The Stoic Quote Library

The obstacle is the way.

The obstacle is the way.

The obstacle is the way.

The obstacle is the way.

The obstacle is the way.

The obstacle is the way.

The obstacle is the way.

The obstacle is the way.

The obstacle is the way.

The obstacle is the way.

The obstacle is the way.

The obstacle is the way.

The obstacle is the way.

The obstacle is the way.

The obstacle is the way.

The obstacle is the way.

The obstacle is the way.

The obstacle is the way.

The obstacle is the way.

The obstacle is the way.

The obstacle is the way.

Love is the extremely difficult realisation that something other than oneself is real. It is the cure for solipsism.

Attention is the basic moral act. To truly see another person is to love them.

The foundation of morality is to have done, once and for all, with lying. Truth is the ground of all virtue.

The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of. We know this in countless ways.

All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone. We flee from ourselves.

The secret for harvesting from existence the greatest fruitfulness and the greatest enjoyment is to live dangerously. Build your cities on the slopes of Vesuvius.

The higher we soar, the smaller we appear to those who cannot fly. Greatness is always misunderstood from below.

He who has a why to live can bear almost any how. Purpose is the great anesthetic.

That which does not kill us, makes us stronger. But only if we learn from it.

The capacity to give one's attention to a sufferer is a very rare and difficult thing; it is almost a miracle. It is a miracle of love.

Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity. It is what love looks like in practice.

The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.

You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.

In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy.

Begin to be now what you will be hereafter. The future is made in the present.

Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does. Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world.

The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another. We are not prisoners of our own minds.

Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose. Find your why.

What is to give light must endure burning. The candle that illuminates others consumes itself.

Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.

Those who have a 'why' to live, can bear with almost any 'how'. Purpose is the source of endurance.

Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.

When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. This is the last of human freedoms.

A man who fears suffering is already suffering from what he fears. Fear is the anticipation of pain.

I study myself more than any other subject. It is my metaphysics; it is my physics. Know thyself is the whole of philosophy.

The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself. Most men belong to everyone but themselves.

To philosophise is to learn to die. The philosopher who has not made peace with death has not yet begun to philosophise.

Every man carries the whole stamp of the human condition within him. To know one man fully is to know all men.

Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work. The craftsman who loves his craft produces the finest work.

Happiness depends upon ourselves. It is not given; it is earned.

Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others. Without it, virtue is merely theoretical.

Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom. Without self-knowledge, all other knowledge is incomplete.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. Virtue is a practice, not a possession.

Character is simply habit long continued. What you do every day is what you are.

The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled. Education is ignition, not accumulation.

The wise are instructed by reason; ordinary minds by experience; the stupid by necessity; and brutes by instinct. Which are you?

Not for ourselves alone are we born; our country, our friends, have a share in us. We are social animals.

If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need. All else is surplus.

I would rather be good than seem good. Reputation is the shadow of character.

I begin to speak only when I am certain what I will say is not better left unsaid. Silence is often the wiser counsel.

Virtue is a disposition of the soul in agreement with reason and nature. It is not a gift but an achievement.

The universe itself is God and the universal outpouring of its soul. We are all parts of this whole.

The willing are led by fate, the unwilling are dragged. Choose to be led.

Lead me, Zeus, and you too, Destiny, wherever I am assigned by you; I'll follow and not hesitate. If I am unwilling, I follow still.

Better to trip with the feet than with the tongue. A stumble may be recovered; a word cannot be unsaid.

Well-being is attained by little and little, and nevertheless is no little thing itself. Progress is cumulative.

The goal of life is to live in agreement with nature. What is natural cannot be evil.

Man conquers the world by conquering himself. The greatest victory is over oneself.

We should not be ashamed of doing what is right, even if others mock us. Shame belongs to the wrongdoer, not the righteous.

We should not seek the approval of others, but only the approval of our own conscience. The crowd is a poor judge.

We must train ourselves to endure hardship, not just to understand it. The body must be trained as well as the mind.

The goal of philosophy is not knowledge but action. To know the good and not do it is no knowledge at all.

Endure pain, endure labour, endure poverty, endure disease, endure all that is considered evil. This is the training of the philosopher.

Hard work is the price we pay for the things we want. There is no shortcut to virtue.

