These violent delights have violent ends And in their triump die, like fire and powder Which, as they kiss, consume.

There is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the floud, leads on to fortune ommitted, all the voyage of their lives are bound in shallows and in miseries.

God hath given you one face, and you make yourself another.

Like madness is the glory of life.

Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

“And this, our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.”

Life is warfare… Then what can guide us? Only philosophy.

Life is a long lesson in humility.

He who lives in harmony with himself lives in harmony with the universe.

The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing.

Every day as it comes should be welcomed and reduced forthwith into our own possession as if it were the finest day imaginable. What flies past has to be seized at.

Anything in any way beautiful derives its beauty from itself and asks nothing beyond itself. Praise is no part of it, for nothing is made worse or better by praise.

Life is neither good or evil, but only a place for good and evil.

The history of your life is now complete and your service is ended: and how many beautiful things you have seen; and how many pleasures and pains you have despised; and how many things called honorable you have spurned; and to how many ill-minded folks you have shown a kind disposition.

The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.

The art of life is more like the wrestler’s art than the dancer’s, in respect of this, that it should stand ready and firm to meet onsets that are sudden and unexpected.

Be cheerful also, and do not seek external help or the tranquillity that others give. A man then must stand erect, not be kept erect by others.

Do not act as if you were going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over you. While you live, while it is in your power, be good.

You will give yourself relief, if you do every act of your life as if it were the last.

For where else is friendship found if not with fairness, reliability and respect for virtue only?

What is the goal of virtue, after all, except a life that flows smoothly?

While you live, while it is in your power, be good.

Just ask whether they put their self-interest in externals or in moral choice. If it’s in externals, you cannot call them friends, any more than you can call them trustworthy, consistent, courageous or free.

Treat what you don’t have as nonexistent. Look at what you have, the things you value most, and think of how much you’d crave them if you didn’t have them. But be careful. Don’t feel such satisfaction that you start to overvalue them – that it would upset you to lose them.