Misfortune is the test of a person's merit.

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

Ignorant people see life as either existence or non-existence, but wise men see it beyond both existence and non-existence to something that transcends them both; this is an observation of the Middle Way.

He grieves more than is necessary who grieves before any cause for sorrow has arisen.

Pain, scorned by yonder gout-ridden wretch, endured by yonder dyspeptic in the midst of his dainties, borne bravely by the girl in travail. Slight thou art, if I can bear thee, short thou art if I cannot bear thee!

I will have a care of being a slave to myself, for it is a perpetual, a shameful, and the heaviest of all servitudes; and this may be done by moderate desires.

There are more things to alarm us than to harm us, and we suffer more often in apprehension than reality.