…it is more civilized to make fun of life than to bewail it.

Because thou writest me often, I thank thee … Never do I receive a letter from thee, but immediately we are together.

The best ideas are common property

There is but one chain holding us in fetters, and that is our love of life.

You live as if you were destined to live forever, no thought of your frailty ever enters your head, of how much time has already gone by you take no heed. You squander time as...

We are members of one great body, planted by nature…. We must consider that we were born for the good of the whole

I have learned to be a friend to myself Great improvement this indeed Such a one can never be said to be alone for know that he who is a friend to himself is a...

It is the power of the mind to be unconquerable.

If you look on wealth as a thing to be valued your imaginary poverty will cause you torment.

Cling, therefore, to this sound and wholesome plan of life; indulge the body just so far as suffices for good health. … Your food should appease your hunger, your drink quench your thirst, your clothing...

A woman is not beautiful when her ankle or arm wins compliments, but when her total appearance diverts admiration from the individual parts of her body.

So long, in fact, as you remain in ignorance of what to aim at and what to avoid, what is essential and what is superfluous, what is upright or honorable conduct and what is not,...

It is uncertain where Death will await you;there expect it everywhere.

Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for crisis.

How silly then to imagine that the human mind, which is formed of the same elements as divine beings, objects to movement and change of abode, while the divine nature finds delight and even self-preservation...

Ducunt volentem fata, nolentem trahunt.

Homo res sacra homini.

you shall be told what pleased me to-day in the writings ofHecato; it is these words: “What progress, you ask, have I made? I have begun to be a friend to myself.” That wasindeed a...

As Lucretius says: ‘Thus ever from himself doth each man flee.’ But what does he gain if he does not escape from himself? He ever follows himself and weighs upon himself as his own most...

The shortest route to wealth is the contempt of wealth.

Barley porridge, or a crust of barley bread, and water do not make a very cheerful diet, but nothing gives one keener pleasure than having the ability to derive pleasure even from that– and the...

The trip doesn’t exist that can set you beyond the reach of cravings, fits of temper, or fears … so long as you carry the sources of your troubles about with you, those troubles will...

Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful.

Each day acquire something that will fortify you against poverty, against death, indeed against othermisfortunes as well; and after you have run over many thoughts, select one to be thoroughly digested that day

Nature does not reveal her mysteries once and for all.

For Fate/ The willing leads, the unwilling drags along.

Aequat omnes cinis

errare humanum est, sed perseverare diabolicum: ‘to err is human, but to persist (in the mistake) is diabolical.

Finally, everybody agrees that no one pursuit can be successfully followed by a man who is preoccupied with many things—eloquence cannot, nor the liberal studies—since the mind, when distracted, takes in nothing very deeply, but...

For many men, the acquisition of wealth does not end their troubles, it only changes them

Spurn everything that is added by way of decoration and display by unneccesary labour. Relect that nothing merits admiration except the spirit, the impressiveness of which prevents it from being impressed by anything.

Life is like a play: it’s not the length, but the excellence of the acting that matters.

Love sometimes injures. Friendship always benefits, After friendship is formed you must trust, but before that you must judge.

Once you have rid yourself of the affliction there, though, every change of scene will become a pleasure. You may be banished to the ends of the earth, and yet in whatever outlandish corner of...

A gift consists not in what is done or given, but in the intention of the giver or doer.

No man is crushed by misfortune unless he has first been deceived by prosperity

Pain is slight if opinion has added nothing to it; … in thinking it slight, you will make it slight. Everything depends on opinion. It is according to opinion that we suffer. A man is...

For fate the willing leads, the unwilling drags along.

But nothing will help quite so much as just keeping quiet, talking with other people as little as possible, with yourself as much as possible. For conversation has a kind of charm about it, an...

I am not a ‘wise man,’ nor . . . shall I ever be. And so require not from me that I should be equal to the best, but that I should be better than...

It takes the whole of life to learn how to live, and–what will perhaps make you wonder more–it takes the whole of life to learn how to die.

No one could endure lasting adversity if it continued to have the same force as when it first hit us. We are all tied to Fortune, some by a loose and golden chain, and others...

Timendi causa est nescire – Ignorance is the cause of fear.

Possession of a friend should be with the spirit: the spirit’s never absent: it sees daily whoever it likes.

The man who spends his time choosing one resort after another in a hunt for peace and quiet will in every place he visits find something to prevent him from relaxing.

And so when you see a man often wearing the robe of office, when you see one whose name is famous in the Forum, do not envy him; those things are bought at the price...

Nothing, to my way of thinking, is a better proof of a well ordered mind than a man’s ability to stop just where he is and pass some time in his own company.

Envy of other people shows how they are unhappy. Their continual attention to others behavior shows how they are boring.

Oh, what darkness does great prosperity cast over our minds!

And this, too, affords no small occasion for anxieties – if you are bent on assuming a pose and never reveal yourself to anyone frankly, in the fashion of many who live a false life...