Epictetus Quotes

Εἰδέναι δεῖ, ὅτι ἄγγελος ἀπὸ τοῦ Διὸς ἀπέσταλται καὶ πρὸς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους περὶ ἀγαθῶν καὶ κακῶν ὑποδείξων αὐτοῖς, ὅτι πεπλάνηνται καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ ζητοῦσι τὴν οὐσίαν τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ καὶ τοῦ κακοῦ, ὅπου οὐκ ἔστιν, ὅπου δ' ἔστιν, οὐκ ἐνθυμοῦνται.

From Epictetus's discourse On the Cynic Calling (Discourses III.22), recorded by his student Arrian; answering a pupil who asked what sort of man a Cynic must be.

Don't be concerned with other people's impressions of you. They are dazzled and deluded by appearances. Stick with your purpose. This alone with strengthen your will and give your life coherence.

Whenever you are offended, understand that you are complicit in taking offense.

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

You do not seem to realize that the mind is subject only to itself. It alone can control it, [13] which shows the force and justice of God’s edict: the strong shall always prevail over the weak.

Friend, lay hold with a desperate grasp, ere it is too late, on Freedom, on Tranquility, on Greatness of soul!

What's that you say friend? It's only my leg you will chain, not even God can conquer my will.

And where there is ignorance, there is also want of learning and instruction in essentials.

If then you desire (aim at) such great things remember that you must not (attempt to) lay hold of them with a small effort;

What then is that which makes a man free from hindrance and makes him his own master? For wealth does not do it, nor consulship, nor provincial government, nor royal power; but something else must be discovered.

From Epictetus's discourse On Freedom (Discourses IV.1), recorded by his student Arrian.

Things and people are not what we wish them to be nor what they seem to be. They are what they are.

Give me by all means the shorter and nobler life, instead of one
that is longer but of less account!

Yes, but what good will all this do me when a child of mine dies, or if my brother, or I myself, have to die or be tortured?’ [19] Nothing. Because that’s not why you came, not why you took your seat in front of me, not the reason you sometimes sacrificed sleep to study by lamplight.

God save me from fools with a little philosophy — no one is more difficult to reach.

It is not so much what happens to you as how you think about what happens.