Timeless Wisdom: A Curated Collection of Inspirational Stoic Quotes

"THE HAPPINESS OF YOUR LIFE DEPENDS UPON THE QUALITY OF YOUR THOUGHTS."

- Marcus Aurelius

"IF YOU ARE DISTRESSED BY ANYTHING EXTERNAL, THE PAIN IS NOT DUE TO THE THING ITSELF, BUT TO YOUR ESTIMATE OF IT; AND THIS YOU HAVE THE POWER TO REVOKE AT ANY MOMENT."

- Marcus Aurelius

"OUR LIFE IS WHAT OUR THOUGHTS MAKE IT."

- Marcus Aurelius

"Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself in your way of thinking."

- Marcus Aurelius

"You have power over your mind — not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength."

- Marcus Aurelius

"You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength."

- Marcus Aurelius

"True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future, not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is sufficient, for he that is so wants nothing. The greatest blessings of mankind are within us and within our reach. A wise man is content with his lot, whatever it may be, without wishing for what he has not."

- Seneca

"The greatest obstacle to living is expectancy, which hangs upon tomorrow and loses today. You are arranging what lies in Fortune’s control, and abandoning what lies in yours. What are you looking at? To what goal are you straining? The whole future lies in uncertainty: live immediately."

- Seneca

"IT IS NOT DEATH THAT A MAN SHOULD FEAR, BUT HE SHOULD FEAR NEVER BEGINNING TO LIVE."

- Marcus Aurelius

"IF SOMEONE IS ABLE TO SHOW ME THAT WHAT I THINK OR DO IS NOT RIGHT, I WILL HAPPILY CHANGE, FOR I SEEK THE TRUTH, BY WHICH NO ONE WAS EVER TRULY HARMED. IT IS THE PERSON WHO CONTINUES IN HIS SELF-DECEPTION AND IGNORANCE WHO IS HARMED."

- Marcus Aurelius

"THE BEST REVENGE IS TO BE UNLIKE HIM WHO PERFORMED THE INJURY."

- Marcus Aurelius

"LIVE A GOOD LIFE. IF THERE ARE GODS AND THEY ARE JUST, THEN THEY WILL NOT CARE HOW DEVOUT YOU HAVE BEEN, BUT WILL WELCOME YOU BASED ON THE VIRTUES YOU HAVE LIVED BY. IF THERE ARE GODS, BUT UNJUST, THEN YOU SHOULD NOT WANT TO WORSHIP THEM. IF THERE ARE NO GODS, THEN YOU WILL BE GONE, BUT WILL HAVE LIVED A NOBLE LIFE THAT WILL LIVE ON IN THE MEMORIES OF YOUR LOVED ONES."

- Marcus Aurelius

"In our control is the most beautiful and important thing, the thing because of which even the god himself is happy— namely, the proper use of our impressions. We must concern ourselves absolutely with the things that are under our control and entrust the things not in our control to the universe."

- Gaius Musonius Rufus

"Anyone can get lucky. There’s no skill in being oblivious, and no one would consider that greatness. On the other hand, the person who perseveres through difficulties, who keeps going when others quit, who makes it to their destination through hard work and honesty? That’s admirable, because their survival was the result of fortitude and resilience, not birthright or circumstance. A person who overcame not just the external obstacles to success but mastered themselves and their emotions along the way? That’s much more impressive. The person who has been dealt a harder hand, understood it, but still triumphed? That’s greatness."

- Ryan Holiday

"Men are disturbed not by things, but by the views which they take of things."

- Epictetus

"First, say to yourself what you would be, and then do what you have to do."

- Epictetus

"The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way."

- Marcus Aurelius

"It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters."

- Epictetus

"Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one."

- Marcus Aurelius

"You have power over your mind—not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength."

- Marcus Aurelius

"Happiness and freedom begin with a clear understanding of one principle: Some things are within our control, and some things are not."

- Epictetus

"It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters."

- Epictetus

"Men are disturbed not by things, but by the views which they take of them."

- Epictetus

"Begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life."