The person who is truly educated is the person who is good. Education that does not produce goodness is no education at all.

We must not allow ourselves to be distracted by the many things that come our way. Choose the most important and attend to that.

Retire into yourself as much as you can; associate with those who will make a better man of you. Welcome those who you yourself can improve.

He who is brave is free. He who is not brave is a slave to his fears.

The mind that is anxious about future events is miserable. It tortures itself with what has not yet come.

If you wish to be loved, love. And be worthy of love.

A good character is the only guarantee of everlasting, carefree happiness. It cannot be taken from you.

Hang on to your youthful enthusiasms — you'll be able to use them better when you're older. They will keep you young.

No man was ever wise by chance. Wisdom must be worked for.

Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. The more you prepare, the luckier you get.

Begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life. He who has begun has half done.

We suffer more in imagination than in reality. Fear keeps pace with hope.

Dum differtur vita transcurrit. While we are postponing, life speeds by. Nothing, Lucilius, is ours, except time.

It is not that I am brave, but that I know what is not worth fearing. I do not fear death; I fear not having lived.

Omnia, Lucili, aliena sunt, tempus tantum nostrum est.

The greatest obstacle to living is expectancy, which hangs upon tomorrow and loses today.

Recede in te ipse quantum potes. Cum his versare qui te meliorem acturi sunt. Withdraw into yourself as much as you can; associate with those who will make a better man of you.

Omnia, Lucili, aliena sunt, tempus tantum nostrum est. Seize it, hold it, use it.

Nusquam est qui ubique est. He who is everywhere is nowhere. He who spends all his time in foreign travel ends by having many acquaintances, but no friends.

Ita fac, mi Lucili: vindica te tibi. Claim yourself for yourself, my Lucilius.

Seek not that the things which happen should happen as you wish.

Never call yourself a philosopher, nor talk a great deal among the unlearned about theorems, but act conformably to them.

Remember that you are an actor in a play, the character of which is determined by the author.

If you have assumed a character above your strength, you have both played a poor figure in that, and neglected one that is within your powers.

Seek not good from without; seek it within yourselves, or you will never find it.

Men are disturbed not by the things which happen, but by the opinions about the things: for example, death is nothing terrible, for if it were, it would have seemed so to Socrates.

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.

Never say about anything, I have lost it; but, I have returned it.

The philosopher's school is a surgery. You ought not to leave it with pleasure, but with pain.

If you want to be a writer, write. If you want to be a philosopher, philosophise. If you want to be a runner, run.

Speak both in the senate and to every man of whatever rank with propriety, without affectation.

It is not fitting for me to be in pain, for I do not injure myself.

Thou art a little soul bearing about a corpse.

The present moment always will have been.

Confine yourself to the present. What is past is gone; what is future has not yet come.

Be content to seem what you really are.

The things you think about determine the quality of your mind. Your soul takes on the colour of your thoughts.

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

To be like the promontory against which the waves continually break; but it stands firm and tames the fury of the water around it.

Examine yourself rigorously. Do not flatter yourself.

Thou hast power over thy mind, not outside events. Realise this, and thou wilt find strength.

The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it. This is the whole of philosophy.

Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul. Above all, grant yourself this retreat constantly.

Do not indulge in dreams of what you have not, but count the blessings you actually possess.

When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: the people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous and surly. They are like this because they cannot tell good from evil.

Virtue is sufficient for happiness.

Live according to nature.

The Stoics say that the wise man is always happy.

Love is the extremely difficult realisation that something other than oneself is real.

Attention is the basic moral act.

The foundation of morality is to have done, once and for all, with lying.

We know truth, not only by the reason, but also by the heart.

The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of.

All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.

The secret for harvesting from existence the greatest fruitfulness and the greatest enjoyment is to live dangerously.

In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.

The higher we soar, the smaller we appear to those who cannot fly.

Without music, life would be a mistake.

He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.

That which does not kill us, makes us stronger.

Affliction is not suffering. Affliction is suffering that has become a permanent condition.

The capacity to give one's attention to a sufferer is a very rare and difficult thing; it is almost a miracle.

Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.

Don't walk in front of me — I may not follow. Don't walk behind me — I may not lead. Walk beside me — just be my friend.

The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.

You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.

In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.

Begin to be now what you will be hereafter.

