The universe is transformation: life is opinion. 

A vine cannot behave olively, nor an olive tree vinely – it is impossible, inconceivable. No more can a human being wholly efface his native disposition.

Since the greatest part of what we say and do is unnecessary, dispensing with such activities affords a man more leisure and less uneasiness.

To have contemplated human life for forty years is the same as to have contemplated it for ten thousand years. For what more will you see?

Passions stem from frustrated desire.

Everything that happens happens as it should, and if you observe carefully, you will find this to be so.

Each thing is of like form from everlasting and comes round again in its cycle.

Whatever man you meet with, immediately say to yourself: “What opinions has this man about good and bad?”

To the rational animal the same act is at once according to nature and according to reason.

Poverty’s no evil to anyone unless he kicks against it.

Take care that you don’t treat inhumanity as it treats human beings.

A person’s worth is measured by the worth of what he values.

An ignorant person is inclined to blame others for his own misfortune. To blame oneself is proof of progress. But the wise man never has to blame another or himself.

Don’t go through life, grow through life.

The mind in itself has no needs, except for those it creates itself. Is undisturbed, except for its own disturbances. Knows no obstructions, except those from within.

Death and life, honor and dishonor, pain and pleasure — all these things equally happen to good men and bad, being things which make us neither better nor worse. Therefore they are neither good nor evil.

A thing is neither better nor worse for having been praised.

Whatever anyone does or says, I must be good, just as if the gold, or the emerald, or the purple were always saying this, whatever anyone does or says, I must be emerald and keep my color.

Your three components: body, breath, mind. Two are yours in trust; to the third alone you have clear title.

No one objects to what is useful to him. To be of use to others is natural. Then don’t object to what is useful to you – being of use.

When I see that one thing [virtue] is supreme and most important, I cannot say that something else is, just to make you happy.

A boxer derives the greatest advantage from his sparring partner – and my accuser is my sparring partner. He trains me in patience, civility and even temper.

Either you’re going to be depressed when your wish is not realized or foolishly pleased with yourself if it is, overjoyed for the wrong reasons.

I say that virtue is more valuable than wealth to the same degree that eyes are more valuable than fingernails.

A problem is a chance for you to do your best.

How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it. 

Most of us dread the deadening of the body and will do anything to avoid it. About the deadening of the soul, however, we don’t care one iota.

Don’t let outward appearances mislead you into thinking that someone with more prestige, power or some other distinction must on that account be happy.

As you are careful when you walk not to step on a nail or turn your ankle, so you should take care not to do any injury to your character at the same time.

If you lost the capacity to read, or play music, you would think it was a disaster, but you think nothing of losing the capacity to be honest, decent and civilized.

Things do not touch the soul, for they are external and remain immovable; so our perturbations come only from our inner opinions.

We are too much accustomed to attribute to a single cause that which is the product of several, and the majority of our controversies come from that.

Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.

Pleasures, when they go beyond a certain limit, are but punishments.

As it is with a play, so it is with life – what matters is not how long the acting lasts, but how good it is. It is not important at what point you stop. Stop wherever you will – only make sure that you round it off with a good ending.

You have to be odd to be number one.

The fool wonders, the wise man asks.

A man can’t ride your back unless it’s bent. 

He often acts unjustly who does not do a certain thing; not only he who does a certain thing.

If someone is incapable of distinguishing good things from bad and neutral things from either – well, how could such a person be capable of love? The power to love, then, belongs only to the wise man.

Often injustice lies in what you aren’t doing, not only in what you are doing.

To live the good life: We have the potential for it. If we can learn to be indifferent to what makes no difference.

Stop wishing for something else to happen, for a different fate. That is to live a false life.

Enough of this miserable, whining life. Stop monkeying around! Why are you troubled? What’s new here? What’s so confounding? The one responsible? Take a good look. Or just the matter itself? Then look at that. There’s nothing else to look at. And as far as the gods go, by now you could try being more straightforward and kind. It’s the same, whether you’ve examined these things for a hundred years, or only three.

Life is short. That’s all there is to say. Get what you can from the present – thoughtfully, justly.

When someone is properly grounded in life, they shouldn’t have to look outside themselves for approval.

Mastery of reading and writing requires a master. Still, more so life.

Consider that as the heaps of sand piled on one another hide the former sands, so in life the events that go before are soon covered by those that come after.

"Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you're right"

If, at some point in your life, you should come across anything better than justice, honesty, self-control, courage – than a mind satisfied that is has succeeded in enabling you to act rationally, and satisfied to accept what’s beyond its control – if you find anything better than that, embrace it without reservations – it must be an extraordinary thing indeed – and enjoy it to the full.