“Men are not afraid of things, but of how they view them.”

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

“Men are disturbed not by the things that happen, but by their opinion of the things that happen.”

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

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

“Difficulty shows what men are.”

“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!’.”