Quotes About Belief

If you wish to be good, first believe that you are bad.

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.

Men are disturbed not by the things that happen, but by their opinion of the things that happen.

What concerns me is not the way things are, but the way people think things are.

Men are disturbed not by the things which happen, but by the opinion about the things.

The gods do not exists, and even if they exist they do not trouble themselves about people, and we have nothing in common with them. The piety and devotion to the gods that the majority of people invoke is a lie devised by swindlers and con men and, if you can believe it, by legislators, to keep criminals in line by putting the fear of God into them.

We should realize that an opinion is not easily formed unless a person says and hears the same things every day and practises them in real life.

For in this Case, 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.

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.

Another person will not hurt you without your cooperation; you are hurt the moment you believe yourself to be.

It isn't death, pain, exile or anything else you care to mention that accounts for the way we act, only our opinion about death, pain and the rest.

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.

Follow your principles as though they were laws. Do not worry if others criticize or laugh at you, for their opinions are not your concern.

REST.—If a man should be able to assent to this doctrine as he ought, that we are all sprung from God in an especial manner, and that God is the father both of men and of gods, I suppose that he would never have any ignoble or mean thoughts about himself. But if Cæsar (the emperor) should adopt you, no one could endure your arrogance; and if you know that you are the son of Zeus, will you not be elated?

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.

Philosophers say that people are all guided by a single standard. When they assent to a thing, it is because they feel it must be true, when they dissent, it is because they feel something isn't true, and when they suspend judgement, it is because they feel that the thing is unclear.

Ä°nsan?n zaten bildiÄŸini sand??? ÅŸeyi öÄŸrenmesi imkans?zd?r.

Después de deliberar y determinar que una línea de acción es acertada, jamás pongas en duda tu juicio. Apoya tu decisión.

Don't mistake your assumptions for the truth.

If someone, says Epictetus, refuses to accept what is patently obvious, it is not easy to find arguments to use against him that could cause him to change his mind.

not even God has the power of coercion over us'.

why act the part of a Jew when you're Greek? [ 20] Don't you know why it is that a person is called a Jew, Syrian, or Egyptian? And when we see someone hesitating between two creeds, we're accustomed to say, 'He is no Jew, but is merely acting the part.' But when he assumes the frame of mind of one who has been baptized * and has made his choice, then he really is a Jew, and is called by that name.

Remember, it is not enough to be hit or insulted to be harmed, you must believe that you are being harmed. If someone succeeds in provoking you, realize that your mind is complicit in the provocation. Which is why it is essential that we not respond impulsively to impressions; take a moment before reacting, and you will find it is easier to maintain control.

Just begin, believe me, and you will see the truth of what I've been saying.