Epictetus Quotes

He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.

Treasure Your Mind,
Cherish Your Reason, Hold to Your Purpose Don’t surrender your mind. If someone were to casually give your body away to any old passerby, you would naturally be furious. Why then do you feel no shame in giving your precious mind over to any person who might wish to influence you? Think twice before you give up your own mind to someone who may revile you, leaving you confused and upset.

καὶ τοῖς σκέλεσι καὶ ταῖς ἐλπίσι τὰ δυνατὰ δεῖ διαβαίνειν.

Always remember what is your own and what is not, and you’ll never be troubled.

Do not seek to have events happen as you want them to, but instead want them to happen as they do happen, and your life will go well.

For he who is unmusical is a child in music; he who is without letters is a child in learning; he who is untaught, is a child in life.

What is my position in society?” The one best suited to your talents, which you can hold with honor. Each person has a vital role in society; you are important right where you are. But if you lose your honor in striving for greater (perceived) significance, you become useless.

If you ever happen to turn your attention to externals, for the pleasure of any one, be assured that you have ruined your scheme of life. Be contented, then, in everything, with being a philosopher; and if you with to seem so likewise to any one, appear so to yourself, and it will suffice you.

In each separate thing that you do consider the matters which come first, and those which follow after, and only then approach the thing itself.

In every act consider what precedes and what follows, and then proceed to the act. If you do not consider, you will at first begin with spirit, since you have not thought at all of the things which follow; but afterwards when some consequences have shown themselves, you will basely desist.

From Epictetus's discourse that we ought to come to everything with circumspection (Discourses III.15), recorded by his student Arrian.

If you want to be respected, start by respecting yourself.

Understand what freedom really is and how it is achieved. Freedom isn’t the right or ability to do whatever you please. Freedom comes from understanding the limits of our own power and the natural limits set in place by divine providence. By accepting life’s limits and inevitabilities and working with them rather than fighting them, we become free. If, on the other hand, we succumb to our passing desires for things that aren’t in our control, freedom is lost.

It is better to live with one free man and to be without fear and free, than to be a slave with many.

Your aim should be to view the world as an integrated whole, to faithfully incline your whole being toward the highest good, and to adopt the will of nature as your own.

The husbandman deals with land; physicians and trainers with the body; the wise man with his own Mind.