"Freedom isn't secured by filling up on your heart's desire but by removing your desire."

"The greater part of what we say and do is unnecessary, and if a man would cut it out, he would have more leisure and less disturbance."

"Keep the prospect of death, exile and all such apparent tragedies before you every day – especially death – and you will never have an abject thought, or desire anything to excess."

"If you are going to write, be content to be unlearned. If you are going to wrestle, be content to be beaten. For if you are not content with these things, you will not write, nor will you wrestle."

"You will be an admirable person, if you care for nothing but your own will."