Do not expect Plato's ideal republic; be satisfied with even the smallest step forward, and consider this no small achievement.

Do not fear death, but welcome it, since it too comes from nature. For just as we are young and grow old, and flourish and reach maturity, have teeth and a beard and grey hairs, conceive, become pregnant, and bring forth new life, and all the other natural processes that follow the seasons of our existence, so also do we have death. A thoughtful person will never take death lightly, impatiently, or scornfully, but will wait for it as one of life's natural processes.

People find pressure in different ways. I find it in keeping my mind clear. In not turning away from people or the things that happen to them. In accepting and welcoming everything I see. In treating each thing as it deserves.

If unwilling to rise in the morning, say to thyself, 'I awake to do the work of a man.'

Do not be ashamed of help.

From Apollonius I learned freedom of will and undeviating steadiness of purpose; and to look to nothing else, not even for a moment, except to reason.

Only to the rational animal is it given to follow voluntarily what happens; but simply to follow is a necessity imposed on all.