Epictetus

Ideas of consequence and merit recorded in antiquity do not merely cease to exist in the present day.

The faculty of Reason elevates humanity.

Epicureans viewed the universe as the random scattering of atoms and events; Stoics looked at the harmonious balance of the cosmos as the effect of a conscious design.

Human will is self-directed, and shared with a higher power; or it is other-directed, and motivated by external things.

The appearance we choose to present to the world is a measure of our character; so also are our thoughts, actions, motivations of conscience, the words we speak and our reputations.  Of these, all are within our power except the last, and we may as well be indifferent to it in terms of praise or scorn.