Epictetus Quotes

If you wish to be a writer, write.

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 alone.

Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it.

All religions must be tolerated... for every man must get to heaven in his own way.

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.

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

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

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

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!’.

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?

Only the educated are free.

You only have to doze a moment, and all is lost. For ruin and salvation both have their source inside you.

The condition and characteristic of an uninstructed person is this: he never expects from himself profit (advantage) nor harm, but from externals. The condition and characteristic of a philosopher is this: he expects all advantage and all harm from himself.

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

First say to yourself what you would be;
and then do what you have to do.

What you shun enduring yourself, attempt not to impose on others. You shun slavery- beware enslaving others! If you can endure to do that, one would think you had been once upon a time a slave yourself. For vice has nothing in common with virtue, nor Freedom with slavery.

Kein Mensch, der in Furcht oder Sorge oder Chaos lebt, ist frei, aber wer sich von Sorgen, Furcht und Chaos befreit, wird dadurch auch aus der Sklaverei befreit.