Top 500 Epictetus Quotes (2025 Update)
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51. “Freedom is the only worthy goal in life. It is won by disregarding things that lie beyond our control. Stop aspiring to be anyone other than your own best self: for that does fall within your control.”

— Epictetus

52. “Only the educated are free.”

— Epictetus

53. “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.”

— Epictetus

54. “In life our first job is this, to divide and distinguish things into two categories: externals I cannot control, but the choices I make with regard to them I do control. Where will I find good and bad? In me, in my choices.”

— Epictetus

55. “It is not things in themselves which trouble us, but our opinions of things.”

— Epictetus

56. “Suffering arises from trying to control what is uncontrollable, or from neglecting what is within our power.”

— Epictetus

57. “You become what you give your attention to.”

— Epictetus

58. “No great thing is created suddenly. There must be time. Give your best and always be kind.”

— Epictetus

59. “Don’t demand or expect that events happen as you would wish them do. Accept events as they actually happen. That way, peace is possible.”

— Epictetus

60. “Any person capable of angering you becomes your master.”

— Epictetus

61. “Happiness and personal fulfillment are the natural consequences of doing the right thing.”

— Epictetus

62. “We can’t control the impressions others form about us, and the effort to do so only debases our character.”

— Epictetus

63. “You have been given your own work to do. Get to it right now, do your best at it, and don’t be concerned with who is watching you. Create your own merit.”

— Epictetus

64. “Desire and happiness cannot live together.”

— Epictetus

65. “Practice yourself, for heaven’s sake in little things, and then proceed to greater.”

— Epictetus

66. “The Beginning of Philosophy is a Consciousness of your own Weakness and inability in necessary things.”

— Epictetus

67. “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.”

— Epictetus

68. “The essence of philosophy is that a man should so live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things.”

— Epictetus

69. “It is the part of an uneducated person to blame others where he himself fares ill; to blame himself is the part of one whose education has begun; to blame neither another nor his own self is the part of one whose education is already complete.”

— Epictetus

70. “Fortify yourself with contentment, for this is an impregnable fortress.”

— Epictetus

71. “What disturbs people’s minds are not events but their judgments on events.”

— Epictetus

72. “What ought one to say then as each hardship comes? I was practicing for this, I was training for this.”

— Epictetus

73. “Never say of anything I have lost it, only say that I have given it back.”

— Epictetus

74. “Seek to be the purple thread in the long white gown.”

— Epictetus

75. “It is unreasonable to think we can earn rewards without being willing to pay their true price. It is always our choice whether or not we wish to pay the price for life’s rewards.”

— Epictetus

76. “The flourishing life cannot be achieved until we moderate our desires and see how superficial and fleeting they are.”

— Epictetus

77. “On the occasion of every accident that befalls you, remember to turn to yourself and inquire what power you have for turning it to use.”

— Epictetus

78. “We all carry the seeds of greatness within us, but we need an image as a point of focus in order that they may sprout.”

— Epictetus

79. “No greater 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.”

— Epictetus

80. “Freedom is not procured by a full enjoyment of what is desired, but by controlling the desire.”

— Epictetus

81. “To pay homage to beauty is to admire Nature; to admire Nature is to worship God.”

— Epictetus

82. “Caretake this moment. Immerse yourself in its particulars. Respond to this person, this challenge, this deed. Quit evasions. Stop giving yourself needless trouble. It is time to really live; to fully inhabit the situation you happen to be in now.”

— Epictetus

83. “What is it to be a philosopher? Is it not to be prepared against events?”

— Epictetus

84. “Give yourself fully to your endeavors. Decide to construct your character through excellent actions and determine to pay the price of a worthy goal. The trials you encounter will introduce you to your strengths.”

— Epictetus

85. “Preach not to others what they should eat, but eat as becomes you and be silent.”

— Epictetus

86. “Know you not that a good man does nothing for appearance sake, but for the sake of having done right?”

— Epictetus

87. “If one oversteps the bounds of moderation, the greatest pleasures cease to please.”

— Epictetus

88. “You lose only the things you have.”

— Epictetus

89. “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?”

— Epictetus

90. “You are but an appearance, and not absolutely the thing you appear to be.”

— Epictetus

91. “Contentment comes not so much from great wealth as from few wants.”

— Epictetus

92. “One that desires to excel should endeavor in those things that are in themselves most excellent.”

— Epictetus

93. “Men are not afraid of things, but of how they view them.”

— Epictetus

94. “Be not swept off your feet by the vividness of the impression, but say, Impression, wait for me a little. Let me see what you are and what you represent. Let me try you.”

— Epictetus

95. “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.”

— Epictetus

96. “Keep your attention focused entirely on what is truly your own concern, and be clear that what belongs to others is their business and none of yours.”

— Epictetus

97. “We suffer not from the events in our lives but from our judgement about them.”

— Epictetus

98. “You can be invincible, if you enter into no contest in which it is not in your power to conquer.”

— Epictetus

99. “The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself which are externals not under my control, and which have to do with the choices I actually control. Where then do I look for good and evil? Not to uncontrollable externals, but within myself to the choices that are my own...”

— Epictetus

100. “God has entrusted me with myself.”

— Epictetus