We are not disturbed by what happens to us, but by our thoughts about what happens to us.

No living being is held by anything so strongly as by its own needs. Whatever therefore appears a hindrance to these, be it brother, or father, or child, or mistress, or friend, is hated, abhorred, execrated.

Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.

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

Embrace reality. Think about what delights you - the small luxuries on which you depend, the people whom you cherish most. But remember that they have their own distinct character, which is quite a separate matter from how we happen to regard them.

We ought to flee the friendship of the wicked, and the enmity of the good.

If you wish to live a life free from sorrow, think of what is going to happen as if it had already happened.