Epictetus Quotes

“Man is not worried by real problems so much as by his imagined anxieties about real problems.”

“Man is disturbed not by things, but by the views he takes of them.”

“Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens.”

“He is a man of sense who does not grieve for what he has not, but rejoices in what he has.”

“No man is free who is not master of himself.”

“Freedom is not procured by a full enjoyment of what is desired, but by controlling the desire.”

“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.’”

“Only the educated are free.”

“If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.”

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

“No great thing is created suddenly.”

“Neither should a ship rely on one small anchor, nor should life rest on a single hope.”

“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.”

“You become what you give your attention to.”

“What ought one to say then as each hardship comes? I was practicing for this, I was training for this.”

“The greater the difficulty, the more glory in surmounting it. Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests.”

“We ought neither to fasten our ship to one small anchor nor our life to a single hope.”

“Keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best.”

“We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.”

“Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.”