From The Art of Living, a modern translation of the Roman Stoic philosopher Epictetus and his famous Discourses (put into writing around 108 AD):
All human beings seek the happy life, but many confuse the means- for example, wealth and status- with that life itself. This misguided focus on the means to a good life makes people get further from the happy life. The really worthwhile things are the virtuous activities that make up the happy life, not the external means that may seem to produce it.
The surest sign of the higher life is serenity. Moral progress results in freedom from inner turmoil. You can stop fretting about this and that.
It is much better to die of hunger unhindered by grief and fear than to live affluently beset with worry, dread, suspicion, and unchecked desire.