Stockdale on Stoicism 24

The Stoics were good citizens. In politics, the Stoic would love his country and hold himself ready to die at any time to avert its disgrace or his own. 

But a man's conscience was to be higher than any law. A man has a right to be responsible, self-ruling, autonomous. 

So on good and evil, where does that leave us? 

Nothing that is natural can be evil. Death cannot be evil. Disease cannot be evil. Natural disasters cannot be evil. Nothing inevitable can be evil. 

The Universe as a whole is perfect, and everything in it has a place in the overall design. Inevitability is produced by the workings of this mechanism. 

Events do not happen by chance, they arrive by appointment. There is a cause for everything, and "chance" is simply a name for undiscovered causes. 

—from James B. Stockdale, The Stoic Warrior's Triad