Quotes by Epictetus

“Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.”

“There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power or our will. ”

“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?”

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

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

“Freedom is the only worthy goal in life. It is won by disregarding things that lie beyond our control.”

“Don't put your purpose in one place and expect to see progress made somewhere else.”

“No man is free who is not master of himself.”

“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 al...”

“Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it.”

“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 ...”

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

“Remember, it is not enough to be hit or insulted to be harmed, you must believe that you are being harmed. If someone succeeds in provoking you, realize that your mind is complicit in the provocati...”

“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.”

“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.”

“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!.”

“When any person harms you, or speaks badly of you, remember that he acts or speaks from a supposition of its being his duty. Now, it is not possible that he should follow what appears right to you,...”

“An ignorant person is inclined to blame others for his own misfortune. To blame oneself is proof of progress. But the wise man never has to blame another or himself.”

“As a man, casting off worn out garments taketh new ones, so the dweller in the body, entereth into ones that are new.”