The things you think about determine the quality of your mind.

You need to avoid certain things in your train of thought: everything random, everything irrelevant. And certainly everything self-important or malicious. You need to get used to winnowing your thoughts, so that if someone says, "What are your thinking about?" you can respond at once (and truthfully) that you are thinking this or thinking that.

A poor soul burdened with a corpse,' Epictetus calls you.

The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.

When you are outraged by somebody’s impudence, ask yourself at once, “Can the world exist without impudent people?” It cannot; so do not ask for impossibilities.

The way people behave. They refuse to admire their contemporaries, the people whose lives they share. No, but to be admired by Posterity -- people they've never met and never will -- that's what they set their hearts on. You might as well be upset at not being a hero to your great-grandfather.