Top 500 Epictetus Quotes (2026 Update)
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251. “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

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

— Epictetus

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

— Epictetus

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

— Epictetus

255. “It is always our choice whether or not we wish to pay the price for life’s rewards. And often it is best for us not to pay the price, for the price might be our integrity.”

— Epictetus

256. “We must ever bear in mind – that apart from the will there is nothing good or bad, and that we must not try to anticipate or to direct events, but merely to accept them with intelligence.”

— Epictetus

257. “Living a good life leads to enduring happiness. Goodness in and of itself is the practice AND the reward.”

— Epictetus

258. “What are we to do, then? To make the best of what lies within our power, and deal with everything else as it comes. ‘How does it come, then?’ As God wills.”

— Epictetus

259. “Two principles we should always have ready – that there is nothing good or evil save in the will; and that we are not to lead events, but to follow them.”

— Epictetus

260. “If a man has reported to you, that a certain person speaks ill of you, do not make any defense to what has been told you: but reply, The man did not know the rest of my faults, for he would not have mentioned these only.”

— Epictetus

261. “In the long run, every man will pay the penalty for his own misdeeds. The man who remembers this will be angry with no one, indignant with no one, revile no one, blame no one, offend no one, hate no one.”

— Epictetus

262. “He is a drunkard who takes more than three glasses though he be not drunk.”

— Epictetus

263. “Remember that in life you ought to behave as at a banquet. Suppose that something is carried round and is opposite to you. Stretch out your hand and take a portion with decency. Suppose that it passes by you. Do not detain it. Suppose that it is not yet come to you. Do not send your desire forward to it, but wait till it is opposite to you.”

— Epictetus

264. “We should not have either a blunt knife or a freedom of speech which is ill-managed.”

— Epictetus

265. “Whoever is going to listen to the philosophers needs a considerable practice in listening.”

— Epictetus

266. “Whoever does not regard what he has as most ample wealth, is unhappy, though he be master of the world.”

— Epictetus

267. “It is better to do wrong seldom and to own it, and to act right for the most part, than seldom to admit that you have done wrong and to do wrong often.”

— Epictetus

268. “Dare to look up to God and say, Deal with me in the future as Thou wilt; I am of the same mind as Thou art; I am Thine; I refuse nothing that pleases Thee; lead me where Thou wilt; clothe me in any dress Thou choosest.”

— Epictetus

269. “The philosopher’s lecture room is a ‘hospital’: you ought not to walk out of it in a state of pleasure, but in pain; for you are not in good condition when you arrive.”

— Epictetus

270. “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.”

— Epictetus

271. “If any be unhappy, let him remember that he is unhappy by reason of himself alone. For God hath made all men to enjoy felicity and constancy of good.”

— Epictetus

272. “He who exercises wisdom exercises the knowledge which is about God.”

— Epictetus

273. “Freedom is not attained through the satisfaction of desires, but through the suppression of desires.”

— Epictetus

274. “Nothing great comes into being all at once.”

— Epictetus

275. “When our friends are present we ought to treat them well; and when they are absent, to speak of them well.”

— Epictetus

276. “Contentment, as it is a short road and pleasant, has great delight and little trouble.”

— Epictetus

277. “Don’t regard what anyone says of you, for this, after all, is no concern of yours.”

— Epictetus

278. “If you would be well spoken of, learn to be well-spoken; and having learnt to be well- spoken, strive also to be well-doing; so shall you succeed in being well spoken of.”

— Epictetus

279. “It was the first and most striking characteristic of Socrates never to become heated in discourse, never to utter an injurious or insulting word – on the contrary, he persistently bore insult from others and thus put an end to the fray.”

— Epictetus

Featured in: Firsts Quotes

280. “Prefer enduring satisfaction to immediate gratification.”

— Epictetus

281. “Tell yourself what you want to be, then act your part accordingly.”

— Epictetus

282. “Law intends indeed to do service to human life, but it is not able when men do not choose to accept her services; for it is only in those who are obedient to her that she displays her special virtue.”

— Epictetus

283. “What disturbs and alarms man are not the things, but his opinions and fancies about the things.”

— Epictetus

284. “If you would improve, submit to be considered wihout sense and foolish with respect to externals. Wish to be considered to know nothing; and if you shall seem to someone to be a person of importance, distrust yourself.”

— Epictetus

285. “Never look for your work in one place and your progress in another.”

— Epictetus

286. “The two powers which in my opinion constitute a wise man are those of bearing and forbearing.”

— Epictetus

287. “We are not to lead events, but to follow them.”

— Epictetus

288. “God has made all men to be happy.”

— Epictetus

289. “It is not he who gives abuse that affronts, but the view that we take of it as insulting; so that when one provokes you it is your own opinion which is provoking.”

— Epictetus

290. “When you find your direction, check to make sure that it is the right one.”

— Epictetus

291. “What is yours is to play the assigned part well. But to choose it belongs to someone else.”

— Epictetus

292. “When you let go of your attention for a little while, do not think you may recover it whenever you please.”

— Epictetus

293. “To get or not to get what we desire can be equally disappointing.”

— Epictetus

294. “Appear to know only this – never to fail nor fall.”

— Epictetus

295. “Lucky is the man who dies at work.”

— Epictetus

296. “Is you naturally entitled, then, to a good father? No, only to a father. Is.”

— Epictetus

297. “In banquets remember that you entertain two guests, body and soul: and whatever you shall have given to the body you soon eject: but what you shall have given to the soul, you keep always.”

— Epictetus

298. “Only consider at what price you sell your own will: if for no other reason, at least for this, that you sell it not for a small sum.”

— Epictetus

299. “Envy is the antagonist of the fortunate.”

— Epictetus

300. “Does anyone bathe hastily? Do not say that they do it ill, but hastily. Does anyone drink much wine? Do not say that they do ill, but that they drink a great deal. For unless you perfectly understand their motives, how should you know if they act ill? Thus you will not risk yielding to any appearances except those you fully comprehend.”

— Epictetus