Epictetus Quotes
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People are not disturbed by things, but by the view they take of them.
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As a man, casting off worn out garments taketh new ones, so the dweller in the body, entereth into ones that are new.
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Be not swept off your feet by the vividness of the impression, but say, 'Impression, wait for me a little. Let me see what you are and what you represent. Let me try you.'
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The beginning of philosophy is the recognition of the conflict between opinions.
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No living being is held by anything so strongly as by its own needs. Whatever therefore appears a hindrance to these, be it brother, or father, or child, or mistress, or friend, is hated, abhorred, execrated.
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In every affair consider what precedes and what follows, and then undertake it.
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When something happens, the only thing in your power is your attitude toward it. It is not the things that disturb us, but our interpretation of their significance. Things and people are not what we wish them to be nor are they what they seem to be. They are what they are.
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It is wicked to withdraw from being useful to the needy, and cowardly to give way to the worthless.
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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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'If the room is smoky, if only moderately, I will stay; if there is too much smoke I will go. Remember this, keep a firm hold on it, the door is always open.'
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You can be invincible, if you enter into no contest in which it is not in your power to conquer.
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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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The world turns aside to let any man pass who knows where he is going.
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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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Living a good life leads to enduring happiness. Goodness in and of itself is the practice AND the reward.
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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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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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It is no easy thing for a principle to become a man's own unless each day he maintains it and works it out in his life.
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We are not disturbed by what happens to us, but by our thoughts about what happens to us.
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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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God has entrusted me with myself.
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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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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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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.