Evil can only be committed by a human being. Everything that happens outside of a human being’s control is good.
Solomon and Job knew and spoke better than anyone about the insignificance of worldly life; one was the most fortunate, the other the most unfortunate; one experienced the vanity of pleasure, the other the reality of misfortune.
— Pascal
Not only is everything sent by Providence useful to every creature, it is also sent at the right time.
— Marcus Aurelius
A human being’s life is the pursuit of the good; what he pursues is what he is given: life, which cannot be death, and the good, which cannot be evil.
When will you and not your flesh take the lead? When will you understand the bliss of love for everyone, when will you free yourself by leading a rational life free of sorrow and lust, without needing other people to serve you or to sacrifice their lives for your happiness; when will you understand that the true good is always in your power and does not depend on others?
— Marcus Aurelius
Be sure that you possess nothing except your soul. Choose decisively the best way of life, and habit will make it pleasant for you. Wealth is an unreliable anchor, glory is even worse. The same with the body, with power, with honor: all this is insignificant and futile. What then is a reliable anchor for life? Only virtue. The divine law is such that only virtue stays firm and steadfast; all else is nothing.
— Pythagoras
You are already unfortunate if you are afraid of misfortune, and the one who deserves it is forever afraid.
— Chinese saying
It is the true nature of the human being to seek to acquire vital and inexhaustible spiritual wealth. Dependence on external material goods reduces us to a state of slavish obedience to people and chance.
— Emerson
Some say: retreat into yourself and you will find peace. That is not quite right.
Others, on the contrary, say: go outside of yourself, try to forget yourself and find happiness in diversions. That is also not right, if only because this method does not allow us to avoid things like disease.
Peace and happiness are neither within nor without us; they are in God, who is both within and without us.
— Pascal
External obstacles do not harm a human being who is strong in spirit, for harm is everything that disfigures and weakens—as happens to animals, who are frustrated by obstacles—but for a human being, who meets them with the strength of spirit he is given, every obstacle adds moral beauty and power.
— Marcus Aurelius
Everything comes from God and therefore everything is good; evil is merely the good which we are too shortsighted to see.
All external misfortunes that may befall a human being who understands that only his deeds can cause evil are nothing compared to the good of the tranquility and freedom experienced by him.
