Quotes About Philosophy

The gods live forever and yet they don't seem annoyed at having to put up with human beings and their behavior throughout eternity. And not only put up with but actively care for them. And you—on the verge of death—you still refuse to care for them, although you're one of them yourself.

Don't be anxious. Nature controls it all. And before long you'll be no one, nowhere.

on every occasion a man should ask himself, Is this one of the unnecessary things?

since nothing comes out of nothing, and nothing can be annihilated.

Always bear this in mind; and another thing too, that very little indeed is necessary for living a happy life. And because thou hast despaired of becoming a dialectician and skilled in the knowledge of nature, do not for this reason renounce the hope of being both free and modest, and social and obedient to God.

Remember, however, that you are formed by nature to bear everything whose tolerability depends on your own opinion to make it so, by thinking that it is in your interest or duty to do so.

That way you'll see human life for what it is. Smoke. Nothing. Especially when you recall that once things alter they cease to exist through all the endless years to come. Then why such turmoil?

30. A philosopher without clothes and one without books. "I have nothing to eat," says he, as he stands there half-naked, "but I subsist on the logos." And with nothing to read, I subsist on it too.

This world is mere change, and this life, opinion.

Do the things external which fall upon thee distract thee? Give thyself time to learn something new and good, and cease to be whirled around. But then thou must also avoid being carried about the other way; for those too are triflers who have wearied themselves in life by their activity, and yet have no object to which to direct every movement, and, in a word, all their thoughts.

Remember, however, that thou art formed by nature to bear everything, with respect to which it depends on thy own opinion to make it endurable and tolerable, by thinking that it is either thy interest or thy duty to do this.

nor does he deviate from the way which leads to the end of life, to which a man ought to come pure, tranquil, ready to depart, and without any compulsion perfectly reconciled to his lot.

For then thou wilt neither blame those who offend involuntarily, nor wilt thou want their approbation, if thou lookest to the sources of their opinions and appetites.

We must make haste then, not only because we are daily nearer death, but also because the conception of things and the understanding of them cease first.

Fancy not to thyself things future, as though they were present but of those that are present, take some aside, that thou takest most benefit of, and consider of them particularly, how wonderfully thou wouldst want them, if they were not present.

It is no evil for things to undergo change, and no good for things to subsist in consequence of change. 43.

Remember: philosophy requires only what your nature already demands. What you've been after is something else again—something unnatural.

Manage all your actions, words, and thoughts accordingly, since you may at any moment quit life.

A little wisp of soul carrying a corpse."—Epictetus.

Continually, and, if possible, in the case of every mental image, consider its nature, realize its emotional content, and judge it rationally.

Don't cling to possessions and other external things; cling only to the divine spark within you.

You are a spirit, bearing the weight of a dead body, as Epictetus used to say.

But cast away the thirst after books, that thou mayest not die murmuring, but cheerfully, truly, and from thy heart thankful to the gods.

For a man cannot lose either the past or the future: for what a man has not, how can any one take this from him?