Related:

• Be not unwilling in what thou doest, neither selfish nor unadvised nor obstinate
  let not over-refinement deck out thy thought; be not wordy nor a busybody....
• He that knows not what the world is, knows not where he is himself.
  He that knows not for what he was made, knows not what he is nor what the world is....
• Look beneath the surface; let not the several quality of a thing nor its worth escape thee.
  -- Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) -- Meditations, vi, 3...
• Look to the essence of a thing, whether it be a point of doctrine, of practice, or of interpretation.
  -- Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) -- Meditations, viii, 22...
• A man's happiness,--to do the things proper to man.
  -- Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) -- Meditations, viii, 26...
• Flinch not, neither give up nor despair, if the achieving of every act in accordance with right principle is not always continuous with thee.
  -- Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) -- Meditations, v, 9...
• Let no act be done at haphazard, nor otherwise than according to the finished rules that govern its kind.
  -- Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) -- Meditations, iv, 2...
• Live with the gods. -- Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) -- Meditations, v, 27
• Always take the short cut; and that is the rational one.
  Therefore say and do everything according to soundest reason....