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Epictetus Quotes
b. 135 Greece
Epictetus (Ancient Greek: Ἐπίκτητος, Epíktētos; c. 50 – c. 135 AD) was a Greek Stoic philosopher. He was born into slavery in Phrygia and lived in Rome until his banishment, after which he spent the rest of his life in Nicopolis in northwestern Greece.
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For freedom is not acquired by satisfying yourself with what you desire, but by destroying your desire.
Although life is a matter of indifference, the use which you make of it is not a matter of indifference.
First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.
It is difficulties that show what men are.
For what is it that everyone is seeking? To live securely, to be happy, to do everything as they wish to do, not to be hindered, not to be subject to compulsion.
What is the first business of one who practices philosophy? To get rid of self-conceit. For it is impossible for anyone to begin to learn that which he thinks he already knows.
It is unlikely that the good of a snail should reside in its shell: so is it likely that the good of a man should?
For it is not death or pain that is to be feared, but the fear of pain or death.
For human beings, the measure of every action is the impression of the senses.
It is circumstances (difficulties) which show what men are.
Any one thing in the creation is sufficient to demonstrate a Providence to an humble and grateful mind.
It takes more than just a good looking body. You've got to have the heart and soul to go with it.
Little is needed to ruin and upset everything, only a slight aberration from reason.
"But to be hanged—is that not unendurable?" Even so, when a man feels that it is reasonable, he goes off and hangs himself.
Some of their faults people readily admit, but others not so readily.
Don't you know that a good and excellent person does nothing for the sake of appearances, but only for the sake of having acted right?
There is nothing good or evil save in the will.
Men are disturbed, not by things, but by the principles and notions which they form concerning things.
Since it is Reason which shapes and regulates all other things, it ought not itself to be left in disorder.
Materials are indifferent, but the use which we make of them is not a matter of indifference.
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