You must linger among a limited number of master-thinkers, and digest their works, if you would derive ideas which shall win firm hold in your mind.

In a moment the ashes are made, but a forest is a long time growing.

It is easier to exclude harmful passions than to rule them, and to deny them admittance than to control them after they have been admitted.

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.

One who's our friend is fond of us; one who's fond of us isn't necessarily our friend.

A dwarf is small even if he stands on a mountain; a colossus keeps his height, even if he stands in a well.

We suffer more often in imagination than in reality. [We must learn to control and focus the force of our imagination on the good, bright side so it is positive and constructive helping ourselves and others, rather than let its force focus on the bad, dark side so it is negative and destructive hurting ourselves and others!]