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

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

Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it.

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

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

Only the educated are free.

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

No man is free who is not master of himself.

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

Small-minded people blame others. Average people blame themselves. The wise see all blame as foolishness.

Some things are in our control and others not. Things in our control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever are our own actions.

Things not in our control are body, property, reputation, command, and, in one word, whatever are not our own actions.

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

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

When we are hindered, or disturbed, or grieved, let us never attribute it to others, but to ourselves; that is, to our own principles.

Demand not that events should happen as you wish; but wish them to happen as they do happen, and you will go on well.

Sickness is a hindrance to the body, but not to your will, unless itself wills it.

Lameness is an impediment to the leg, but not to the will; and say this to yourself with regard to everything that happens.

You may be unconquerable, if you enter into no combat in which it is not in your own power to conquer.

Remember that you must behave in life as at a dinner party. Is anything brought round to you? Put out your hand and take your share with moderation.

Does it pass you by? Do not stop it. Is it not yet come? Do not stretch your desire towards it, but wait till it reaches you.

Remember that you are an actor in a drama, of such a kind as the author pleases to make it. If short, of a short one; if long, of a long one.

If it be the author's pleasure you should act a poor man, a cripple, a governor, or a private person, see that you act it naturally.

For this is your business: to act well the character assigned you; to choose it belongs to another.

Let death and exile, and all other things which appear terrible, be daily before your eyes, but chiefly death; and you will never entertain any abject thought.

If you desire philosophy, prepare yourself from the very first to be ridiculed and mocked by the multitude.

Hold fast to those things which seem best to you, as one appointed by God to this post.

If you ever happen to turn your attention to externals in order to please anyone, be assured that you have ruined your scheme of life.

Be content, then, with being a philosopher in all things; and if you wish also to appear so to any one, appear so to yourself, and it will be enough.

Never say about anything, 'I have lost it,' but only 'I have given it back.'

Is your child dead? It has been given back. Is your wife dead? She has been given back. Is your estate taken away? Well, and is not that likewise given back?

So long as you are allowed to keep it, take care of it as an innkeeper takes care of the property of a guest.

If you wish your children, and your wife, and your friends to live for ever, you are stupid; for you wish to be in control of things which you cannot.

Whoever would be free, let him wish for nothing, have aversion to nothing, which depends on others; else he must necessarily be a slave.

Remember that foul words or blows in themselves are no outrage, but your judgment that they are so.

When any one provokes you, know that it is your own opinion which has provoked you.

Practice not to be hurried away by the appearance; make delay, and you will more easily become master of yourself.

If a man has reported to you that a certain person speaks ill of you, do not make any defense, but say: 'He did not know the rest of my faults, else he would not have mentioned these alone.'

In banquets remember that you entertain two guests, body and soul: and what you give to the body you soon lose, but what you give to the soul remains forever.

No great thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be time.

Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen. Why do you wish to grasp the fruit before its season?

Difficulties are things that show what men are.

For what else is tragedy, but the sufferings of men, bewildered by their admiration of external things, represented in proper verse?

He who has gained freedom by the faculty of reason may go where he wills and say: 'No one has power over me; I have been set free by God.'

You are a little soul carrying around a corpse.

What is the first business of one who practices philosophy? To throw away self-conceit. For it is impossible for anyone to begin to learn that which he thinks he already knows.

If you would be a reader, read; if a writer, write. In general, whatever you would become, practice that very thing.

Curb your desires, don't set your heart on so many things and you will get what you need.

Nature has given to men one tongue, but two ears, that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak.

Freedom is not procured by a full enjoyment of what is desired, but by controlling the desire.

Any person capable of angering you becomes your master; he can anger you only when you permit yourself to be disturbed by him.

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

Does your head ache? Be not hasty to curse. Does your ear ache? Be not hasty to lament.

I must die. But must I die groaning? I must be imprisoned. But must I whine as well?

I must suffer exile. Can any man then hinder me from going with a smile, and a good courage, and at peace?

'Tell the secret.' I refuse, for this is in my power. 'But I will chain you.' What are you saying? You may chain my leg, but not my will; not even Zeus can conquer that.

God has entrusted me with myself. No man is my master, for God has made me free.

If you seek truth, you will not seek by any means to gain a victory by slander; and if you find truth, you will not fear being defeated.

Truth conquers by itself; opinion by foreign aids.

As the sun does not wait for prayers and incantations to be induced to rise, but immediately shines and is greeted by all: so neither wait for applauses, and prate, to do good.

Every habit and faculty is maintained and increased by the corresponding actions: the habit of walking by walking, the habit of running by running.

If you would not be of an angry temper, do not feed your habit; give it nothing which may increase the disorder.

Count the days on which you have not been angry: 'I used to be angry every day; now every other day; then every third and fourth day.' If you have passed thirty days, offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving.

