Epictetus Quotes

#1. The soul that companies with virtue is like an ever-flowing source. It is a pure, clear, and wholesome draught, sweet, rich and generous of its store, that injures not, neither destroys.

Epictetus

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

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#3. In banquets remember that you entertain two guests, body and soul: and whatever you shall have given to the body you soon eject: but what you shall have given to the soul, you keep always.

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#4. You're not yet Socrates, but you can still live as if you want to be him.

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#5. We must not believe the many, who say that only free people ought to be educated, but we should rather believe the philosophers who say that only the educated are free.

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#6. you're unable to make someone change his views, recognize that he is a child, and clap as he does. Or if you don't care to act in such a way, you have only to keep quiet.

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#7. If someone irritates you, it is only your own response that is irritating you. Therefore, when anyone seems to be provoking you, remember that it is only your judgment of the incident that provokes you. -

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#8. I laugh at those who think they can damage me. They do not know who I am, they do not know what I think, they cannot even touch the things which are really mine and with which I live.

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#9. Your master is he who controls that on which you have set your heart or wish to avoid.

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#10. A ship should not be held by a single anchor; neither should life depend upon a single hope.

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#11. Nothing is in reality either pleasant or unpleasant by nature but all things become so through habit

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#12. When you let go of your attention for a little while, do not think you may recover it whenever you please.

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#13. The materials are indifferent, but the use we make of them is not a matter of indifference.

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#14. Asked, Who is the rich man? Epictetus replied, "He who is content.

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#15. A soul which is conversant with virtue is like an ever flowing source, for it is pure and tranquil and potable and sweet and communicative (social) and rich and harmless and free from mischief.

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#16. Why are you pestering me, pal? My own evils are enough for me.

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#17. Epictetus being asked how a man should give pain to his enemy answered, By preparing himself to live the best life that he can.

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#18. What is learned without pleasure is forgotten without remorse.

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#19. It is unrealistc to expect people to see you as you see yourself.

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#20. Most people are impulsive, however, and having committed to the thing, they persist, just making more confusion for themselves and others until it all end in mutual recrimination.

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

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#22. Isn't reading a kind of preparation for life?'
But life is composed of things other than books. It is as if an athlete, on entering the stadium, were to complain that he's not outside exercising.This was the goal of your exercise, of your weights, your practice ring and your training partners.

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#23. As the sun does not wait for prayers and incantations tob e induced to rise, but immediately shines and is saluted by all, so do you also not wait for clappings of hands and shouts of praise tob e induced to do good, but be a doer of good voluntarily and you will be beloved as much as the sun.

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#24. The essence of good and evil is a certain disposition of the will.

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

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#26. Lucky is the man who dies at work.

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#27. Appear to know only this
never to fail nor fall.

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#28. Try to enjoy the great festival of life with other men.

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#29. You only have to doze a moment, and all is lost. For ruin and salvation both have their source inside you.

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#30. Grammar will tell you how to write; but whether to write or not, grammar will not tell.

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#31. God has entrusted me with myself.

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#32. One that desires to excel should endeavor in those things that are in themselves most excellent.

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#33. It is not events that disturb the minds of men, but the view they take of them.

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

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#35. Fortify yourself with contentment for this is an impregnable fortress.

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#36. From now on practice saying to everything that appears unpleasant: You are merely an appearance and NOT what you appear to be.

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#37. If thou rememberest that God standeth by to behold and visit all that thou doest; whether in the body or in the soul, thou surely wilt not err in any prayer or deed; and thou shalt have God to dwell with thee.

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#38. There are some faults which men readily admit, but others not so readily.

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#39. The two powers which in my opinion constitute a wise man are those of bearing and forbearing.

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#40. 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.

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#41. We cannot choose our external circumstances, but we can always choose how we respond to them

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#42. If you hear that someone is speaking ill of you, instead of trying to defend yourself you should say: 'He obviously does not know me very well, since there are so many other faults he could have mentioned.'

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

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#44. Whatever you would make habitual, practice it; and if you would not make a thing habitual, do not practice it, but accustom yourself to something else.

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#45. It is not he who gives abuse that affronts, but the view that we take of it as insulting; so that when one provokes you it is your own opinion which is provoking.

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#46. Faced with pain, you will discover the power of endurance. If you are insulted, you will discover patience. In time, you will grow to be confident that there is not a single impression that you will not have the moral means to tolerate.

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#47. For sheep don't throw up the grass to show the shepherds how much they have eaten; but, inwardly digesting their food, they outwardly produce wool and milk.

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#48. For even sheep do not vomit up their grass and show to the shepherds how much they have eaten; but when they have internally digested the pasture, they produce externally wool and milk. Do you also show not your theorems to the uninstructed, but show the acts which come from their digestion.

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#49. 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.

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#50. It is much better to die of hunger unhindered by grief and fear than to live affluently beset with worry, dread, suspicion and unchecked desire.

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#51. It is not things in themselves which trouble us, but our opinions of things.

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#52. A thing either is what it appears to be; or it is not, but yet appears to be; or it is, but does not appear to be; or it is not, and does not appear to be.

