Were I a nightingale, I would act the part of a nightingale; were I a swan, the part of a swan.

If you think you control things that are in the control of others, you will lament. You will be disturbed and you will blame both gods and men.

Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it.

We can't control the impressions others form about us, and the effort to do so only debases our character.

It is difficulties that show what men are. For the future, in case of any difficulty, remember that God, like a gymnastic trainer, has pitted you against a rough antagonist. For what end? That you may be an Olympic conqueror; and this cannot be without toil.

It is not a demonstration of kindness or friendship to the people we care about to join them in indulging in wrongheaded, negative feelings. We do a better service to ourselves and others by remaining detached and avoiding melodramatic reactions.

It has been ordained that there be summer and winter, abundance and dearth, virtue and vice, and all such opposites for the harmony of the whole, and (Zeus) has given each of us a body, property, and companions.