Epictetus
116 quotes
Biography
"Neither should a ship rely on one small anchor, nor should life rest on a single hope."
"Be careful to leave your sons well instructed rather than rich, for the hopes of the instructed are better than the wealth of the ignorant."
"Not every difficult and dangerous thing is suitable for training, but only that which is conducive to success in achieving the object of our effort."
"We should not moor a ship with one anchor, or our life with one hope."
"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."
"Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants."
"Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it."
"There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power or our will."
"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."Translation by Sharon Lebell"
"Freedom is the only worthy goal in life. It is won by disregarding things that lie beyond our control."
"I must die. Must I then die lamenting? I must be put in chains. Must I then also lament? I must go into exile. Does any man then hinder me from going with smiles and cheerfulness and contentment?"
"Know you not that a good man does nothing for appearance sake, but for the sake of having done right?"
"It is our attitude toward events, not events themselves, which we can control. Nothing is by its own nature calamitous -- even death is terrible only if we fear it."
"Whoever is going to listen to the philosophers needs a considerable practice in listening."
"When a youth was giving himself airs in the Theatre and saying, 'I am wise, for I have conversed with many wise men,' Epictetus replied, 'I too have conversed with many rich men, yet I am not rich!’."
"What really frightens and dismays us is not external events themselves, but the way in which we think about them. It is not things that disturb us, but our interpretation of their significance."
"As a man, casting off worn out garments taketh new ones, so the dweller in the body, entereth into ones that are new."
"Freedom is the right to live as we wish."
"Difficulties are things that show a person what they are."
"If you wish to be a writer, write."
"Practice yourself, for heavens sake in little things, and then proceed to greater."
"Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens."
"Nature gave us one tongue and two ears so we could hear twice as much as we speak."
"He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has."
"There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will."