It is in thy power to live free from all compulsion in the greatest tranquillity of mind, even if all the world cry out against thee as much as they choose, and even if wild beasts tear in pieces the members of this kneaded matter which has grown around thee.
From his personal reflections, on the power of the mind to maintain tranquility amidst external adversity.
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For he who yields to pain and he who yields to anger, both are wounded and both submit.
Further, I owe it to the gods that I was not hurried into any offence against any of them, though I had a disposition which, if opportunity had offered, might have led me to do something of this kind; but, through their favor, there never…
How ridiculous and what a stranger he is who is surprised at anything which happens in life.
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