When, therefore, you see anyone eminent in honors, or power, or in high esteem on any other account, take heed not to be hurried away with the appear… - Epictetus

It is not wisdom that contrives arms, or walls, or instruments useful in war; nay, her voice is for peace, and she summons all mankind to concord. It is not she, I maintain, who is the artisan of our indispensable implements of daily use. Why do you assign to her such petty things? You see in her the skilled artisan of life. The other arts, it is true, wisdom has under her control; for he whom life serves is also served by the things which equip life. But wisdom's course is toward the state of happiness; thither she guides us, thither she opens the way for us. She shows us what things are evil and what things are seemingly evil; she strips our minds of vain illusion. She bestows upon us a greatness which is substantial, but she represses the greatness which is inflated, and showy but filled with emptiness; and she does not permit us to be ignorant of the difference between what is great and what is but swollen; nay, she delivers to us the knowledge of the whole of nature and of her own nature. She discloses to us what the gods are and of what sort they are; what are the nether gods, the household deities, and the protecting spirits; what are the souls which have been endowed with lasting life and have been admitted to the second class of divinities, where is their abode and what their activities, powers, and will.

Do you wish to be invincible? Then don’t enter into combat with what you have no real control over. Your happiness depends on three things, all of which are within your power: your will, your ideas concerning the events in which you are involved, and the use you make of your ideas.

لا تكن كالأطفال آنًا فيلسوفًا، ثُمَّ جابيًا، ثُمَّ خطيبًا، ثُمَّ موظَّفًا لقيصر؛ فهذه الأشياء لا تَتَّسِق. إنما عليك أن تكون شخصًا واحدًا، جَيِّدًا أو رديئًا. إما أن تُنمِّي ملَكَتك العقلية، وإما أن تُنمِّي أشياءك الخارجية. إمَّا أن تنصرف إلى الأشياء الداخلية وإما إلى الأشياء الخارجية؛ أي إنك إمَّا أن تكون أحدَ الفلاسفة، وإمَّا أن تكون أحدَ السُّوقة.