Quotes by Epictetus

• We tell lies, yet it is easy to show that lying is immoral.
• There is nothing good or evil save in the will.
• The greater the difficulty the more glory in surmounting it. Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests.
• The essence of philosophy is that a man should so live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things.
• Silence is safer than speech.
• Practice yourself, for heaven's sake in little things, and then proceed to greater.
• People are not disturbed by things, but by the view they take of them.
• You may be always victorious if you will never enter into any contest where the issue does not wholly depend upon yourself.
• Only the educated are free.
• One that desires to excel should endeavor in those things that are in themselves most excellent.
• Nothing great is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig. I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.
• The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best.
• There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.
• To accuse others for one's own misfortunes 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.
• Unless we place our religion and our treasure in the same thing, religion will always be sacrificed.
• We are not to give credit to the many, who say that none ought to be educated but the free; but rather to the philosophers, who say that the well-educated alone are free.
• The two powers which in my opinion constitute a wise man are those of bearing and forbearing.
• We should not moor a ship with one anchor, or our life with one hope.
• Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.
• When you are offended at any man's fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings. Then you will forget your anger.
• Whenever you are angry, be assured that it is not only a present evil, but that you have increased a habit.
• Whoever does not regard what he has as most ample wealth, is unhappy, though he be master of the world.
• You are a little soul carrying around a corpse.
• The world turns aside to let any man pass who knows where he is going.
• We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.
• It takes more than just a good looking body. You've got to have the heart and soul to go with it.
• Not every difficult and dangerous thing is suitable for training, but only that which is conducive to success in achieving the object of our effort.
• It is not he who reviles or strikes you who insults you, but your opinion that these things are insulting.
• It is not death or pain that is to be dreaded, but the fear of pain or death.
• Is freedom anything else than the right to live as we wish? Nothing else.
• Neither should a ship rely on one small anchor, nor should life rest on a single hope.
• Imagine for yourself a character, a model personality, whose example you determine to follow, in private as well as in public.
• If you wish to be a writer, write.
• It is impossible to begin to learn that which one thinks one already knows.
• Keep silence for the most part, and speak only when you must, and then briefly.
• Know, first, who you are, and then adorn yourself accordingly.
• Men are disturbed not by things, but by the view which they take of them.
• Never in any case say I have lost such a thing, but I have returned it. Is your child dead? It is a return. Is your wife dead? It is a return. Are you deprived of your estate? Is not this also a return?
• No great thing is created suddenly.
• No greater thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.
• No man is free who is not master of himself.
• If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.
• It is the nature of the wise to resist pleasures, but the foolish to be a slave to them.
• Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens.
• Control thy passions lest they take vengence on thee.
• It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.
• If you seek truth you will not seek victory by dishonorable means, and if you find truth you will become invincible.
• All philosophy lies in two words, sustain and abstain.
• 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.
• Difficulties are things that show a person what they are.
• Do not laugh much or often or unrestrainedly.
• Do not seek to bring things to pass in accordance with your wishes, but wish for them as they are, and you will find them.
• First learn the meaning of what you say, and then speak.
• First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.
• If one oversteps the bounds of moderation, the greatest pleasures cease to please.
• All religions must be tolerated... for every man must get to heaven in his own way.
• Freedom is not procured by a full enjoyment of what is desired, but by controlling the desire.
• If you desire to be good, begin by believing that you are wicked.
• If evil be spoken of you and it be true, correct yourself, if it be a lie, laugh at it.
• He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.
• He is a drunkard who takes more than three glasses though he be not drunk.
• God has entrusted me with myself.
• Freedom is the right to live as we wish.
• If thy brother wrongs thee, remember not so much his wrong-doing, but more than ever that he is thy brother.