“Through watching a mouse running about, says Theophrastus in the Megarian dialogue, not looking for a place to lie down in, not afraid of the dark, not seeking any of the things which are considered to be dainties, he discovered the means of adapting himself to circumstances.”

— Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the Eminent Philosophers, Diogenes of Sinope

“True compassion does not come from wanting to help out those less fortunate than ourselves but from realizing our kinship with all beings.”

— Pema Chödrön, Start Where You Are, pg. xi

“If you are irritated by every rub,
how will your mirror be polished?”

— Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi, Mathnawi I, 2980

“Although in other matters there are great distinctions of rank and birth, virtue is accessible to all; she deems no man unworthy if only he deems himself worthy of her.”

— Seneca, De Consolatione ad Polybium, XVII.2 

“But the wise man is fortified against all inroads; he is alert; he will not retreat before the attack of poverty, or of sorrow, or of disgrace, or of pain. He will walk undaunted both against them and among them.”

— Seneca, Epistle LIX.8 – On Pleasure and Joy

“Hence partisanship arose and this was the beginning of great calamities. For public affairs began to be conducted more in accordance with greed and rivalry than with goodness and honor, and in private life hatred and enmity increased daily. Thus the disease took hold of private and public life at the same time.”

—Leonardo Bruni, History of the Florentine People, I.81, published ca. 1416

Even more words for our time?

“For a coward, and a weakling, made dissolute by wealth and soft living, is not, I swear, worth a dog or even an ass.”

— Plutarch, Moralia – How to Study Poetry

Words for our times?