Against specious appearances we must set clear convictions, bright and ready for use. When death appears as an evil, we ought immediately to remember that evils are things to be avoided, but death is inevitable.

I have to die. If it is now, well then I die now; if later, then now I will take my lunch, since the hour for lunch has arrived - and dying I will tend to later.

Keep your attention focused entirely on what is truly your own concern, and be clear that what belongs to others is their business and none of yours.

No matter where you find yourself, comport yourself as if you were a distinguished person.

It is better to advise than upbraid, for the one corrects the erring; the other only convicts them.

Difficulties are things that show a person what they are.

Wherever I go it will be well with me, for it was well with me here, not on account of the place, but of my judgments which I shall carry away with me, for no one can deprive me of these; on the contrary, they alone are my property, and cannot be taken away, and to possess them suffices me wherever I am or whatever I do.