The path of precept is long, that of example short and effectual.

To be able to endure odium is the first art to be learned by those who aspire to power.

My advice is really this: what we hear the philosophers saying and what we find in their writings should be applied in our pursuit of the happy life. We should hunt out the helpful pieces of teaching and the spirited and noble-minded sayings which are capable of immediate practical application-not far far-fetched or archaic expressions or extravagant metaphors and figures of speech-and learn them so well that words become works.

For men in a state of freedom had thatch for their shelter, while slavery dwells beneath marble and gold.

We are more easily led part by part to an understanding of the whole. -Facilius per partes in cognitionem totius adducimur

Who-only let him be a man and intent upon honor-is not eager for the honorable ordeal and prompt to assume perilous duties? To what energetic man is not idleness a punishment?

Our (the Stoic) motto, as you know, is live according to nature.