However much a man gives, there is more that he withholds

Live not as though there were a thousand years ahead of you. Fate is at your elbow; make yourself good while life and power are still yours.

Cinna wishes to seem poor, and is poor

From the philosopher Catulus, never to be dismissive of a friend’s accusation, even if it seems unreasonable, but to make every effort to restore the relationship to its normal condition.

You are a little soul carrying about a corpse, as Epictetus used to say.

Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.

If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it.

Such as are your habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of your mind; for the soul is dyed by the thoughts.

No form of Nature is inferior to Art; for the arts merely imitate natural forms

To no man make yourself a boon companion: Your joy will be less but less will be your grief

Think not so much of what thou hast not, as of what thou hast; but of the things which thou hast select the best, and reflect how eagerly they would have been sought if thou...

Whatever happens at all happens as it should; you will find this true, if you watch narrowly.

The passing minute is every man’s equal possession, but what has once gone by is not ours

The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.

We must make haste then, not only because we are daily nearer to death, but also because the conception of things and the understanding of them cease first.

Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.

When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive – to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.

Anything in any way beautiful derives its beauty from itself and asks nothing beyond itself. Praise is no part of it, for nothing is made worse or better by praise.

Everything that exists is in a manner the seed of that which will be.

Fortune gives many too much, but none enough

There is often a sin of omission as well as of commission

Glory paid to our ashes comes too late

What is not good for the swarm is not good for the bee.

Death smiles at us all; all we can do is smile back.

If someone is able to show me that what I think or do is not right, I will happily change, for I seek the truth, by which no one was ever truly harmed. It is...

Remember: philosophy requiresonly what your nature already demands.

Maximus was my model for self-control, fixity of purpose, and cheerfulness under ill-health or other misfortunes. His character was an admirable combination of dignity and charm, and all the duties of his station were performed...

A noble man compares and estimates himself by an idea which is higher than himself; and a mean man, by one lower than himself. The one produces aspiration; the other ambition, which is the way...

The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.

The man who has a house everywhere has a home nowhere

You wish to appear, Cotta, a pretty man and a great man at one and the same time: but he who is a pretty man, Cotta, is a very small man

Laugh, if thou art wise

You say, Senca, that you were violated by robbers, but the robbers deny it

Every man’s life lies within the present; for the past is spent and done with, and the future is uncertain.

All things of the body stream away like a river, all things of the mind are dreams and delusion; life is warfare, and a visit to a strange land; the only lasting fame is oblivion.

The world is mere change, and this life, opinion.

Is your cucumber bitter? Throw it away. Are there briars in your path? Turn aside. That is enough. Do not go on and say, “Why were things of this sort ever brought into this world?”...

The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.

To understand the true quality of people, you must look into their minds, and examine their pursuits and aversions.

For all their compliments do verses pay? They mayn’t, yet these same poems make me gay

You see these fish carved finely in relief by Phidian art? Add water; they will swim

If you want him to mourn, you had best leave him nothing

If it does not fit leave it, if it is not true do not say it.

I mean, you never know how these things are going to go, but I always want to be prepared that I have everything in order so if I need to go then I can. Because,...

It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.

Do not act as if you had ten thousand years to throw away. Death stands at your elbow. Be good for something while you live and it is in your power.

Do not act as if you were going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over you. While you live, while it is in your power, be good.

Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too...

Because a thing seems difficult for you, do not think it impossible for anyone to accomplish.

The act of dying is one of the acts of life.