“I sit with Shakespeare and he winces not. Across the color-line I move arm in arm with Balzac and Dumas, where smiling men and welcoming women glide in gilded halls. From out the caves of the evening that swing between the strong-limbed earth and the tracery of the stars, I summon Aristotle and Aurelius... and they come all graciously with no scorn nor condescension. So, wed with Truth, I dwell above the Veil.”
― W.E.B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk

“You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.

Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.

Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.
Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.
Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart.
If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it.
The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.
Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.”
― Marcus Aurelius

“Wer nicht weiß, was die Welt ist, der weiß auch nicht, wo er lebt. Wer aber den Zweck ihres Daseins nicht kennt, der weiß weder, wer er selbst, noch was die Welt ist. Wem aber eins von diesen Stücken fehlt, der kann auch wohl seine eigene Bestimmung nicht angeben. In welchem Lichte erscheint dir nun ein Mensch, welcher um den lauten Beifall derer buhlt, die nicht wissen, wo, noch wer sie selbst sind?”
― Marc Aurel, Wege zu sich selbst

“Nie należy się gniewać na bieg wypadków. Nic ich to bowiem nie obchodzi.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Rozmyślania. Do siebie samego