"To them that ask where have you seen the Gods or how do you know for certain there are Gods that you are so devout in their worship? I answer: Neither have I ever seen my own soul and yet I respect and honor it."

"Praise does not make anything better or worse."

"What we cannot bear removes us from life, what remains can be borne."

"Your mind will take on the character of your most frequent thoughts: souls are dyed by thoughts."

"Live out your life in truth and justice, tolerant of those who are neither true nor just."

"Look within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig."

"Take full account of what Excellencies you possess, and in gratitude remember how you would hanker after them, if you had them not."

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

"No more roundabout discussions of what makes a good man. Be one!"

"Accept whatever comes to you woven in the pattern of your destiny, for what could more aptly fit your needs?"

"A man's happiness: to do the things proper to man."

"The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts."

"How much time he gains who does not look to see what his neighbour says or does or thinks, but only at what he does himself, to make it just and holy."

"The only wealth which you will keep forever is the wealth you have given away."

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

"Despise not death, but welcome it, for nature wills it like all else."

"A man's life is what his thoughts make it."

"Everything that exists is in a manner the seed of that which will be."

"Snow endures but for a season and joy comes with the morning."

"As far as you can, get into the habit of asking yourself in relation to any action taken by another: "What is his point of reference here?" But begin with yourself: examine yourself first."

"Aptitude found in the understanding and is often inherited. Genius coming from reason and imagination, rarely."

"A man must stand erect, not be kept erect by others."

"Observe constantly that all things take place by change, and accustom thyself to consider that the nature of the Universe loves nothing so much as to change the things which are, and to make new things like them."

"Human life. Duration: momentary. Nature: changeable. Perception: dim. Condition of Body: decaying. Soul: spinning around. Fortune: unpredictable. Lasting Fame: uncertain. Sum Up: The body and its parts are a river, the soul a dream and mist, life is warfare and a journey far from home, lasting reputation is oblivion."

"Be content to seem what you really are."

"How good it is, when you have roast meat or suchlike foods before you, to impress on your mind that this is the dead body of a fish, this the dead body of a bird or pig."

"To refrain from imitation is the best revenge."

"Striid andWthdraw into yourself. Our master-reason asks no more than to act justly, and thereby to achieve calm."

"Do external things distract you? Then make time for yourself to learn something worthwhile, stop letting yourself be pulled in all directions."

"You should always be ready to apply these two rules of action, the first, to do nothing other than what the kingly and law-making art ordains for the benefits of humankind, and, the second, to be prepared to change your mind if someone is at hand to put you right and guide you away from some groundless opinion."

"Don't go on discussing what a good person should be. Just be one."

"That which is really beautiful has no need of anything; not more than law, not more than truth, not more than benevolence or modesty."

"A man's worth is no greater than his ambitions."

"Be content with what you are, and wish not change; nor dread your last day, nor long for it."

"The things you think about determine the quality of your mind."

"Natural ability without education has more often raised a man to glory and virtue than education without natural ability."

"It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live."

"I often marvel how it is that though each man loves himself beyond all else he should yet value his own opinion of himself less than that of others."

"All of us are creatures of a day; the rememberer and the remembered alike. All is ephemeral-both memory and the object of memory. The time is at hand when you will have forgotten everything; and the time is at hand when all will have forgotten you. Always reflect that soon you will be no one, and nowhere."

"Loss is nothing else but change, and change is Nature's delight."

"Everyman's life lies within the present for the past is spent and done with and the future is uncertain."

"I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinions of himself than on the opinions of others."

"All things of the body stream away like a river, all things of the mind are dreams and delusion; life is warfare, and a visit to a strange land; the only lasting fame is oblivion."

"Forward, as occasion offers. Never look round to see whether any shall note it... Be satisfied with success in even the smallest matter, and think that even such a result is no trifle."

"Salvation: to see each thing for what it is- its nature and its purpose.To do only what is right, say only what is true, without holding back.What else could it be but to live life fully- to pay out goodnesslike the rings of a chain, without the slightest gap."

"If any man despises me, that is his problem. My only concern is not doing or saying anything deserving of contempt."

"Live every day as if they last."

"Anything in any way beautiful derives its beauty from itself and asks nothing beyond itself. Praise is no part of it, for nothing is made worse or better by praise."

"Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them."

"To the wise, life is a problem; to the fool, a solution."