Epictetus Quotes
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Upon all occasions we ought to have these maxims ready at hand:
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Some things are up to us [eph' hêmin] and some things are not up to us. Our opinions are up to us, and our impulses, desires, aversions–in short, whatever is our own doing. Our bodies are not up to us, nor are our possessions, our reputations, or our public offices, or, that is, whatever is not our own doing.
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People are not disturbed by things, but by the view they take of them.
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Whatever you would make habitual, practice it; and if you would not make a thing habitual, do not practice it, but accustom yourself to something else.
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To get or not to get what we desire can be equally disappointing.
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In every affair consider what precedes and what follows, and then undertake it.
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Difficulty shows what men are.
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If you have assumed a character above your strength, you have both acted in this matter in an unbecoming way, and you have neglected that which you might have fulfilled.
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The appearance of things to the mind is the standard of every action to man.
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It is unlikely that the good of a snail should reside in its shell: so is it likely that the good of a man should?
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To a longer and worse life, a shorter and better is by all means to be preferred.
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It is not he who gives abuse that affronts, but the view that we take of it as insulting; so that when one provokes you it is your own opinion which is provoking.
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Fight against yourself, recover yourself to decency, to modesty, to freedom. And, in the first place, condemn your actions; but when you have condemned them, do not despair of yourself. For both ruin and recovery are from within.
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You become what you give your attention to...If you yourself don't choose what thoughts and images you expose yourself to, someone else will, and their motives may not be the highest.
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'But to be hanged-is that not unendurable?' Even so, when a man feels that it is reasonable, he goes off and hangs himself.
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He who exercises wisdom exercises the knowledge which is about God.
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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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No man is free who is not master of himself... Is freedom anything else than the power of living as we choose?
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A soul that makes virtue its companion is like an over-flowing well, for it is clean and pellucid, sweet and wholesome, open to all, rich, blameless and indestructible.
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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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God has entrusted me with myself.
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Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens.
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Who is not attracted by bright and pleasant children, to prattle, to creep, and to play with them?
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Ask yourself, "How are my thoughts, words and deeds affecting my friends, my spouse, my neighbour, my child, my employer, my subordinates, my fellow citizens?"