Musonius Rufus Verified Quotes

“If you accomplish something good with hard work, the labor passes quickly, but the good endures; if you do something shameful in pursuit of pleasure, the pleasure passes quickly, but the shame endures.”

“You will deserve respect from everyone if you will start by respecting yourself.”

“If pleasure is how we should measure how attractive things are, then nothing should attract us more than self-control; and if pain is how we should measure what we should avoid, then nothing should be more painful than a lack of self-control.”

“Speak of shameful things, and you will lose your reluctance to do them.”

“Given that all must die, it is better to die with distinction than to live long.”

“It is characteristic of a civilized and humane temperament not to respond to wrongs as a beast would and not to be implacable towards those who offend, but to provide them with a model of decent behavior.”

“We will train both soul and body when we accustom ourselves to cold, heat, thirst, hunger, scarcity of food, hardness of bed, abstaining from pleasures, and enduring pains.”

“Virtue is not just theoretical knowledge, it is also practical, like both medical and musical knowledge.”

“A wicked person displays injustice and savageness, as well as a lack of concern for a neighbor in trouble, while a virtuous person displays love for his fellow human beings, as well as goodness, justice, kindness, and concern for his neighbor.”