To Nicocles (39-42)

Regard as wise men, not those who dispute subtly about trifling matters, but those who speak well on the great issues;[*] and not those who, being themselves in sorry straits, hold forth to others the promise of a prosperous fortune, but those who, while making modest claims for themselves, are able to deal with both affairs and men, and are not upset by the vicissitudes of existence, but have learned to bear moderately and bravely both the good and the evil chances of life.[*]

And do not be surprised that in what I have said there are many things which you know as well as I. This is not from inadvertence on my part, for I have realized all along that among so great a multitude both of mankind in general and of their rulers there are some who have uttered one or another of these precepts, some who have heard them, some who have observed other people put them into practice, and some who are carrying them out in their own lives.

But the truth is that in discourses of this sort we should not seek novelties, for in these discourses it is not possible to say what is paradoxical or incredible or outside the circle of accepted belief; but, rather, we should regard that man as the most accomplished in this field who can collect the greatest number of ideas scattered among the thoughts of all the rest and present them in the best form.

Moreover, this has been clear to me from the first, that while all men think that those compositions, whether in verse or prose, are the most useful which counsel us how to live, yet it is certainly not to them that they listen with greatest pleasure; nay, they feel about these just as they feel about the people who admonish them; for while they praise the latter, they choose for associates[*] those who share in, and not those who would dissuade them from, their faults.