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It is our attitude toward events, not events themselves, which we can control. Nothing is by its own nature calamitous -- even death is terrible only if we fear it.

— Epictetus Victims and Values : A History and a Theory of Suffering (1990)

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Attitude

More quotes by Epictetus

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.

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The truth is that it is our attitude towards children that is right, and our attitude towards grown-up people that is wrong.

G. K. Chesterton The Defendant (1901)

The Great Vehicle path requires the vast motivation of a Bodhisattva, who, not seeking just his or her welfare, takes on the burden of bringing about the welfare of all sentient beings.

Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama The Dalai Lama at Harvard: Lectures on the Buddhist Path to Peace (1988)

It is very important to generate a good attitude, a good heart, as much as possible. From this, happiness in both the short term and the long term for both yourself and others will come.

Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama

I feel that the essence of spiritual practice is your attitude toward others.

Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Epictetus (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.