Epictetus Quotes

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.

First learn the meaning of what you say, and then speak.

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?"

When something happens, the only thing in your power is your attitude toward it; you can either accept it or resent it.

No matter where you find yourself, comport yourself as if you were a distinguished person.

I laugh at those who think they can damage me. They do not know who I am, they do not know what I think, they cannot even touch the things which are really mine and with which I live.

If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.

Progress is not achieved by luck or accident, but by working on yourself daily.

God has entrusted me with myself.

Let silence be your general rule; or say only what is necessary and in few words.

The foolish and the uneducated have little use for freedom. Only the educated are free.

Seek not the good in external things;seek it in yourselves.

We all carry the seeds of greatness within us, but we need an image as a point of focus in order that they may sprout.

It is not he who reviles or strikes you who insults you, but your opinion that these things are insulting.

A ship should not be held by a single anchor; neither should life depend upon a single hope.

Nothing great is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig.

Anything worth putting off is worth abandoning altogether.

Other people's views and troubles can be contagious. Don't sabotage yourself by unwittingly adopting negative, unproductive attitudes through your associations with others.

If you can make music with someone you don't need words. If you wish to be a writer, write.

You have been given your own work to do. Get to it right now, do your best at it, and don't be concerned with who is watching you. Create your own merit.

Happiness and personal fulfillment are the natural consequences of doing the right thing.

Wisdom means understanding without any doubt that circumstances do not rise to meet our expectations. Events happen as they may. People behave as they will.

To live a life of virtue, you have to become consistent, even when it isn't convenient, comfortable, or easy.

No man is free who is not master of himself.

Freedom is secured not by the fulfillment of one's desires, but by the removal of desire.

We cannot choose our external circumstances, but we can always choose how we respond to them.

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.

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

No man is able to make progress when he is wavering between opposite things.

Every difficulty in life presents us with an opportunity to turn inward and to invoke our own submerged inner resources. The trials we endure can and should introduce us to our strengths.

We are not disturbed by what happens to us, but by our thoughts about what happens to us.

He who exercises wisdom exercises the knowledge which is about God.

The good or ill of a man lies within his own will.

God has made all men to be happy.

Make it your business to draw out the best in others by being an exemplar yourself.

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.

Ruin and recovering are both from within.

Fortify yourself with contentment, for this is an impregnable fortress.

Happiness is an equivalent for all troublesome things.

The best place to get help is from yourself.

All philosophy lies in two words, sustain and abstain.

Who is not attracted by bright and pleasant children, to prattle, to creep, and to play with them?

A soul that makes virtue its companion is like an over-flowing well, for it is clean and pellucid, sweet and wholesome, open to all, rich, blameless and indestructible.

Wish that everything should come about just as it does.

If anyone is unhappy, remember that his unhappiness is his own fault... Nothing else is the cause of anxiety or loss of tranquility except our own opinion.

Imagine for yourself a character, a model personality, whose example you determine to follow, in private as well as in public.

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

Contentment, as it is a short road and pleasant, has great delight and little trouble.

The world turns aside to let any man pass who knows where he is going.

We all dread a bodily paralysis, and would make use of every contrivance to avoid it; but none of us is troubled about a paralysis of the soul.