The greatest revolution of our generation is the discovery that human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.

Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.

The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.

Each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life.

What is to give light must endure burning.

Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.

The meaning of life is to give life meaning.

Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances.

Those who have a 'why' to live, can bear with almost any 'how'.

Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response.

When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.

A man who fears suffering is already suffering from what he fears.

On the highest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own bottom.

I study myself more than any other subject. It is my metaphysics; it is my physics.

The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself.

To philosophise is to learn to die.

Every man carries the whole stamp of the human condition within him.

The whole is more than the sum of its parts.

The energy of the mind is the essence of life.

To perceive is to suffer.

Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.

Happiness depends upon ourselves.

Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others.

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.

The more you know, the more you know you don't know.

Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

Character is simply habit long continued.

What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.

The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.

The wise are instructed by reason; ordinary minds by experience; the stupid by necessity; and brutes by instinct.

The foundation of justice is good faith.

Not for ourselves alone are we born; our country, our friends, have a share in us.

If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.

The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living.

A room without books is like a body without a soul.

Patience is the greatest of all virtues.

I would rather be good than seem good.

An angry man opens his mouth and shuts his eyes.

I begin to speak only when I am certain what I will say is not better left unsaid.

The wise man does nothing that he could repent of, nothing against his will, but does everything honourably, consistently, soberly, and rightly.

Virtue is a disposition of the soul in agreement with reason and nature.

The universe itself is God and the universal outpouring of its soul.

The path of virtue is the path of reason.

Conquer, but spare.

The willing are led by fate, the unwilling are dragged.

Lead me, Zeus, and you too, Destiny, wherever I am assigned by you; I'll follow and not hesitate.

No evil is honourable; but death is honourable; therefore death is not evil.

A friend is another self.

The most important thing in life is to know what is important.

We have two ears and one mouth, so we should listen more than we say.

Better to trip with the feet than with the tongue.

Well-being is attained by little and little, and nevertheless is no little thing itself.

The goal of life is to live in agreement with nature.

Man conquers the world by conquering himself.

The person who is truly temperate is the one who is not ruled by pleasure.

We should not be deterred from doing good by the difficulty of the task.

The person who is truly just is the one who treats all people fairly.

We must not be content with merely knowing what is good, but must do it.

The person who is truly courageous is the one who faces danger without fear.

We should not seek the approval of others, but only the approval of our own conscience.

The person who is truly happy is the one who is truly virtuous.

We must not allow ourselves to be ruled by our passions, but must rule them.

The person who is truly wise is the one who knows what is truly good.

We should not be ashamed of doing what is right, even if others mock us.

The person who is truly virtuous is the one who acts virtuously in all circumstances.

We must train ourselves to endure hardship, not just to understand it.

The goal of philosophy is not knowledge but action.

We should practice what we preach, and preach what we practice.

The person who is truly free is the one who is not a slave to pleasure or pain.

We must not be deterred from doing good by the fear of being thought foolish.

The philosopher must not only study virtue but must also practice it.

We should not seek pleasure and avoid pain, but rather seek virtue and avoid vice.

The person who is not disturbed by pain is not disturbed by anything.

Endure pain, endure labour, endure poverty, endure disease, endure all that is considered evil.

Hard work is the price we pay for the things we want.

We should not simply accept what others tell us, but examine everything for ourselves.

The person who is truly educated is the person who is good.

We must not allow ourselves to be distracted by the many things that come our way.

Confer beneficium. Give a benefit.

Omnia, Lucili, aliena sunt, tempus tantum nostrum est. All things, Lucilius, belong to others; time alone is ours.

Inimica est multorum conversatio. The company of many is harmful.

He who is brave is free.

Vindica te tibi. Claim yourself for yourself.

Hang on to your youthful enthusiasms — you'll be able to use them better when you're older.

A good character is the only guarantee of everlasting, carefree happiness.

If you wish to be loved, love.

Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.

The mind that is anxious about future events is miserable.

Retire into yourself as much as you can; associate with those who will make a better man of you.

No man was ever wise by chance.

The whole future lies in uncertainty: live immediately.

Begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life.

We suffer more in imagination than in reality.

It is not that I am brave, but that I know what is not worth fearing.

Dum differtur vita transcurrit. While we are postponing, life speeds by.

