Epictetus Quotes
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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?"
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The beginning of philosophy is the recognition of the conflict between opinions.
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We all dread a bodily paralysis, and would make use of every contrivance to avoid it; but none of us is troubled about a paralysis of the soul.
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God has entrusted me with myself.
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Try not to react merely in the moment. Pull back from the situation. Take a wider view. Compose yourself.
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Any person capable of angering you becomes your master; he can anger you only when you permit yourself to be disturbed by him.
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We are not to give credit to the many, who say that none ought to be educated but the free; but rather to the philosophers, who say that the well-educated alone are free.
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Be not diverted from your duty by any idle reflections the silly world may make upon you, for their censures are not in your power and should not be at all your concerns.
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Ask yourself: Does this appearance (of events) concern the things that are within my own control or those that are not? If it concerns anything outside your control, train yourself not to worry about it.
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Once you know who you are and to whom you are linked, you will know what to do.
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We must be afraid of neither poverty nor exile nor imprisonment; of fear itself only should we be afraid.
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Opportunity beckons more surely when misfortune comes upon a person than it ever does when that person is riding the crest of a wave of success. It sharpens a person's wits, if that person will let it, enabling him or her to see more clearly and evaluate situations with a more knowledgeable judgment.
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Only the educated are free.
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Living a good life leads to enduring happiness. Goodness in and of itself is the practice AND the reward.
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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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When we are invited to a banquet, we take what is set before us; and were one to call upon his host to set fish upon the table or sweet things, he would be deemed absurd. Yet in a word, we ask the Gods for what they do not give; and that, although they have given us so many things! (35).
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The world turns aside to let any man pass who knows where he is going.
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He who is not happy with little will never be happy with much.
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As in walking it is your great care not to run your foot upon a nail, or to tread awry, and strain your leg; so let it be in all the affairs of human life, not to hurt your mind or offend your judgment. And this rule, if observed carefully in all your deportment, will be a mighty security to you in your undertakings.
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What disturbs people's minds are not events but their judgments on events.
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A ship should not be held by a single anchor; neither should life depend upon a single hope.
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Freedom is the only worthy goal in life. It is won by disregarding things that lie beyond our control. Stop aspiring to be anyone other than your own best self: for that does fall within your control.
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Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.
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To know that you do not know and to be willing to admit that you do not know without sheepishly apologizing is real strength and sets the stage for learning and progress in any endeavor.