Great Throughts Treasury

"Don't seek for things to happen as you wish, but wish for things to happen as they do, and you will get on well."

"Nature has given to men one tongue, but two ears, that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak."

"Only the educated are free."

"He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has."

"What is the first business of philosophy? To part (throw away) with self-conceit. For it is impossible for anyone to begin to learn what he thinks he already knows."

"The most universal thing is hope, for hope stays with those who have nothing else."

"Any person capable of angering you becomes your master; he can anger you only when you permit yourself to be disturbed by him."

"A soul which is conversant with virtue is like an ever flowing source, for it is pure and tranquil and potable and sweet and communicative (social) and rich and harmless and free from mischief."

"A wise man is he who does not grieve for the thing which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has."

"A man that is desirous to excel should endeavor it in those things that are in themselves most excellent."

"Demand not that events should happen as you wish; but wish them to happen as they do happen, and you will go on well."

"Difficulties are the things that show what men are."

"Happiness is not in strength, or wealth, or power, or all three. It lies in ourselves, in true freedom, in the conquest of every ignoble fear, in perfect self-government, in a power of contentment and peace, and the even flow of life, even in poverty, exile, disease, and the very valley of the shadow of death."

"Be free from grief not through insensibility like the irrational animals, nor through want of thought like the foolish, but like a man of virtue by having reason as the consolation of grief."

"I am always content with that which happens, for I think that which God chooses is better than what I choose."

"In all men, thought and action start from a single source, namely feeling."

"If any man be unhappy, let him remember that he is unhappy by reason of himself alone."

"In all the affairs of life let it be your great care, not to hurt your mind, or offend your judgment. And this rule, if observed carefully in your deportment, will be a mighty security to you in your undertakings."

"No great thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be some time. Let is first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen."

"Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens."

"Men are not influenced by things, but by their thoughts about things."

"No man is disturbed by things, but by his opinion about things."

"The first business of a philosopher is to part with self-conceit."

"These are the signs of a wise man: to reprove nobody, to praise nobody, to blame nobody, nor event speak of himself or his own efforts."

"There is nothing good or evil save in the will."

"The universe is but one great city, full of beloved ones, divine and human, by nature endeared to each other."

"Truth is s thing immortal and perpetual, and it gives to us a beauty that fades not away in time, nor does it take away the freedom of speech which proceeds from justice; but it gives to us the knowledge of what is just and lawful, separating from them the unjust and refuting them."

"Unless we place our religion and our treasure in the same thing, religion will always be sacrificed."

"We must be afraid of neither poverty nor exile nor imprisonment; of fear itself only should we be afraid."

"To accuse others for one's own misfortunes is a sign of want of education; to accuse oneself shows that one's education has begun; to accuse neither oneself nor others shows that one's education is complete."

"What is it that every man seeks? To be secure, to be happy, to do what he pleases without restraint, and without compulsion."

"When men are unhappy, they do not imagine they can ever cease to be so; and when some calamity has fallen on them, they do not see how they can get rid of it. Nevertheless, both arrive; and the gods have ordered it so, in the end men seek it from the gods."

"We ought neither to fasten our ship to one small anchor nor our life to a single hope."

"When we meet with difficulties, become anxious or troubled, let us not blame others, but rather ourselves, that is: our ideas about things."

"You ought to choose both physician and friend, not the most agreeable, but the most useful."

"God has entrusted me with myself. "

"All religions must be tolerated... for every man must get to heaven in his own way. "

"If you wish to be a writer, write. "

"It is the nature of the wise to resist pleasures, but the foolish to be a slave to them. "

"Control thy passions lest they take vengence on thee. "

"It is not he who reviles or strikes you who insults you, but your opinion that these things are insulting. "

"If one oversteps the bounds of moderation, the greatest pleasures cease to please. "

"We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak. "

"Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants. "

"It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters. "

"When you are offended at any man's fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings. Then you will forget your anger. "

"You are a little soul carrying around a corpse. "

"You may be always victorious if you will never enter into any contest where the issue does not wholly depend upon yourself. "