perspective

"It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor."

"Consider how quickly all things are dissolved and resolved: the bodies and substances themselves, into the matter and substance of the world: and their memories into the general age and time of the world."

"The whole earth is but as one point; and of it, this inhabited part of it, is but a very little part."

"He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has."

"Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful."

"It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters."

"Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking."

"When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly. But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own."

"Remember how brief life is, how vast the universe. What is the fame of a man, or the power, or even the pain?"

"Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future, too."

"When someone is hateful or insulting to you, remember that they are reporting their state of mind, not yours. Don't be upset. Just say to yourself, 'This is how things appear to them.'"