“Letters from a Stoic”

*Living in accordance with?nature?& The acceptance of?fate.

-Every individual must endure?suffering,?illness, the?lost?of loved ones, and deal with knowledge of their impending?death.

-For the only safe?harbor?in this life’s tossing, troubled sea is to?refuse?to be?bothered?about what the?future?will?bring?and to stand?ready?and?confident, squaring the breast to take without skulking or flinching?whatever?fortune hurls at us.

**Self-Sufficiency

-Fo no one is worthy of a God unless he has paid no heed to?riches. I am not, mind you, against your possessing them, but I want to insure that you possess them without?tremors; and this you will only achieve in one way, by convincing yourself that you can live a?happy?life even?without?them, and by always regarding them as being on the point of?vanishing.

-…not regarding as?valuable?anything that is capable of being taken away. He is?contended?with?himself. This is the line he draws as the?boundary?for his happiness.

-Whatever your destination you will be followed by your?failings.

-If you really want to escape the?things that harass?you, what you’re needing is not to be in a different place but to be a?different person.

***Expectation of death

-With the realization that each moment could be last, we’ll stop wasting our life on trivial things, and instead,?focus on?what is truly?valuable:?liberating?our?spirit?from its state of self-imposed?slavery, and cultivating a?self-sufficient character?that is fortified against the blows of fate.（自由、自足?。?/p>