The teachings of Stoics, Epicureans, Cynics, Pythagoreans and Platonists were often condensed into short, pithy maxims designed to be easily remembered, so that they would pop up in our heads when we were in stressful situations. Many of these maxims have come down to us today: ‘know thyself’; ‘life is but what you deem it’; ‘nothing to excess’; ‘it’s not what happens to you but what you do about it’; ‘be the captain of your soul’; ‘no one can harm you without your permission’; ‘difficulties are what show men’s characters’, and so on.
