[Extracts from translation by Jeremy Collier 1701 Revised by Alice Zimmern 1887]
A man is as a limb as it were of an intelligent, righteous and irresistible being, that is all wisdom, and assigns matter and form, time, force, and fortune, to everything in one measure and proportion.
A mind that is sound and healthy is prepared to digest all sorts of accidents
A little ball is a beautiful thing to a child
A wise man, therefore , must neither run giddily nor impatiently and contemptuously into his grave. He must look on death as nature's business and wait her leisure.
A spider when it has caught a fly thinks it has done some great deed
A star never wears a veil
A man has work enough to make himself tolerable to himself. ... we have nothing but darkness and dirt to grasp at
A soul unembarrassed with passion is a very citadel.
A religious prince but without superstition
Act like a Roman Emperor that loves his country.
Alas! all this ceremony must end at last in stench and dust.
Alexander, Julius Caesar and Pompey, what were they in comparison of Diogenes, Heraclitus and Socrates? These philosophers looked through things and their causes, and their ruling principles were in accordance. But as for those great princes, what a load of cares they were pestered with, to how many things there were slaves!
An affectation of sincerity is a very dagger
Are not the stars different from each other?
As for your body, value it no more than if you were just expiring. For what is it? Nothing but a little blood and bones; a piece of network, wrought out of the nerves, veins, and arteries twisted together.
As the world goes a moderate reformation is a great point
Augustus' court is buried long since
Concern yourself to live no longer than your real life, that is the present moment
Consider the course of the stars as if you are driving through the sky with them
Death stands at your elbow. Be good for something, while you live and it is in your power.
Do you not therefore grow tired of doing good offices, whereby you receive the advantage.
Do but your duty, and do not trouble yourself
Do not take your whole life into your head at a time, nor burden yourself with the weight of the future
Does your cucumber taste bitter? Let it alone. Are there brambles in your way? Avoid them then.
Either reform the world or bear with it
Either stand upright upon your own legs, or upon your crutches.
Fine cloths are nothing but hair twisted together. Purple is but the blood of a little fish.
For as when a man has an easy death, the soul slides gently out of the body, so you must walk off handsomely, and bid the world adieu without regret.
For though the grand design may not succeed, yet your failure arose from attempting this
Forty years of human life may serve for a sample of ten thousand. For what more will you see?
Future generations will be much the same as the present ... and they too are mortal, what then can the noise or opinions of such little mortals matter to you?
Guide your life towards a single course of action
Have care that you have not too much of a Caesar in you
Have I obliged anybody, or done the world any service? If so, the action has rewarded me.
He that ... separates himself from the law of universal nature, is but a sort of ulcer of the world
He that has taken a view of the present age, has seen as much of it as if he had begun with the world, and gone to the end of it; for all things are of one kind and one form
He that injures his neighbour, hurts himself, for to make himself an evil man is a great mischief.
How slenderly all things are put together
I must be an emerald and I must keep my colour
I would have virtue look out of the eye, no less apparently than love does in the sight of the beloved
I have to thank my great-grandfather that I did not go to a public school but had good masters at home
If the weight is too heavy for you, do not complain; it will crush you and then destroy itself
If you perceive you are overmatched ... you may give life the slip, but do this without anger. Walk simply, gravely, and freely into the other world,and thus the last action of your life will be the only one worth owning.
It is high time to become simple
It is all one to a stone whether it is thrown upwards or downwards.
It signifies not at all whether a man stands gazing here a hundred, or two hundred, or an infinity of years ... when the longest and shortest-lived persons come to die, their loss is equal; they can but lose the present as being the only thing they have
It will not be long before you have forgotten all the world, and in a little time all the world will forget you.
Let your soul work in harmony with the universal intelligence, as your breath does with the air.
Let everybody's fault lie at his own door
Like a fire well kindled, which catches at everything you throw in, and turns it into flame and brightness
Look nicely into the thoughts of everyone.
Love mankind and resign to providence.
Men are but smoke and bubbles
Neither is there any necessity of praising gold, ivory, purple, a lyre, a dagger, a little flower, or a shrub
Nor can I find it in my heart to hate or be angry with one of my own nature and family.
