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Everything has two handles; the one soft and manageable, the other such as will not endure to be touched. If then your brother do you an injury, do not take it by the hot hard handle, by representing to yourself all the aggravating circumstances of the fact; but look rather on the soft side, and extenuate it as much as is possible, by considering the nearness of the relation, and the long friendship and familiarity between you--obligations to kindness which a single provocation ought not to dissolve. And thus you will take the accident by its manageable handle.
Epictetus -
Whoever does not regard what he has as most ample wealth, is unhappy, though he be master of the world.
Epictetus
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Choose the life that is noblest, for custom can make it sweet to thee.
Epictetus -
Man is not fully free unless he is master of himself.
Epictetus -
These are the signs of a wise man: to reprove nobody, to praise nobody, to blame nobody, nor even to speak of himself or his own merits.
Epictetus -
One of the best ways to elevate your character is to emulate worthy role models.
Epictetus -
We all carry the seeds of greatness within us, but we need an image as a point of focus in order that they may sprout.
Epictetus -
If thou wouldst make progress, be content to seem foolish and void of understanding with respect to outward things. Care not to be thought to know anything. If any should make account of thee, distrust thyself. (158).
Epictetus
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What is it to be a philosopher? Is it not to be prepared against events?
Epictetus -
Embrace reality. Think about what delights you - the small luxuries on which you depend, the people whom you cherish most. But remember that they have their own distinct character, which is quite a separate matter from how we happen to regard them.
Epictetus -
We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.
Epictetus -
Of pleasures, those which occur most rarely give the most delight.
Epictetus -
Who are those people by whom you wish to be admired? Are they not these whom you are in the habit of saying that they are mad? What then? Do you wish to be admired by the mad?
Epictetus -
Some things are in our control and others not. Things in our control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever are our own actions. Things not in our control are body, property, reputation, command, and, in one word, whatever are not our own actions. (1).
Epictetus
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When any person treats you ill or speaks ill of you, remember that he does this or says this because he thinks it is his duty. It is not possible, then, for him to follow that which seems right to you, but that which seems right to himself.
Epictetus -
By accepting life's limits and inevitabilities and working with them rather than fighting them, we become free.
Epictetus -
In theory it is easy to convince an ignorant person; in actual life, men not only object to offer themselves to be convinced, but hate the man who has convinced them.
Epictetus -
Be careful whom you associate with. It is human to imitate the habits of those with whom we interact. We inadvertently adopt their interests, their opinions, their values, and their habit of interpreting events.
Epictetus -
I apply to you to come and hear that you are in evil case; that what deserves your attention most is the last thing to gain it; that you know not good from evil, and are in short a hapless wretch; a fine way to apply! though unless the words of the Philosopher affect you thus, speaker and speech are alike dead. (120).
Epictetus -
For what constitutes a child?-Ignorance. What constitutes a child?-Want of instruction; for they are our equals so far as their degree of knowledge permits.
Epictetus
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Kings and tyrants have armed guards wherewith to chastise certain persons, though they be themselves evil. But to the Cynic conscience gives this power-not arms and guards. (119).
Epictetus -
If you would improve, submit to be considered wihout sense and foolish with respect to externals. Wish to be considered to know nothing; and if you shall seem to someone to be a person of importance, distrust yourself.
Epictetus -
Asked, Who is the rich man? Epictetus replied, �He who is content.
Epictetus -
Liars are the cause of all the sins and crimes in the world.
Epictetus