In every kind of adversity, the bitterest part of a man's affliction is to remember that he once was happy.

As far as possible, join faith to reason.

One's virtue is all that one truly has, because it is not imperiled by the vicissitudes of fortune.

Whose happiness is so firmly established that he has no quarrel from any side with his estate of life?

In other living creatures the ignorance of themselves is nature, but in men it is a vice.

It's my belief that history is a wheel. 'Inconstancy is my very essence,'? says the wheel. Rise up on my spokes if you like but don't complain when you're cast back down into the depths. Good times pass away, but then so do the bad. Mutability is our tragedy, but it's also our hope. The worst of times, like the best, are always passing away.

He who has calmly reconciled his life to fate, and set proud death beneath his feet, can look fortune in the face, unbending both to good and bad; his countenance unconquered.