1 - People who have learned principles in theory want to vomit them up immediately, just as those with weak stomachs throw up their food. Digest the principles first, and you won’t vomit them up this way. [Epictetus D3.21]

2 - How can your principles die, unless the thoughts behind them are forgotten?. [Marcus Aurelius, M7.2]

3 - The pleasure of wise people … are mild and well-mannered. [Seneca, H12]

4 - A builder doesn’t come up and say, “Listen to my discourse on the art of building,” but gets a contract and builds a house. He thereby shows he has mastered the art of building. You should do likewise. [Epictetus D3.21]

5 - You can form the right opinion about anything. Given this ability, why should you be disturbed? [Marcus Aurelius, M7.2]

6 - [The wise] don’t invite pleasure, nor do they honour it when it comes on its own. [Seneca, H12]

7 - Eat like a human being, drink like a human being, dress, marry, become a parent, assume your social responsibilities, put up with abuses; put up with an inconsiderate brother, a father, a son, neighbour, and fellow-traveller. Show these things so we can see that you really have learned something from philosophers. [Epictetus D3.21]

8 - A new life is within your reach. Look at things the way you did once. Life begins again. [Marcus Aurelius, M7.2]

9 - Those who think that happiness consists of laziness, alternating between gluttony and extravagance, need a good patron for a bad action. [Seneca, H13]

10 - You open up shop as a doctor with no other equipment than your medicines: as to when or how you should apply them … Do you have the ability, then, to make proper use of them? [Epictetus D3.21]

11 - Be good-tempered, be without contempt. [Marcus Aurelius 7.3]

12 - Too much pleasure is hurtful. [Seneca, H13]

13 - You should not give in to anger, resentment, envy, or pity. [Epictetus D3.22]

14 - Be aware that your worth is measured by what you devote your energy to. [Marcus Aurelius, M7.3]

15 - Moderation is a part of virtue itself. [Seneca, H13]

16 - Just as the material for a carpenter is wood, and the material for a shoemaker is leather, the material I need to work on from now on is my own mind. [Epictetus D3.22]

17 - In a discussion, focus on what is being said. When action is needed, focus on what is being done. Know what is said and what is meant. [Marcus Aurelius, M7.4]

18 - What better guide can there be than reason, if we are rational by nature? [Seneca, H13]

19 - What do you have to do with other people’s affairs? Who are you anyway? [Epictetus D3.22]

20 - Everything I do … should have only one purpose: doing what is useful and well-suited to all. [Marcus Aurelius, M7.5]

21 - [If] you are willing to move towards a happy life, let virtue be your guide. Let pleasure follow and hang about the body like a shadow. [Seneca, H13]

22 - If you are a drone and claim to be the king of bees, don’t you think your fellow-citizens will throw you out, just as bees do the drones? [Epictetus D3.22]

23 - How many who were famous are forgotten! How many who celebrated the famous are long gone! [Marcus Aurelius, M7.6]

24- Only when a mind that is not capable of great things will hand over virtue, the highest of all qualities, as a handmaid to pleasure. [Seneca, H13]

25 - Plan carefully, know your limits, be reasonable. [Epictetus D3.22]

26 - Don’t be ashamed to ask for help. [Marcus Aurelius, M7.7]

27 - Let virtue be the standard and lead the way. We shall have pleasure for all that, but we shall be its masters and controllers. [Seneca, H14)

28 - First, tell yourself what you want to be and go ahead and act accordingly in all that you do. [Epictetus D3.23]

29 - Don’t let the future worry you. You will meet it – if you have to – with reason, the same resource you use now to deal with life. [Marcus Aurelius, 7.1]

30 - Great pleasures are like the wild animals we hunt with hardship and danger; even when we catch them, we are anxious because they can tear us to pieces. [Seneca, H1$]

Notes
D = Discourses; M = Meditations; H = On Happiness

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