Epictetus

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

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

“No man is free who is not master of himself.”

“It is better to die of hunger having lived without grief and fear, than to live with a troubled spirit, amid abundance”

“Events do not just happen, but arrive by appointment.”

“You are a little soul carrying around a corpse”

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

“It is not so much what happens to you as how you think about what happens.”

“God has entrusted me with myself. No man is free who is not master of himself. A man should so live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things. The world turns aside to let any man pass who knows where he is going.”

“Don't seek to have events happen as you wish, but wish them to happen as they do happen, and all will be well with you.”

“Concerning the Gods, there are those who deny the very existence of the Godhead; others say that it exists, but neither bestirs nor concerns itself not has forethought far anything. A third party attribute to it existence and forethought, but only for great and heavenly matters, not for anything that is on earth. A fourth party admit things on earth as well as in heaven, but only in general, and not with respect to each individual. A fifth, of whom were Ulysses and Socrates, are those that cry: --I move not without Thy knowledge!”

“Nature hath given men one tongue but two ears, that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak.”

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

“Any person capable of angering you becomes your master;he can anger you only when you permit yourself to be disturbed by him.”

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

“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?”

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

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

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

“If anyone tells you that a certain person speaks ill of you, do not make excuses about what is said of you but answer, "He was ignorant of my other faults, else he would not have mentioned these alone.”

“Caretake this moment. Immerse yourself in its particulars. Respond to this person, this challenge, this deed. Quit evasions. Stop giving yourself needless trouble. It is time to really live; to fully inhabit the situation you happen to be in now.”

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

“What you shun enduring yourself, attempt not to impose on others. You shun slavery- beware enslaving others! If you can endure to do that, one would think you had been once upon a time a slave yourself. For vice has nothing in common with virtue, nor Freedom with slavery. ”

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

“Difficulty shows what men are.”

“Preach not to others what they should eat, but eat as becomes you and be silent. ”

“So you wish to conquer in the Olympic Games, my friend? And I, too... But first mark the conditions and the consequences. You will have to put yourself under discipline; to eat by rule, to avoid cakes and sweetmeats; to take exercise at the appointed hour whether you like it or not, in cold and heat; to abstain from cold drinks and wine at your will. Then, in the conflict itself you are likely enough to dislocate your wrist or twist your ankle, to swallow a great deal of dust, to be severely thrashed, and after all of these things, to be defeated.”

“Τίς εἶναι θέλεις, σαυτῷ πρῶτον εἰπέ: εἶθ' οὕτως ποίει ἃ ποιεῖς. (First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.)”

“If you would be a reader, read; if a writer, write.”

“Either God wants to abolish evil, and cannot; or he can, but does not want to.”

“To accuse others for one's own misfortune is a sign of want of education. To accuse oneself shows that one's education has begun. To accuse neither oneself nor others shows that one's education is complete.”

“Kein Mensch, der in Furcht oder Sorge oder Chaos lebt, ist frei, aber wer sich von Sorgen, Furcht und Chaos befreit, wird dadurch auch aus der Sklaverei befreit.”

“You know yourself what you are worth in your own eyes; and at what price you will sell yourself. For men sell themselves at various prices. This is why, when Florus was deliberating whether he should appear at Nero's shows, taking part in the performance himself, Agrippinus replied, 'Appear by all means.' And when Florus inquired, 'But why do not you appear?' he answered, 'Because I do not even consider the question.' For the man who has once stooped to consider such questions, and to reckon up the value of external things, is not far from forgetting what manner of man he is.”

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

“Don't just say you have read books. Show that through them you have learned to think better, to be a more discriminating and reflective person. Books are the training weights of the mind. They are very helpful, but it would be a bad mistake to suppose that one has made progress simply by having internalized their contents.”

“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.”

“Difficulty shows what men are. Therefore when a difficulty falls upon you, remember that God, like a trainer of wrestlers, has matched you with a rough young man. Why? So that you may become an Olympic conqueror; but it is not accomplished without sweat.”

“There is but one way to tranquility of mind and happiness, and that is to account no external things thine own, but to commit all to God.”

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

“Attach yourself to what is spiritually superior, regardless of what other people think or do. Hold to your true aspirations no matter what is going on around you.”

“Do not try to seem wise to others. ”

“Demand not that things happen as you wish, but wish them to happen as they do, and you will go on well.”

“Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it.”

“People are not disturbed by things, but by the views they take of them.”

“If evil be said of thee, and if it be true, correct thyself; if it be a lie, laugh at it.”

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

“Circumstances don't make the man, they only reveal him to himself.”

“If you would cure anger, do not feed it. Say to yourself: 'I used to be angry every day; then every other day; now only every third or fourth day.' When you reach thirty days offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the gods.”

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

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