The present is not a potential past; it is the moment of choice and action.

It is in the knowledge of the true conditions of our life that we must draw our strength to live and our reasons to act.

Let nothing define us. Let nothing subjugate us. Let freedom be our very substance.

One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.

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