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If you hear that someone is speaking ill of you, instead of trying to defend yourself you should say: 'He obviously does not know me very well, since there are so many other faults he could have mentioned.'
Epictetus -
Here is the beginning of philosophy: a recognition of the conflicts between men, a search for their cause, a condemnation of mere opinion .. . and the discovery of a standard of judgement.
Epictetus
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Make it your business to draw out the best in others by being an exemplar yourself.
Epictetus -
If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.
Epictetus -
Even as the Sun doth not wait for prayers and incantations to rise, but shines forth and is welcomed by all: so thou also wait not for clapping of hands and shouts and praise to do thy duty; nay, do good of thine own accord, and thou wilt be loved like the Sun.
Epictetus -
He that hath no musical instruction is a child in Music; he that hath no letters is a child in Learning; he that is untaught is a child in Life. (105).
Epictetus -
Nothing great is produced suddenly, since not even the grape or the fig is. If you say to me now that you want a fig, I will answer to you that it requires time: let it flower first, then put forth fruit, and then ripen.
Epictetus -
The two powers which in my opinion constitute a wise man are those of bearing and forbearing.
Epictetus
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When a man is proud because he can understand and explain the writings of Chrysippus, say to yourself, 'if Chrysippus had not written obscurely, this man would have had nothing to be proud of.'
Epictetus -
We should not have either a blunt knife or a freedom of speech which is ill-managed.
Epictetus -
For he who is unmusical is a child in music; he who is without letters is a child in learning; he who is untaught, is a child in life.
Epictetus -
Never depend on the admiration of others for self-satisfaction. It is a fact of life that other people, even people who love you, will not necessarily agree with your ideas, understand you always, or share your enthusiasms.
Epictetus -
The anger of an ape-the threat of a flatterer:-these deserve equal regard.
Epictetus -
When we act pugnaciously, and injuriously, and angrily, and rudely, to what level have we degenerated? To the level of the wild beasts. Well, the fact is that some of us are wild beasts of a larger size, while others are little animals, malignant and petty.
Epictetus
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If thou rememberest that God standeth by to behold and visit all that thou doest; whether in the body or in the soul, thou surely wilt not err in any prayer or deed; and thou shalt have God to dwell with thee.
Epictetus -
Anything worth putting off is worth abandoning altogether.
Epictetus -
We tell lies, yet it is easy to show that lying is immoral.
Epictetus -
We ought to flee the friendship of the wicked, and the enmity of the good.
Epictetus -
Fortune is an evil chain to the body, and vice to the soul.
Epictetus -
God has entrusted me with myself. No man is free who is not master of himself. A man should so live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things. The world turns aside to let any man pass who knows where he is going.
Epictetus
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In the long run, every man will pay the penalty for this own misdeeds.
Epictetus -
If then all things that grow, nay, our own bodies, are thus bound up with the whole, is not this still truer of our souls? And if our souls are bound up and in contact with God, as being very parts and fragments plucked from Himself, shall He not feel every movement of theirs as though it were His own, and belonging to His own nature? (36).
Epictetus -
You may fetter my leg, but Zeus himself cannot get the better of my free will.
Epictetus -
The greater the difficulty the more glory in surmounting it. Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests.
Epictetus