Epictetus Quotes

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

Any person capable of angering you becomes your master.

Don't be concerned with other people's impressions of you. They are dazzled and deluded by appearances. Stick with your purpose. This alone will strengthen your will and give your life coherence.

There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.

When you are offended at any man's fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings. Then you will forget your anger.

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.

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.

Keep your attention focused entirely on what is truly your own concern, and be clear that what belongs to others is their business and none of yours.

Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it.

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

He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.

You can be happy if you know this secret: Some things are within your power to control and some things are not.

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

He who laughs at himself never runs out of things to laugh at.

As you think, so you become.....Our busy minds are forever jumping to conclusions, manufacturing and interpreting signs that aren't there.

The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best.

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

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

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

It is our attitude toward events, not events themselves, which we can control. Nothing is by its own nature calamitous -- even death is terrible only if we fear it.

If evil be spoken of you and it be true, correct yourself, if it be a lie, laugh at it.

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.

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

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

At this time is freedom anything but the right to live as we wish? Nothing else.

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

Be careful to leave your sons well instructed rather than rich, for the hopes of the instructed are better than the wealth of the ignorant.

Only the educated are free.

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

No matter what happens, it is within my power to turn it to my advantage.

We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.

Books are the training weights of the mind.

Keep silence for the most part, and speak only when you must, and then briefly.

In trying to please other people, we find ourselves misdirected toward what lies outside our sphere of influence. In doing so, we lose our hold on our lifes purpose.

The greater the difficulty the more glory in surmounting it. Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests.

Authentic happiness is always independent of external conditions.

No great thing is created suddenly. There must be time. Give your best and always be kind.

Know, first, who you are, and then adorn yourself accordingly.

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.

These are the signs of a wise man: to reprove nobody, to praise nobody, to blame nobody, nor even to speak of himself or his own merits.

Renew every day your conversation with God: Do this even in preference to eating. Think more often of God than you breathe.

Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.

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

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

We can't control the impressions others form about us, and the effort to do so only debases our character.

You become what you give your attention to...If you yourself don't choose what thoughts and images you expose yourself to, someone else will, and their motives may not be the highest.

Nothing truly stops you. Nothing truly holds you back. For your own will is always within your control.

Man is not worried by real problems so much as by his imagined anxieties about real problems

In order to please others, we loose our hold on our life's purpose.

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