- Seneca

"Floods will rob us of one thing, fire of another. These are conditions of our existence which we cannot change. What we can do is adopt a noble spirit, such a spirit that befits a good person, so that we may bear up bravely under all that fortune sends us and bring our wills into tune with nature’s."

- Seneca

"The greatest wealth is a poverty of desires."

- Seneca

"True happiness is... to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future."

- Seneca

"A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials."

- Seneca

"It is not the man who has too little that is poor, but the one who hankers after more."

- Seneca

"The greatest obstacle to living is expectancy, which hangs upon tomorrow and loses today."

- Seneca

"Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labour does the body."

- Seneca

"Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking."

- Marcus Aurelius

"Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present."

- Marcus Aurelius

"The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury."

- Marcus Aurelius

"How long are you going to wait before you demand the best for yourself?"

- Epictetus

"External things are not the problem. It’s your assessment of them. Which you can erase right now."

- Marcus Aurelius

"If it is not right, do not do it; if it is not true, do not say it."

- Marcus Aurelius

"It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own."

- Marcus Aurelius

"Be tolerant with others and strict with yourself."

- Marcus Aurelius

"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth."

- Marcus Aurelius

"Life is long if you know how to use it."

- Seneca

"True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future."

- Seneca

"It is the power of the mind to be unconquerable."

- Seneca

"It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult."

- Seneca

"No person has the power to have everything they want, but it is in their power not to want what they don’t have, and to cheerfully put to good use what they do have."

- Seneca

"We suffer more in imagination than in reality."

- Seneca

"The whole future lies in uncertainty: live immediately."

- Seneca

"If you really want to escape the things that harass you, what you're needing is not to be in a different place but to be a different person."

- Seneca

"First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do."

- Epictetus

"Freedom is the only worthy goal in life. It is won by disregarding things that lie beyond our control."

- Epictetus

"It is difficulties that show what men are."

- Epictetus

"Curb your desire — don’t set your heart on so many things and you will get what you need."

- Epictetus

"The greater the difficulty, the more glory in surmounting it. Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests."

- Epictetus

"Demand not that things happen as you wish, but wish them to happen as they do, and you will go on well."

- Epictetus

"The goal of life is living in agreement with nature."

- Zeno of Citium

"Man conquers the world by conquering himself."

- Zeno of Citium

"Follow where reason leads."

- Zeno of Citium

"No loss should be more regrettable to us than losing our time, for it's irretrievable."

- Zeno of Citium

"If you accomplish something good with hard work, the labor passes quickly, but the good endures; if you do something shameful in pursuit of pleasure, the pleasure passes quickly, but the shame endures."

- Musonius Rufus

"The greatest thing in the world is self-sufficiency."

- Gaius Musonius Rufus

"It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows."

- Gaius Musonius Rufus

"It is not possible to live well today unless you treat it as your last day."

- Gaius Musonius Rufus

"You will earn the respect of all if you begin by earning the respect of yourself. Don’t expect to encourage good deeds in people conscious of your own misdeeds."

- Gaius Musonius Rufus

"Willingly accept the inevitable, and you will lead a life in harmony with the universe."

- Gaius Musonius Rufus

"The soul is trained for courage when we show patience under hardships."

- Gaius Musonius Rufus

"It is the privilege of the gods to want nothing, and of godlike men to want little."

- Diogenes

"No man is hurt but by himself."

- Diogenes

"He has the most who is most content with the least."

- Diogenes

"Courage is the key to mastery; the key to conquering our fears and unlocking our true potential."

- Diogenes

"The greatest wealth is to live content with little, for there is never a lack for those who crave much."

- Diogenes

"The wise man knows that he knows nothing, and yet he still seeks knowledge."

- Diogenes

"If I gained one thing from philosophy is that at the very least, I am well prepared to confront any change in fortune."

- Diogenes

"The point is not to wish for these adversities, but for the virtue that makes adversities bearable."

- Seneca

"Here’s a lesson to test your mind’s mettle: take part of a week in which you have only the most meager and cheap food, dress scantly in shabby clothes, and ask yourself if this is really the worst that you feared. It is when times are good that you should gird yourself for tougher times ahead, for when Fortune is kind the soul can build defenses against her ravages. So it is that soldiers practice maneuvers in peacetime, erecting bunkers with no enemies in sight and exhausting themselves under no attack so that when it comes they won’t grow tired."

