Epictetus Quotes
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To live a life of virtue, match up your thoughts, words, and deeds.
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If you wish to live a life free from sorrow, think of what is going to happen as if it had already happened.
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In theory it is easy to convince an ignorant person; in actual life, men not only object to offer themselves to be convinced, but hate the man who has convinced them.
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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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Every habit and faculty is preserved and increased by correspondent actions, as the habit of walking, by walking; of running, by running.
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Ask yourself, "How are my thoughts, words and deeds affecting my friends, my spouse, my neighbour, my child, my employer, my subordinates, my fellow citizens?"
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When we blather about trivial things, we ourselves become trivial, for our attention gets taken up with trivialities. You become what you give your attention to.
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Seek to be the purple thread in the long white gown.
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If you do not wish to be prone to anger, do not feed the habit; give it nothing which may tend to its increase. At first, keep quiet and count the days when you were not angry: "I used to be angry every day, then every other day: next, every two, then every three days!" and if you succeed in passing thirty days, sacrifice to the gods in thanksgiving.
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Of pleasures, those which occur most rarely give the most delight.
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The two powers which in my opinion constitute a wise man are those of bearing and forbearing.
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Confident because of our caution
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Some of their faults men readily admit, but others not so readily.
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Let silence be your general rule; or say only what is necessary and in few words.
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Do not seek to bring things to pass in accordance with your wishes, but wish for them as they are, and you will find them.
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We cannot choose our external circumstances, but we can always choose how we respond to them.
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Make it your business to draw out the best in others by being an exemplar yourself.
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So you wish to conquer in the Olympic Games, my friend? And I, too... But first mark the conditions and the consequences. You will have to put yourself under discipline; to eat by rule, to avoid cakes and sweetmeats; to take exercise at the appointed hour whether you like it or not, in cold and heat; to abstain from cold drinks and wine at your will. Then, in the conflict itself you are likely enough to dislocate your wrist or twist your ankle, to swallow a great deal of dust, to be severely thrashed, and after all of these things, to be defeated.
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If one oversteps the bounds of moderation, the greatest pleasures cease to please.
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No one who is in a state of fear or sorrow or tension is free, but whosoever is delivered from sorrows or fears or anxieties is at the same time delivered from servitude.
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If you would be good, first believe that you are bad.
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One that desires to excel should endeavor in those things that are in themselves most excellent.
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Don't be concerned who is watching you. The triumphs and merits of others belong to them - as do yours to you. Make the most of what you've got.
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Ask yourself: Does this appearance (of events) concern the things that are within my own control or those that are not? If it concerns anything outside your control, train yourself not to worry about it.
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Two principles we should always have ready — that there is nothing good or evil save in the will; and that we are not to lead events, but to follow them.
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It is the nature of the wise to resist pleasures, but the foolish to be a slave to them.
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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.
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The origin of sorrow is this: to wish for something that does not come to pass.
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It is impossible to begin to learn that which one thinks one already knows.
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Circumstances don't make the man, they only reveal him to himself.
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Related Authors
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Heraclitus Philosopher -
Albert Ellis Psychologist -
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Friedrich Nietzsche Philologist -
Plotinus Philosopher -
Sextus Empiricus Physician -
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Michel de Montaigne Writer -
Marcus Aurelius Roman emperor -
Marcus Tullius Cicero Philosopher -
Epicurus Philosopher -
Diogenes Philosopher -
Cleanthes Philosopher -
Bertrand Russell Philosopher -
Lucretius Poet -
Socrates Philosopher -
Plato Philosopher -
Seneca the Younger Philosopher -
Aristotle Philosopher -
Chrysippus Philosopher