It is in your power to withdraw yourself whenever you desire. Perfect tranquility within consists in the good ordering of the mind, the realm of your own.

Remember that what pulls the strings is the force hidden within; there lies the power to persuade, there the life – there, if one must speak out, the real man.

Rest lightly on her earth, for she trod never heavily on thee

Life is not merely being alive, but being well

Remember this, – that there is a proper dignity and proportion to be observed in the performance of every act of life

The man of ambition thinks to find his good in the operations of others; the man of pleasure in his own sensations; but the man of understanding in his own actions.

Look beneath the surface; let not the several quality of a thing nor its worth escape thee.

Think of your many years of procrastination; how the gods have repeatedly granted you further periods of grace, of which you have taken no advantage. It is time now to realise the nature of the...

We are the other of the other

Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life.

What springs from earth dissolves to earth again, and heaven-born things fly to their native seat.

All of us are creatures of a day; the rememberer and the remembered alike

Nothing is evil which is according to nature.

Light may earth’s crumbling sand be laid on thee, that dogs may dig thy bones up easily

When men are inhuman, take care not to feel towards them as they do towards other humans

Be content to seem what you really are

striid andWthdraw into yourself. Our master-reason asks no more than to act justly, and thereby to achieve calm.

Even the least of our activities ought to have some end in view.

No more roundabout discussions of what makes a good man. Be one!

Aptitude found in the understanding and is often inherited. Genius coming from reason and imagination, rarely.

Despise not death, but welcome it, for nature wills it like all else.

“The robber of your free will,” writes Epictetus, “does not exist

Whatever is in any way beautiful hath its source of beauty in itself, and is complete in itself; praise forms no part of it. So it is none the worse nor the better for being...

There is no living with thee, nor without thee

Some things are hurrying into existence, and others are hurrying out of it; and of that which is coming into existence part is already extinguished

Look well into thyself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up if thou wilt always look.

Here is a rule to remember in future, when anything tempts you to feel bitter: not “This is misfortune,” but “To bear this worthily is good fortune.

And so accept everything that happens, even if it is disagreeable, because it leads to this, to the health of the universe and to the prosperity and felicity of Zeus

Will any man despise me? Let him see to it. But I will see to it that I may not be found doing or saying anything that deserves to be despised.

The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.

How much time he saves who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks.

Human life. Duration: momentary. Nature: changeable. Perception: dim. Condition of Body: decaying. Soul: spinning around. Fortune: unpredictable. Lasting Fame: uncertain. Sum Up: The body and its parts are a river, the soul a dream and...

Do you make a grievance of weighing so many pounds only instead of three hundred? Then why fret about living so many years only, instead of more? Since you are content with the measure of...

It is false to say that you are a vicious man, Zoilus; you are not a vicious man, you are vice itself

He who refuses nothing, Atticilla, will soon have nothing to refuse

Be like a headland of rock on which the waves break incessantly; but it stands fast and around it the seething of the waters sink to rest

As far as you can, get into the habit of asking yourself in relation to any action taken by another: “What is his point of reference here?” But begin with yourself: examine yourself first.

The best revenge is not to be like your enemy.

Hour by hour resolve firmly to do what comes to hand with dignity, and with humanity, independence, and justice. Allow your mind freedom from all other considerations. This you can do, if you will approach...

III. I have often wondered how it should come to pass, that every man loving himself best, should more regard other men’s opinions concerning himself than his own. For if any God or grave master...

Observe constantly that all things take place by change, and accustom thyself to consider that the nature of the Universe loves nothing so much as to change the things which are, and to make new...

We are too much accustomed to attribute to a single cause that which is the product of several, and the majority of our controversies come from that.

Why do you wrap up your neck in a woolen muffler when you are going to recite? The muffler would be more suitable for our ears

As for literature, thefts cannot harm it, while the lapse of ages augments its value

When the crowd of your admirers is shouting, “Bravo! Hear, hear!” it is not you, Pomponius, but your dinner that is eloquent

In all my writings my aim has been to spare sinners and assail sin

The height of farce it is, I ween, To be so perfumed and anointed, And when one’s appetite’s most keen, To have it thus most disappoint

Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together,but do so with all your heart.

The soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts.

All things fade into the storied past, and in a little while are shrouded in oblivion.