The cucumber is bitter? Then throw it out. There are brambles in the path? Then go around. That's all you need to know.

Is your cucumber bitter? Throw it away. Are there briars in your path? Turn aside. That is enough. Do not go on and ay, 'Why were things of this sort ever brought into the world?'

Pass then through this little space of time conformably to nature, and end thy journey in content, just as an olive falls off when it is ripe, blessing nature who produced it, and thanking the tree on which it grew.

We are too much accustomed to attribute to a single cause that which is the product of several, and the majority of our controversies come from that.

Get rid of the judgement ... get rid of the 'I am hurt,' you are rid of the hurt itself.

The substance of the universe is obedient and compliant; and the reason which governs it has in itself no cause for doing evil, for it has no malice, nor does it do evil to anything, nor is anything harmed by it. But all things are made and perfected according to this reason.

Purge your mind of all aimless and idle thoughts, especially those that pry into the affairs of others or wish them ill.