Nusquam est qui ubique est. He who is everywhere is nowhere.

Omnia aliena sunt, tempus tantum nostrum est. Everything else belongs to others; time alone is ours.

Per aspera ad astra. Through hardship to the stars.

Errare humanum est, perseverare autem diabolicum. To err is human, but to persist in error is diabolical.

Nemo potest personam diu ferre. No one can wear a mask for long.

Recede in te ipse quantum potes. Withdraw into yourself as much as you can.

If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid with regard to external things.

We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.

What concerns me is not the way things are, but rather the way people think things are.

Other people's views and troubles can be contagious. Don't sabotage yourself by unwittingly adopting negative, unproductive attitudes through your associations with others.

On the occasion of every accident that befalls you, remember to turn to yourself and inquire what power you have for turning it to use.

You may be always victorious if you will never enter into any contest where the issue does not wholly depend upon yourself.

Caretake this moment. Immerse yourself in its particulars. Respond to this person, this challenge, this deed.

If you are ever tempted to look for outside approval, realise that you have compromised your integrity.

The two powers which in my opinion constitute a wise man are those of bearing and forbearing.

Whoever does not regard what he has as most ample wealth, is unhappy, though he be master of the world.

A ship should not ride on a single anchor, nor life on a single hope.

First learn the meaning of what you say, and then speak.

It is not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.

Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens.

The essence of philosophy is that a man should so live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things.

If you want to be a philosopher, prepare yourself to be mocked and ridiculed by many people.

Suffering arises from trying to control what is uncontrollable, or from neglecting what is within our power.

Attach yourself to what is spiritually superior, regardless of what other people think or do.

He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.

Ask yourself at every moment, 'Is this necessary?'

Circumstances don't make the man, they only reveal him to himself.

The greater the difficulty, the more glory in surmounting it.

If you wish to be a writer, write.

People are not disturbed by things, but by the view they take of them.

Seek not good from without; seek it within yourselves, or you will never find it.

Freedom is the only worthy goal in life. It is won by disregarding things that lie beyond our control.

The world turns aside to let any man pass who knows where he is going.

Nature gave us one tongue and two ears so we could hear twice as much as we speak.

Practice yourself, for heaven's sake, in little things; and thence proceed to greater.

He who laughs at himself never runs out of things to laugh at.

The more we value things outside our control, the less control we have.

You are not your body and hair-style, but your capacity for choosing well. If your choices are beautiful, so too will you be.

Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it.

We cannot choose our external circumstances, but we can always choose how we respond to them.

Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.

The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best.

If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.

No man is free who is not master of himself.

Our life is what our thoughts make it.

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.

That which is not good for the bee-hive cannot be good for the bees.

First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.

Men are disturbed not by the things which happen, but by the opinions about the things.

It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.

Do not look around thee to discover other men's ruling principles, but look straight to this, to what nature leads thee.

To live a good life: we have the potential for it. If we can learn to be indifferent to what makes no difference.

It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.

Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.

He who lives in harmony with himself lives in harmony with the universe.

Be tolerant with others and strict with yourself.

How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it.

A man's life is a mere moment, his existence a flux, his perception clouded, his body's composition corruptible.

Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now take what's left and live it properly.

Loss is nothing else but change, and change is Nature's delight.

You always own the option of having no opinion.

Perfection of character is this: to live each day as if it were your last, without frenzy, without apathy, without pretence.

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

The soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts.

Receive without pride, relinquish without struggle.

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

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

In the morning when thou risest unwillingly, let this thought be present: I am rising to the work of a human being.

Treat every moment as precious, as if it were your last.

The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.

Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.

Time is a river, a violent current of events, glimpsed once and already carried past us, and another follows and is gone.

The universe is transformation; life is opinion.

Confine yourself to the present.

You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think.

The first step: don't be anxious. Nature controls it all.

How many a Chrysippus, how many a Socrates, how many an Epictetus, have time already swallowed up?

Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.

The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing.

Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul.

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

Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future, too.

If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.

The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.

Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.

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.

Do not look around thee to discover other men's ruling principles, but look straight to this, to what nature leads thee.

Virtue is sufficient for happiness.

Live according to nature.

The Stoics say that the wise man is always happy.

Love is the extremely difficult realisation that something other than oneself is real.

