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.

We must be afraid of neither poverty nor exile nor imprisonment; of fear itself only should we be afraid.

Your master is he who controls that on which you have set your heart or wish to avoid.

Whoever wants to be free, therefore, let him not want or avoid anything that is up to others. Otherwise he will necessarily be a slave.

Books are the training weights of the mind.

Never in any case say I have lost such a thing, but I have returned it. Is your child dead? It is a return. Is your wife dead? It is a return. Are you deprived of your estate? Is not this also a return?

Seek to be the purple thread in the long white gown.