"Do not seek to have events happen as you want them to, but instead want them to happen as they do happen, and your life will go well."

"Never say about anything, 'I have lost it,' but only, 'I have given it back.'"

"Suffering arises from trying to control what is uncontrollable, or from neglecting what is within our power."

"If a man should be in a passion and curse you, go away and say, 'This man is angry with me.' Do not say, 'He has cursed me.' For that is to add to the injury."

"You will do the greatest service to the state if you shall raise, not the roofs of the houses, but the souls of the citizens: for it is better that great souls should dwell in small houses rather than…"