Fortune is an evil chain to the body, and vice to the soul.

We do not choose our own parts in life, and have nothing to do with those parts. Our duty is confined to playing them well.

To the rational being only the irrational is unendurable, but the rational is endurable.

I must die. I must be imprisoned. I must suffer exile. But must I die groaning? Must I whine as well? Can anyone hinder me from going into exile with a smile? The master threatens to chain me: what say you? Chain me? My leg you will chain--yes, but not my will--no, not even Zeus can conquer that.

Let death and exile, and all other things which appear terrible be daily before your eyes, but chiefly death, and you win never entertain any abject thought, nor too eagerly covet anything.

It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.

In the long run, every man will pay the penalty for this own misdeeds.