Freedom is the only worthy goal in life. It is won by disregarding things that lie beyond our control.
If anyone tells you that a certain person speaks ill of you, do not make excuses about what is said of you but answer, “He was ignorant of my other faults, else he would not have mentioned these alone.
Know you not that a good man does nothing for appearance sake, but for the sake of having done right?
It is our attitude toward events, not events themselves, which we can control. Nothing is by its own nature calamitous — even death is terrible only if we fear it.
What really frightens and dismays us is not external events themselves, but the way in which we think about them. It is not things that disturb us, but our interpretation of their significance.
Whoever is going to listen to the philosophers needs a considerable practice in listening.
When a youth was giving himself airs in the Theatre and saying, ‘I am wise, for I have conversed with many wise men,’ Epictetus replied, ‘I too have conversed with many rich men, yet I am not rich!’.
An ignorant person is inclined to blame others for his own misfortune. To blame oneself is proof of progress. But the wise man never has to blame another or himself.
As a man, casting off worn out garments taketh new ones, so the dweller in the body, entereth into ones that are new.
The philosopher’s school, ye men, is a surgery: you ought not to go out of it with pleasure, but with pain. For you are not in sound health when you enter.
God save me from fools with a little philosophy—no one is more difficult to reach.
For in this Case, we are not to give Credit to the Many, who say, that none ought to be educated but the Free; but rather to the Philosophers, who say, that the Well-educated alone are free.
If a person gave your body to any stranger he met on is way, you would certainly be angry. And do you feel no shame in handing over your own mind to be confused and mystified by anyone who happens to verbally attack you?
He who exercises wisdom, exercises the knowledge which is about God.
It is much better to die of hunger unhindered by grief and fear than to live affluently beset with worry, dread, suspicion and unchecked desire.
Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.
There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power or our will.
I must die. Must I then die lamenting? I must be put in chains. Must I then also lament? I must go into exile. Does any man then hinder me from going with smiles and cheerfulness and contentment?
The essence of philosophy is that a man should so live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things.
You only have to doze a moment, and all is lost. For ruin and salvation both have their source inside you.
First say to yourself what you would beand then do what you have to do.
Men are not afraid of things, but of how they view them.
Don’t put your purpose in one place and expect to see progress made somewhere else.
Freedom is secured not by the fulfilling of men’s desires, but by the removal of desire.
Freedom is not archived by satisfying desire, but by eliminating it.
Freedom, you see, is having events go in accordance with our will, never contrary to it.
Man, what are you talking about? Me in chains? You may fetter my leg but my will, not even Zeus himself can overpower.
In the long run, every man will pay the penalty for his own misdeeds. The man who remembers this will be angry with no one, indignant with no one, revile no one, blame no one, offend no one, hate no one.
So what oppresses and scares us? It is our own thoughts, obviously, What overwhelms people when they are about to leaves friends, family, old haunts and their accustomed way of life? Thoughts.
Very little is needed for everything to be upset and ruined, only a slight lapse in reason.
And where there is ignorance, there is also want of learning and instruction in essentials.
If you have assumed any character beyond your strength, you have both demeaned yourself ill in that and quitted one which you might have supported.
It is impossible to begin to learn that which one thinks one already knows.
It is not so much what happens to you as how you think about what happens.” Epictetus
Man is not worried by real problems so much as by his imagined anxieties about real problems
A city is not adorned by external things, but by the virtue of those who dwell in it.
Fortify yourself with contentment for this is an impregnable fortress.
You may fetter my leg, but Zeus himself cannot get the better of my free will.
Why do you want to read anyway – for the sake of amusement or mere erudition? Those are poor, fatuous pretexts. Reading should serve the goal of attaining peace; if it doesn’t make you peaceful, what good is it?
Reading should serve the goal of attaining peace; if it doesn’t make you peaceful, what good is it?
I cannot call somebody ‘hard-working’ knowing only that they read and write. Even if ‘all night long’ is added, I cannot say it – not until I know the focus of all this energy.
