Historical voices

But if anything in thy own disposition gives thee pain, who hinders thee from correcting thy opinion?

And it is in thy power to wipe out this judgment now.

If thou art pained by any external thing, it is not this thing that disturbs thee, but thy own judgment about it.

For the common nature brings nothing which may not be borne by thee.

If then there happens to each thing both what is usual and natural, why shouldst thou complain?

Nothing can happen to any man which is not a human accident, nor to an ox which is not according to the nature of an ox, nor to a vine which is not according to the nature of a vine, nor to a stone which is not proper to a stone.

Take me and cast me where thou wilt; for there I shall keep my divine part tranquil, that is, content, if it can feel and act comformably to its proper constitution.

And what is it in any way to thee if these men of after time utter this or that sound, or have this or that opinion about thee?

Different things delight different people; but it is my delight to keep the ruling faculty sound without turning away either from any man or from any of the things which happen to men, but looking at and receiving all with welcome eyes and…

It is not fit that I should give myself pain, for I have never intentionally given pain even to another.

The things however which are proper to the understanding no other man is used to impede, for neither fire, nor iron, nor tyrant, nor abuse, touches it in any way.

So then that which is a hindrance to the intelligence is an evil to the intelligent nature.

Let then the reason itself not trouble itself.

In the constitution of the rational animal I see no virtue which is opposed to justice; but I see a virtue which is opposed to love of pleasure, and that is temperance.

In the next place remember that neither the future nor the past pains thee, but only the present.

Let not thy thoughts at once embrace all the various troubles which thou mayest expect to befall thee: but on every occasion ask thyself, What is there in this which is intolerable and past bearing? for thou wilt be ashamed to confess.

Do not disturb thyself by thinking of the whole of thy life.

But consider the kindness by which he has distinguished man, for he has put it in his power not to be separated at all from the universal; and when he has been separated, he has allowed him to return and to be united and to resume his…

Suppose that thou hast detached thyself from the natural unity,--for thou wast made by nature a part, but now thou hast cut thyself off,--yet here there is this beautiful provision, that it is in thy power again to unite thyself.

If thou didst ever see a hand cut off, or a foot, or a head, lying anywhere apart from the rest of the body, such does a man make himself, as far as he can, who is not content with what happens, and separates himself from others, or does…

Speak both in the senate and to every man, whoever he may be, appropriately, not with any affectation: use plain discourse.

Wipe out thy imaginations by often saying to thyself: Now it is in my power to let no badness be in this soul, nor desire, nor any perturbation at all; but looking at all things I see what is their nature, and I use each according to its…

For every judgment and movement and desire and aversion is within, and no evil ascends so high.

Pain is either an evil to the body--then let the body say what it thinks of it--or to the soul; but it is in the power of the soul to maintain its own serenity and tranquillity, and not to think that pain is an evil.