Now one's own mind is a place the most free from crowd and noise in the world
One of those necessary rascals that the world cannot dispense with
Otherwise it would be an ominous business to cut down a little grass or corn
Remove the opinion, and then as if you had doubled some dangerous cape, you will have nothing but a steady course, a smooth sea, and a waveless bay to receive you.
Rub out the impressions of fancy on the mind by continually saying to yourself, It is in my power to make my soul free from desire or disturbance.
Scour off the rust
[Severus] gave me the idea of an equal commonwealth with equal rights and equal speech, and also of a monarchy where the liberty of the subject was principally regarded.
So your children are but leaves ... praise and censure, and silent blame, and reproach ... the continuance of fame. All these matters, like leaves, have their spring for growing , then a puff of wind sends them packing , and quickly after the wood is furnished again.
Such a passion is much like falling in love with a sparrow flying over your head. You have, as it were, but one glimpse of her, and she is out of sight. Life is but a sort of exhalation of the blood, and a little breathing in of air.
Take care always to remember that you a man and a Roman; and let every action be done with perfect and unaffected gravity, humanity, freedom and justice.
Take the whole bulk of matter and all the extent of time frequently into your thoughts, And then consider that all particular bodies are but a grain in the proportion of substance and but the turning of a gimlet in respect of time.
The gods are at the head of the administration
The great business of a man is to improve his mind
The vast continents of Europe and Asia are but corners of the creation. The ocean is but a drop and Mount Athos but a grain in respect of the universe, and the present time but a point to the extent of eternity.
[The rational soul] ranges through the whole world, views its figure, looks into the vacuum on the outside of it, and strains its sight on to an immeasurable length of time ... contemplates the grand revolutions of nature , and the destruction and renewal of the universe at certain periods.
The ages before our birth and after our death are both infinite and immeasurable.
The best way of revenge is not to imitate the injury.
The world is an animal, consisting of one soul and body, .. a universal sense runs through the whole mass of matter.
The soul is tinged with the colour and complexion of thought
The least thing that happens naturally to things natural has something in itself that is pleasing and delightful. Thus, for example, there are cracks and little breaks on the surface of a loaf, which, though never intended by the baker, have a sort of agreeableness in them, which invites the appetite.
They are vanished like a little smoke
They are under the necessity of their own ignorance
Those things which are much valued in the world, they are miserably empty and rotten, and insignificant. It is like puppies snarling for a bone.
To wish an evil man should not do amiss, is just as wise as it would be to desire that a fig-tree should not bear juice in its figs, that children should not squall, nor horses neigh
To be free in showing a reasonable dislike of another
To be constant to a friend without tiring or fondness
To reach forward into the future and manage accordingly
Truth is my business, and nobody was ever yet hurt by it.
Understanding does not always drive onwards like an arrow. The mind sometimes by making a halt, and going round for advice, moves straight on none the less and hits the mark.
Wander at random no longer
What has happened to you worse than you had reason to expect?
What a small part of immeasurable and infinite time falls to the share of a single mortal, and how soon is every one swallowed up in eternity! What a handful of the universal matter goes to the making of a human body, and what a little of the universal soul too! And on what a narrow clod with respect to the whole earth do you crawl upon!
What abundance of sensual satisfaction have thieves, parricides, and usurpers been possessed of?
What is wickedness? What you have often seen.
What is death? It is a resting from the vibrations of sensation, and the swayings of desire, a stop upon the rambling of thought, and a release from the drudgery about your body.
Whatever is agreeable to you, O Universe, is so to me too.
Whatever happens is as common and well known as a rose in the spring or an apple in autumn
When frankincense is thrown upon the altar, one grain usually falls before another; but it makes no difference.
When people treat you ill, blame your conduct, or repeat anything to your disadvantage, enter into the very soul of them; examine their understandings, and see of what nature they are.
Where are those men? The answer will be: they are nowhere.
Why should I vex myself that never willingly vexed anybody?
Your business is to be a good man.