“To live, indeed, is not in our power; but to live rightly is.”
~ Quintus Sextius
Chrysippus on Theft
“So in life it is not unfair for one to seek for himself what may accrue to his benefit; but it is not right to take it from another.”
~ Chrysippus
Seneca on Fate
“Fate leads the willing and drags along the reluctant.”
~ Seneca
Marcus Aurelius on Equanimity
“When force of circumstance upsets your equanimity, lose no time in recovering your self-control, and do not remain out of tune longer than you can help. Habitual recurrence to the harmony will increase your mastery of it.”
~ Marcus Aurelius
Epictetus on Reputation
If evil be spoken of you and it be true, correct yourself, if it be a lie, laugh at it.
~ Epictetus
Epictetus on Failings
“When you are offended at any man’s fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings. Then you will forget your anger.”
~ Epictetus
Seneca on Worrying
“He who indulges empty fears earns himself real fears.”
~ Seneca
Epictetus on Circumspection
“First learn the meaning of what you say, and then speak.”
~ Epictetus
Seneca on Worrying
“A man who suffers before it is necessary, suffers more than is necessary.”
~ Seneca
Seneca on Living Well
“Men do not care how nobly they live, but only for how long, although it is within the reach of every man to live nobly, but within no man’s power to live long.”
~ Seneca
Zeno on Life
“The goal of life is living in agreement with nature.”
~ Zeno of Citium
Epictetus on Desires
“Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.”
~ Epictetus
Marcus Aurelius on the Soul
“The soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts.”
~ Marcus Aurelius
Mark Twain on Goodness
“Be careless in your dress if you will, but keep a tidy soul.”
~ Mark Twain
Zeno on Happiness
“Happiness is a good flow of life.”
~ Zeno of Citium
Seneca on Worrying
“There are more things to alarm us than to harm us, and we suffer more often in apprehension than reality.”
~ Seneca
Seneca on Achievement
“Non est ad astra mollis e terris via” – “There is no easy way from the earth to the stars”
~ Seneca
Seneca on the Mind
“A great mind becomes a great fortune.”
~ Seneca
Marcus Aurelius on Endurance
“Nothing happens to anyone that he can’t endure.”
~ Marcus Aurelius
Epictetus on Power
“Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens.”
~ Epictetus
Marcus Aurelius on Thought
“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.”
~ Marcus Aurelius
Seneca on Quality of Life
“Life’s like a play: it’s not the length, but the excellence of the acting that matters.”
~ Seneca
Epictetus on Happiness
“The essence of philosophy is that a man should live so that his happiness depends as little as possible from external causes”
~ Epictetus
Seneca on Accomplishment
“Nothing is more disgraceful than that an old man should have nothing to show to prove that he has lived long, except his years.”
~ Seneca
Cato the Younger on Vice
“Old age has deformities enough of its own. – It should never add to them the deformity of vice”
~ Cato the Younger
Seneca on Silence
“It is a great thing to know the season for speech and the season for silence”
~ Seneca
Epictetus on Freedom
“Is freedom anything else than the right to live as we wish? Nothing else”
~ Epictetus
William Shakespeare on Knavery
“Whether dost thou profess thyself—a knave or a fool?”
~ William Shakespeare
Dylan Thomas on Work
“He who seeks rest finds boredom. He who seeks work finds rest.”
~ Dylan Thomas
Emerson on Life
“All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.”
~ Emerson
Arthur Balfour on Significance
“Nothing matters very much & most things don’t matter at all”
~ Arthur Balfour
Kurt Vonnegut on Weakness
“My soul knows my meat is doing bad things, and is embarrassed. But my meat just keeps right on doing bad, dumb things.”
~ Kurt Vonnegut