The essence of philosophy is that we should live so that our happiness depends as little as possible on external causes.

Epictetus

Ignorance is the cause of fear.

Seneca

The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself which are externals not under my control, and which have to do with the choices I actually control.

Epictetus

He who indulges in empty fears earns himself real fears.

Seneca

We suffer more in imagination than in reality.

Seneca

It is not external events themselves that cause us distress, but the way in which we think about them... It is our attitudes and reactions that give us trouble. We cannot choose our external circumstances, but we can always choose how we respond to them.

Epictetus