- Seneca

"We go through our days responding and reacting, but it’s rare to really pause and ask: Is this thing I’m about to do consistent with what I believe? Or, better: Is this the kind of thing the person I would like to be should do? The work of living is to set standards and then not compromise them."

- Ryan Holiday

"In short, you must remember this—that if you hold anything dear outside of your own reasoned choice, you will have destroyed your capacity for choice."

- Epictetus

"Choose not to be harmed, and you won't feel harmed. Don't feel harmed, and you haven't been."

- Marcus Aurelius

"The best revenge is not to be like that."

- Marcus Aurelius

"It's not things that upset us but our judgments about things."

- Epictetus

"Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it."

- Epictetus

"There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power or our will."

- Epictetus

"Don't seek for everything to happen as you wish it would, but rather wish that everything happens as it actually will—then your life will flow well."

- Epictetus

"The more we value things outside our control, the less control we have."

- Epictetus

"Difficulties show a person's character."

- Epictetus

"Settle on the type of person you want to be and stick to it, whether alone or in company."

- Epictetus

"When you are offended at any man's fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings. Then you will forget your anger."

- Epictetus

"Seek not that the things which happen should happen as you wish; but wish the things which happen to be as they are, and you will have a tranquil flow of life."

- Epictetus

"Practice yourself, for heaven's sake, in little things; and thence proceed to greater."

- Epictetus

"Any person capable of angering you becomes your master; he can anger you only when you permit yourself to be disturbed by him."

- Epictetus

"Circumstances don't make the man, they only reveal him to himself."

- Epictetus

"We suffer more often in imagination than in reality."

- Seneca

"It is in no man's power to have whatever he wants, but he has it in his power not to wish for what he hasn't got, and cheerfully make the most of the things that do come his way."

- Seneca

"Be content with what you are, and wish not change; nor dread your last day, nor long for it."

- Marcus Aurelius

"Being good is the same as being a philosopher. If you obey your father, you will follow the will of a man; if you choose the philosopher’s life, the will of the universe. It is plain, therefore, that your duty lies in the pursuit of philosophy."

- Gaius Musonius Rufus

"The soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts."

- Marcus Aurelius

"Do not act as if you were going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over you. While you live, while it is in your power, be good."

- Marcus Aurelius

"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are."

- Marcus Aurelius

"If someone is able to show me that what I think or do is not right, I will happily change, for I seek the truth, by which no one was ever truly harmed. It is the person who continues in his self-deception and ignorance who is harmed."

- Marcus Aurelius

"Perfection of character is this: to live each day as if it were your last, without frenzy, without apathy, without pretence."

- Marcus Aurelius

"Observe always that everything is the result of change, and get used to thinking that there is nothing Nature loves so well as to change existing forms and make new ones like them."

- Marcus Aurelius

"Be like the cliff against which the waves continually break; but it stands firm and tames the fury of the water around it."

- Marcus Aurelius

"It is not that we have so little time but that we lose so much. The life we receive is not short but we make it so; we are not ill provided but use what we have wastefully."

- Seneca

"People are frugal in guarding their personal property; but as soon as it comes to squandering time they are most wasteful of the one thing in which it is right to be stingy."

- Seneca

"The goal of life is living in agreement with Nature."

- Zeno of Citium

"Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together."

- Marcus Aurelius

"Our life is what our thoughts make it."

- Marcus Aurelius

"The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it."

- Marcus Aurelius

"Nothing happens to anybody which he is not fitted by nature to bear."

- Marcus Aurelius

"If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment."

- Marcus Aurelius

"Confine yourself to the present."

- Marcus Aurelius

"When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love."

- Marcus Aurelius

"Each day provides its own gifts."

- Marcus Aurelius

"Remember, it is not enough to be hit or insulted to be harmed, you must believe that you are being harmed. If someone succeeds in provoking you, realize that your mind is complicit in the provocation."

- Epictetus

"God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference."

