In the life of a man, his time is but a moment, his being an incessant flux, his sense a dim rushlight, his body a prey of worms, his soul an unquiet eddy, his fortune dark, his fame doubtful. In short, all that is body is as coursing waters, all that is of the soul as dreams and vapors.

If you are pained by any external thing, it is not this that disturbs you, but your own judgment about it.

How ridiculous not to flee from one's own wickedness, which is possible, yet endeavor to flee from another's which is not.

If you do everything as if it were the last thing you were doing in your life, and stop being aimless, stop letting your emotions override what your mind tells you, stop being hypocritical, self-centered, irritable.

Nothing can come out of nothing, any more than a thing can go back to nothing.

Embellish the soul with simplicity, with prudence, and everything which is neither virtuous nor vicious. Love all men. Walk according to God; for, as a poet hath said, his laws govern all.

He who follows reason in all things is both tranquil and active at the same time, and also cheerful and collected.