Epictetus Quotations | Page 4

It is not so much what happens to you as how you think about what happens." Epictetus

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

It is not my place in society that makes me well off, but my judgements, and these I can carry with me... These alone are my own and cannot be taken away.

You are a principal work, a fragment of [Goddess herself], you have in yourself a part of [her]. Why then are you ignorant of your high birth?

If you wish to write, write.

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?

Even as the Sun doth not wait for prayers and incantations to rise, but shines forth and is welcomed by all: so thou also wait not for clapping of hands and shouts and praise to do thy duty; nay, do good of thine own accord, and thou wilt be loved like the Sun.

What thou avoidest suffering thyself seek not to impose on others.

To get or not to get what we desire can be equally disappointing.

Fight against yourself, recover yourself to decency, to modesty, to freedom. And, in the first place, condemn your actions; but when you have condemned them, do not despair of yourself. For both ruin and recovery are from within.

What is death? A scary mask. Take it off-see, it doesn't bite.

The best place to get help is from yourself.

To know that you do not know and to be willing to admit that you do not know without sheepishly apologizing is real strength and sets the stage for learning and progress in any endeavor.

Pleasure, like a kind of bait, is thrown before everything which is really bad, and easily allures greedy souls to the hook of perdition.

Try not to react merely in the moment. Pull back from the situation. Take a wider view. Compose yourself.

If you see anybody wail and complain, call him a slave, though he be clad in purple.

Living a good life leads to enduring happiness. Goodness in and of itself is the practice AND the reward.

To adorn our characters by the charm of an amiable nature shows at once a lover of beauty and a lover of man.

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.

To a longer and worse life, a shorter and better is by all means to be preferred.

No man is disturbed by things, but by his opinion about things.

Shall I show you the sinews of a philosopher? What sinews are those? - A will undisappointed; evils avoided; powers daily exercised; careful resolutions; unerring decisions.

Confidence in nonsense is a requirement for the creative process.

Confident because of our caution

The soul that companies with virtue is like an ever-flowing source. It is a pure, clear, and wholesome draught, sweet, rich and generous of its store, that injures not, neither destroys.

Avoid banquets which are given by strangers an ignorant persons. But if there is ever occasion to join them, let your attention be carefully fixed, that you slip not into the manner of the vulgar (the uninstructed).

It is your own convictions which compels you; that is, choice compels choice.

It is a mark of a mean capacity to spend much time on the things which concern the body, such as much exercise, much eating, much drinking, much easing of the body, much copulation. But these things should be done as subordinate things: and let all your care be directed to the mind.

Remember that you are an actor in a play, and that the Playwright chooses the manner of it: If he wants you to act a poor man you must act the part with all your powers; and so if your part be a cripple or a magistrate or a plain man. For your business is to act the character that is given you and act it well. The choice of the cast is Another's.

Consider the bigger picture.....think things through and fully commit!

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.

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

The soul's impurity consists in bad judgments, and purification consists in producing in it right judgments, and the pure soul is one which has right judgments.

Remember that you are but an actor, acting whatever part the Master has ordained. It may be short or it may be long. If he wishes you to represent a poor man, do so heartily; if a cripple, or a magistrate, or a private man, in each case act your part with honor.

It were no slight attainment could we merely fulfil what the nature of man implies.

No living being is held by anything so strongly as by its own needs. Whatever therefore appears a hindrance to these, be it brother, or father, or child, or mistress, or friend, is hated, abhorred, execrated.

The soul is unwillingly deprived of truth.

Remember that you are an actor in a drama of such sort as the Author chooses: if short, then in a short one; if long, then in a long one. If it be His pleasure that you should enact a poor man, or a cripple, or a ruler, or a private citizen, see that you act it well. For this is your business, to act well the given part. But to choose it belongs to Another.

Opportunity beckons more surely when misfortune comes upon a person than it ever does when that person is riding the crest of a wave of success. It sharpens a person's wits, if that person will let it, enabling him or her to see more clearly and evaluate situations with a more knowledgeable judgment.

The Beginning of Philosophy is a Consciousness of your own Weakness and inability in necessary things.

A thing either is what it appears to be; or it is not, but yet appears to be; or it is, but does not appear to be; or it is not, and does not appear to be.

In every affair consider what precedes and what follows, and then undertake it

If you have anything better to be doing when death overtakes you, get to work on that.

If anyone should tell you that a particular person has spoken critically of you, don't bother with excuses or defenses. Just smile and reply, "I guess that person doesn't know about all my other faults. Otherwise, he wouldn't have mentioned only these."

What is it that every man seeks? To be secure, to be happy, to do what he pleases without restraint and without compulsion.

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?"

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.

What will the world be quite overturned when you die?

Try to enjoy the great festival of life with other men!

With ills unending strives the putter off.

What disturbs people, these are not things, but the judgments relating to things

It has been ordained that there be summer and winter, abundance and dearth, virtue and vice, and all such opposites for the harmony of the whole, and (Zeus) has given each of us a body, property, and companions.

