"No one is crushed by Fortune, unless they are first deceived by her . . . those who aren't pompous in good times, don't have their bubbles burst with change. Against either circumstance, the stable person keeps their rational soul invincible, for it's precisely in the good times they prove their strength against adversity."
~ Seneca, On Consolation To Helvia, 5.4b, 5b-6
"Consider who you are. Above all, a human being, carrying no greater power than your own reasoned choice, which oversees all other things, and is free from any other master."
~ Epictetus, Discourses, 2.10.1
"You can bind up my leg, but not even Zeus has the power to break my freedom of choice."
~ Epictetus, Discourses, 1.1.23
"I judge you unfortunate because you have never lived through misfortune. You have passed through life without an opponent - no one can ever know what you are capable of, not even you."
~ Seneca, On Providence, 4.3
"We must undergo a hard winter training and not rush into things for which we haven't prepared."
~ Epictetus, Discourses, 1.2.32
~ Epictetus, Discourses, 3.23.30
"The rational soul is stronger than any kind of fortune - from its own share it guides its affairs here or there, and is itself the cause of a happy or miserable life."
~ Seneca, Moral Letters, 98.2b
