Epictetus Quotes
Nature hath given men one tongue but two ears, that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak.
To adorn our characters by the charm of an amiable nature shows at once a lover of beauty and a lover of man.
Do not give sentence in another tribunal till you have been yourself judged in the tribunal of Justice.
Bid a singer in a chorus, Know Thyself; and will he not turn for the knowledge to the others, his fellows in the chorus, and to his harmony with them?
To a reasonable creature, that alone is insupportable which is unreasonable; but everything reasonable may be supported.
Things true and evident must of necessity be recognized by those who would contradict them.
Freedom is the only worthy goal in life. It is won by disregarding things that lie beyond our control.
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!’.
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.
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.
There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power or our will.
You only have to doze a moment, and all is lost. For ruin and salvation both have their source inside you.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
