As you think, so you become... Our busy minds are forever jumping to conclusions, manufacturing and interpreting signs that aren't there.
If we are not stupid or insincere when we say that the good or ill of man lies within his own will, and that all beside is nothing to us, why are we still troubled?
It is not my place in society that makes me well off, but my judgements, and these I can carry with me... These alone are my own and cannot be taken away.
If I can acquire money and also keep myself modest and faithful and magnanimous, point out the way, and I will acquire it.
In the long run, every man will pay the penalty for this own misdeeds.
Pleasure, like a kind of bait, is thrown before everything which is really bad, and easily allures greedy souls to the hook of perdition.
To admonish is better than to reproach for admonition is mild and friendly, but reproach is harsh and insulting; and admonition corrects those who are doing wrong, but reproach only convicts them.
To know that you do not know and to be willing to admit that you do not know without sheepishly apologizing is real strength and sets the stage for learning and progress in any endeavor.
The people have a right to the truth as they have a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
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.
When you actively engage in gradually refining yourself, you retreat from your lazy ways of covering yourself or making excuses. Instead of feeling a persistent current of low-level shame, you move forward by using the creative possibilities of this moment, your current situation.
Isn't reading a kind of preparation for life?'
But life is composed of things other than books. It is as if an athlete, on entering the stadium, were to complain that he's not outside exercising.This was the goal of your exercise, of your weights, your practice ring and your training partners.
Reading should serve the goal of attaining peace; if it doesn't make you peaceful, what good is it?
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.
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.
Never call yourself a philosopher, nor talk a great deal among the unlearned about theorems, but act conformably to them. Thus, at an entertainment, don't talk how persons ought to eat, but
eat as you ought. For remember that in this manner Socrates also universally avoided all ostentation.
It is difficulties that show what men are. For the future, in case of any difficulty, remember that God, like a gymnastic trainer, has pitted you against a rough antagonist. For what end? That you may be an Olympic conqueror; and this cannot be without toil.
Were I a nightingale, I would act the part of a nightingale; were I a swan, the part of a swan.
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.
Other people's views and troubles can be contagious. Don't sabotage yourself by unwittingly adopting negative, unproductive attitudes through your associations with others.
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.
Suffering arises from trying to control what is uncontrollable, or from neglecting what is within our power.
As a man, casting off worn out garments taketh new ones, so the dweller in the body, entereth into ones that are new.
The soul that companies with virtue is like an ever-flowing source. It is a pure, clear, and wholesome draught, sweet, rich and generous of its store, that injures not, neither destroys.
It has been ordained that there be summer and winter, abundance and dearth, virtue and vice, and all such opposites for the harmony of the whole, and (Zeus) has given each of us a body, property, and companions.
You may fetter my leg, but Zeus himself cannot get the better of my free will.
Preach not to others what they should eat, but eat as becomes you and be silent.
Forgiveness is better than revenge, for forgiveness is the sign of a gentle nature, but revenge is the sign of a savage nature. the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.
Let your will to avoid have no concern with what is not in man's power; direct it only to things in man's power that are contrary to nature.
As the sun does not wait for prayers and incantations tob e induced to rise, but immediately shines and is saluted by all, so do you also not wait for clappings of hands and shouts of praise tob e induced to do good, but be a doer of good voluntarily and you will be beloved as much as the sun.
When you close your doors, and make darkness within, remember never to say that you are alone, for you are not alone; nay, God is within, and your genius is within. And what need have they of light to see what you are doing?
A soul which is conversant with virtue is like an ever flowing source, for it is pure and tranquil and potable and sweet and communicative (social) and rich and harmless and free from mischief.
It's so simple really: If you say you're going to do something, do it. If you start something, finish it.
A city is not adorned by external things, but by the virtue of those who dwell in it.
Freedom and happiness are won by disregarding things that lie beyond our control.
Nothing truly stops you. Nothing truly holds you back. For your own will is always within your control.
Longer Version:
Nothing truly stops you. Nothing truly holds you back. For your own will is always within your control. Sickness may challenge your body. But are you merely your body? Lameness may impede your legs. But you are not merely your legs. Your will is bigger than your legs. Your will needn't be affected by an incident unless you let it.
