“The best way to avenge yourself is to not be like that.” —MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 6.6

Perhaps today will be the day when we experience happiness or wisdom. Don’t try to grab that moment and hold on to it with all your might. It’s not under your control how long it lasts. Enjoy it, recognize it, remember it. Having it for a moment is the same as having it forever.

The single most important practice in Stoic philosophy is differentiating between what we can change and what we can’t.

“People seek retreats for themselves in the country, by the sea, or in the mountains. You are very much in the habit of yearning for those same things. But this is entirely the trait of a base person, when you can, at any moment, find such a retreat in yourself. For nowhere can you find a more peaceful and

The work of living is to set standards and then not compromise them.

You wouldn’t spend much time fixing up a house that you rent, would you? Our mind is ours—free and clear. Let’s make sure we treat it right.

You become the sum of your actions,

“Whenever you find yourself blaming providence, turn it around in your mind and you will see that what has happened is in keeping with reason.”

That’s what our reason can do—it can take the crooked, confusing, and overwhelming nature of external events and make them orderly.