1. What faculty tells you as to whether you should believe or disbelieve what someone tells you? If you believe it, should you be angry about it? Is it not the faculty of choice that tells you that? [Epictetus, D2.23]
2. Reason, which controls nature, has no motive to do evil. It has no malice, it doesn’t injure anyone, and nothing is harmed by it. [Marcus Aurelius, M6.1]
3. We must therefore persuade ourselves of the view that all the vices of the vulgar may not appear hateful to us, but merely ridiculous.  [Seneca, T15]
4. Only the faculty of choice can see clearly enough to evaluate the worth of all other faculties, as well as its own worth, and declare that it is the supreme faculty. [Epictetus, D2.23]
5. Look below the surface. Don’t let a thing’s true nature or value escape you. [Marcus Aurelius, M6.3]
6. We must take a lighter view of all things, tolerating and accepting them. [Seneca, T15]
7. To advance towards perfection, you need to use spoken words to learn what is taught here, to purify your choice, and to deal correctly with impressions. [Epictetus, D2.23]
8. Not to be like that is the best revenge. [Marcus Aurelius, M6.6]
9. The human race owes more to the one who laughs than the one who mourns for it. [Seneca, T15]
10. Your business, my friend, is to prepare yourself to use impressions according to nature, not fail in your desires, not experience anything you don’t desire, and never face misfortune, but be free, unrestricted, and unrestrained. [Epictetus, D2.23]
11. Let this be your delight and refreshment. Move from one service to the community to another. [Marcus Aurelius, M6.7]
12. The one who laughs provides a measure of optimism while the one who weeps does so foolishly, giving up all hopes of remedying things. [Seneca, T15]
13. Don’t you see then, if speaking properly demands a skilled person, to listen with benefit also demands a skilled person? [Epictetus, D2.24]
14. One universal nature brings about everything. There is no rival to it. There is nothing beyond it and nothing within it. There is nothing apart from it. [Marcus Aurelius, M6.9]
15. When surveying the world, the person who cannot control her laughter shows a greater mind than the one who cannot control his tears. [Seneca, T15]
16. Isn’t this ignorance the cause of all our errors and misfortunes? … Isn’t it for not knowing what is to one’s advantage and what is not? [Epictetus, D2.24]
17. When things upset you, gain control over them quickly. Don’t be upset for longer than you can help. If you make it a habit of getting back to harmony, you will become a master at it. [Marcus Aurelius, M6.11]
18. Let my mind be self-contained and improve itself. Let it not take part in other people’s affairs and let it do nothing that depends on the approval of others. Let me enjoy the tranquility undisturbed by public or private troubles.  [Seneca, T15]
19. Find fault with no one and accuse no one. [Epictetus, D2.23]
20. Continually return to philosophy to renew yourself. Your court life – and you in it – will seem bearable. [Marcus Aurelius, M6.12]
21. To be hurt by the sufferings of others is to be forever miserable. To enjoy the sufferings of others is an inhuman pleasure. [Seneca, T15]
22. Just as there is a skill in speaking, there is also a skill in listening. [Epictetus, D2.24]
23. Pretentiousness is an arch deceiver. It deludes you when you believe that your work has great merit. [Marcus Aurelius, M6.13]
24. Many shed tears for show.  When no one is looking at them, their eyes are dry. [Seneca, T15]
25. Logic is necessary, since without it you can’t even tell whether it is necessary or not. [Epictetus, D2.25]
26. People who value a rational, social, and universal mind aren’t interested other things. All they are concerned about is their own minds – how to be rational and social, how to work with others for this purpose. [Marcus Aurelius, M6.14]
27. This evil of being guided by other people’s opinions has become so deeply rooted in us that even grief, the simplest of all emotions, has become an affectation. [Seneca, T15]
28. Now every rational mind is against contradiction. But if you don’t realize that you are involved in a contradiction, there is nothing that stops you from being contradictory. [Epictetus, D2.26]
29. Change and fluidity constantly remake the world, just as the relentless flow of time remakes eternity. In this running river, where can you find a firm foothold? [Marcus Aurelius, M6.15]
30. Let’s praise those who deserve constant praise: “The braver you are, the happier you are!”   [Seneca, T16]
31. It is not the hardship or death that is a fearful thing, but the fear of hardship or death. [Epictetus, D2.1]

Note: D: Discourses; M: Meditations;T: On Tranquility

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