Top 500 Epictetus Quotes (2024 Update)
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101. “Renew every day your conversation with God: Do this even in preference to eating. Think more often of God than you breathe.”

— Epictetus

102. “When any person treats you ill or speaks ill of you, remember that he does this or says this because he thinks it is his duty. It is not possible, then, for him to follow that which seems right to you, but that which seems right to himself.”

— Epictetus

103. “We should not moor a ship with one anchor, or our life with one hope.”

— Epictetus

104. “Confident because of our caution.”

— Epictetus

105. “Let silence be your general rule; or say only what is necessary and in few words.”

— Epictetus

106. “Be careful whom you associate with. It is human to imitate the habits of those with whom we interact. We inadvertently adopt their interests, their opinions, their values, and their habit of interpreting events.”

— Epictetus

107. “Difficulties are things that show a person what they are.”

— Epictetus

108. “To make anything a habit, do it; to not make it a habit, do not do it; to unmake a habit, do something else in place of it.”

— Epictetus

109. “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

110. “Cowardice, the dread of what will happen.”

— Epictetus

111. “To be getting an education means this: to be learning what is your own, and what is not your own.”

— Epictetus

112. “Nothing great is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig.”

— Epictetus

113. “Learn to wish that everything should come to pass exactly as it does.”

— Epictetus

114. “Fight against yourself, recover yourself to decency, to modesty, to freedom. And, in the first place, condemn your actions; but when you have condemned them, do not despair of yourself. For both ruin and recovery are from within.”

— Epictetus

115. “Attach yourself to what is spiritually superior, regardless of what other people think or do. Hold to your true aspirations no matter what is going on around you.”

— Epictetus

116. “When we blather about trivial things, we ourselves become trivial, for our attention gets taken up with trivialities. You become what you give your attention to.”

— Epictetus

117. “He who laughs at himself never runs out of things to laugh at.”

— Epictetus

118. “You may fetter my leg, but Zeus himself cannot get the better of my free will.”

— Epictetus

119. “First learn the meaning of what you say, and then speak.”

— Epictetus

120. “If someone tried to take control of your body and make you a slave, you would fight for freedom. Yet how easily you hand over your mind to anyone who insults you. When you dwell on their words and let them dominate your thoughts, you make them your master.”

— Epictetus

121. “Never depend on the admiration of others. There is no strength in it. Personal merit cannot be derived from an external source. It is not to be found in your personal associations, nor can it be found in the regard of other people. It is a fact of life that other people, even people who love you, will not necessarily agree with your ideas, understand you, or share your enthusiasms. Grow up! Who cares what other people think about you!”

— Epictetus

122. “To live a life of virtue, you have to become consistent, even when it isn’t convenient, comfortable, or easy.”

— Epictetus

123. “Don’t be concerned with other people’s impressions of you. They are dazzled and deluded by appearances. Stick with your purpose. This alone will strengthen your will and give your life coherence.”

— Epictetus

124. “Don’t hope that events will turn out the way you want, welcome events in whichever way they happen: this is the path to peace.”

— Epictetus

125. “When something happens, the only thing in your power is your attitude toward it; you can either accept it or resent it.”

— Epictetus

126. “If evil be spoken of you and it be true, correct yourself, if it be a lie, laugh at it.”

— Epictetus

127. “Do not give sentence in another tribunal till you have been yourself judged in the tribunal of Justice.”

— Epictetus

128. “Act your part with honor.”

— Epictetus

129. “He who is not happy with little will never be happy with much.”

— Epictetus

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

— Epictetus

131. “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.”

— Epictetus

132. “Do not try to seem wise to others.”

— Epictetus

133. “Imagine for yourself a character, a model personality, whose example you determine to follow, in private as well as in public.”

— Epictetus

134. “If you think you control things that are in the control of others, you will lament. You will be disturbed and you will blame both gods and men.”

— Epictetus

135. “In trying to please other people, we find ourselves misdirected toward what lies outside our sphere of influence. In doing so, we lose our hold on our lifes purpose.”

— Epictetus

136. “Do not seek to bring things to pass in accordance with your wishes, but wish for them as they are, and you will find them.”

— Epictetus

137. “Never say about anything, “I have lost it,” but only “I have given it back.” Is your child dead? It has been given back. Is your wife dead? She has been returned.”

— Epictetus

138. “All philosophy lies in two words, sustain and abstain.”

— Epictetus

139. “Events do not just happen, but arrive by appointment.”

— Epictetus

140. “We must be afraid of neither poverty nor exile nor imprisonment; of fear itself only should we be afraid.”

— Epictetus

141. “When your thoughts, words, and deeds form a seamless fabric, you streamline your efforts and thus eliminate worry and dread.”

— Epictetus

142. “The more we value things outside our control, the less control we have.”

— Epictetus

143. “What thou avoidest suffering thyself seek not to impose on others.”

— Epictetus

144. “Whatever you would make habitual, practice it; and if you would not make a thing habitual, do not practice it, but accustom yourself to something else.”

— Epictetus

145. “Who then is invincible? The one who cannot be upset by anything outside their reasoned choice.”

— Epictetus

146. “The pleasure which we most rarely experience gives us greatest delight.”

— Epictetus

147. “If someone irritates you, it is only your own response that is irritating you. Therefore, when anyone seems to be provoking you, remember that it is only your judgment of the incident that provokes you. -.”

— Epictetus

148. “It’s time to stop being vague. If you wish to be an extraordinary person, if you wish to be wise, then you should explicitly identify the kind of person you aspire to become.”

— Epictetus

149. “What concerns me is not the way things are, but rather the way people think things are.”

— Epictetus

150. “To accuse others for one’s own misfortunes is a sign of want of education. To accuse oneself shows that one’s education has begun. To accuse neither oneself nor others shows that one’s education is complete.”

— Epictetus