Discourses, Fragments, Handbook (Oxford World's Classics)

Most of us fear the deadening of the body and would resort to every means to avoid falling into such a state, but when it comes to the deadening of the soul, we’re not in the least concerned.

I’m bound to die. If at once, I’ll go to my death; if somewhat later, I’ll eat my meal, since the hour has arrived for me to do so, and then die afterwards. And how? As suits someone who is giving back that which is not his own.

a good guide, when he sees someone wandering astray, doesn’t abandon him with a dose of mockery or abuse, but leads him back to the proper path.

Just as a target isn’t set up to be missed, so nothing that is bad by nature comes into being in the universe.

Whenever you devote your attention to what is not your own, you lose what is truly your own.

for your part, won’t you come forward and put into practice what you’ve learned? [56] For it is not fine arguments that are lacking

just as Socrates used to say that we shouldn’t live an unexamined life, we shouldn’t accept any impression without subjecting it to examination, but should say to it, ‘Wait, let me see who you are, and where you’ve come

when you approach any of these great men, keep this in mind, that you’re meeting a figure from tragedy, and no mere actor either, but Oedipus in person.

Recognize that a thief and adulterer belong not among the things that are your own, but only among those that are someone else’s and aren’t within your power. If you give these things up and count them as nothing, with whom can you still feel angry? But as long as you attach value to these things, you should be angry with yourself rather than with

Do you see that, in this area, you have a power of choice that is immune from hindrance, constraint, and obstruction? [24] Well then, are things any different in the sphere of desire and motivation? What can overpower a motive except another motive, and that alone? And what can overpower a desire or aversion except another desire or aversion?