Historical voices

He must use the power that he has and be tranquil.

Whether intelligence rules all things or chance rules, a man must not be disturbed.

Either all things proceed from one intelligent source and come together as in one body, and the part ought not to find fault with what is done for the benefit of the whole; or there are only atoms, and nothing else than mixture and…

It is the same whether we examine these things for a hundred years or three.

Enough of this wretched life and murmuring and apish tricks.

The rottenness of the matter which is the foundation of everything! water, dust, bones, filth: or again, marble rocks, the callosities of the earth; and gold and silver, the sediments; and garments, only bits of hair; and purple dye…

But the universal nature delights in change, and in obedience to her all things are now done well, and from eternity have been in like form, and will be such to time without end.

And he who dies at the extremest old age will be brought into the same condition with him who died prematurely.

All that thou seest will quickly perish, and those who have been spectators of its dissolution will very soon perish too.

Let there be freedom from perturbations with respect to the things which come from the external cause; and let there be justice in the things done by virtue of the internal cause, that is, let there be movement and action terminating in…

Look down from above on the countless herds of men and their countless solemnities, and the infinitely varied voyagings in storms and calms, and the differences among those who are born, who live together, and die.

For who can change men's opinions? and without a change of opinions what else is there than the slavery of men who groan while they pretend to obey?

But how worthless are all these poor people who are engaged in matters political, and, as they suppose, are playing the philosopher!

The universal cause is like a winter torrent: it carries everything along with it.

For if a man reflects on the changes and transformations which follow one another like wave after wave and their rapidity, he will despise everything which is perishable (xii. 21).

Soon will the earth cover us all: then the earth, too, will change, and the things also which result from change will continue to change forever, and these again forever.

The periodic movements of the universe are the same, up and down from age to age.

When another blames thee or hates thee, or when men say about thee anything injurious, approach their poor souls, penetrate within, and see what kind of men they are.

Thou hast endured infinite troubles through not being contented with thy ruling faculty when it does the things which it is constituted by nature to do.

Whatever act of thine then has no reference either immediately or remotely to a social end, this tears asunder thy life, and does not allow it to be one, and it is of the nature of a mutiny, just as when in a popular assembly a man acting…

As thou thyself art a component part of a social system, so let every act of thine be a component part of social life.

Termination of activity, cessation from movement and opinion, and in a sense their death, is no evil.

It is thy duty to leave another man's wrongful act there where it is (vii. 29; ix. 38).

All things are changing: and thou thyself art in continuous mutation and in a manner in continuous destruction, and the whole universe too.