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#53. It is more necessary for the soul to be cured than the body; for it is better to die than to live badly.

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#54. In literature, too, it is not great achievement to memorize what you have read while not formulating an opinion of your own.

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#55. The knowledge of what is mine and what is not mine, what I can and cannot do. I must die. But must I die bawling? I must be exiled; but is there anything to keep me from going with a smile, calm and self-composed?

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#56. Understand what words you use first, then use them.

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#57. Let thy speech of God be renewed day by day, aye, rather than thy meat and drink.

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

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#59. Remember that you must behave in life as at a dinner party. Is anything brought around to you? Put out your hand and take your share with moderation. Does it pass by you? Don't stop it. Is it not yet come? Don't stretch your desire towards it, but wait till it reaches you.

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#60. We should put our trust not in the crowd, who say that only free men can be educated, but rather in the philosophers, who say that none but the educated can be free.

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#61. The universe is but one great city, full of beloved ones, divine and human, by nature endeared to each other.

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#62. If what philosophers say of the kinship of God and Man be true, what remains for men to do but as Socrates did: - never, when asked one's country, to answer, "I am an Athenian or a Corinthian," but "I am a citizen of the world.

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#63. Freedom and slavery, the one is the name of virtue, and the other of vice, and both are acts of the will.

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#64. Whenever you are angry, be assured that it is not only a present evil, but that you have increased a habit.

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#65. Books are the training weights of the mind.

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#66. The flourishing life cannot be achieved until we moderate our desires and see how superficial and fleeting they are.

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#67. When then any man assents to that which is false, be assured that he did not intend to assent to it as false, for every soul is unwillingly deprived of the truth, as Plato says; but the falsity seemed to him to be true.

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#68. Fortune is an evil chain to the body, and vice to the soul.

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#69. It is the sign of a dull mind to dwell upon the cares of the body, to prolong exercise, eating and drinking and other bodily functions. These things are best done by the way; all your attention must be given to the mind.

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#70. Exceed due measure, and the most delightful things become the least delightful.

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#71. Pain or pleasure? I say pleasure.

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#72. Whoever then wishes to be free, let him neither wish for anything nor avoid anything which depends on others: if he does not observe this rule, he must be a slave.

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#73. I'll show you that I'm master.'
- How will you do that? Zeus has set me free. Do you really suppose that he would allow his own son to be turned into a slave? You're master of my carcass, take that.

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

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#75. Whoever wants to be free, therefore, let him not want or avoid anything that is up to others. Otherwise he will necessarily be a slave.

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#76. If what charms you is nothing but abstract principles, sit down and turn them over quietly in your mind: but never dub yourself a Philosopher.

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#77. Act well your given part; the choice rests not with you.

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#78. Give me by all means the shorter and nobler life, instead of one that is longer but of less account!

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#79. Philosophy does not promise to secure anything external for man, otherwise it would be admitting something that lies beyond its proper subject-matter. For as the material of the carpenter is wood, and that of statuary bronze, so the subject-matter of the art of living is each person's own life.

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#80. It is a mark of a mean capacity to spend much time on the things which concern the body, such as much exercise, much eating, much drinking, much easing of the body, much copulation. But these things should be done as subordinate things: and let all your care be directed to the mind.

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#81. He who exercises wisdom, exercises the knowledge which is about God.

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#82. We must ever bear in mind
that apart from the will there is nothing good or bad, and that we must not try to anticipate or to direct events, but merely to accept them with intelligence.

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

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#84. Don't live by your own rules, but in harmony with nature

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

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#86. You ought to choose both physician and friend, not the most agreeable, but the most useful.

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#87. If you have assumed a character beyond your strength, you have both played a poor figure in that, and neglected one that is within your powers.

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#88. What really frightens and dismays us is not external events themselves, but the way in which we think about them. It is not things that disturb us, but our interpretation of their significance.

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#89. Man, the rational animal, can put up with anything except what seems to him irrational; whatever is rational is tolerable.

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#90. 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.

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#91. When you close your doors, and make darkness within, remember never to say that you are alone, for you are not alone; nay, God is within, and your genius is within. And what need have they of light to see what you are doing?

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#92. Men are not afraid of things, but of how they view them.

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

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#94. Difficulties show men what they are.
In case of any difficulty,
remember that God has pitted you
against a rough antagonist
that you may be a conqueror,
and this cannot be without toil.

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#95. To know that you do not know and to be willing to admit that you do not know without sheepishly apologizing is real strength and sets the stage for learning and progress in any endeavor.

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#96. Have the wisdom to know what cannot be changed, and the strength to change what can.

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#97. There are two things that must be rooted out in human beings - arrogant opinion and mistrust. Arrogant opinion expects that there is nothing further needed, and mistrust assumes that under the torrent of circumstance there can be no happiness.

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#98. Control thy passions lest they take vengence on thee. ~ Epictetus

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#99. The husbandman deals with land; physicians and trainers with the body; the wise man with his own Mind.

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#100. Take care not to hurt the ruling faculty of your mind. If you were to guard against this in every action, you should enter upon those actions more safely.

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