Epictetus Quotes
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At every occasion in your life, do not forget to commune with yourself and ask of yourself how you can profit by it.
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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.
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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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Desire and happiness cannot live together.
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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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What is a good person? One who achieves tranquillity by having formed the habit of asking on every occasion, "what is the right thing to do now?"
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If you seek truth you will not seek victory by dishonorable means, and if you find truth you will become invincible.
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Is freedom anything else than the right to live as we wish? Nothing else.
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No living being is held by anything so strongly as its own needs.
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It is your own convictions which compels you; that is, choice compels choice.
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Getting distracted by trifles is the easiest thing in the world… Focus on your main duty.
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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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Freedom and happiness are won by disregarding things that lie beyond our control.
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Seek to be the purple thread in the long white gown.
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Even as bad actors cannot sing alone, but only in chorus: so some cannot walk alone. Man, if thou art aught, strive to walk alone and hold converse with yourself, instead of skulking in the chorus! at length think; look around thee; bestir thyself, that thou mayest know who thou art! (103).
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It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.
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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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If your heart is quite set upon a crown, make and put on one of roses, for it will make the prettier appearance.
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We are not to lead events, but to follow them.
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It is not my place in society that makes me well off, but my judgements, and these I can carry with me... These alone are my own and cannot be taken away.
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When something happens, the only thing in your power is your attitude toward it; you can either accept it or resent it.
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It’s time to stop being vague. If you wish to be an extraordinary person, if you wish to be wise, then you should explicitly identify the kind of person you aspire to become.
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Keep your attention focused entirely on what is truly your own concern, and be clear that what belongs to others is their business and none of yours.
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It has been ordained that there be summer and winter, abundance and dearth, virtue and vice, and all such opposites for the harmony of the whole, and (Zeus) has given each of us a body, property, and companions.