"The world is governed by divine wisdom, not by blind chance, that we must not give too much importance to Fortune, for she is a fickle lady, taking away with one hand what she has given with the other. We must not become upset when she takes good things away from us; they were never ours to begin with." "But for your part, do not desire to be a General, or a Senator, or a Consul, but to be free; and the only way to this is a disregard of things which lie not within our own power." "Anyone who is dissatisfied with the present and what is given by Fortune is an ignorant man in life. But the person who bears all things nobly and rationally, as well as anything that proceeds from them, is worthy of being considered a man. " "Demand not what events ......