"The greater the difficulty, the more glory in surmounting it." —Epicurus

"Glory follows virtue as if it were its shadow." —Cicero

"People are frugal in guarding their personal property; but as soon as it comes to squandering time they are most wasteful of the one thing in which it is right to be stingy." —Seneca

"The truth is like a lion; you don’t have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself." —Augustine Of Hippo

"Imagine that the keeper of a huge, strong beast notices what makes it angry, what it desires, how it has to be approached and handled, the circumstances and the conditions under which it becomes particularly fierce or calm, what provokes its typical cries, and what tones of voice make it gentle or wild. Once he’s spent enough time in the creature’s company to acquire all this information, he calls it knowledge, forms it into a systematic branch of expertise, and starts to teach it, despite total ignorance, in fact, about which of the creature’s attitudes and desires is commendable or deplorable, good, or bad, moral or immoral. His usage of all these terms simply conforms to the great beast’s attitudes, and he describes things as good or bad according to its likes and dislikes, and can’t justify his usage of the terms any further, but describes as right and good the things which are merely indispensable, since he hasn’t realized and can’t explain to anyone else how vast a gulf there is between necessity and goodness." —Plato, The Republic

"The greatest obstacle to living is expectancy, which hangs upon tomorrow, and loses today." —Seneca

"'Mind over matter' is a powerful expression. Your ability to consciously control your mindset is what makes you mentally tough and ready for life’s challenges. The secret to achieving this resilient state lies in taking control of your thoughts and allowing your thoughts to control your behaviors, not the other way around. Your ability to take control of your emotional responses and live a stoic-inspired life is the secret to success, to your happiness, and to your improved well-being. When you are able to see situations as opportunities and emotional responses as conscious choices—when you realize things don’t happen to you but rather with you—your outlook completely changes. How you see your situation affects and influences how you feel about that situation. You are not merely a byproduct of your circumstances. You are a choosing being who has the ability to determine your emotional responses, which in turn shapes how you view the world, yourselves, and others. But learning to change your perspectives takes practice—practice which will in turn help increase your self-confidence. By practicing cognitive restructuring, you can retrain your brain and create new habits that will make you the master of any situation. When choosing how you feel and react becomes your choice, you will feel more in control. “Don’t hope that events will turn out the way you want, welcome events in whichever way they happen: this is the path to peace." —Epictetus

"Not what we have but what we enjoy constitutes our abundance." —Epicurus

"If a man knows not to which port he sails, no wind is favorable." —Seneca

"The willing are led by fate, the reluctant dragged." —Cleanthes

"Mortal as I am, I know that I am born for a day. But when I follow at my pleasure the serried multitude of the stars in their circular course, my feet no longer touch the earth." —Ptolemy

"No man is hurt by himself." —Diogenes

"All the gold which is under or upon the earth is not enough to give in exchange for virtue." —Plato

"He has the most who is content with the least." —Diogenes

"All the gold which is under or upon the earth is not enough to give in exchange for virtue." —Plato

"Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow-ripening fruit." —Aristotle

"Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present." —Marcus Aurelius

"Philosophy is an act of living." —Plutarch

"A gift consists not in what is done or given, but in the intention of the giver or doer." —Seneca

"Before a crowd, the ignorant are more persuasive than the educated." —Aristotle