- Serenity Prayer

"Let us prepare our minds as if we’d come to the very end of life. Let us postpone nothing. Let us balance life’s books each day… The one who puts the finishing touches on their life each day is never short of time."

- Marcus Aurelius

"When someone is properly grounded in life, they shouldn’t have to look outside themselves for approval."

- Epictetus

"Because a thing seems difficult for you, do not think it impossible for anyone to accomplish."

- Marcus Aurelius

"Some things are in our control and others not. Things in our control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever are our own actions. Things not in our control are body, property, reputation, command, and, in one word, whatever are not our actions."

- Epictetus

"Seek not the good in external things; seek it in yourselves."

- Epictetus

"People are not disturbed by things, but by the views they take of them."

- Epictetus

"To accuse others for one’s own misfortune is a sign of want of education. To accuse oneself shows that one’s education has begun. To accuse neither oneself nor others shows that one’s education is complete."

- Epictetus

"God has entrusted me with myself. No man is free who is not master of himself. A man should so live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things."

- Epictetus

"If we were to measure what is good by how much pleasure it brings, nothing would be better than self-control- if we were to measure what is to be avoided by its pain, nothing would be more painful than lack of self-control."

- Gaius Musonius Rufus

"We will train both soul and body when we accustom ourselves to cold, heat, thirst, hunger, scarcity of food, hardness of bed, abstaining from pleasures, and enduring pains."

- Gaius Musonius Rufus

"IF IT IS NOT RIGHT DO NOT DO IT; IF IT IS NOT TRUE DO NOT SAY IT."

- Marcus Aurelius

"WHENEVER YOU ARE ABOUT TO FIND FAULT WITH SOMEONE, ASK YOURSELF THE FOLLOWING QUESTION: WHAT FAULT OF MINE MOST NEARLY RESEMBLES THE ONE I AM ABOUT TO CRITICIZE?"

- Marcus Aurelius

"Or is it your reputation that’s bothering you? But look at how soon we’re all forgotten. The abyss of endless time that swallows it all. The emptiness of those applauding hands. The people who praise us; how capricious they are, how arbitrary. And the tiny region it takes place. The whole earth a point in space – and most of it uninhabited."

- Marcus Aurelius

"Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them."

- Marcus Aurelius

"Stop drifting…Sprint to the finish. Write off your hopes, and if your well-being matters to you, be your own savior while you can."

- Marcus Aurelius

"For mankind, evil is injustice and cruelty and indifference to a neighbour’s trouble, while virtue is brotherly love and goodness and justice and beneficence and concern for the welfare of your neighbour-with."

- Gaius Musonius Rufus

"A person’s worth is measured by the worth of what he values."

- Marcus Aurelius

"Begin each day by telling yourself: Today I shall be meeting with interference, ingratitude, insolence, disloyalty, ill-will, and selfishness – all of them due to the offenders’ ignorance of what is good or evil."

- Marcus Aurelius

"I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinion of himself than on the opinion of others."

- Marcus Aurelius

"If a man knows not to which port he sails, no wind is favorable."

- Seneca

"Fire tests gold, suffering tests brave men."

- Seneca

"Withdraw into yourself, as far as you can. Associate with those who will make a better man of you. Welcome those whom you yourself can improve. The process is mutual; for men learn while they teach."

- Seneca

"Don’t explain your philosophy. Embody it."

- Epictetus

"It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness."

- Lucius Annaeus Seneca

"Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself the following question: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?"

- Marcus Aurelius

"We have two ears and one mouth, so we should listen more than we say."

- Zeno of Citium

"Wealth is able to buy the pleasures of eating, drinking and other sensual pursuits-yet can never afford a cheerful spirit or freedom from sorrow."

- Gaius Musonius Rufus

"If any man despises me, that is his problem. My only concern is not doing or saying anything deserving of contempt."

- Marcus Aurelius

"The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."

- Marcus Aurelius

"If you really want to escape the things that harass you, what you’re needing is not to be in a different place but to be a different person."

- Seneca

"Loss is nothing else but change, and change is Nature's delight."

- Marcus Aurelius

"If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it."

- Marcus Aurelius

"The best answer to anger is silence."

