Epictetus Quotes
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When you close your doors, and make darkness within, remember never to say that you are alone, for you are not alone; nay, God is within, and your genius is within. And what need have they of light to see what you are doing?
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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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It is not reasonings that are wanted now; for there are books stuffed full of stoical reasonings.
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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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When the Idea, of any Pleasure strikes your Imagination... let that time be employed in making a just Computation between, the duration of the Pleasure, and that of the Repentance sure to follow it.
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Never say about anything, "I have lost it," but only "I have given it back." Is your child dead? It has been given back. Is your wife dead? She has been returned.
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If we are not stupid or insincere when we say that the good or ill of man lies within his own will, and that all beside is nothing to us, why are we still troubled?
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Each man's life is a kind of campaign, and a long and complicated one at that. You have to maintain the character of a soldier, and do each separate act at the bidding of the General.
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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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Happiness and personal fulfillment are the natural consequences of doing the right thing.
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When your thoughts, words, and deeds form a seamless fabric, you streamline your efforts and thus eliminate worry and dread.
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Have this thought ever present with thee, when thou losest any outward thing, what thou gainest in its stead; and if this be the more precious, say not, I have suffered loss. (27).
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I am not eternity, but a man; a part of the whole, as an hour is of the day.
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Suffering arises from trying to control what is uncontrollable, or from neglecting what is within our power.
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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 ship should not be held by a single anchor; neither should life depend upon a single hope.
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All religions must be tolerated... for every man must get to heaven in his own way.
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You bear God within you, poor wretch, and know it not.
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Let silence be your general rule; or say only what is necessary and in few words.
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Never call yourself a philosopher, nor talk a great deal among the unlearned about theorems, but act conformably to them. Thus, at an entertainment, don't talk how persons ought to eat, but eat as you ought. For remember that in this manner Socrates also universally avoided all ostentation.
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Only the educated are free.
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What disturbs people's minds are not events but their judgments on events.
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Authentic happiness is always independent of external conditions.