
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Whatever can happen at any time can happen today.
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Excellence withers without an adversary.
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Joy comes to us from those whom we love even when they are absent.
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What progress have I made?
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I have begun to be a friend to myself.
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If my wealth goes away, it takes with it nothing but itself.
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Epictetus If you wish to improve, be content to appear clueless or stupid.
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Don't just say that you have read books.
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Show that through them you have learned to think better.
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I cannot escape death, but at least I can escape the fear of it.
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Don't explain your philosophy.
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Embody it.
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We become what you give your attention to.
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It's impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.
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If you are ever tempted to look for outside approval, realize that you have compromised your integrity.
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If you need a witness, be your own.
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How long are you going to wait before you demand the best for yourself?
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If your choices are beautiful, so too will you be.
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If someone succeeds in provoking you, realize that your mind is complicit in the provocation.
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It's not things that upset us, but our judgments about things.
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Circumstances don't make the man.
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They only reveal him to himself.
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Welcome events in whichever way they happen.
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This is the path to peace.
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The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best.
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The essence of philosophy is that a man should so live
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that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things.
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No man is free who is not master of himself.
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The more we value things outside our control, the less control we have.
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You are hurt the moment you believe yourself to be.
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Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.
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Seek not the good in external things.
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Seek it in yourselves.
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Curb your desire.
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Don't set your heart on so many things, and you will get what you need.
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Devote the rest of your life to making progress.
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Better to trip with the feet than with the tongue.
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If you lay violent hands on me, you'll have my body, but my mind will remain with Stillpo.
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Happiness is a good flow of life.
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A bad feeling is a commotion of the mind repugnant to reason and against nature.
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Well-being is realized by small steps, but is truly no small thing thing.
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Man conquers the world by conquering himself.
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We have two ears and one mouth, so we should listen more than we say.
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He is best of all men who follows good advice.
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Good Number two is he who finds out all things for himself.
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No loss should be more regrettable to us than losing our time, for it's irretrievable.
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Follow where reason leads.
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Steal your sensibilities so that life shall hurt you as little as possible.
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No evil is honorable, but death is honorable.
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Therefore, death is not evil.
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All the good are friends of one another.
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No one entrusts a secret to a drunken man, but one will entrust a secret to a good man.
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Therefore, the good man will not get drunk.
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All things are parts of one single system, which is called nature.
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The individual life is good when it is in harmony with nature.
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Seeing that the universe gives birth to beings that are animate and wise, should it not be considered animate and wise itself?
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The end may be defined as life in accordance with nature, or, in other words, in accordance with our own human nature,
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as well as that of the universe.
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When a dog is tied to a cart, if it wants to follow, it is pulled and follows,
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making its spontaneous act coincide with necessity.
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But if the dog does not follow, it will be compelled in any case.
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So it is with men too.
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Even if they don't want to, they will be compelled to follow what is destined.
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Fate is the endless chain of connection, whereby things are the reason or principle by which the world goes on.
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seems to be deficient in nothing so much as he is in time.
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Thank you.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This C1 speaking lesson is built on the video “Powerful Stoic Quotes That Will Change Your Life”. This video has 160 sentences and 1609 words to shadow. The speech runs for 18:21. The speaker talks slowly, about 88 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound. 87% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| conquer verb | /ˈkɑŋkɚ/ | To defeat in combat; to subjugate. |
| animate adjective | /ˈæn.ə.mət/ | That lives. |
| compel verb | /kəmˈpɛl/ | To overpower; to subdue. |
| entrust verb | /ɪnˈtɹʌst/ | To trust to the care of. |
| humanly adverb | /ˈhjuːmənli/ | In a human manner. |
| tranquility noun | /træŋˈkwɪlɪti/ | American standard spelling of tranquillity. |
| mastery noun | /ˈmæs.tɚ.i/ | The position or authority of a master; dominion; command; supremacy; superiority. |
| circumstance noun | /ˈsɝ.kəmˌstæns/ | Something which is related to, or in some way affects, a fact or event. |
| honorable adjective | /ˈɑn.ə.ɹəbl̩/ | Behaving in a manner that shows honor; decent, having integrity. |
| unhappy adjective | /ʌnˈhæpi/ | Not happy; sad. |
| adversary noun | /ˈæd.vəɹˌsɛɹi/ | A person, group, or thing that opposes or attacks another person or group; an opponent or rival. |
| adversity noun | /ædˈvɜː.sɪ.ti/ | The state of adverse conditions; state of misfortune or calamity. |
| attainable adjective | /əˈteɪ.nə.bəl/ | Able to be accomplished, achieved, or obtained. |
| coincide verb | /ˌkoʊɪnˈsaɪd/ | To occupy exactly the same space. |
| commotion noun | /kəˈmoʊ.ʃən/ | A state of turbulent motion. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| find out verb | To discover, as by asking or investigating. |
| go away verb | To depart or leave a place. |
| look forward to verb | To anticipate, expect, or wait for, especially with a feeling of approval or pleasure; to be excited or eager to. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- You don't have to turn this into something.
- It doesn't have to upset you.
- Have I done something for the common good?
- Everyone despises me, that's their problem.
- What progress have I made?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result | if they don't want to, they will be |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | Have I done · has happened · have lived |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is born · is thrown · be harmed |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | those who forget · man who has · people who uplift |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 23 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, can't, won't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: wither /ˈwɪðɚ/, strengthen /ˈstɹɛŋ(k)θən/, rhythm /ˈɹɪð.əm/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: commotion /kəˈmoʊ.ʃən/, deficient /dɪˈfɪʃənt/, provocation /ˌpɹɑvəˈkeɪʃən/, friction /ˈfɹɪkʃən/, insufficient /ɪnsəˈfɪʃənt/
- Long words — get the stress right: tranquility /træŋˈkwɪlɪti/, adversary /ˈæd.vəɹˌsɛɹi/, adversity /ædˈvɜː.sɪ.ti/, attainable /əˈteɪ.nə.bəl/, endurable /ɪnˈd(j)ʊɹ.ɪ.bəl/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like conquer, animate, compel.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.