Do not let yourself be carried away by anger.
For gentleness and calm are more human and therefore more manly.
The nearer a man comes to a calm mind, the closer he is to strength.
Anger is no sign of power or toughness, but of weakness, just as grief is weakness;
for both the angry man and the grieving man have been wounded and have yielded to their wound.
Nothing has such power to enlarge the mind as the ability to examine systematically and truly all that comes under your observation in life, and to look upon each thing in such a way as to see at once what kind of universe this is, and what use each thing has in it, and what its value is in relation to the whole and in relation to man, who is a citizen of the highest city, of which all other cities are like households.
Consider also what each thing is composed of, how long it is destined to endure, and what virtue it demands of you—whether gentleness, courage, truth, fidelity, simplicity, independence, or the like.
Thus you will say on every occasion: this comes from the Gods; this is according to the weaving together of causes and the interlacing of events; this is due to such a coincidence and chance; and this is from one of your own kind, your kinsman, your companion, though one who does not know what is according to nature.
But I know; and therefore I treat him kindly and justly, according to the natural law of fellowship, while at the same time I assign to things indifferent their proper value.