No greater 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 time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.
When a youth was giving himself airs in the Theatre and saying, 'I am wise, for I have conversed with many wise men,' Epictetus replied, 'I too have conversed with many rich men, yet I am not rich!’.
If you wish to live a life free from sorrow, think of what is going to happen as if it had already happened.
He is a man of sense who does not grieve for what he has not, but rejoices in what he has.
Ask not that events should happen as you will, but let your will be that events should happen as they do, and you shall have peace.
If thy brother wrongs thee, remember not so much his wrong-doing, but more than ever that he is thy brother.
