Epictetus Quotes
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When you do anything from a clear judgment that it ought to be done, never shun the being seen to do it, even though the world should make a wrong supposition about it; for, if you don't act right, shun the action itself; but, if you do, why are you afraid of those who censure you wrongly? (35).
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Be free from grief not through insensibility like the irrational animals, nor through want of thought like the foolish, but like a man of virtue by having reason as the consolation of grief.
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When one maintains his proper attitude in life, he does not long after externals.
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Freedom and happiness come from understanding - and working with - our limits. Begin at once a program of self-mastery. Stick with your purpose. Do not seek external approval. Do not worry about anything outside of your control. The only things you command are your thoughts and actions. We choose our response. Stop aspiring to be anyone other than your own best self: for that does fall within your control.
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What disturbs people, these are not things, but the judgments relating to things.
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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?
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If you would be well spoken of, learn to be well-spoken; and having learnt to be well- spoken, strive also to be well-doing; so shall you succeed in being well spoken of.
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It is better to die of hunger having lived without grief and fear, than to live with a troubled spirit, amid abundance.
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It were no slight attainment could we merely fulfil what the nature of man implies.
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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.
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First tell yourself what you want to be, then do what you need to do.
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If one oversteps the bounds of moderation, the greatest pleasures cease to please.
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With ills unending strives the putter off.
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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.
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Seek to be the purple thread in the long white gown.
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Try to enjoy the great festival of life with other men. (3).
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If what charms you is nothing but abstract principles, sit down and turn them over quietly in your mind: but never dub yourself a Philosopher.
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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.
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The cause of all human evils is the not being able to apply general principles to special cases.
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What is learned without pleasure is forgotten without remorse.
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Desire and happiness cannot live together.
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If you have anything better to be doing when death overtakes you, get to work on that.
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We are not to lead events, but to follow them.
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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.