Man is not fully free unless he is master of himself.
Tentative efforts lead to tentative outcome.
Your master is he who controls that on which you have set your heart or wish to avoid.
Nothing is in reality either pleasant or unpleasant by nature but all things become so through habit.
What disturbs people’s minds are not events but their judgments on events.
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.
It is not he who gives abuse that affronts, but the view that we take of it as insulting; so that when one provokes you it is your own opinion which is provoking.
You are but an appearance, and not absolutely the thing you appear to be.
To know that you do not know and to be willing to admit that you do not know without sheepishly apologizing is real strength and sets the stage for learning and progress in any endeavor.
It is not a demonstration of kindness or friendship to the people we care about to join them in indulging in wrongheaded, negative feelings. We do a better service to ourselves and others by remaining detached and avoiding melodramatic reactions.
Don’t consent to be hurt and you won’t be hurt – this is a choice over which you have control.
It’s time to stop being vague. If you wish to be an extraordinary person, if you wish to be wise, then you should explicitly identify the kind of person you aspire to become.
Who are those people by whom you wish to be admired? Are they not these whom you are in the habit of saying that they are mad? What then? Do you wish to be admired by the mad?
In a word, neither death, nor exile, nor pain, nor anything of this kind is the real cause of our doing or not doing any action, but our inward opinions and principles.
It doesn’t take much to lose everything, just a little departure from reason.
Let death be daily before your eyes, and you will never entertain any abject thought, nor too eagerly covet anything.
The people have a right to the truth as they have a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
When your thoughts, words, and deeds form a seamless fabric, you streamline your efforts and thus eliminate worry and dread.
When a man is proud because he can understand and explain the writings of Chrysippus, say to yourself, ‘if Chrysippus had not written obscurely, this man would have had nothing to be proud of.’
Do not laugh much or often or unrestrainedly.