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Attach yourself to what is spiritually superior, regardless of what other people think or do. Hold to your true aspirations no matter what is going on around you.
Epictetus -
You have been given your own work to do. Get to it right now, do your best at it, and don't be concerned with who is watching you. Create your own merit.
Epictetus
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First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.
Epictetus -
Cowardice, the dread of what will happen.
Epictetus -
Were I a nightingale, I would act the part of a nightingale; were I a swan, the part of a swan.
Epictetus -
Do nothing in a depressed mood, nor as one afflicted, nor as thinking that you are in misery, for no one compels you to that.
Epictetus -
A soul which is conversant with virtue is like an ever flowing source, for it is pure and tranquil and potable and sweet and communicative (social) and rich and harmless and free from mischief.
Epictetus -
Wherever I go it will be well with me, for it was well with me here, not on account of the place, but of my judgments which I shall carry away with me, for no one can deprive me of these; on the contrary, they alone are my property, and cannot be taken away, and to possess them suffices me wherever I am or whatever I do.
Epictetus
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The cause of all human evils is the not being able to apply general principles to special cases.
Epictetus -
Never in any case say I have lost such a thing, but I have returned it. Is your child dead? It is a return. Is your wife dead? It is a return. Are you deprived of your estate? Is not this also a return?
Epictetus -
Nothing truly stops you. Nothing truly holds you back. For your own will is always within your control.
Epictetus -
To pay homage to beauty is to admire Nature; to admire Nature is to worship God.
Epictetus -
If I was a nightingale I would sing like a nightingale; if a swan, like a swan. But since I am a rational creature my role is to praise God.
Epictetus -
Crows pick out the eyes of the dead, when the dead have no longer need of them; but flatterers mar the soul of the living, and her eyes they blind.
Epictetus
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If a person had delivered up your body to some passer-by, you would certainly be angry. And do you feel no shame in delivering up your own mind to any reviler, to be disconcerted and confounded?
Epictetus -
No living being is held by anything so strongly as its own needs.
Epictetus -
If a man has reported to you, that a certain person speaks ill of you, do not make any defense (answer) to what has been told you: but reply, The man did not know the rest of my faults, for he would not have mentioned these only. (33) tr. George Long (1888).
Epictetus -
At every occasion in your life, do not forget to commune with yourself and ask of yourself how you can profit by it.
Epictetus -
If one oversteps the bounds of moderation, the greatest pleasures cease to please.
Epictetus -
You have not stirred my spirit. For what can I see in you to stir me, as a spirited horse will stir a judge of horses? Your body? That you maltreat. Your dress? That is luxurious. Your behavior, your look?-Nothing whatsoever. (81).
Epictetus
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Our duties naturally emerge form such fundamental relations as our families, neighborhoods, workplaces, our state or nation. Make it your regular habit to consider your roles-parent, child, neighbor, citizen, leader-and the natural duties that arise from them. Once you know who you are and to whom you are linked, you will know what to do.
Epictetus -
If you think you control things that are in the control of others, you will lament. You will be disturbed and you will blame both gods and men.
Epictetus -
Neither the victories of the Olympic Games nor those achieved in battles make the man happy. The only victories that make him happy are those achieved against himself. Temptations and tests are combats. You have beaten one, two, many times; still fight. If you defeat at last you will be happy your entire life, as if you have always defeated.
Epictetus -
To a reasonable creature, that alone is insupportable which is unreasonable; but everything reasonable may be supported.
Epictetus