Quotes About Ethics

For as wood is the material of the carpenter, and marble that of the sculptor, so the subject matter of the art of life is the life of the self.

Externals include the body and its members, as well as material goods. If you grow attached to any of them as if they were your own, you will incur the penalties prescribed for a thief.

If you decide to do something, don't shrink from being seen doing it, even if the majority of people disapprove. If you're wrong to do it, then you should shrink from doing it altogether; but if you're right, then why worry how people will judge you?

I will define him simply as someone set on becoming a god rather than a man.

Whenever externals are more important to you than your own integrity, then be prepared to serve them the remainder of your life.

What, then, is your own? The way you live your life.

If you're writing to a friend, grammar will tell you what letters you ought to choose, but as to whether or not you ought to write to your friend, grammar won't tell you that.

Never call yourself a philosopher, nor talk a great deal among the unlearned about theorems, but act conformably to them. Thus, at an entertainment, don't talk how persons ought to eat, but eat as you ought.

Do you think freedom is something good?' 'The greatest good of all.' 'Can anyone in possession of the greatest good be unhappy or unfortunate?' 'No.

only judge your own thoughts, desires, and actions as good or evil.

But prove to me that one who holds inferior judgments can prevail over a man who is superior in his judgments. You never will prove it, nor anything like it; for the law of nature and of god is this: Let the better always be superior to the worse… Thus I, too, lost my lamp to a thief because the thief was better at keeping awake than I. But he bought a lamp at the price of being a thief, a rogue, and a brute. That seemed to him a good bargain. Epictetus

If anything except the honourable is good, we shall be hounded by greed for life, and by greed for the things which provide life with its furnishings, – an intolerable state, subject to no limits, unstable. The only good, therefore, is that which is honourable, that which is subject to bounds.

What's odd in asserting that what's bad for anything is what runs contrary to its nature? You say it for everything else, why make humanity the sole exception?

Act in this way regarding spouses, children, honors, offices, and wealth, and you will become worthy to feast with the gods. More than this—if you abstain from the rich desserts that come your way, passing them on to others, you will become worthy to rule with the gods. This was the way of Diogenes and Heraclitus, and they are now venerated as divine.

It is a universal law – have no illusions – that every creature alive is attached to nothing so much as to its own self-interest.

Find satisfaction in following your philosophy. If you want to be respected, start by respecting yourself.

A bad person's character cannot be trusted, it's weak and indecisive, easily won over by different impressions at different times.

But I'll get money, and then share it." If you can acquire riches without losing your honor and self-respect, then do it. But if you lose what is dearest to you, no amount of money can make up for it.

Be the same person in public as in private.

Refuse to participate in gossip—tearing down, inflating, and judging other people.

What is my position in society?" The one best suited to your talents, which you can hold with honor. Each person has a vital role in society; you are important right where you are. But if you lose your honor in striving for greater (perceived) significance, you become useless.

ask yourself how Socrates or Zeno

If reason tells you a pleasure is wholesome and harmless, you may enjoy it in moderation. But take care not to let your happiness gradually become dependent on it.

Consider at what price you sell your integrity; but please, for God's sake, don't sell it cheap.