ANTONINUS2

For a man can lose neither the past nor the future; for how can one take from him that which is not his? So remember these two points: first, that each thing is of like form from everlasting and comes round again in its cycle, and that it signifies not whether a man shall look upon the same things for a hundred years or two hundred, or for an infinity of time; second, that the longest lived and the shortest lived man, when they come to die, lose one and the same thing.

Forward, as occasion offers. Never look round to see whether any shall note it... Be satisfied with success in even the smallest matter, and think that even such a result is no trifle.

He that knows not what the world is, knows not where he is himself. He that knows not for what he was made, knows not what he is nor what the world is.

How much time he gains who does not look to see what his neighbour says or does or thinks, but only at what he does himself, to make it just and holy.

If it is not seemly, do it not; if it is not true, speak it not.

It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.

Look beneath the surface; let not the several qualities of thing nor its worth escape thee.

Look to the essence of a thing, whether it be a point of doctrine, of practice, or of interpretation.

Love the little trade which thou hast learned, and be content therewith.

Many the lumps of frankincense on the same altar; one falls there early and another late, but it makes no difference.

Never esteem anything as of advantage to thee that shall make thee break thy word or lose thy self-respect.

No form of Nature is inferior to Art; for the arts merely imitate natural forms.

Nothing can come out of nothing, any more than a thing can go back to nothing.

Nothing happens to anybody which he is not fitted by nature to bear.