For thou wilt find that no one among those against whom thou art irritated has done anything by which thy mind could be made worse; but that which is evil to thee and harmful has its foundation only in the mind.
Marcus Aurelius, in his personal reflections, asserts that external actions cannot harm one's mind, only one's own perception can.
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For every judgment and movement and desire and aversion is within, and no evil ascends so high.
Labor not unwillingly, nor without regard to the common interest, nor without due consideration, nor with distraction; nor let studied ornament set off thy thoughts, and be not either a man of many words, or busy about too many things.
But if there is a providence which allows itself to be propitiated, make thyself worthy of the help of the divinity.
It is thy duty to leave another man's wrongful act there where it is (vii. 29; ix. 38).
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