Who exactly are these people that you want to be admired by? Aren’t they the same people you are in the habit of calling crazy? And is this your life… - Epictetus

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.

When any person does ill by you, or speaks ill of you, remember that he acts or speaks from an impression that it is right for him to do so. Now it is not possible that he should follow what appears right to you, but only what appears so to himself. Therefore, if he judges from false appearances, he is the person hurt, since he, too, is the person deceived. For if anyone takes a true proposition to be false, the proposition is not hurt, but only the man is deceived. Setting out, then, from these principles, you will meekly bear with a person who reviles you, for you will say upon every occasion, “It seemed so to him.

But I want power and renown so that I may help other people,” you say. What do you mean by “help”? Can you really give them happiness and satisfaction — things that are in their own spheres of power, not yours?