Don't seek to have events happen as you wish, but wish them to happen as they do happen, and all will be well with you.
Every difficulty in life presents us with an opportunity to turn inward and to invoke our own submerged inner resources. The trials we endure can and should introduce us to our strengths.
No matter what happens, it is within my power to turn it to my advantage.
It is not events that disturb the minds of men, but the view they take of them.
Happiness and freedom begin with a clear understanding of one principle: Some things are within our control, and some things are not.
We cannot choose our external circumstances, but we can always choose how we respond to them.
What would Heracles have been if he had said, How am I to prevent a big lion from appearing, or a big boar, or brutal men? What care you, I say? If a big boar appears, you will have a greater struggle to engage in; if evil men appear, you will free the world from evil men.
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.
Here are thieves and robbers and tribunals: and they that are called tyrants, who deem that they have after a fashion power over us, because of the miserable body and what appertains to it. Let us show them that they have power over none.
Sick and yet happy, in peril and yet happy, dying and yet happy, in exile and happy, in disgrace and happy.
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!'.
Know you not that a good man does nothing for appearance sake, but for the sake of having done right?
First say to yourself what you would be;
and then do what you have to do.
When you do anything from a clear judgment that it ought to be done, never shrink from being seen to do it, even though the world should misunderstand it; for if you are not acting rightly, shun the action itself; if you are, why fear those who wrongly censure you?
You can be invincible, if you enter into no contest in which it is not in your power to conquer.
For I am not everlasting, but a human being, a part of the whole as an hour is a part of the day. Like an hour I must come, and like an hour pass away.
When you are alone, you should call this tranquility and freedom and when you are with many you shouldn't call this a crowd, or trouble or uneasiness but festival and company and contentedly accept it.
For in this Case, we are not to give Credit to the Many, who say, that none ought to be educated but the Free; but rather to the Philosophers, who say, that the Well-educated alone are free.
Philosophy does not promise to secure anything external for man, otherwise it would be admitting something that lies beyond its proper subject-matter. For as the material of the carpenter is wood, and that of statuary bronze, so the subject-matter of the art of living is each person's own life.
It is more necessary for the soul to be cured than the body; for it is better to die than to live badly.
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.
Let whatever appears to be the best be to you an inviolable law. And if any instance of pain or pleasure, glory or disgrace, be set before you, remember that now is the combat, now the Olympiad comes on, nor can it be put off; and that by one failure and defeat honor may be lost or--won.
Who then is invincible? The one who cannot be upset by anything outside their reasoned choice.
Longer Version:
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 very helpful, but it would be a bad mistake to suppose that one has made progress simply by having internalized their contents." Translation by Sharon Lebell.
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 alone.
Longer Version:
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 alone".
At this time is freedom anything but the right to live as we wish? Nothing else.
We can't control the impressions others form about us, and the effort to do so only debases our character.
It is not so much what happens to you as how you think about what happens.
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.
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 struggle is great, the task divine -- to gain mastery, freedom, happiness, and tranquility.
It is not external events themselves that cause us distress, but the way in which we think about them…It is our attitudes and reactions that give us trouble. We cannot choose our external circumstances, but we can always choose how we respond to them.
Do not seek to have everything that happens happen as you wish, but wish for everything to happen as it actually does happen, and your life will be serene.
We must undergo a hard winter training and not rush into things for which we haven't prepared.
People are disturbed not by things, but by the view they take of them.
Some things are in our control and others not.
Longer Version:
Some things are in our control and others not. Things in our control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever are our own actions.
Progress is not achieved by luck or accident, but by working on yourself daily.
Any person capable of angering you becomes your master. They can anger you only when you permit yourself to be disturbed by them.
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.
No great thing is created suddenly.
Longer Version:
No great thing is created suddenly. There must be time. Give your best and always be kind.
If anyone is unhappy, remember that his unhappiness is his own fault. Nothing else is the cause of anxiety or loss of tranquility except our own opinion.
Find significance within yourself. Within your own sphere of power -- that is where you have the greatest consequence.
Keep in mind that you are an actor in a play that is just the way the producer wants it to be…Your job is to put on a splendid performance of the role you have been given.