Accustom yourself to believe that death is nothing to us, for good and evil imply awareness, and death is the privation of all awareness; therefore a right understanding that death is nothing to us makes the mortality of life enjoyable, not by adding to life an unlimited time, but by taking away the yearning after immortality. For life has no terror; for those who thoroughly apprehend that there are no terrors for them in ceasing to live.

It is possible to provide security against other ills, but as far as death is concerned, we men live in a city without walls.

I would rather be first in a little Iberian village than second in Rome.

A strong belief in fate is the worst kind of slavery; on the other hand, there is a comfort in the thought that God will be moved by our prayers.

Misfortune seldom intrudes upon the wise man; his greatest and highest interests are directed by reason throughout the course of life.

I never desired to please the rabble. What pleased them, I did not learn; and what I knew was far removed from their understanding.

Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.