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.

Tis easy to write epigrams nicely but to write a book is hard

Since you are so well matched, and so much alike – a very bad wife, and a very bad husband – I wonder that you do not agree

So great is the modesty of your mind and face, Sophronius that I wonder you should ever have become a father

Conceal a flaw, and the world will imagine the worst

Salvation: to see each thing for what it is— its nature and its purpose.To do only what is right, say only what is true, without holding back.What else could it be but to live life...

If someone can prove me wrong and show me my mistake in any thought or action, I shall gladly change. I seek the truth, which never harmed anyone: the harm is to persist in one’s...

We should remark the grace and fascination that there is even in the incidentals of Nature’s processes.. When a loaf of bread,. for instance,. is in the oven,. crack appear in it here and there;...

A person’s worth is measured by the worth of what he values.

The secret of all victory lies in the organization of the non-obvious.

Anger cannot be dishonest.

To them that ask, ‘Where have you seen the gods, or how do you know for certain there are gods, that you are so devout in their worship?’ I answer, ‘Neither have I ever seen...

He who prefers to give to Linus the half of what he wishes to borrow, rather than to lend him the whole, prefers to lose only the half

A good man is always a beginner

It is a mistake to think that Acerra reeks of yesterday’s liquor: Acerra always drinks till next morning

You ask me, Linus what my field out at Nomentum is to yield? Well this it yields to me: the view, my Linus, has no sign of you

Observe the movements of the stars as if you were running their courses with them, and let your mind constantly dwell on the changes of the elements into each other. Such imaginings wash away the...