You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.
In plain words
You cannot choose what happens, but you can choose what you think about it.
Where these words come from
- 40% sureLots of sources credit Marcus Aurelius with this, and they agree with each other. The book or the speech it first came from hasn't turned up yet.
- Popular modern paraphrase of Meditations VIII.47 (trans. George Long, 1862): "it is not this thing that disturbs thee, but thy own judgement about it." Condensed wording is not Long's or any primary translation — paraphrase class, stays likely.