Attention is the basic moral act.

The foundation of morality is to have done, once and for all, with lying.

We know truth, not only by the reason, but also by the heart.

The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of.

All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.

The secret for harvesting from existence the greatest fruitfulness and the greatest enjoyment is to live dangerously.

In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.

The higher we soar, the smaller we appear to those who cannot fly.

Without music, life would be a mistake.

He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.

That which does not kill us, makes us stronger.

Affliction is not suffering. Affliction is suffering that has become a permanent condition.

The capacity to give one's attention to a sufferer is a very rare and difficult thing; it is almost a miracle.

Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.

Don't walk in front of me — I may not follow. Don't walk behind me — I may not lead. Walk beside me — just be my friend.

The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.

You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.

In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.

Begin to be now what you will be hereafter.

The greatest revolution of our generation is the discovery that human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.

Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.

The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.

Each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life.

What is to give light must endure burning.

Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.

The meaning of life is to give life meaning.

Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances.

Those who have a 'why' to live, can bear with almost any 'how'.

Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response.

When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.

A man who fears suffering is already suffering from what he fears.

On the highest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own bottom.

I study myself more than any other subject. It is my metaphysics; it is my physics.

The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself.

To philosophise is to learn to die.

Every man carries the whole stamp of the human condition within him.

The whole is more than the sum of its parts.

The energy of the mind is the essence of life.

To perceive is to suffer.

Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.

Happiness depends upon ourselves.

Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others.

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.

The more you know, the more you know you don't know.

Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

Character is simply habit long continued.

What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.

The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.

The wise are instructed by reason; ordinary minds by experience; the stupid by necessity; and brutes by instinct.

The foundation of justice is good faith.

Not for ourselves alone are we born; our country, our friends, have a share in us.

If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.

The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living.

A room without books is like a body without a soul.

Patience is the greatest of all virtues.

I would rather be good than seem good.

An angry man opens his mouth and shuts his eyes.

I begin to speak only when I am certain what I will say is not better left unsaid.

The wise man does nothing that he could repent of, nothing against his will, but does everything honourably, consistently, soberly, and rightly.

Virtue is a disposition of the soul in agreement with reason and nature.

The universe itself is God and the universal outpouring of its soul.

The path of virtue is the path of reason.

Conquer, but spare.

The willing are led by fate, the unwilling are dragged.

Lead me, Zeus, and you too, Destiny, wherever I am assigned by you; I'll follow and not hesitate.

No evil is honourable; but death is honourable; therefore death is not evil.

A friend is another self.

We must train ourselves to endure hardship, not just to understand it.

The most important thing in life is to know what is important.

We have two ears and one mouth, so we should listen more than we say.

Better to trip with the feet than with the tongue.

Well-being is attained by little and little, and nevertheless is no little thing itself.

The goal of life is to live in agreement with nature.

Man conquers the world by conquering himself.

The person who is truly temperate is the one who is not ruled by pleasure.

We should not be deterred from doing good by the difficulty of the task.

The person who is truly just is the one who treats all people fairly.

We must not be content with merely knowing what is good, but must do it.

The person who is truly courageous is the one who faces danger without fear.

We should not seek the approval of others, but only the approval of our own conscience.

The person who is truly happy is the one who is truly virtuous.

We must not allow ourselves to be ruled by our passions, but must rule them.

The person who is truly wise is the one who knows what is truly good.

We should not be ashamed of doing what is right, even if others mock us.

The person who is truly virtuous is the one who acts virtuously in all circumstances.

The person who is truly educated is the person who is good.

We should practice what we preach, and preach what we practice.

The person who is truly free is the one who is not a slave to pleasure or pain.

We must not be deterred from doing good by the fear of being thought foolish.

The philosopher must not only study virtue but must also practice it.

We should not seek pleasure and avoid pain, but rather seek virtue and avoid vice.

The person who is not disturbed by pain is not disturbed by anything.

Endure pain, endure labour, endure poverty, endure disease, endure all that is considered evil.

Hard work is the price we pay for the things we want.

We should not simply accept what others tell us, but examine everything for ourselves.

The goal of philosophy is not knowledge but action.

We must not allow ourselves to be distracted by the many things that come our way.

Omnia aliena sunt, tempus tantum nostrum est. Everything else belongs to others; time alone is ours.

