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Epictetus Quotes

All Quotes Achievement Adversity Anger Anxiety Appearance Art Attitude Blame Business Challenges Character Children Choices Communication Confidence Contentment Cooking Death Desire Determination Difficulty Discipline Duty Dying Eating Education Effort Evil Exercise Failure Feelings Fighting Focus Food Freedom Giving God Gratitude Greatness Happiness Happy Harmony Heart Heaven Honor Hurt Inspiration Inspirational Judgement Judgment Justice Kindness Knowledge Learning Life Love Lying Money Motivational Pain Patience Philosophy Pleasure Positive Positive Thinking Power Praise Progress Purpose Reality Religion Responsibility Running Silence Sorrow Soul Suffering Time Training Tranquility Truth Understanding Victory Virtue Waiting Wife Wisdom Worry Writing

Any person capable of angering you becomes your master.

Any person capable of angering you becomes your master.

Anger, Emotional, Masters

Happiness and freedom begin with a clear understanding of one principle: Some things are within our control, and some things are not. It is only after you have faced up to this fundamental rule and learned to distinguish between what you can and can't control that inner tranquility and outer effectiveness become possible.

Effectiveness, Understanding, Principles

Epictetus, Sharon Lebell (2013). “The Art of Living: The Classical Mannual on Virtue, Happiness, and Effectiveness”, p.3, Harper Collins

It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.

Happiness, Moving On, Attitude

Progress is not achieved by luck or accident, but by working on yourself daily.

Luck, Progress, Working On Yourself

It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.

Inspirational, Change, Inspiring

"Golden Sayings of Epictetus". Book translated by Hastings Crossley, 2012.

Suffering arises from trying to control what is uncontrollable, or from neglecting what is within our power.

Power, Suffering, Trying

When something happens, the only thing in your power is your attitude toward it. It is not the things that disturb us, but our interpretation of their significance. Things and people are not what we wish them to be nor are they what they seem to be. They are what they are.

Attitude, People, Wish

He who is not happy with little will never be happy with much.

Littles, Not Happy

Keep your attention focused entirely on what is truly your own concern, and be clear that what belongs to others is their business and none of yours.

Life, Jealousy, Envy

Epictetus, Sharon Lebell (2013). “The Art of Living: The Classical Mannual on Virtue, Happiness, and Effectiveness”, p.4, Harper Collins

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

Positive, Uplifting, Money

Epictetus (2016). “The Philosophy of Epictetus: Golden Sayings and Fragments”, p.87, Courier Dover Publications

Be careful whom you associate with. It is human to imitate the habits of those with whom we interact. We inadvertently adopt their interests, their opinions, their values, and their habit of interpreting events.

Motivational, Events, Opinion

No matter what happens, it is within my power to turn it to my advantage.

Inspirational, Mistake, Failure

Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it.

Inspirational, Life, Positive

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

People, Giving, Purpose

Every difficulty in life presents us with an opportunity to turn inward and to invoke our own submerged inner resources. The trials we endure can and should introduce us to our strengths.

Opportunity, Inward, Trials

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

Real, Men, Anxiety

From this instant on, vow to stop disappointing yourself. Separate yourself from the mob. Decide to be extraordinary and do what you need to do -- now.

Needs, Disappointing, Vow

There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.

Happiness, Happy, Success

Epictetus (2016). “The Philosophy of Epictetus: Golden Sayings and Fragments”, p.87, Courier Dover Publications

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

Positive, Happiness, Thank You

Epictetus (2012). “Enchiridion”, p.48, Courier Corporation

If someone speaks badly of you, do not defend yourself against the accusations, but reply; "you obviously don't know about my other vices, otherwise you would have mentioned these as well

Vices, Speak, Accusation

He who laughs at himself never runs out of things to laugh at.

Running, Laughing, Fortune Cookie

When we blather about trivial things, we ourselves become trivial, for our attention gets taken up with trivialities. You become what you give your attention to.

Taken, Giving, Attention

I am always content with what happens; for I know that what God chooses is better than what I choose.

Happens, Knows

Never depend on the admiration of others for self-satisfaction. It is a fact of life that other people, even people who love you, will not necessarily agree with your ideas, understand you always, or share your enthusiasms.

Love You, Ideas, Self

Wisdom means understanding without any doubt that circumstances do not rise to meet our expectations. Events happen as they may. People behave as they will.

Mean, Expectations, People

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