Men are disturbed not by the things that happen, but by their opinion of the things that happen.

Know you not that a good man does nothing for appearance sake, but for the sake of having done right?

The essence of philosophy is that a man should so live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things.

It is the act of an ill-instructed man to blame others for his own bad condition; it is the act of one who has begun to be instructed, to lay the blame on himself; and of one whose instruction is completed, neither to blame another, nor himself.

And have you not received faculties which will enable you to bear all that happens to you? Have you not received greatness of spirit? Have you not received courage? Have you not received endurance?

You lose only the things you have

Within our control are our own opinions, aspirations, and desires and the demons that distract us from these goals. Outside of our control are such things as what kind of body we have, whether or not we are born into wealth, and how we are regarded by others.