without
thy own choice; if, I say, thou seest anything better than this,
turn to it with all thy soul, and enjoy that which thou hast found
to be the best. But ... if thou findest everything else smaller and
of less value than this, give place to nothing else.... Simply and
freely choose the better, and hold to it.

Men seek retreats for themselves, houses in the country, seashores,
and mountains; and thou too art wont to desire such things very
much. But this is altogether a mark of the most common sort of men,
for it is in thy power whenever thou shalt choose to retire into
thyself. For nowhere either with more quiet or more freedom from
trouble does a man retire than into his own soul, particularly when
he has within him such thoughts that by looking into them he is
immediately in perfect tranquillity--which is nothing else than the
good ordering of the mind.

Unhappy am I, because this has happened to me? Not so, but happy am
I though this has happened to me, because I continue free from
pain; neither crushed by the present nor fearing the future.

Be cheerful, and seek no external help, nor the tranquillity which
others give. A man must stand erect, not be kept erect by others.

Be like the promontory against which the waves continually break,
but it stands firm and tames the fury of the water around it.

It is not fit that I should give myself pain, for I have never
intentionally given pain even to another.

IMMANUEL KANT

The canons of scientific evidence justify us neither in accepting
nor rejecting the ideas upon which morality and religion repose.
Both parties to the dispute beat the air; they worry their own
shadow; for they pass from Nature into the domain of speculation,
where their dogmatic grips find nothing to lay hold upon. The
shadows which they hew to pieces grow together in a moment like the
heroes in Valhalla, to rejoice again in bloodless battles.
Metaphysics can no longer claim to be the cornerstone of religion
and morality. But if she can not be the Atlas that bears the moral
world she can furnish a magic defense. Around the ideas of religion
she throws her bulwark of invisibility; and the sword of the
skeptic and the battering-ram of the materialist fall harmless on
vacuity.