Who, then, is the invincible human being? One who can be disconcerted by nothing that lies outside the sphere of choice. - Epictetus

The Body is the raw material of the doctor and physical therapist. Land is the farmer’s raw material. The raw material of the Good Man is His Mind, His Goal being to respond to impressions the way nature intended.

As a general rule, nature designed The Mind to assent to what is true, dissent from what is false, and suspend judgement in doubtful cases. Similarly, it conditioned the mind to desire what is good, to reject what is bad, and to regard with indifference what is neither one or the other.

If a friend tells you that someone has criticized or insulted you, say, “They must not know about my other faults, or they would have pointed out those, too.

If you commit to philosophy, be prepared at once to be laughed at and made the butt of many snide remarks, like, ‘Suddenly there’s a philosopher among us!’ and ‘What makes him so pretentious now?’ Only don’t be pretentious: just stick to your principles as if God had made you accept the role of philosopher. And rest assured that, if you remain true to them, the same people who made fun of you will come to admire you in time; whereas, if you let these people dissuade you from your choice, you will earn their derision twice over.