Epictetus Quotes
-
What is the first business of one who practices philosophy? To get rid of self-conceit. For it is impossible for anyone to begin to learn that which he thinks he already knows.
-
Do not try to seem wise to others.
-
If a man is unhappy, remember that his unhappiness is his own fault, for God made all men to be happy.
-
When our friends are present we ought to treat them well; and when they are absent, to speak of them well.
-
Whenever you are angry, be assured that it is not only a present evil, but that you have increased a habit.
-
Inner peace begins when we stop saying of things, 'I have lost it' and instead say, 'It has been returned to where it came from.' Why should it be any concern of yours who gives your things back to the world that gave them to you? The important thing is to take great care with what you have while the world lets you have it.
-
Men are not troubled by things themselves, but by their thoughts about them.
-
No great thing is created suddenly. There must be time. Give your best and always be kind.
-
The origin of sorrow is this: to wish for something that does not come to pass.
-
Who exactly do you want to be? What kind of person do you want to be? What are your personal ideals? Whom do you admire? What are their special traits that you would make your own It's time to stop being vague. If you wish to be an extraordinary person, if you wish to become wise, then you should explicitly identify the kind of person you aspire to become. If you have a daybook, write down who you're trying to be, so that you can refer to this self-determination. Precisely describe the demeanor you want to adopt so that you may preserve it when you are by yourself or with other people.
-
It is the part of an uneducated person to blame others where he himself fares ill; to blame himself is the part of one whose education has begun; to blame neither another nor his own self is the part of one whose education is already complete.
-
Does a Philosopher apply to people to come and hear him? does he not rather, of his own nature, attract those that will be benefited by him-like the sun that warms, and the food that sustains them? (120).
-
Seek not that the things which happen should happen as you wish; but wish the things which happen to be as they are, and you will have a tranquil flow of life.
-
Everything has two handles, one by which it may be borne, the other by which it may not. If your brother sin against you lay not hold of it by the handle of his injustice, for by that it may not be borne: but rather by this, that he is your brother, the comrade of your youth; and thus you will lay hold on it so that it may be borne. (174).
-
It is not he who reviles or strikes you who insults you, but your opinion that these things are insulting.
-
In theory there is nothing to hinder our following what we are taught; but in life there are many things to draw us aside.
-
It is our attitude toward events, not events themselves, which we can control. Nothing is by its own nature calamitous -- even death is terrible only if we fear it.
-
If a Cynic is an object of pity, he seems a mere beggar; all turn away, all are offended at him. Nor should be be slovenly of look, so as not to scare men from him in this way either; on the contrary, his very roughness should be clean and attractive. (118).
-
If you can make music with someone you don't need words. If you wish to be a writer, write.
-
A guide, on finding a man who has lost his way, brings him back to the right path—he does not mock and jeer at him and then take himself off. You also must show the unlearned man the truth, and you will see that he will follow. But so long as you do not show it him, you should not mock, but rather feel your own incapacity.
-
Truth is a thing immortal and perpetual, and it gives to us a beauty that fades not away in time, nor does it take away the freedom of speech which proceeds from justice; but it gives to us the knowledge of what is just and lawful, separating from them the unjust and refuting them.
-
Silence is safer than speech.
-
When one maintains his proper attitude in life, he does not long after externals. What would you have, O man?
-
First learn the meaning of what you say, and then speak.