Marcus Aurelius: “Well, then, is it not better to use what is in thy power like a free man than to desire in a slavish and abject way what…”

There was in him nothing harsh, nor implacable, nor violent, nor, as one may say, anything carried to the sweating point; but he examined all things severally, as if he had abundance of time, and without confusion, in an orderly way…

But to be strong enough both to bear the one and to be sober in the other is the mark of a man who has a perfect and invincible soul, such as he showed in the illness of Maximus.

Further, he was not fond of change nor unsteady, but he loved to stay in the same places, and to employ himself about the same things; and after his paroxysms of headache he came immediately fresh and vigorous to his usual occupations.

One is that things do not touch the soul, for they are external and remain immovable; but our perturbations come only from the opinion which is within.