21 Quotes by Musonius Rufus

Musonius ordered a thousand sesterces to be given to a man pretending to be a philosopher, when several people told him the man was a bad and vicious fellow, deserving of nothing good, Musonius answered with a smile, 'Well then he deserves money'.

We should not use philosophy like a herbal remedy, to be discarded when we're through. Rather, we must allow philosophy to remain with us, continually guarding our judgements throughout life, forming part of our daily regimen, like eating a nutritious diet or taking phisical exercise.

In order to protect ourselves we must live like doctors and be continually treating ourselves with reason.

The mind of someone listening to a philosopher, if the things said are useful, helpful and furnish remedies for faults and errors, has no leisure and time for profuse and extravagant praise. ... Great applause and admiration are not unrelated, but the greatest admiration yields silence rather than words.

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.

Won’t we, therefore, be willing to endure pain in order to gain complete happiness?

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.

If we were to measure what is good by how much pleasure it brings, nothing would be better than self-control- if we were to measure what is to be avoided by its pain, nothing would be more painful than lack of self-control.

Since every man dies, it is better to die with distinction than to live long.