Quotes from Epictetus

Let death be daily before your eyes, and you will never entertain any abject thought, nor too eagerly covet anything.

Man is troubled not by events, but by the meaning he gives them.

Me in chains? You may fetter my leg but my will, not even Zeus himself can overpower.

Nature gave us one tongue and two ears so we could hear twice as much as we speak.

No great 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.

Practise yourself, for heaven's sake, in little things and thence proceed to greater.

Reason is not measured by size or height, but by principle.

Seek not that the things which happen should happen as you wish but wish the things which happen to be as they are, and you will have a tranquil flow of life.

Tell me where I can escape death: discover for me the country, show me the men to whom I must go, whom death does not visit. Discover to me a charm against death. If I have not one, what do you wish me to do? I cannot escape from death, but shall I die lamenting and trembling? . . . Therefore if I am able to change externals according to my wish, I change them: but if I cannot, I am ready to tear the eyes out of him who hinders me.

The beginning of philosophy is the recognition of the conflict between opinions.

The good or ill of a man lies within his own will.

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

There are some things which men confess with ease, and others with difficulty.

To a reasonable creature, that alone is insupportable which is unreasonable but everything reasonable may be supported.

We have two ears and one mouth so we may listen more and talk the less.

Were I a nightingale, I would act the part of a nightingale were I a swan, the part of a swan.

What is the first business of one who practices philosophy To get rid of self-conceit. For it is impossible for anyone to begin to learn that which he thinks he already knows.

If anyone tells you that a certain person speaks ill of you, do not make excuses about what is said of you but answer, "He was ignorant of my other faults, else he would not have mentioned these alone.

Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it.

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.

There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power or our will.

Man is not worried by real problems so much as by his imagined anxieties about real problems

It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.

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