Study the capacities you have, and after studying them, say: Zeus, bring whatever circumstances you like; for I have the equipment and resources, given to me by you, to make a cosmos of myself by means of everything that happens.
–Epictetus, quoted in A.A. Long, Epictetus: A Stoic and Socratic Guide to Life
Hoping to escape suffering, it is to suffering that they run. In the desire for happiness, out of delusion, they destroy their own happiness, like an enemy.
–Shantideva, The Bodhicaryavatara: A Guide to the Buddhist Path of Awakening