- Marcus Aurelius

"HOW MUCH MORE GRIEVOUS ARE THE CONSEQUENCES OF ANGER THAN THE CAUSES OF IT."

- Marcus Aurelius

"From good people you’ll learn good, but if you mingle with the bad you’ll destroy such soul as you had."

- Gaius Musonius Rufus

"The world turns aside to let any man pass who knows where he is going."

- Epictetus

"To accept injury without a spirit of savage resentment-to show ourselves merciful toward those who wrong us-being a source of good hope to them-is characteristic of a benevolent and civilized way of life."

- Musonius Rufus

"Remember that you ought to behave in life as you would at a banquet. As something is being passed around it comes to you; stretch out your hand, take a portion of it politely. It passes on; do not detain it. Or it has not come to you yet; do not project your desire to meet it, but wait until it comes in front of you."

- Epictetus

"A man must stand erect, not be kept erect by others."

- Marcus Aurelius

"Nothing great is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig."

- Epictetus

"I cannot escape death, but at least I can escape the fear of it."

- Epictetus

"In order to protect ourselves we must live like doctors and be continually treating ourselves with reason."

- Gaius Musonius Rufus

"If a man knows not to which port he sails, no wind is favourable."

- Seneca

"Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants."

- Epictetus

"Don’t forget, though, that you come from a long, unbroken line of ancestors who survived unimaginable adversity, difficulty, and struggle. It’s their genes and their blood that run through your body right now. Without them, you wouldn’t be here. You’re an heir to an impressive tradition—and as their viable offspring, you’re capable of what they are capable of. You’re meant for this. Bred for it"

- Ryan Holiday

"Life is very short and anxious for those who forget the past, neglect the present, and fear the future."

- Seneca

"The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best."

- Epictetus

"From good people you'll learn good, but if you mingle with the bad, you'll destroy such soul as you had."

- Gaius Musonius Rufus

"He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has."

- Epictetus

"No man was ever wise by chance."

- Seneca

"First learn the meaning of what you say, and then speak."

- Epictetus

"Nothing is more hostile to a firm grasp on knowledge than self-deception."

- Zeno of Citium

"What really ruins our character is the fact that none of us looks back over his life."

- Seneca

"Well-being is realized by small steps, but it is truly no small thing."

- Zeno of Citium

"Fate is the endless chain of causation, whereby things are; the reason or formula by which the world goes on."

- Zeno of Citium

"He who is brave is free."

- Lucius Annaeus Seneca

"What progress have I made? I am beginning to be my own friend. That is progress indeed."

- Seneca

"Cease to hope and you will cease to fear."

- Seneca

"Wealth is the slave of a wise man. The master of a fool."

- Seneca

"In your actions, don't procrastinate. In your conversations, don't confuse. In your thoughts, don't wander. In your soul, don't be passive or aggressive."

- Marcus Aurelius

"How much time he gains who does not look to see what his neighbour says or does or thinks, but only at what he does himself, to make it just and holy."

- Marcus Aurelius

"While we are postponing, life speeds by."

- Seneca

"When someone is properly grounded in life, they shouldn't have to look outside themselves for approval."

- Epictetus

"Train yourself to strive for giving, rather than receiving."

- Gaius Musonius Rufus

"Know, first, who you are, and then adorn yourself accordingly."

- Epictetus

"Only time can heal what reason cannot."

- Seneca

"The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts."

- Marcus Aurelius

"The mind that is anxious about future events is miserable."

- Seneca

"It takes a wise man to discover a wise man."

- Diogenes

"When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous and surly. They are like this because they cannot tell good from evil."

- Marcus Aurelius

"Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them. Think constantly on the changes of the elements into each other, for such thoughts wash away the dust of earthly life."

- Marcus Aurelius

"People who talk well but do nothing are like musical instruments; the sound is all they have to offer."

- Diogenes

"In your actions, don't procrastinate. In your conversations, don't confuse. In your thoughts, don't wander. In your soul, don't be passive or aggressive. In your life, don't be all about business."

- Marcus Aurelius

"The greatest remedy for anger is delay."

