1 - Your good faith and sense of shame are your own. Epictetus, D1.25 

2 - The whole universe is change. Life is just opinion. M. Aurelius, M4.3 

3 - Just as the body must be held back on a downward slope and forced up a steep slope, certain virtues are on a downward path, while certain others struggle to go uphill. Seneca, On Happiness 25 

4 - Only when you go after what is not yours, you lose what is yours. Epictetus D1.25 

5 - We share a common law which, in turn, makes us all fellow citizens. The world then is a single city. Marcus Aurelius, M4.4 

6 - When we face poverty, we apply strong virtues that know how to fight. But when we are wealthy, we use gentler virtues that know how to tiptoe without losing their balance. Seneca, On Happiness. 25 

7 - It is for you to compare the value of things. But do not do anything resentfully, as if someone forced it upon you. Epictetus, D1.25 

8 - The earthly elements you are made of come from earth, the water from some other element, your breath from another source and the heat and fire from theirs. Nothing can come from, or go back to, nothing. M. Aurelius, M4.4 

9 - A wise person regards wealth as a servant, the fool as a master. Seneca, On Happiness. 26 

10 - If I place value on my body, I make a slave of myself; if I place a value on my property, again I make a slave of myself because I have shown how I may be taken. Epictetus, D1.25 

11 - Death, like birth, is one of nature’s mysteries. The same elements combine and then move apart. There is no shame in this. It doesn’t contradict with the plan of creation. Marcus Aurelius, M4.5 

12 - Pile on my head all the usual criticisms. I won’t think that you are abusing me but that you are crying like a miserable little baby. (Socrates) Seneca, On Happiness. 26 

13 - Whatever you are seen to protect will become the target for your enemy. Remember this, and you will fear or flatter no one. Epictetus, D1.25 

14 - A person of a given nature will do things of a certain kind. That’s the way it is. To wish otherwise is like wishing a fig tree not to produce its bitter juice. M. Aurelius, M4.6 

15 - There is nothing that I am more determined about than this: I will not let what you think change the course of my life. Seneca, On Happiness. 26 

16 - We crush ourselves and create problems for ourselves. That is, our opinions do. Epictetus, D1.25 

17 - Forget the belief “I’ve been harmed,” and you won’t feel harmed. Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears. M. Aurelius, M4.7 

18 - Why don’t you look at your own faults that attack you from every side – some from outside and others from inside? Seneca, On Happiness. 27 

19 - What does it mean to be insulted? Stand by a stone and insult it, what response will you get? Likewise, if you listen like a stone, what would the abuser gain by his abuse? Epictetus, D1.25 

20 - What cannot corrupt you, cannot corrupt your life. It cannot damage you inside or out. M. Aurelius, M 4.8 

21 - Why don’t you look at your own faults that attack you from every side – some from outside and others from inside? Seneca, On Happiness. 28 

22 - The law of life – we must do what follows from nature. Epictetus, D1.26 

23 - What happened has to have happened for the good of all.  M. Aurelius, M4.9 

24 - Self-control knows that the best measure of the appetites is not how much you want to take, but how much you ought to take. Seneca, Epistles 88.29 

25 When we study theory, there is nothing to challenge what we are being taught; but in real life many things clamor for our attention. Epictetus, D1.26 

26 - Whatever happens happens justly. Watch closely, and you will see this is true. M. Aurelius, M4.10 

27 - Just as it is a sign of extravagance to chase after delicacies, so it is madness to avoid what is customary and can be purchased at no great price. Seneca, Epistles. 5.4 

28 - It is easy to follow your principles here because there aren’t many temptations. It is more difficult to be a master of impressions in Rome because several temptations compete for your attention there. Epictetus, D1.26 

29 - Show goodness in all your actions. M. Aurelius, M4.10 

30 - Philosophy calls for plain living but not for penance. Seneca, Epistles. 5.4 

31 - In matters of theory, it is easy to refute someone who is ignorant. But, in the affairs of life, no one offers himself to be examined. Epictetus, D1.26 

 

D = Discourses; M = Meditations 

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