Epictetus Quotes

Freedom is not procured by a full enjoyment of what is desired but by controlling the desire.

Don't put your purpose in one place and expect to see progress made somewhere else.

It is the nature of the wise to resist pleasures, but the foolish to be a slave to them.

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.

Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens.

Practice yourself in little things and thence proceed to greater.

Freedom is the only worthy goal in life. It is won by disregarding things that lie beyond our control.

Unless we place our religion and our treasure in the same thing, religion will always be sacrificed.

All philosophy lies in two words sustain and abstain.

It is impossible to begin to learn that which one thinks one already knows.

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.

Is freedom anything else than the right to live as we wish? Nothing else.

First say to yourself what you would be and then do what you have to do.

God has entrusted me with myself.

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.

The essence of philosophy is that a man should so live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things.

Man, what are you talking about? Me in chains? You may fetter my leg but my will, not even Zeus himself can overpower.

no man is free until he s a master of himself!!

We are not troubled by things but by the opinion which we have of things.

He is a drunkard who takes more than three glasses though he be not drunk.

You only have to doze a moment, and all is lost. For ruin and salvation both have their source inside you.

And where there is ignorance, there is also want of learning and instruction in essentials.

All religions must be tolerated... for every man must get to heaven in his own way.

If you wish to live a life free from sorrow think of what is going to happen as if it had already happened.

Practice yourself for heaven's sake in little things and thence proceed to greater.

Only the educated are free.

Men are not influenced by things but by their thoughts about things.

Know you not that a good man does nothing for appearance sake, but for the sake of having done right?

It is not death or pain that is to be dreaded, but the fear of pain or death.

Bear and forbear.

On the occasion of every accident that befalls you ... inquire what power you have for turning it to use.

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.

A city is not adorned by external things, but by the virtue of those who dwell in it.

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.

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.

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?

People are not disturbed by things, but by the view they take of them.

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.

First say to yourself what you would beand then do what you have to do.

Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it.

It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.

Is it not the same distance to God everywhere?

It takes more than just a good looking body. You've got to have the heart and soul to go with it.

Nature has given to men one tongue but two ears that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak.

We should not moor a ship with one anchor, or our life with one hope.

Fortify yourself with contentment for this is an impregnable fortress.

He is a man of sense who does not grieve for what he has not but rejoices in what he has.

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?