Epictetus Quotes
-
If one oversteps the bounds of moderation, the greatest pleasures cease to please.
-
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?
-
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.
-
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.
-
If you desire to be good, begin by believing that you are wicked.
-
To a reasonable creature, that alone is insupportable which is unreasonable; but everything reasonable may be supported.
-
Either God wants to abolish evil, and cannot; or he can, but does not want to.
-
He is free who lives as he wishes to live; who is neither subject to compulsion nor to hindrance, nor to force; whose movements to action are not impeded, whose desires attain their purpose, and who does not fall into that which he would avoid.
-
Nothing great is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig. I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.
-
When one maintains his proper attitude in life, he does not long after externals.
-
Is freedom anything else than the right to live as we wish? Nothing else.
-
It is better to advise than upbraid, for the one corrects the erring; the other only convicts them.
-
In a word, neither death, nor exile, nor pain, nor anything of this kind is the real cause of our doing or not doing any action, but our inward opinions and principles.
-
It's so simple really: If you say you're going to do something, do it. If you start something, finish it.
-
To pay homage to beauty is to admire Nature; to admire Nature is to worship God.
-
No living being is held by anything so strongly as its own needs.
-
Survey and test a prospective action before undertaking it. Before you proceed, step back and look at the big picture, lest you act rashly on raw impulse.
-
Against specious appearances we must set clear convictions, bright and ready for use. When death appears as an evil, we ought immediately to remember that evils are things to be avoided, but death is inevitable.
-
We are not to lead events, but to follow them.
-
Learn to distinguish what you can and can't control. Within our control are our own opinions, aspirations, desires and the things that repel us. They are directly subject to our influence.
-
Don't be concerned with other people's impressions of you. They are dazzled and deluded by appearances. Stick with your purpose. This alone will strengthen your will and give your life coherence.
-
Sickness is a hindrance to the body, but not to your ability to choose, unless that is your choice. Lameness is a hindrance to the leg, but not to your ability to choose. Say this to yourself with regard to everything that happens, then you will see such obstacles as hindrances to something else, but not to yourself.
-
When men are unhappy, they do not imagine they can ever cease to be so; and when some calamity has fallen on them, they do not see how they can get rid of it. Nevertheless, both arrive; and the gods have ordered it so, in the end men seek it from the gods.
-
Getting distracted by trifles is the easiest thing in the world… Focus on your main duty.