Getting distracted by trifles is the easiest thing in the world… Focus on your main duty

It is not my place in society that makes me well off, but my judgements, and these I can carry with me... These alone are my own and cannot be taken away.

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.

Freedom and happiness come from understanding - and working with - our limits. Begin at once a program of self-mastery. Stick with your purpose. Do not seek external approval. Do not worry about anything outside of your control. The only things you command are your thoughts and actions. We choose our response. Stop aspiring to be anyone other than your own best self: for that does fall within your control.

You ought to choose both physician and friend, not the most agreeable, but the most useful.

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

It's so simple really: If you say you're going to do something, do it. If you start something, finish it.