Quotes from Epictetus

Whenever we do something wrong, then, from now on we will not blame anything except the opinion on which it's based; and we will try to root out wrong opinions with more determination than we remove tumours or infections from the body. [36]

Diogenes says somewhere that one way to guarantee freedom is to be ready to die.

Good luck frees many men from punishment, but no man from fear.

If God had created colours, but not the faculty of vision, colours would have been of little use. [4] Or if God had created vision, but not made sure that objects could be seen, vision would have been worthless. [5] And even if he had made them both, but not created light – [6] then neither would have been of any value. So who contrived this universal accommodation of things to one another? Who fitted the sword to the scabbard and the scabbard to the sword? No one?

Thus do the more cautious of travellers act. The road is said to be beset by robbers. The traveller will not venture alone, but awaits the companionship on the road of an ambassador, a quaestor or a proconsul. To him he attaches himself and thus passes by in safety. So doth the wise man in the world.

It is impossible to learn that which one thinks one already knows.

Be sure to foresee whatever can be foreseen by planning. Observe and avoid, long before it happens, anything that is likely to do you harm. To effect this your best assistance will be a spirit of confidence and a mind strongly resolved to endure all things. He who can bear Fortune, can also beware of Fortune. At any rate, there is no dashing of billows when the sea is calm. And there is nothing more wretched or foolish than premature fear. What madness it is to anticipate one's troubles!

I can only suppose that you weigh all those negatives against the worth of the show, and choose, in the end, to be patient and put up with it all.

The man has to learn 'what each specific thing means', as Socrates often said, and stop casually applying preconceptions to individual cases.

19] 'My brother shouldn't have treated me in this way.' Indeed he shouldn't, but it's for him to see to that. For my part, however he treats me, I should conduct myself towards him as I ought. For that is my business, and the rest is not my concern. In this no one can hinder me, while everything else is subject to hindrance.

But it is within your power to avoid disappointment, by directing your desires to things that are rightfully yours to obtain and control.

Instead of meeting misfortune with groans and tears, I will call upon the faculty especially provided to deal with it.

It is a measure of the effort we are prepared to expend to guard against deception when accuracy is at a premium.

In order to please others, we loose our hold on our life's purpose.

No matter where you find yourself, comport yourself as if you were a distinguished person.

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

It is not he who reviles or strikes you who insults you, but your opinion that these things are insulting.

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

Freedom is secured not by the fulfillment of one's desires, but by the removal of desire.

Every difficulty in life presents us with an opportunity to turn inward and to invoke our own submerged inner resources. The trials we endure can and should introduce us to our strengths.

You are a little soul carrying around a corpse.

All religions must be tolerated for every man must get to heaven in his own way.

Watch yourself as you go about your daily business and later reflect on what you saw, trying to identify the sources of distress in your life and thinking about how to avoid that distress.

If virtue promises happiness, prosperity and peace, then progress in virtue is progress in each of these for to whatever point the perfection of anything brings us, progress is always an approach toward it.