June

Indeed, no one can thwart the purposes of your mind — for they can't be touched by fire, steel, tyranny, slander, or anything.

How beautifully Plato put it. Whenever you want to talk about people, it's best to take a bird's-eye view and see everything all at once — of gatherings, armies, farms, weddings and divorces, births and deaths, noisy courtrooms or silent spaces, every foreign people, holidays, memorials, markets — all blended together and arranged in a pairing of opposites.

He can't serve in the military? Let him seek public office. Must he live in the private sector? Let him be a spokesperson. Is he condemned to silence? Let him aid his fellow citizens by silent public witness. Is it dangerous to enter the Forum? Let him display himself, in private homes, at public events and gatherings, as a good associate, faithful friend, and moderate tablemate. Has he lost the duties of a citizen? Let him exercise those of a human being.

Why then are we offended? Why do we complain? This is what we're here for.

We cry to God Almighty, how can we escape this agony? Fool, don't you have hands? Or could it be God forgot to give you a pair? Sit and pray your nose doesn't run! Or, rather just wipe your nose and stop seeking a scapegoat.

Think of those who, not by fault of inconsistency but by lack of effort, are too unstable to live as they wish, but only live as they have begun.

We like to say that we don't get to choose our parents, that they were given by chance — yet we can truly choose whose children we'd like to be

You must build up your life action by action, and be content if each one achieves its goal as far as possible — and no one can keep you from this. But there will be some external obstacle! Perhaps, but no obstacle to acting with justice, self-control, and wisdom. But what if some other area of my action is thwarted? Well, gladly accept the obstacle for what it is and shift your attention to what is given, and another action will immediately take its place, one that better fits the life you are building.

There is no vice which lacks a defense, none that at the outset isn't modest and easily intervened — but after this the trouble spreads widely. If you allow it to get started you won't be able to control when it stops. Every emotion is at first weak. Later it rouses itself and gathers strength as it moves along — it's easier to slow it down than to supplant it.

If you find something very difficult to achieve yourself, don't imagine it impossible — for anything possible and proper for another person can be achieved as easily by you.

How much more harmful are the consequences of anger and grief than the circumstances that aroused them in us!

In this way you must understand how laughable it is to say, 'Tell me what to do!' What advice could I possibly give? No, a far better request is, 'Train my mind to adapt to any circumstance.' … In this way, if circumstances take you off script … you won't be desperate for a new prompting.

Don't you know life is like a military campaign? One must serve on watch, another in reconnaissance, another on the front line. … So it is for us — each person's life is a kind of battle, and a long and varied one too. You must keep watch like a soldier and do everything commanded. … You have been stationed in a key post, not some lowly place, and not for a short time but for life.

Every event has two handles — one by which it can be carried, and one by which it can't. If your brother does you wrong, don't grab it by his wronging, because this is the handle incapable of lifting it. Instead, use the other — that he is your brother, that you were raised together, and then you will have hold of the handle that carries.

To the youngster talking nonsense Zeno said, ‘The reason why we have two ears and only one mouth is so we might listen more and talk less.

Don't be ashamed of needing help. You have a duty to fulfill just like a soldier on the wall of battle. So what if you are injured and can't climb up without another soldier's help?

Fortune doesn't have the long reach we suppose, she can only lay siege to those who hold her tight. So, let's step back from her as much as possible.

Let Fate find us prepared and active. Here is the great soul — the one who surrenders to Fate. The opposite is the weak and degenerate one, who struggles with and has a poor regard for the order of the world, and seeks to correct the faults of the gods rather than their own.

Don't let your reflection on the whole sweep of life crush you. Don't fill your mind with all the bad things that might still happen. Stay focused on the present situation and ask yourself why it's so unbearable and can't be survived.

If then it's not that the things you pursue or avoid are coming at you, but rather that you in a sense are seeking them out, at least try to keep your judgment of them steady, and they too will remain calm and you won't be seen chasing after or fleeing from them.

We should take wandering outdoor walks, so that the mind might be nourished and refreshed by the open air and deep breathing.

If you are defeated once and tell yourself you will overcome, but carry on as before, know in the end you'll be so ill and weakened that eventually you won't even notice your mistake and will begin to rationalize your behavior.

You could enjoy this very moment all the things you are praying to reach by taking the long way around — if you'd stop depriving yourself of them.

The beautiful and good person neither fights with anyone nor, as much as they are able, permits others to fight … this is the meaning of getting an education — learning what is your own affair and what is not. If a person carries themselves so, where is there any room for fighting?

This is why we say that nothing happens to the wise person contrary to their expectations.

What assistance can we find in the fight against habit? Try the opposite!

How does it help, my husband, to make misfortune heavier by complaining about it? This is more fit for a king — to seize your adversities head on. The more precarious his situation, the more imminent his fall from power, the more firmly he should be resolved to stand and fight. It isn't manly to retreat from fortune.

Philosophy calls for simple living, but not for penance—it’s quite possible to be simple without being crude.

It is possible to curb your arrogance, to overcome pleasure and pain, to rise above your ambition, and to not be angry with stupid and ungrateful people — yes, even to care for them.

While it's true that someone can impede our actions, they can't impede our intentions and our attitudes, which have the power of being conditional and adaptable. For the mind adapts and converts any obstacle to its action into a means of achieving it. That which is an impediment to action is turned to advance action. The obstacle on the path becomes the way.