"No greater 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."

"Nothing great 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."

"Keep silence for the most part, and speak only when you must, and then briefly."

"Difficulties are things that show a person what they are."

"If a person gave your body to any stranger he met on is way, you would certainly be angry. And do you feel no shame in handing over your own mind to be confused and mystified by anyone who happens to verbally attack you?"

"Don't put your purpose in one place and expect to see progress made somewhere else."

"Imagine for yourself a character, a model personality, whose example you determine to follow, in private as well as in public."

"There is nothing good or evil save in the will."

"It is our attitude toward events, not events themselves, which we can control. Nothing is by its own nature calamitous -- even death is terrible only if we fear it."

"Freedom is secured not by the fulfilling of men's desires, but by the removal of desire."

"It is no easy thing for a principle to become a man's own unless each day he maintains it and works it out in his life."

"Why do you want to read anyway " for the sake of amusement or mere erudition? Those are poor, fatuous pretexts. Reading should serve the goal of attaining peace; if it doesn't make you peaceful, what good is it?"

"Philosophy does not claim to secure for us anything outside our control. Otherwise it would be taking on matters that do not concern it. For as wood is the material of the carpenter, and marble that of the sculptor, so the subject matter of the art of life is the life of the self."

"Be careful to leave your sons well instructed rather than rich, for the hopes of the instructed are better than the wealth of the ignorant."

"Concerning the Gods, there are those who deny the very existence of the Godhead; others say that it exists, but neither bestirs nor concerns itself not has forethought far anything. A third party attribute to it existence and forethought, but only for great and heavenly matters, not for anything that is on earth. A fourth party admit things on earth as well as in heaven, but only in general, and not with respect to each individual. A fifth, of whom were Ulysses and Socrates, are those that cry: --I move not without Thy knowledge!"

"You may fetter my leg, but Zeus himself cannot get the better of my free will."

"When you are offended at any man's fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings. Then you will forget your anger."

"Whoever does not regard what he has as most ample wealth, is unhappy, though he be master of the world."

"I cannot call somebody 'hard-working' knowing only that they read and write. Even if 'all night long' is added, I cannot say it " not until I know the focus of all this energy."

"Remember, it is not enough to be hit or insulted to be harmed, you must believe that you are being harmed. If someone succeeds in provoking you, realize that your mind is complicit in the provocation. Which is why it is essential that we not respond impulsively to impressions; take a moment before reacting, and you will find it easier to maintain control."

"Only the educated are free."

"Ruin and recovery are both from within."

"If you would be a reader read if a writer write."

"The greater the difficulty the more glory in surmounting it. Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests."

"Men are not afraid of things, but of how they view them."

"Philosophy does not promise to secure anything external for man, otherwise it would be admitting something that lies beyond its proper subject-matter. For as the material of the carpenter is wood, and that of statuary bronze, so the subject-matter of the art of living is each person's own life."

"Is it not the same distance to God everywhere?"

"You know yourself what you are worth in your own eyes; and at what price you will sell yourself. For men sell themselves at various prices. This is why, when Florus was deliberating whether he should appear at Nero's shows, taking part in the performance himself, Agrippinus replied, 'Appear by all means.' And when Florus inquired, 'But why do not you appear?' he answered, 'Because I do not even consider the question.' For the man who has once stooped to consider such questions, and to reckon up the value of external things, is not far from forgetting what manner of man he is."

"God save me from fools with a little philosophy-no one is more difficult to reach."

"Neither should a ship rely on one small anchor, nor should life rest on a single hope."

"On the occasion of every accident that befalls you ... inquire what power you have for turning it to use."

"What would have become of Hercules do you think if there had been no lion, hydra, stag or boar - and no savage criminals to rid the world of? What would he have done in the absence of such challenges? Obviously he would have just rolled over in bed and gone back to sleep. So by snoring his life away in luxury and comfort he never would have developed into the mighty Hercules. And even if he had, what good would it have done him? What would have been the use of those arms, that physique, and that noble soul, without crises or conditions to stir into him action?"