Per aspera ad astra. Through hardship to the stars.

Errare humanum est, perseverare autem diabolicum. To err is human, but to persist in error is diabolical.

Nemo potest personam diu ferre. No one can wear a mask for long.

Inimica est multorum conversatio. The company of many is harmful.

He who is brave is free.

Recede in te ipse quantum potes. Withdraw into yourself as much as you can.

Vindica te tibi. Claim yourself for yourself.

Hang on to your youthful enthusiasms — you'll be able to use them better when you're older.

A good character is the only guarantee of everlasting, carefree happiness.

If you wish to be loved, love.

Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.

The mind that is anxious about future events is miserable.

Retire into yourself as much as you can; associate with those who will make a better man of you.

No man was ever wise by chance.

The whole future lies in uncertainty: live immediately.

Begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life.

We suffer more in imagination than in reality.

It is not that I am brave, but that I know what is not worth fearing.

Dum differtur vita transcurrit. While we are postponing, life speeds by.

Omnia, Lucili, aliena sunt, tempus tantum nostrum est. All things, Lucilius, belong to others; time alone is ours.

Nusquam est qui ubique est. He who is everywhere is nowhere.

On the occasion of every accident that befalls you, remember to turn to yourself and inquire what power you have for turning it to use.

If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid with regard to external things.

You may be always victorious if you will never enter into any contest where the issue does not wholly depend upon yourself.

Caretake this moment. Immerse yourself in its particulars. Respond to this person, this challenge, this deed.

If you are ever tempted to look for outside approval, realise that you have compromised your integrity.

The two powers which in my opinion constitute a wise man are those of bearing and forbearing.

Whoever does not regard what he has as most ample wealth, is unhappy, though he be master of the world.

A ship should not ride on a single anchor, nor life on a single hope.

Other people's views and troubles can be contagious. Don't sabotage yourself by unwittingly adopting negative, unproductive attitudes through your associations with others.

First learn the meaning of what you say, and then speak.

It is not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.

We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.

The essence of philosophy is that a man should so live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things.

If you want to be a philosopher, prepare yourself to be mocked and ridiculed by many people.

Suffering arises from trying to control what is uncontrollable, or from neglecting what is within our power.

Attach yourself to what is spiritually superior, regardless of what other people think or do.

Ask yourself at every moment, 'Is this necessary?'

Circumstances don't make the man, they only reveal him to himself.

The greater the difficulty, the more glory in surmounting it.

If you wish to be a writer, write.

People are not disturbed by things, but by the view they take of them.

Seek not good from without; seek it within yourselves, or you will never find it.

Freedom is the only worthy goal in life. It is won by disregarding things that lie beyond our control.

Do not look around thee to discover other men's ruling principles, but look straight to this, to what nature leads thee, both the universal nature through the things that happen to thee, and thy own nature through the acts which must be done by thee.

The world turns aside to let any man pass who knows where he is going.

Nature gave us one tongue and two ears so we could hear twice as much as we speak.

Practice yourself, for heaven's sake, in little things; and thence proceed to greater.

He who laughs at himself never runs out of things to laugh at.

The more we value things outside our control, the less control we have.

You are not your body and hair-style, but your capacity for choosing well. If your choices are beautiful, so too will you be.

Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it.

We cannot choose our external circumstances, but we can always choose how we respond to them.

Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.

The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best.

If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.

He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.

It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.

Men are disturbed not by the things which happen, but by the opinions about the things.

First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.

No man is free who is not master of himself.

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.

Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens.

To live a good life: we have the potential for it. If we can learn to be indifferent to what makes no difference.

Begin the morning by saying to thyself, I shall meet with the busy-body, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial.

It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.

Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.

He who lives in harmony with himself lives in harmony with the universe.

Be tolerant with others and strict with yourself.

Our life is what our thoughts make it.

That which is not good for the bee-hive cannot be good for the bees.

Everything harmonises with me, which is harmonious to thee, O Universe.

The things you think about determine the quality of your mind.

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

Treat every moment as precious, as if it were your last.

The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.

If someone is able to show me that what I think or do is not right, I will happily change.

Confine yourself to the present.

Do not act as if you had ten thousand years to live. The present moment always will have been.

In the morning when thou risest unwillingly, let this thought be present: I am rising to the work of a human being.

