There is a sequence about the creative process, and a work of genius is a synthesis of its individual features from which nothing can be subtracted without disaster.
Each man has a character of his own choosing; it is chance or fate that decides his choice of job.
Homo res sacra homini.
Wisdom is the perfect good of the human mind; philosophy is the love of wisdom, and the endeavor to attain it.
And what is Bravery? It is the impregnable fortress for our mortal weakness; when a man has surrounded himself therewith, he can hold out free from anxiety during life’s siege; for he is using his own strength and his own weapons.
No man can live a happy life, or even a supportable life, without the study of wisdom.
Those who wish their virtue to be advertised are not striving for virtue but for renown.
That which annoys us does not necessarily injure us; but we are driven into wild rage by our luxurious lives, so that whatever does not answer our whims arouses our anger.
Each day... acquire something which will help you to face poverty, or death, and other ills as well. After running over a lot of different thoughts, pick out one to be digested thoroughly that day.
Of all men they alone are at leisure who take time for philosophy, they alone really live; for they are not content to be good guardians of their own lifetime only. They annex every age to their own; all the years that have gone before them are an addition to their own.
No man was ever wise by chance” “Associate.
How closely flattery resembles friendship! It not only apes friendship, but outdoes it, passing it in the race; with wide-open and indulgent ears it is welcomed and sinks to the depths of the heart, and it is pleasing precisely wherein it does harm.
It is indeed foolish to be unhappy now because you may be unhappy at some future time.
You want to live – but do you know how to live? You are scared of dying – and, tell me, is the kind of life you lead really any different from being dead?
Nature’s wants are slight; the demands of opinion are boundless.
We let ourselves drift with every breeze; we are frightened at uncertainties, just as if they were certain.
At last, then, away with all these treacherous goods! They look better to those who hope for them than to those who have attained them.
He lives badly who does not know how to die well.
We must give up many things to which we are addicted, considering them to be good. Otherwise, courage will vanish, which should continually test itself.
Tranquility can’t be grasped except by those who have reached an unwavering and firm power of judgment – the rest constantly fall and rise in their decisions, wavering in a state of alternately rejecting and accepting things. What is the cause of this back and forth? It’s because nothing is clear and they rely on the most uncertain guide – common opinion.