Self-love is the source of that ignorant conceit of knowledge which is always doing and never succeeding.

Wherefore let every man avoid self-love, and follow the guidance of those who are better than himself.

There are lesser matters which a man should recall to mind; for wisdom is like a stream, ever flowing in and out, and recollection flows in when knowledge is failing.
Let no man either laugh or grieve overmuch; but let him control his feelings in the day of good- or ill-fortune, believing that the Gods will diminish the evils and increase the blessings of the righteous.
These are thoughts which should ever occupy a good man's mind; he should remember them both in lighter and in more serious hours, and remind others of them.
So much of divine matters and the relation of man to God.

But man is man, and dependent on pleasure and pain; and therefore to acquire a true taste respecting either is a great matter.

And what is a true taste?
This can only be explained by a comparison of one life with another.
Pleasure is an object of desire, pain of avoidance; and the absence of pain is to be preferred to pain, but not to pleasure.