Observe the movements of the stars as if you were running their courses with them, and let your mind constantly dwell on the changes of the elements into each other. Such imaginings wash away the filth of life on the ground.

Or is it your reputation that's bothering you? But look at how soon we're all forgotten. The abyss of endless time that swallows it all. The emptiness of those applauding hands. The people who praise us; how capricious they are, how arbitrary. And the tiny region it takes place. The whole earth a point in space - and most of it uninhabited.

Be not disgusted, nor discouraged, nor dissatisfied, if thou dost not succeed in doing everything according to right principles; but when thou bast failed, return back again, and be content if the greater part of what thou doest is consistent with man's nature, and love this to which thou returnest

The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are.

How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it.

How many after being celebrated by fame have been given up to oblivion; and how many who have celebrated the fame of others have long been dead.

The sinner sins against himself; the wrongdoer wrongs himself, becoming the worse by his own action.