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.
Confidence in nonsense is a requirement for the creative process.
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.
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.
With ills unending strives the putter off.
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.
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.
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.
Wish that everything should come about just as it does.
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.
Tentative efforts lead to tentative outcome.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
Anything worth putting off is worth abandoning altogether.
The struggle is great, the task divine -- to gain mastery, freedom, happiness, and tranquility.
No man is free who is not a master of himself.
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.
It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.
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.