Meditations VII.58

In every contingency keep before thine eyes those who, when these same things befell them, were straightway aggrieved, estranged,⁷¹ rebellious. Where are they now? Nowhere! What then? Wouldst thou be like them? Why not leave those alien deflections to what deflects and is deflected by them, and devote thyself wholly to the question how to turn these contingencies to the best advantage? For then wilt thou make a noble use of them, and they shall be thy raw material. Only in thought and will take heed to be beautiful to thyself in all that thou doest. And remember, in rejecting the one and using the other, that the thing which matters is the aim of the action.

• 71.Or, taken by surprise. Compare viii. 15.