Remember that you ought to behave in life as you would at a banquet. As something is being passed around it comes to you; stretch out your hand, take a portion of it politely. It passes on; do not detain it. Or it has not come to you yet; do not project your desire to meet it, but wait until it comes in front of you. So act toward children, so toward a wife, so toward office, so toward wealth.

Have the wisdom to know what cannot be changed, and the strength to change what can.

The appearance of things to the mind is the standard of every action to man.

You are a principal work, a fragment of [Goddess herself], you have in yourself a part of [her]. Why then are you ignorant of your high birth?

If you hear that someone is speaking ill of you, instead of trying to defend yourself you should say: 'He obviously does not know me very well, since there are so many other faults he could have mentioned.'

Don't regard what anyone says of you, for this, after all, is no concern of yours.

The greater the difficulty the more glory in surmounting it. Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests.