Epictetus > Quotes

“Demand not that events should happen as you wish; but wish them to happen as they do happen, and you will go on well.”
― Epictetus, The Enchiridion

“What, for instance, does it mean to be insulted? [29] Stand by a rock and insult it, and what have you accomplished? If someone responds to insult like a rock, what has the abuser gained with his invective? If, however, he has his victim’s weakness to exploit, then his efforts are worth his while.”
― Epictetus, Of Human Freedom

“It is not things that trouble us, but our judgements about things.”
― Epictetus, Enchiridion

“Protect what belongs to you at all costs; don't desire what belongs to another.”
― Epictetus, Discourses and Selected Writings

“Men are disturbed not by the things which happen, but by the opinions about the things:”
― Epictetus, Enchiridion

“If you choose, you are free; if you choose, you need blame no man—accuse no man. All things will be at once according to your mind and according to the Mind of God.”
― Epictetus, The Golden Sayings of Epictetus

“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. ”
― Epictetus

“If you wish it, you are free; if you wish it, you’ll find fault with no one, you’ll cast blame on no one, and everything that comes about will do so in accordance with your own will and that of God.”
― Epictetus, Discourses, Fragments, Handbook

“Asked how a man should best grieve his enemy, Epictetus replied, "By setting himself to live the noblest life himself.”
― Epictetus, The Golden Sayings of Epictetus

“When you are feeling upset, angry, or sad,” Epictetus said, “don’t blame another for your state of mind. Your condition is the result of your own opinions and interpretations. . . .”
― Epictetus, The Manual: A Philosopher's Guide to Life

“Remind yourself that what you love is mortal … at the very moment you are taking joy in something, present yourself with the opposite impressions. What harm is it, just when you are kissing your little child, to say: Tomorrow you will die, or to your friend similarly: Tomorrow one of us will go away, and we shall not see one another any more?”
― Epictetus

“For what else is tragedy than the portrayal in tragic verse of the sufferings of men who have attached high value to external things? [27]”
― Epictetus, Discourses, Fragments, Handbook

“Control thy passions lest they take vengeance on thee.”
― Epictetus

“When you do anything from a clear judgment that it ought to be done, never shun the being seen to do it, even though the world should make a wrong supposition about it; for, if you don’t act right, shun the action itself; but, if you do, why are you afraid of those who censure you wrongly?”
― Epictetus, The Art of Living

“Disease is an impediment to the body, but not to the will, unless the will itself chooses. Lameness is an impediment to the leg, but not to the will. And add this reflection on the occasion of everything that happens; for you will find it an impediment to something else, but not to yourself.”
― Epictetus, Enchiridion

“Let your will to avoid have no concern with what is not in man's power; direct it only to things in man's power that are contrary to nature.”
― Epictetus

“He who is discontented with what he has, and with what has been granted to him by fortune, is one who is ignorant of the art of living, but he who bears that in a noble spirit, and makes reasonable use of all that comes from it, deserves to be regarded as a good man.”
― Epictetus, Discourses, Fragments, Handbook

“Nothing important comes into being overnight; even grapes and figs need time to ripen. If you say that you want a fig now, I will tell you to be patient. First, you must allow the tree to flower, then put forth fruit; then you have to wait until the fruit is ripe. So if the fruit of a fig tree is not brought to maturity instantly or in an hour, how do you expect the human mind to come to fruition, so quickly and easily?”
― Epictetus, Discourses and Selected Writings

“In the long run, every man will pay the penalty for his own misdeeds. The man who remembers this will be angry with no one, indignant with no one, revile no one, blame no one, offend no one, hate no one.”
― Epictetus

“Free is the person who lives as he wishes and cannot be coerced, impeded or compelled, whose impulses cannot be thwarted, who always gets what he desires and never has to experience what he would rather avoid.”
― Epictetus, Discourses and Selected Writings

“Friend, lay hold with a desperate grasp, ere it is too late, on Freedom, on Tranquility, on Greatness of soul!”
― Epictetus, The Golden Sayings of Epictetus

“Do not wish that all things will go well with you, but that you will go well with all things.”
― Epictetus, The Manual: A Philosopher's Guide to Life

“Stop honouring externals, quit turning yourself into the tool of mere matter, or of people who can supply you or deny you those material things.”
― Epictetus, Discourses and Selected Writings

“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.”
― Epictetus, THE ART OF LIVING

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

“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.”
― Epictetus, Epictetus. The Discourses as Reported By Arrian. Vol. I. Books 1 and 2. With an English Translation By W. A. Oldfather

“You will never have to experience defeat if you avoid contests whose outcome is outside your control.”
― Epictetus, Discourses and Selected Writings

“Never say of anything that I've lost it, only that I've given it back.”
― Epictetus

“Be free from grief not through insensibility like the irrational animals, nor through want of thought like the foolish, but like a man of virtue by having reason as the consolation of grief.”
― Epictetus, Enchiridion

“Is there smoke in the house? If it’s not suffocating, I will stay indoors; if it proves too much, I’ll leave. Always remember – the door is open.”
― Epictetus, Discourses and Selected Writings