- Every moment think steadily as a Roman and a man to do what thou hast in hand with perfect and simple dignity, and feeling of affection, and freedom, and justice, and to give thyself relief from all other thoughts.
- Give thyself time to learn some thing new and good, and cease to be whirled around.
- that the offences which are committed through desire are more blamable than those which are committed through anger.
- everything which belongs to the body is a stream, and what belongs to the soul is a dream and vapor, and life is a warfare and stranger’s sojourn, and after-fame is oblivion.
- Do not waste the remainder of thy life in thoughts about others.
- Labor not unwillingly, nor without regard to the common interest, nor without due consideration, nor with distraction ; nor let studied ornament set off thy thoughts, and be not either a man of many words, or busy about too many things.
- Be cheerful also, and seek not external help nor the tranquillity which others give. A man then must stand erect, not be kept erect by others.
- Never value anything as profitable to thyself which shall compel thee to break thy promise, to lose thy self-respect, to hate any man, to suspect, to curse, to act the hypocrite, to desire anything which needs walls and curtains.
- Every man lives only this present time, which is an indivisible point, and that all the rest of his life is either past or it is uncertain.
- To the body belong sensations, to the soul appetites, to the intelligence principles.
- Let no act be done without a purpose.
- Let thy principles be brief and fundamental, which, as soon as thou shalt recur to them, will be sufficient to cleanse the soul completely
- The universe is transformation; life is opinion
- Do not act as if thou wert going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over thee. While thou livest, while it is in thy power, be good
- Make thyself neither the tyrant nor the slave of any man.
- Examine men’s ruling principles, even those of the wise, what kind of things they avoid, and what kind they pursue.
- Constantly regard the universe as one living being, having one substance and one soul.
- To conclude, always observe how ephemeral and worthless human things are, and what was yesterday a little mucus, tomorrow will be a mummy or ashes.
- He who loves fame considers another man’s activity to be his own good ; and he who loves pleasure, his own sensations; but he who has understanding considers his own acts to be his own good.
- Always run to the short way ; and the short way is the natural : accordingly say and do everything in conformity with the soundest reason.
- Be not diverted by the blame which follows from any people nor by their words, but if a thing is good to be done or said, do not consider it unworthy of thee.
- Let the part of thy soul which leads and governs be undisturbed by the movements in the flesh, whether of pleasure or of pain.
- Fidelity and modesty and justice and truth are fled up to Olympus from the wide-spread earth
- A good fortune is good disposition of the soul, good emotions, good actions
- All existing things soon change, and they will either be reduced to vapor, if indeed all substance is one, or they will be dispersed.
- The best way of avenging thyself is not to become like the wrong-doer.
- . It is in our power to have no opinion about.a thing, and not to be disturbed in our soul ; for things themselves have no natural power to form our judgments.
- Accustom thyself to attend carefully to what is said by another.
- No man will hinder thee from living according to the reason of thy own nature.
- Wipe out the imagination. Stop the pulling of the strings. Confine thyself to the present.Understand well what happens either to thee or to another.
- Adorn thyself with simplicity and modesty, and with indifference towards the things which lie between virtue and vice.
- Look within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig.
- The art of life is more like the wrestler’s art than the dancer’s, in respect of this, that it should stand ready and firm to meet onsets which are sudden and unexpected.
- It is in thy power to live free from all compulsion in the greatest tranquillity of mind, even if all the world cry out against thee
- The perfection of moral character consists in this, in passing every day as the last, and in being neither violently excited nor torpid nor playing the hypocrite.
- Attend to the matter which is before thee, whether it is an opinion or an act or a word.
- It is satisfaction to a man to do the proper works of a man.
- Wipe out thy imaginations by often saying to thyself: Now it is in my power to let no bad- ness be in this soul, nor desire, nor any perturbation at all.
- Do not disturb thyself by thinking of the whole of thy life.
- The mind which is free from passions is a citadel.
- Neither in thy actions be sluggish nor in thy conversation without method.
- He who does wrong does wrong against himself. He who acts unjustly acts unjustly to himself, because he makes himself bad.
- Wipe out imagination : check desire : extinguish appetite : keep the ruling faculty in its own power.
- It is thy duty to leave another man’s wrongful act there where it is.
- Consider that everything is opinion, and opinion is in thy power.
- Every man’s intelligence is a god and is an efflux of the Deity.