Once I was liable to the same mistakes, but, thanks to God, no longer …’Well, isn’t it just as worthwhile to have devoted and applied yourself to this goal as to have read or written fifty pages?
We should realize that an opinion is not easily formed unless a person says and hears the same things every day and practises them in real life.
It isn’t death, pain, exile or anything else you care to mention that accounts for the way we act, only our opinion about death, pain and the rest.
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.
Practice yourself for heaven’s sake in little things and thence proceed to greater.
Ask not that events should happen as you will but let your will be that events should happen as they do and you shall have peace.
There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.
It is not death or pain that is to be dreaded but the fear of pain or death.
All philosophy in two words – sustain and abstain.
So when the crisis is upon you remember that God like a trainer of wrestlers has matched you with a tough and stalwart antagonist… that you may prove a victor at the Great Games.
So when the crisis is upon you remember that God like a trainer of wrestlers has matched you with a tough and stalwart antagonist… that you may prove a victor at the Great Games.
No great thing 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.
He is a drunkard who takes more than three glasses though he be not drunk.
We are not troubled by things but by the opinion which we have of things.
Men are not influenced by things but by their thoughts about things.
On the occasion of every accident that befalls you … inquire what power you have for turning it to use.
He is a man of sense who does not grieve for what he has not but rejoices in what he has.
Freedom is not procured by a full enjoyment of what is desired but by controlling the desire.
First say to yourself what you would be and then do what you have to do.
There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.
The essence of philosophy is that a man should so live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things.
There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.
The essence of philosophy is that a man should so live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things.
It is no easy thing for a principle to become a man’s own unless each day he maintains it and works it out in his life.
Do you know that disease and death must needs overtake us no matter what we are doing? … What do you wish to be doing when it overtakes you? If you have anything better to be doing when you are so overtaken get to work on that.
All philosophy lies in two words sustain and abstain.
Here is the beginning of philosophy: a recognition of the conflicts between men a search for their cause a condemnation of mere opinion .. . and the discovery of a standard of judgement.
If you wish to live a life free from sorrow think of what is going to happen as if it had already happened.
Do you know that disease and death must needs overtake us no matter what we are doing? … What do you wish to be doing when it overtakes you?… If you have anything better to be doing when you are so overtaken get to work on that.
Freedom is not procured by a full enjoyment of what is desired but by controlling that desire.
The essence of philosophy is that a man should so live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things.
Nature has given to men one tongue but two ears that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak.
First say to yourself what you would be and then do what you have to do.
First learn the meaning of what you say and then speak.
Practice yourself in little things and thence proceed to greater.
If you would be a reader read if a writer write.
We should not moor a ship with one anchor, or our life with one hope.
Neither should a ship rely on one small anchor, nor should life rest on a single hope.
Be careful to leave your sons well instructed rather than rich, for the hopes of the instructed are better than the wealth of the ignorant.
We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.
First learn the meaning of what you say, and then speak.
People are not disturbed by things, but by the view they take of them.
It is the nature of the wise to resist pleasures, but the foolish to be a slave to them.
It is not death or pain that is to be dreaded, but the fear of pain or death.
There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.
If virtue promises happiness, prosperity and peace, then progress in virtue is progress in each of these for to whatever point the perfection of anything brings us, progress is always an approach toward it.
All religions must be tolerated… for every man must get to heaven in his own way.
Unless we place our religion and our treasure in the same thing, religion will always be sacrificed.
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.
The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best.
Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens.
It takes more than just a good looking body. You’ve got to have the heart and soul to go with it.
Imagine for yourself a character, a model personality, whose example you determine to follow, in private as well as in public.
To accuse others for one’s own misfortunes is a sign of want of education. To accuse oneself shows that one’s education has begun. To accuse neither oneself nor others shows that one’s education is complete.
It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.
Not every difficult and dangerous thing is suitable for training, but only that which is conducive to success in achieving the object of our effort.
Men are disturbed not by things, but by the view which they take of them.
When you are offended at any man’s fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings. Then you will forget your anger.
Is freedom anything else than the right to live as we wish? Nothing else.