The mind without passion is a fortress. No place is more secure. Once we take refuge there we are safe forever. 8.48 Enter their minds, and you’ll find the judges you’re so afraid of–and how judiciously they judge themselves. 9.18 Humans were made to help others. And when we do help others–or help them do something–we’re doing what we weredesignedfor. We perform our function. 9.42

But the man motivated by desire, who is mastered by pleasure, seems somehow more self-indulgent, less manly in his sins. 2.10 What is divinedeservesour respect because it is good; what is human deserves our affection because it is like us. 2.13 Something (bad) happens to you. Good. It was meant for you by nature, woven into the pattern from the beginning. 3.26The only thing that isn’t worthless: to live this life out truthfully and rightly. And be patient with those who don’t. 6.47 If you can cut free of impressions that cling to the mind, of future and past–then you can spend the time you have left in tranquility. And in kindness. And at peace with the spirit within you. 12.3 The things you think about determine the quality of your mind. Your soul takes on the quality of your thoughts. 5.16 It’s time you realize that you have something in you more powerful and miraculous than the things that affect you and make you dance like a puppet. 12.19 Not to be driven this way and that, but to always behave with justice and to see things as they are. 4.22

Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now take what’s left and live it properly. 7.56 Because anger too is weakness, as much as breaking down and giving up the struggle. Both are deserters: the man who breaks and runs, and the one who lets himself be alienated from his fellow humans. 11.9 Awaken; return to yourself. Now, no longer asleep, knowing they were only dreams, clear-headed again, treat everything around you as a dream. 6.31So this is how a thoughtful person should await death: not with indifference, not with impatience, not with disdain but simply viewing it as one of the things that happens to us. Now you anticipate the child’s emergence from its mother’s womb; that is how you should await the hour when your soul will emerge from its compartment. 9.3 Objectivejudgment now at this very moment. Unselfish action, now at this very moment. Willing acceptance, now at this very moment. Of all external events. That’s all you need. 9.6 Forget the future. When and if it comes, you’ll have the same resources to draw on–the same logos. 7.8 Externalthings are not the problem. It’s your assessment of them… And if it’s that you’re not doingsomethingyou think you should be, why not just do it? 8.47 To have that. Not a cistern but a perpetual spring. How? By working to win your freedom. Hour by hour. Throughpatience, honesty, and humility. 8.51