Consider when thou art much vexed or grieved, that man's life is only a moment, and after a short time we are all laid out dead.

We are born for synergy, just like the feet, just like the hands, just like the eyes, just like the rows of upper and lower teeth. Working against each other is unnatural, and being annoyed and turning one's back is counterproductive.

A person's life is what their thoughts make it.

Imagine you were now dead, or had not lived before his moment. Now view the rest of your life as a bonus.

As surgeons keep their instruments and knives always at hand for cases requiring immediate treatment, so shouldst thou have thy thoughts ready to understand things divine and human, remembering in thy every act, even the smallest, how close is the bond that unites the two.

Do not waste what remains of your life in speculating about your neighbors, unless with a view to some mutual benefit. To wonder what so-and-so is doing and why, or what he is saying, or thinking, or scheming -- in a word, anything that distracts you from fidelity to the ruler within you -- means a loss of opportunity for some other task.

Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future, too.