The cucumber is bitter? Then throw it out. There are brambles in the path? Then go around them. That's all you need to know. Nothing more. Don't demand to know "why such things exist." Anyone who understands the world will laugh at you, just as a carpenter would if you seemed shocked at finding sawdust in his workshop, or a shoemaker at scraps of leather left over from work.

You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.

We are born for cooperation, as are the feet, the hands, the eyelids, and the upper and lower jaws.

Infinity is a fathomless gulf, into which all things vanish.

What we do now echoes in eternity.

Blot out vain pomp; check impulse; quench appetite; keep reason under its own control.

It is in your power to withdraw yourself whenever you desire. Perfect tranquility within consists in the good ordering of the mind, the realm of your own.