Epictetus Quotes
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Remember that you ought to behave in life as you would at a banquet. As something is being passed around it comes to you; stretch out your hand, take a portion of it politely. It passes on; do not detain it. Or it has not come to you yet; do not project your desire to meet it, but wait until it comes in front of you. So act toward children, so toward a wife, so toward office, so toward wealth.
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Unremarkable lives are marked by the fear of not looking capable when trying something new.
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Who is there whom bright and agreeable children do not attract to play and creep and prattle with them?
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Remember that you are in actor in a play of such a kind that the author chooses...For this is your duty, to act well the part that is given to you; but to select the part belongs to another.
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First learn the meaning of what you say, and then speak.
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Two principles we should always have ready — that there is nothing good or evil save in the will; and that we are not to lead events, but to follow them.
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On the occasion of every accident that befalls you, remember to turn to yourself and inquire what power you have for turning it to use.
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A half-hearted spirit has no power. Tentative efforts lead to tentative outcomes. Average people enter into their endeavors headlong and without care.
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I laugh at those who think they can damage me. They do not know who I am, they do not know what I think, they cannot even touch the things which are really mine and with which I live.
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Do not strive for things occurring to occur as you wish, but wish the things occurring as they occur, and you will flow well.
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And are all profited by what they hear, or only some among them? So that it seems that there is an art of hearing as well as one of speaking. (81).
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Circumstances don't make the man, they only reveal him to himself.
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Some of their faults men readily admit, but others not so readily.
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Whoever wants to be free, therefore, let him not want or avoid anything that is up to others. Otherwise he will necessarily be a slave.
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Concerning the Gods, there are those who deny the very existence of the Godhead; others say that it exists, but neither bestirs nor concerns itself not has forethought far anything. A third party attribute to it existence and forethought, but only for great and heavenly matters, not for anything that is on earth. A fourth party admit things on earth as well as in heaven, but only in general, and not with respect to each individual. A fifth, of whom were Ulysses and Socrates, are those that cry: -- I move not without Thy knowledge!
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No man is free who is not master of himself.
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Let thy speech of God be renewed day by day, aye, rather than thy meat and drink.
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Authentic happiness is always independent of external conditions. Vigilantly practice polite indifference to that which we can't control. Your happiness can only be found within.
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Wish that everything should come about just as it does.
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If anyone is unhappy, remember that his unhappiness is his own fault... Nothing else is the cause of anxiety or loss of tranquility except our own opinion.
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Try to enjoy the great festival of life with other men!
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One that desires to excel should endeavor in those things that are in themselves most excellent.
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It is better by assenting to truth to conquer opinion, than by assenting to opinion to be conquered by truth.
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Contentment comes not so much from great wealth as from few wants.