I must consider more closely this cycle of good and bad days which I find coursing within myself. Passion, attachment, the urge to action, inventiveness, performance, order all alternate and keep their orbit; cheerfulness, vigor, energy, flexibility and fatigue, serenity as well as desire. Nothing disturbs the cycle for I lead a simple life, but I must still find the time and order in which I rotate.

These auspicious aspects, which the astrologers subsequently interpreted for me, may have been the causes of my preservation.

Take care of your body with steadfast fidelity.

It is in vain that a man of sound mind and cool temper understands the condition of such a wretched being... He can no more communicate his own wisdom to him than a healthy man can instil his strength into the invalid by whose bedside he is seated.

The man who masters himself is delivered from the force that binds all creatures.

Could we perfect human nature, we might also expect a perfect state of things.

Be always resolute with the present hour. Every moment is of infinite value.