Epictetus Quotes
-
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.
-
If you wish to be a writer, write.
-
A ship should not be held by a single anchor; neither should life depend upon a single hope.
-
You bear God within you, poor wretch, and know it not.
-
You will do the greatest service to the state if you shall raise, not the roofs of the houses, but the souls of the citizens: for it is better that great souls should dwell in small houses rather than for mean slaves to lurk in great houses.
-
Let silence be your general rule; or say only what is necessary and in few words.
-
Never say of anything I have lost it, only say that I have given it back.
-
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.
-
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?
-
If evil be spoken of you and it be true, correct yourself, if it be a lie, laugh at it.
-
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.
-
Suffering arises from trying to control what is uncontrollable, or from neglecting what is within our power.
-
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?"
-
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.
-
The appearance of things to the mind is the standard of every action to man.
-
Difficulty shows what men are.
-
Only the educated are free.
-
If you seek Truth, you will not seek to gain a victory by every possible means; and when you have found Truth, you need not fear being defeated.
-
Confident because of our caution.
-
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).
-
The beginning of philosophy is the recognition of the conflict between opinions.
-
He who exercises wisdom exercises the knowledge which is about God.
-
I am not eternity, but a man; a part of the whole, as an hour is of the day.
-
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.