The act of taking from others is tantamount to evil. From the moment we're born, we're nothing but parasites. Life is nothing more than a succession of sins. Life is evil itself. I am conscious that I am evil, and so are all of you.
When philosophy is wielded with arrogance and stubbornly, it is
the cause for the ruin of many. Let philosophy scrape off your own
faults, rather than be a way to rail against the faults of others.
Seneca
If we judge as good and evil only the things in the power of our
own choice, then there is no room left for blaming gods or being
hostile to others.
Marcus Aurelius
When you are distressed by an external thing, it’s not the thing
itself that troubles you, but only your judgment of it. And you can
wipe this out at a moment’s notice.
Marcus Aurelius
I have bound up my choice to
act with the will of God. He wills that I
reach for something, or something be given to me��I wish for the
same. What God doesn’t will, I do not wish for.
Epictetus
What, then, makes a person free from hindrance and self-determining? For wealth doesn’t, neither does high-office, state or
kingdom—rather, something else must be found . . . in the case of
living, it is the knowledge of how to live.
Epictetus
It’s in keeping with Nature to show our friends affection and to
celebrate their advancement, as if it were our very own. For if we
don’t do this, virtue, which is strengthened only by exercising our
perceptions, will no longer endure in us.
Seneca