Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.

To change one’s life: Start immediately. Do it flamboyantly.

Change is the end result of all true learning.

Thought is free.

Be great in act, as you have been in thought.

Never confuse motion with action.

Don’t waste the rest of your time here worrying about other people – unless it affects the common good. It will keep you from doing anything useful. You’ll be too preoccupied with what so-and-so is doing, and why, and what the’re saying, and what they’re thinking, and what they’re up to, and all the other things that throw you off and keep you from focusing on your own mind.

Today I have got out of all trouble, or rather I have cast out all trouble, for it was not outside, but within and in my opinions.

Remind yourself that it is not the future or what has passed that afflicts you, but always the present.

Think not so much of what you lack as of what you have: but of the things that you have, select the best, and then reflect how eagerly you would have sought them if you did not have them.

If you seek tranquility, do less. Or do what’s essential – what the logos of a social being requires, and in the requisite way. Which brings a double satisfaction: to do less, better. Because most of what we say and do is not essential. If you can eliminate it, you’ll have more time, and more tranquility. Ask yourself at every moment, ‘Is this necessary?’

The tranquillity that comes when you stop caring what they say. Or think, or do. Only what you do.

Don’t hope that events will turn out the way you want, welcome events in whichever way they happen: this is the path to peace.

Independence and unvarying reliability, and to pay attention to nothing, no matter how fleetingly, except the logos.

Be like the promontory against which the waves continually break; but it stands firm and tames the fury of the water around it.

Labor willingly and diligently, undistracted and aware of the common interest.

Remember to act always as if you were at a symposium. When the food or drink comes around, reach out and take some politely; if it passes you by don’t try pulling it back. And if it has not reached you yet, don’t let your desire run ahead of you, be patient until your turn comes.

Yes, you can – if you do everything as if it were the last thing you were doing in life, and stop being aimless, stop letting your emotions override what your mind tells you, stop being hypocritical, self-centered, irritable.

You always own the option of having no opinion. There is never any need to get worked up or to trouble your soul about things you can’t control. These things are not asking to be judged by you. Leave them alone.

Very little is needed for everything to be upset and ruined, only a slight lapse in reason.

Such as are your habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of your mind.

Don’t be overheard complaining… Not even to yourself.

At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: “I have to go to work — as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was born for — the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?”

The best way to avenge yourself is to not be like that.