For habit is first weakened and then entirely destroyed.

When you have closed your doors and made all dark within, remember never to say that you are alone, for you are not alone; God is within, and your genius is within.

What need have they of light to see what you are doing?

To this God you ought to swear an oath, such as the soldiers swear to Caesar. They swear to prefer the safety of Caesar before all things; and will you not swear to prefer your own safety?

And what is your safety? Never to disobey God, never to accuse Him, never to find fault with anything He has given, never unwillingly to do or suffer anything that is necessary.

Never praise or blame any man because of the things that are common to all, but only for his opinions.

For these alone are each man's own property, which make his actions either shameful or noble.

He is free who lives as he chooses; who is neither subject to compulsion, nor hindrance, nor violence.

Whose choices are unhampered, whose desires attain their end, whose aversions do not fall into what they would avoid.

Who, then, wishes to live in error? No one. Who wishes to live deceived, impetuous, dishonest, intemperate, complaining, abject? No one.

No bad man, then, lives as he wishes; and therefore no bad man is free.

Attach yourself to what is spiritually superior, regardless of what other people think or do. Hold to your true aspirations no matter what is going on around you.

How long are you going to wait before you demand the best for yourself, and in no instance bypass the discriminations of reason?

You have been given the principles that you ought to endorse, and you have endorsed them. What kind of teacher, then, are you still waiting for?

You are no longer a boy, but a full-grown man. If you are careless and lazy now, and keep putting things off, you will remain without improving, living and dying as an ordinary person.

From this moment, then, deem yourself worthy of living as a mature person who is making progress.

Let whatever appears to you to be best be to you an inviolable law.

And if any task, whether agreeable or painful, be set before you, remember that the contest is now, the Olympic Games are now, and delay is no longer possible.

By one day's defeat and giving way, virtue is either lost or preserved.

It was in this way that Socrates became what he was, by paying attention to nothing other than reason in everything that he encountered.

And you, even if you are not yet a Socrates, ought to live as one who wishes to be a Socrates.

The condition and characteristic of a vulgar person is that he never looks for either help or harm from himself, but only from externals.

The condition and characteristic of a philosopher is that he looks to himself for all help or harm.

The marks of a proficient man are that he censures no one, praises no one, blames no one, accuses no one, says nothing concerning himself as being any body, or knowing any thing.

When he is impeded or hindered, he blames only himself.

If any one compliments him, he laughs to himself at the person who compliments him; and if any one censures him, he makes no defense.

He walks about with caution, like sick men, fearful of disturbing anything newly formed, until it attains proper stability.

He has suppressed all desire in himself, and transferred his aversion only to the things contrary to nature which are within his own power.

He uses moderate exertion in all things. If he appears foolish or ignorant, he does not care.

In one word, he keeps watch over himself as over an enemy and an intriguer.

If you are told that another has spoken ill of you, do not answer him, but laugh, and say: 'The man was ignorant of my other faults, or he would not have mentioned these alone.'

Do not seek for things to happen the way you want them to; rather, wish that what happens happens the way it happens: then you will be happy.

Nature has given us one tongue, but two ears, that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak.

What would have become of Hercules do you think if there had been no lion, hydra, stag or boar, and no savage and wild beasts to drive him into the arena?

What would he have done under such circumstances? Obviously he would have rolled himself up in a blanket and slept.

It is trials that show what a man is. When trouble arrives, greet it as the sparring partner sent to make you an Olympic champion.

Do you not know that a good man does nothing for the sake of appearance, but solely for the sake of doing right?

Let not your mind be carried away by any sudden impression; but say, 'Wait for me a little, impression: let me see who you are, and whence you come; let me test you.'

Do you wish to be praised by a man who curses himself three times every hour?

Do you wish to please a man who does not please himself?

If you have assumed a character beyond your strength, you have both played that poorly, and neglected that which you might have filled with credit.

As you take care not to step upon a nail, or turn your foot; so likewise take care not to hurt the ruling faculty of your mind.

And if we preserve this in every action, we shall enter upon the action with greater safety.

The body is to everyone the measure of the possessions proper for it, just as the foot is of the shoe.

If you exceed this, you must inevitably be carried forward to the precipice: just as in the case of a shoe, if you go beyond its fitness to the foot, it comes first to be gilded, then purple, and then studded with jewels.

For to that which once exceeds a due measure, there is no bound.

When a raven croaks in an inauspicious manner, let not the impression carry you away, but immediately distinguish in your mind and say: 'None of these omens is for me; but either for my body, or my property, or my reputation, or my children.'

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

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

The wound is the place where the light enters you.

What you seek is seeking you.

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

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

There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.

We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.

Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.

To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.

You cannot find peace by avoiding life.

One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.

Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.

Out of your vulnerabilities will come your strength.

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.