I've done no injustice, and I repent of nothing. I'm too happy; and yet I'm not happy enough. My soul's bliss kills my body, but does not satisfy itself.

I am now quite content in my seeking pleasure in society be it country or town, a sensible man ought to find sufficient company in himself.

Demand not that things happen as you wish, but wish them to happen as they do, and you will go on well.

It is better to die of hunger having lived without grief and fear, than to live with a troubled spirit, amid abundance

If any be unhappy, let him remember that he is unhappy by reason of himself alone. For God hath made all men to enjoy felicity and constancy of good.

There is but one way to tranquility of mind and happiness, and that is to account no external things thine own, but to commit all to God.

He who is discontented with what he has, and with what has been granted to him by fortune, is one who is ignorant of the art of living, but he who bears that in a noble spirit, and makes reasonable use of all that comes from it, deserves to be regarded as a good man.

It is much better to die of hunger unhindered by grief and fear than to live affluently beset with worry, dread, suspicion and unchecked desire.

Don't you want to be free of all that? [33] 'But how can I do it?' You've often heard how — you need to suspend desire completely, and train aversion only on things within your power. You should dissociate yourself from everything outside yourself — the body, possessions, reputation, books, applause, as well as office or lack of office. Because a preference for any of them immediately makes you a slave, a subordinate, and prone to disappointment.

Getting rid of these, too, requires looking to God for help, trusting him alone, and submitting to his direction. [47] Then if you're not willing to do this — all tears and agitation — you will serve someone physically more powerful than you, and continue to look outside yourself for happiness, fated never to find it. And that is because you look for it in the wrong place, forgetting to look where it really lies.

End the habit of despising things that are not within your power

I, personally, was never kept from something I wanted, nor had forced upon me something I was opposed to. How did I manage it? I submitted my will to God. He wants me to be sick — well, then, so do I. He wants me to choose something. Then I choose it. He wants me to desire something, I desire it. He wants me to get something, I want the same; or he doesn't want me to get it, and I concur.