Top 500 Epictetus Quotes (2024 Update)
Page 5 of 10

201. “Men are not worried by things, but by their ideas about things. When we meet with difficulties, become anxious or troubled, let us not blame others, but rather ourselves. That is: our ideas about things.”

— Epictetus

202. “There is but one way to tranquility of mind and happiness, and that is to account no external things thine own, but to commit all to God.”

— Epictetus

203. “If thy brother wrongs thee, remember not so much his wrong-doing, but more than ever that he is thy brother.”

— Epictetus

204. “Whenever you are angry, be assured that it is not only a present evil, but that you have increased a habit.”

— Epictetus

205. “What is learned without pleasure is forgotten without remorse.”

— Epictetus

206. “If you would cure anger, do not feed it. Say to yourself: ‘I used to be angry every day; then every other day; now only every third or fourth day.’ When you reach thirty days offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the gods.”

— Epictetus

207. “Confidence in nonsense is a requirement for the creative process.”

— Epictetus

208. “Freedom isn’t secured by filling up on your heart’s desire but by removing your desire.”

— Epictetus

209. “Man is disturbed not by things, but by the views he takes of them.”

— Epictetus

210. “It is not he who reviles or strikes you who insults you, but your opinion that these things are insulting.”

— Epictetus

211. “Wherever any one is against his will, that is to him a prison.”

— Epictetus

212. “Survey and test a prospective action before undertaking it. Before you proceed, step back and look at the big picture, lest you act rashly on raw impulse.”

— Epictetus

213. “As it is pleasant to see the sea from the land, so it is pleasant for him who has escaped from troubles to think of them.”

— Epictetus

214. “The origin of sorrow is this: to wish for something that does not come to pass.”

— Epictetus

215. “Be discriminating about what images and ideas you permit into your mind. If you yourself don’t choose what thoughts and images you expose yourself to, someone else will, and their motives may not be the highest.”

— Epictetus

216. “And have you not received faculties which will enable you to bear all that happens to you? Have you not received greatness of spirit? Have you not received courage? Have you not received endurance?”

— Epictetus

217. “There is no shame in making an honest effort.”

— Epictetus

218. “And the way to be free is to let go of anything that is not within your control.”

— Epictetus

219. “Once you know who you are and to whom you are linked, you will know what to do.”

— Epictetus

220. “You bear God within you, poor wretch, and know it not.”

— Epictetus

221. “Some young women confuse their self-worth with their ability to attract the attention of men, and so pour all their energies into makeup, clothing, and jewelry. If only they realized that virtue, honor, and self-respect are the marks of a true beauty.”

— Epictetus

222. “It is the sign of a dull mind to dwell upon the cares of the body, to prolong exercise, eating and drinking and other bodily functions. These things are best done by the way; all your attention must be given to the mind.”

— Epictetus

223. “Anything worth putting off is worth abandoning altogether.”

— Epictetus

224. “Demand not that events should happen as you wish; but wish them to happen as they do happen, and you will go on well.”

— Epictetus

225. “He is free who lives as he wishes to live; who is neither subject to compulsion nor to hindrance, nor to force; whose movements to action are not impeded, whose desires attain their purpose, and who does not fall into that which he would avoid.”

— Epictetus

226. “Difficulty shows what men are.”

— Epictetus

227. “In a word, neither death, nor exile, nor pain, nor anything of this kind is the real cause of our doing or not doing any action, but our inward opinions and principles.”

— Epictetus

228. “Control thy passions lest they take vengence on thee.”

— Epictetus

229. “If you wish to live a life free from sorrow, think of what is going to happen as if it had already happened.”

— Epictetus

230. “Lampis the ship owner, on being asked how he acquired his great wealth, replied, My great wealth was acquired with no difficulty, but my small wealth, my first gains, with much labor.”

— Epictetus

231. “Bear in mind that you should conduct yourself in life as at a feast.”

— Epictetus

232. “It is not the events but our viewpoint toward events that is the determining factor. We ought to be more concerned about removing wrong thoughts from the mind than removing tumors and abscesses from the body.”

— Epictetus

233. “No one who is in a state of fear or sorrow or tension is free, but whosoever is delivered from sorrows or fears or anxieties is at the same time delivered from servitude.”

— Epictetus

234. “Common and vulgar people ascribe all ills that they feel to others; people of little wisdom ascribe to themselves; people of much wisdom, to no one.”

— Epictetus

235. “Remember that the divine order is intelligent and fundamentally good. Life is not a series of random, meaningless episodes, but an ordered, elegant whole that follows ultimately comprehensible laws.”

— Epictetus

236. “We do not choose our own parts in life, and have nothing to do with those parts. Our duty is confined to playing them well.”

— Epictetus

237. “It is unrealistc to expect people to see you as you see yourself.”

— Epictetus

238. “Consider first the nature of the business in hand; then examine thy own nature, whether thou hast strength to undertake it.”

— Epictetus

239. “Each man’s life is a kind of campaign, and a long and complicated one at that. You have to maintain the character of a soldier, and do each separate act at the bidding of the General.”

— Epictetus

240. “It is your own convictions which compels you; that is, choice compels choice.”

— Epictetus

241. “Do not try to seem wise to others. If you want to live a wise life, live it on your own terms and in your own eyes.”

— Epictetus

242. “The beginning of philosophy is the recognition of the conflict between opinions.”

— Epictetus

243. “If you have assumed a character above your strength, you have both acted in this matter in an unbecoming way, and you have neglected that which you might have fulfilled.”

— Epictetus

244. “You are the one who knows yourself – which is to say, you know how much you are worth in your own estimation, and therefore at what price you will sell yourself; because people sell themselves at different rates.”

— Epictetus

245. “God save me from fools with a little philosophy – no one is more difficult to reach.”

— Epictetus

246. “It is not a demonstration of kindness or friendship to the people we care about to join them in indulging in wrongheaded, negative feelings. We do a better service to ourselves and others by remaining detached and avoiding melodramatic reactions.”

— Epictetus

247. “You will do the greatest service to the state if you shall raise, not the roofs of the houses, but the souls of the citizens: for it is better that great souls should dwell in small houses rather than for mean slaves to lurk in great houses.”

— Epictetus

248. “Who, then, is the invincible human being? One who can be disconcerted by nothing that lies outside the sphere of choice.”

— Epictetus

249. “Seek not good from without; seek it within yourselves, or you will never find it.”

— Epictetus

250. “Every place is safe to him who lives with justice.”

— Epictetus