- Seneca

"As a matter of self-preservation, a man needs good friends or ardent enemies, for the former instruct him and the latter take him to task."

- Diogenes

"The difficulty comes from our lack of confidence."

- Seneca

"You become what you give your attention to."

- Epictetus

"Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body."

- Seneca

"How does it help…to make troubles heavier by bemoaning them?"

- Seneca

"It is the nature of the wise to resist pleasures, but the foolish to be a slave to them."

- Epictetus

"Ignorance is the cause of fear."

- Seneca

"There is only a finger's difference between a wise man and a fool."

- Diogenes

"Associate with people who are likely to improve you."

- Seneca

"How much better to heal than seek revenge from injury."

- Seneca

"He who laughs at himself never runs out of things to laugh at."

- Epictetus

"Happiness is a good flow of life."

- Zeno of Citium

"If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid."

- Epictetus

"More is lost by indecision than wrong decision."

- Marcus Tullius Cicero

"Nature hath given men one tongue but two ears, that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak."

- Epictetus

"Sometimes even to live is an act of courage."

- Lucius Annaeus Seneca

"A ship should not ride on a single anchor, nor life on a single hope."

- Epictetus

"To be everywhere is to be nowhere."

- Seneca

"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."

- Seneca

"The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you."

- Epictetus

"Choose to die well while you can; wait too long, and it might become impossible to do so."

- Gaius Musonius Rufus

"They lose the day in expectation of the night, and the night in fear of the dawn."

- Seneca

"If anyone tells you that a certain person speaks ill of you, do not make excuses about what is said of you but answer, “He was ignorant of my other faults, else he would not have mentioned these alone."

- Epictetus

"To win true freeedom you must be a slave to philosophy."

- Seneca

"Events do not just happen, but arrive by appointment."

- Epictetus

"It is unrealistic to expect people to see you as you see yourself."

- Epictetus

"What good are gilded rooms or precious stones-fitted on the floor, inlaid in the walls, carried from great distances at the greatest expense? These things are pointless and unnecessary-without them isn’t it possible to live healthy? Aren’t they the source of constant trouble? Don’t they cost vast sums of money that, through public and private charity, may have benefited many?"

- Gaius Musonius Rufus

"If you would be a reader, read; if a writer, write."

- Epictetus

"Well-being is realized by small steps, but is truly no small thing."

- Zeno of Citium

"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end."

- Seneca

"Since every man dies, it is better to die with distinction than to live long."

- Gaius Musonius Rufus

"Enjoy present pleasures in such a way as not to injure future ones."

- Seneca

"Husband and wife should come together to craft a shared life, procreating children, seeing all things as shared between them-with nothing withheld or private to one another-not even their bodies."

- Gaius Musonius Rufus

"Either God wants to abolish evil, and cannot; or he can, but does not want to."

- Epictetus

"Only the educated are free."

- Epictetus

"If you lay violent hands on me, you’ll have my body, but my mind will remain with Stilpo."

- Zeno of Citium

"All cruelty springs from weakness."

- Seneca

"Better to trip with the feet than with the tongue."

- Zeno of Citium

"All men make mistakes, but a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong, and repairs the evil. The only crime is pride."

- Sophocles

"Inwardly, we ought to be different in every respect, but our outward dress should blend in with the crowd."

- Seneca

"Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment."

- Jim Rohn

"He who spares the wicked injures the good."

- Seneca

"Often a very old man has no other proof of his long life than his age."

- Seneca

"It’s not enough to be busy; so are the ants. The question is: what are we busy about?"

- Henry David Thoreau

"The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts."

"Give yourself a gift: the present moment."

"No loss should be more regrettable to us than losing our time, for it’s irretrievable."

"He suffers more than necessary, who suffers before it is necessary."

"No man is crushed by misfortune unless he has first been deceived by prosperity."

"Anger, if not restrained, is frequently more hurtful to us than the injury that provokes it."

"A bad feeling is a commotion of the mind repugnant to reason, and against nature."

"You act like mortals in all that you fear, and like immortals in all that you desire."

"A gift consists not in what is done or given, but in the intention of the giver or doer."

"Just that you do the right thing. The rest doesn't matter."