I knew I would die someday. I knew I might have to leave my home. I knew I might get kicked out of it. I knew I might go to prison. When something bad happens, turn around and look at yourself. Ask where this thing came from. You'll remember right away that it came from the realm of things outside your control — things that aren't really yours. So what is this to me? Then ask the most important question: Who sent this my way? The ruler, the general, the state, the law of the state. Hand it over then. I must always obey the law in everything.
I knew that I am mortal, I knew that I may leave my home, I knew that I may be ejected from it, I knew that I may be led to prison. Then if you turn round and look to yourself, and seek the place from which comes that which has happened, you will forthwith recollect that it comes from the place of things which are out of the power of the will, and of things which are not my own. What then is it to me? Then, you will ask, and this is the chief thing: And who is it that sent it? The leader, or the general, the state, the law of the state. Give it me then, for I must always obey the law in everything.