Historical voices

Conformably to justice, that thou mayst always speak the truth freely and without disguise, and do the things which are agreeable to law and according to the worth of each.

Conformably to piety that thou mayest be content with the lot which is assigned to thee, for nature designed it for thee and thee for it.

And this means, if thou wilt take no notice of all the past, and trust the future to providence, and direct the present only conformably to piety and justice.

All those things at which thou wishest to arrive by a circuitous road thou canst have now, if thou dost not refuse them to thyself.

Neither in writing nor in reading wilt thou be able to lay down rules for others before thou shalt have first learned to obey rules thyself.

He who has not one and always the same object in life, cannot be one and the same all through his life.

And also when the ruling faculty is discontented with anything that happens, then too it deserts its post: for it is constituted for piety and reverence towards the gods no less than for justice.

For the movement towards injustice and intemperance and to anger and grief and fear is nothing else than the act of one who deviates from nature.

Is it not then strange that thy intelligent part only should be disobedient and discontented with its own place?

But the fourth is when thou shalt reproach thyself for anything, for this is an evidence of the diviner part within thee being overpowered and yielding to the less honorable and to the perishable part, the body, and to its gross pleasures…

But to allow men to behave so to others, and to expect them not to do thee any wrong, is irrational and tyrannical.

For he who yields to pain and he who yields to anger, both are wounded and both submit.

For in the same degree in which a man's mind is nearer to freedom from all passion, in the same degree also is it nearer to strength: and as the sense of pain is a characteristic of weakness, so also is anger.

But thou must equally avoid nattering men and being vexed at them, for both are unsocial and lead to harm.

Take away these opinions then, and resolve to dismiss thy judgment about an act as if it were something grievous, and thy anger is gone.

For as every soul is unwillingly deprived of the truth, so also is it unwillingly deprived of the power of behaving to each man according to his deserts.

Consider whence each thing is come, and of what it consists, + and into what it changes, and what kind of a thing it will be when it has changed, and that it will sustain no harm.

For if these things are according to nature, rejoice in them and they will be easy to thee: but if contrary to nature, seek what is conformable to thy own nature, and strive towards this, even if it bring no reputation; for every man is…

As to living in the best way, this power is in the soul, if it be indifferent to things which are indifferent.

The good and simple and benevolent show all these things in the eyes, and there is no mistaking.

The man who is honest and good ought to be exactly like a man who smells strong, so that the bystander as soon as he comes near him must smell whether he choose or not.

Such as a man's character is,+ he immediately shows it in his eyes, just as he who is beloved forthwith reads everything in the eyes of lovers.

The voice ought to be plainly written on the forehead.

How unsound and insincere is he who says, I have determined to deal with thee in a fair way!--What are thou doing, man?