Men are not afraid of things, but of how they view them.
Imagine for yourself a character, a model personality, whose example you determine to follow, in private as well as in public.
Freedom is secured not by the fulfilling of men's desires, but by the removal of desire.
He is a man of sense who does not grieve for what he has not but rejoices in what he has.
What you shun enduring yourself, attempt not to impose on others. You shun slavery- beware enslaving others! If you can endure to do that, one would think you had been once upon a time a slave yoursel...
Whoever is going to listen to the philosophers needs a considerable practice in listening.
We are not to give credit to the many, who say that none ought to be educated but the free but rather to the philosophers, who say that the well-educated alone are free.
Seek not that the things which happen should happen as you wish; but wish the things which happen to be as they are, and you will have a tranquil flow of life. IX
If you wish to live a life free from sorrow think of what is going to happen as if it had already happened.
He is a drunkard who takes more than three glasses though he be not drunk.
So when the crisis is upon you remember that God like a trainer of wrestlers has matched you with a tough and stalwart antagonist... that you may prove a victor at the Great Games.
There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power or our will.
For if we had any sense, what else should we do, both in public and in private, than sing hymns and praise the deity, and recount all the favours that he has conferred!
Difficulties are things that show what men are.
Very little is needed for everything to be upset and ruined, only a slight lapse in reason.
I must die. Must I then die lamenting? I must be put in chains. Must I then also lament? I must go into exile. Does any man then hinder me from going with smiles and cheerfulness and contentment?
no man is free until he s a master of himself!!
Who, then, is the invincible human being? One who can be disconcerted by nothing that lies outside the sphere of choice.
What would have become of Hercules do you think if there had been no lion, hydra, stag or boar - and no savage criminals to rid the world of? What would he have done in the absence of such challenges?...
The condition and characteristic of an uninstructed person is this: he never expects from himself profit (advantage) nor harm, but from externals. The condition and characteristic of a philosopher is...