So true is it that nothing is wretched, but thinking makes it so, and conversely every lot is happy if borne with equanimity.

Who is so blest by Fortune as not to wish to change his state, if once he gives rein to a rebellious spirit?
With how many bitternesses is the sweetness of human felicity blent! And even if that sweetness seem to him to bring delight in the enjoying, yet he cannot keep it from departing when it will.

How manifestly wretched, then, is the bliss of earthly fortune, which lasts not for ever with those whose temper is equable, and can give no perfect satisfaction to the anxious-minded! 'Why, then, ye children of mortality, seek ye from without that happiness whose seat is only within us?
Error and ignorance bewilder you.

I will show thee, in brief, the hinge on which perfect happiness turns.

Is there anything more precious to thee than thyself?
Nothing, thou wilt say.