Epictetus Quotes
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To be getting an education means this: to be learning what is your own, and what is not your own.
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Do you know that disease and death must needs overtake us, no matter what we are doing?... what do you wish to be doing when it overtakes you?... If you have anything better to be doing when you are so overtaken, get to work on that.
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No greater thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.
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Bid a singer in a chorus, Know Thyself; and will he not turn for the knowledge to the others, his fellows in the chorus, and to his harmony with them?
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First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.
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Pleasure, like a kind of bait, is thrown before everything which is really bad, and easily allures greedy souls to the hook of perdition.
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What is yours is to play the assigned part well. But to choose it belongs to someone else.
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Remember that it is not he who gives abuse or blows who affronts, but the view we take of these things as insulting. When, therefore, any one provokes you, be assured that it is your own opinion which provokes you. (20).
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If you would cure anger, do not feed it. Say to yourself: 'I used to be angry every day; then every other day; now only every third or fourth day.' When you reach thirty days offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the gods.
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Every habit and faculty is preserved and increased by correspondent actions,-as the habit of walking, by walking; of running, by running.
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The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best.
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To pay homage to beauty is to admire Nature; to admire Nature is to worship God.
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Neither should a ship rely on one small anchor, nor should life rest on a single hope.
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Nothing truly stops you. Nothing truly holds you back. For your own will is always within your control. Sickness may challenge your body. But are you merely your body? Lameness may impede your legs. But you are not merely your legs. Your will is bigger than your legs. Your will needn't be affected by an incident unless you let it.
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Sickness is a hindrance to the body, but not to your ability to choose, unless that is your choice. Lameness is a hindrance to the leg, but not to your ability to choose. Say this to yourself with regard to everything that happens, then you will see such obstacles as hindrances to something else, but not to yourself.
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It was the first and most striking characteristic of Socrates never to become heated in discourse, never to utter an injurious or insulting word -- on the contrary, he persistently bore insult from others and thus put an end to the fray.
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All philosophy lies in two words, sustain and abstain.
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You are a little soul carrying around a corpse.
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Either God wants to abolish evil, and cannot; or he can, but does not want to.
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Consider the bigger picture.....think things through and fully commit!
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Lampis the ship owner, on being asked how he acquired his great wealth, replied, My great wealth was acquired with no difficulty, but my small wealth, my first gains, with much labor.
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If you desire to be good, begin by believing that you are wicked.
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To live a life of virtue, you have to become consistent, even when it isn't convenient, comfortable, or easy.
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The flourishing life cannot be achieved until we moderate our desires and see how superficial and fleeting they are.