Crows pick out the eyes of the dead, when the dead have no longer need of them; but flatterers mar the soul of the living, and her eyes they blind.

As a man, casting off worn out garments taketh new ones, so the dweller in the body, entereth into ones that are new.

Who are those people by whom you wish to be admired? Are they not these whom you are in the habit of saying that they are mad? What then? Do you wish to be admired by the mad?

Getting distracted by trifles is the easiest thing in the world… Focus on your main duty

It is unlikely that the good of a snail should reside in its shell: so is it likely that the good of a man should?

Covetousness like jealousy, when it has taken root, never leaves a person, but with their life. Cowardice is the dread of what will happen.

We should do everything both cautiously and confidently at the same time.

If you would be good, first believe you are bad.

Remember that you are in actor in a play of such a kind that the author chooses...For this is your duty, to act well the part that is given to you; but to select the part belongs to another.

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.

Never look for your work in one place and your progress in another.

Sickness is a hindrance to the body, but not to your ability to choose, unless that is your choice. Lameness is a hindrance to the leg, but not to your ability to choose. Say this to yourself with regard to everything that happens, then you will see such obstacles as hindrances to something else, but not to yourself.

Nothing great comes into being all at once.

Each man's life is a kind of campaign, and a long and complicated one at that. You have to maintain the character of a soldier, and do each separate act at the bidding of the General.

Never say of anything I have lost it, only say that I have given it back.

If someone irritates you, it is only your own response that is irritating you. Therefore, when anyone seems to be provoking you, remember that it is only your judgment of the incident that provokes you. -

If you have assumed a character above your strength, you have both acted in this matter in an unbecoming way, and you have neglected that which you might have fulfilled.

Don’t consent to be hurt and you won’t be hurt – this is a choice over which you have control

Your master is he who controls that on which you have set your heart or wish to avoid.

Nothing is in reality either pleasant or unpleasant by nature but all things become so through habit

What disturbs people's minds are not events but their judgments on events.

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.

It is not he who gives abuse that affronts, but the view that we take of it as insulting; so that when one provokes you it is your own opinion which is provoking.

Tentative efforts lead to tentative outcome.

You are but an appearance, and not absolutely the thing you appear to be.

It is not a demonstration of kindness or friendship to the people we care about to join them in indulging in wrongheaded, negative feelings. We do a better service to ourselves and others by remaining detached and avoiding melodramatic reactions.

It’s time to stop being vague. If you wish to be an extraordinary person, if you wish to be wise, then you should explicitly identify the kind of person you aspire to become.

A man that seeks truth and loves it must be reckoned precious to any human society.

The universe is but one great city, full of beloved ones, divine and human, by nature endeared to each other.

When a man is proud because he can understand and explain the writings of Chrysippus, say to yourself, 'if Chrysippus had not written obscurely, this man would have had nothing to be proud of.'

When your thoughts, words, and deeds form a seamless fabric, you streamline your efforts and thus eliminate worry and dread.

Never depend on the admiration of others for self-satisfaction. It is a fact of life that other people, even people who love you, will not necessarily agree with your ideas, understand you always, or share your enthusiasms.

Embrace reality. Think about what delights you - the small luxuries on which you depend, the people whom you cherish most. But remember that they have their own distinct character, which is quite a separate matter from how we happen to regard them.

What matters most is what sort of person you are becoming. Wise individuals care only about whom they are today and who they can be tomorrow.

A strict belief, fate is the worst kind of slavery; on the other hand there is comfort in the thought that God will be moved by our prayers.

The materials of action are variable, but the use we make of them should be constant

If someone speaks badly of you, do not defend yourself against the accusations, but reply; "you obviously don't know about my other vices, otherwise you would have mentioned these as well

It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.

Any person capable of angering you becomes your master.

Happiness and freedom begin with a clear understanding of one principle: Some things are within our control, and some things are not. It is only after you have faced up to this fundamental rule and learned to distinguish between what you can and can't control that inner tranquility and outer effectiveness become possible.

I have to die. If it is now, well then I die now; if later, then now I will take my lunch, since the hour for lunch has arrived - and dying I will tend to later.

It's so simple really: If you say you're going to do something, do it. If you start something, finish it.

Suffering arises from trying to control what is uncontrollable, or from neglecting what is within our power.

Be careful whom you associate with. It is human to imitate the habits of those with whom we interact. We inadvertently adopt their interests, their opinions, their values, and their habit of interpreting events.

From this instant on, vow to stop disappointing yourself. Separate yourself from the mob. Decide to be extraordinary and do what you need to do -- now.

Freedom and happiness are won by disregarding things that lie beyond our control.

Books are the training weights of the mind.

Difficulties show men what they are. In case of any difficulty, remember that God has pitted you against a rough antagonist that you may be a conqueror, and this cannot be without toil.