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

How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it.

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

A man's life is a mere moment, his existence a flux, his perception clouded, his body's composition corruptible.

Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now take what's left and live it properly.

The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.

Loss is nothing else but change, and change is Nature's delight.

You always own the option of having no opinion. There is never any need to get worked up or to trouble your soul about things you can't control.

Perfection of character is this: to live each day as if it were your last, without frenzy, without apathy, without pretence.

The soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts.

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

Receive without pride, relinquish without struggle.

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

When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: the people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous and surly.

Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul.

Never esteem anything as of advantage to you that will make you break your word or lose your self-respect.

Do not indulge in dreams of what you have not, but count the blessings you actually possess and think how much you would desire them if they were not already yours.

The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are.

Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.

Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together.

The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.

You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realise this, and you will find strength.

Lead me, O Zeus, and thou, O Destiny, wherever your decrees have fixed my lot. I follow willingly; and, did I not, wicked and wretched, I must follow still.

He who has virtue has need of nothing further for happiness.

Wealth is not a good, for it may be used badly; but it is a preferred indifferent.

Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other.

Thou hast so welded into one all things good and evil, that there arises out of all one everlasting reason, which those who are evil flee from and ignore.

Nothing occurs on earth apart from thee, O God, nor in the ethereal vault of heaven, nor on the sea, except what evil men do in their own folly; but thou knowest how to make the crooked straight, and to bring order out of chaos.

The end is to live in agreement with nature, which is the same as a virtuous life, virtue being the goal towards which nature guides us.

The reason why we have two ears and only one mouth is that we may listen the more and talk the less.

There are two principles in the universe: the active principle, which is reason inherent in matter — that is God — and the passive, which is matter without quality. God is everlasting and is the artificer of each several thing throughout the whole extent of matter.

If I had followed the multitude, I should not have studied philosophy.

Between virtue and vice there is nothing intermediate. Just as a stick must be either straight or crooked, so a man must be either just or unjust.

Living virtuously is equivalent to living in accordance with experience of the actual course of nature, as our individual natures are parts of the nature of the whole universe.

If magnanimity by itself alone can raise us far above everything, and if magnanimity is but a part of virtue, then too virtue as a whole will be sufficient in itself for well-being — despising all things that seem troublesome.

Nay, men, if any of you had heeded what I was ever foretelling and advising, ye would now neither be fearing a single man nor putting your hopes in a single man.

Bear in mind, that if through toil you accomplish a good deed, that toil will quickly pass from you, the good deed will not leave you so long as you live; but if through pleasure you do anything dishonourable, the pleasure will quickly pass away, that dishonourable act will remain with you for ever.

I will begin to speak when I am not going to say what were better left unsaid.

I made a prosperous voyage when I suffered shipwreck.

Better to trip with the feet than with the tongue.

A friend is a second self.

If I had dreamt of there being anyone better than myself, I should myself be studying with him.

Well-being is attained by little and little, and nevertheless it is no little thing itself.

Limit yourself to the present.

Men are disturbed not by the things which happen, but by the opinions about the things.

Suppose that a god announced that you were going to die tomorrow "or the day after." Unless you were a complete coward you wouldn't kick up a fuss about which day it was—what difference could it make? Now recognize that the difference between years from now and tomorrow is just as small.

Some things are rushing into existence, others out of it. Some of what now exists is already gone. Change and flux constantly remake the world, just as the incessant progression of time remakes eternity.

To accept it without arrogance, to let it go with indifference.

The whole future lies in uncertainty: live immediately.

It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.

For it is not death or pain that is to be feared, but the fear of pain or death.

First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.

There are more things, Lucilius, likely to frighten us than there are to crush us; we suffer more often in imagination than in reality.

Don't demand that things happen as you wish, but wish that they happen as they do happen, and you will go on well.

If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.

We suffer more in imagination than in reality.

Begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life.

Omnia, Lucili, aliena sunt, tempus tantum nostrum est. — Everything, Lucilius, belongs to others; time alone is ours.

He who fears death will never do anything worthy of a man who is alive.

The things you think about determine the quality of your mind. Your soul takes on the color of your thoughts.

You have power over your mind—not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.

To stop talking about what the good man is like, and just be one.

The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.