The most imperious masters over their own servants are at the same time the most abject slaves to the servants of others.

How can a thing possibly govern others when it cannot be governed itself?

Misfortunes, in fine, cannot be avoided; but they may be sweetened, if not overcome, and our lives made happy by philosophy.

Not to feel one's misfortunes is not human, not to bear them is not manly.

Life without the courage for death is slavery.

Freedom is not being a slave to any circumstance, to any constraint, to any chance; it means compelling Fortune to enter the lists on equal terms.

This is the difference between us Romans and the Etruscans: We believe that lightning is caused by clouds colliding, whereas they believe that clouds collide in order to create lightning. Since they attribute everything to gods, they are led to believe not that events have a meaning because they have happened, but that they happen in order to express a meaning.