Wisdom of the Ancients. Pascal, Diogenes, Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus

This collection will tell you about the life path and wise sayings of outstanding thinkers of the past: the French mathematician, mechanic, physicist, writer, philosopher, and theologian Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), the ancient Greek philosopher Diogenes of Sinope (412-323 BC), the... Roman emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius (121-180), and the Greek philosopher Epictetus (50-138).
We seem to think that these sages were born wise, and sometimes we even feel envious of why we were not born like them. Meanwhile, for the most part, the childhood of these people and their early adult years were the most turbulent, unlike what they later taught. And when we learn about their former lives, we begin to understand what hard work it took for them to find the true path and follow it. This is why it is instructive to know their history. By reading it, we understand that our lives become bad or good not because of how we were born, but because of how much we desire to improve ourselves and work towards that.