Stoic quotes on solitude and the mind as a retreat

There is no place you can retreat to with more quiet or more freedom from trouble than your own soul — especially when you carry within you thoughts that bring immediate tranquility.

Whether the gods have appointed special guardians to each of us, or whether we are left to Fortune's hand, no heavier curse can fall on a man than to wish him at enmity with himself.

As Zeus dwells with himself and is tranquil, thinking thoughts suitable to himself, so we ought to talk with ourselves, not feel the want of others, and observe how things affect us now.

Withdraw into yourself. The rational part of you has this nature: it is content with itself when it does what is just, and in doing so it secures its own tranquility.

When you turn these matters over again and again, you will labour to be happy in fact rather than to seem happy — and to seem so to yourself first, not to others.

The mind free from passions is a citadel; a person has nothing more secure to which to fly for refuge. He who has not seen this is ignorant; he who sees it and does not take refuge is unhappy.

There is no need to hunt elsewhere for the prize of a righteous act — the act itself brings the better recompense. Hold this thought close: it matters nothing how many witnesses know of your integrity.

Those who want their virtue paraded chase not virtue but reputation. Will you not be just without applause? Often you must be just and shamed at once — and the wise man takes such ill repute, well earned, as joy.

Take care of the soul. From the soul rise our thoughts, our words, our dispositions, our expressions, even our manner of walking. When the soul is sound, the style is strong; when the soul slips, all the rest collapses.

Here is a brief test for measuring yourself: you have arrived at your own life when you realize that those the world calls lucky are in fact the most unlucky of all.

Examine yourself: if no sorrow weighs you down, if no anxiety over what may come tears at your mind, if your soul holds steady — upright and at peace with itself — then you have the highest good.

Consider this: wisdom yields a joy that does not break or end. The wise man's mind sits like the heavens above the moon, where unbroken peace rules. Seek wisdom — joy never leaves the wise.

You can tell that peace dwells in you when no clamour reaches your ears, when no word — praise or threat, empty noise or steady — can shake you from your own ground.

Live as though every man saw you; think as though someone could see right into your soul — for someone can. What is the use of anything being hidden from people?

You explain how treble and bass agree, how strings of different notes blend into one harmony. But teach me instead to bring my soul into accord with itself, so my aims do not sound off-key.

What should you regard as especially to be avoided? Crowds. You cannot yet trust yourself to them safely. I admit my own weakness — I never bring back home the same character I took abroad with me.

Pull back into yourself as much as you possibly can. Keep company with people who will make you better. Welcome those you can help to improve. The flow runs both ways — we teach as we learn.

There is no need to lift hands to heaven, no need to plead with a temple-keeper to bring our prayers to the idol's ear. God is right beside you — with you, in you.