I used to think I was the strangest person in the world.

I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best.

Exile is not an evil.

-- Gaius Musonius Rufus

Cato, while he lived, lived in such a way that he lacked nothing — so long as he was free to die.

-- Cato the Younger

If I were not Alexander, I would wish to be Diogenes.

-- Diogenes of Sinope

Stand a little out of my sunlight.

-- Diogenes of Sinope

What frees you from slavery is not wealth but needing nothing.

-- Crates of Thebes

In the northern darkness there is a fish called Kun. The Kun is so vast one cannot tell how many thousands of li it spans. It transforms into a bird called Peng. The back of the Peng is so vast one cannot tell how many thousands of li it spans.

-- Zhuang Zhou