Nothing is heavy if we take it lightly; nothing need provoke anger if one does not add one’s anger to it.

The measure of what is necessary is what is useful.

For one who is progressing toward virtue, contempt should itself be regarded with contempt.

He who has need of riches feels fear on their account. But no man enjoys a blessing that brings anxiety. He is always trying to add a little more. While he puzzles over increasing his wealth, he forgets how to use it.

No servitude is more disgraceful than that which is self-imposed.

Wouldn’t anyone admit how much better it is, instead of working hard to get possession of someone else’s wife, to work hard to restrain your desires; instead of being distressed about money, to train yourself to want little; instead of working to become famous, to work not to thirst for fame; instead of finding a way to hurt someone you envy, to fi

Becoming alternately merchants and merchandise by turns, we ask not what a thing truly is, but what it costs.

Why are you angry with your slave, with your master, with your patron, with your client? Wait a little. Behold, death comes, which will make you equals. Seneca, On Anger 3.43.1

The perfection of moral character consists in this: to spend each day as if it were the last, to be neither agitated nor numb, and not to pretend.