Quotes By Epictetus

Control thy passions lest they take vengence on thee.

You may be always victorious if you will never enter into any contest where the issue does not wholly depend upon yourself.

Nothing great is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig. I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.

Do not seek to bring things to pass in accordance with your wishes, but wish for them as they are, and you will find them.

It is the nature of the wise to resist pleasures, but the foolish to be a slave to them.

There is nothing good or evil save in the will.

Freedom is the right to live as we wish.

The world turns aside to let any man pass who knows where he is going.

Imagine for yourself a character, a model personality, whose example you determine to follow, in private as well as in public.

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

Difficulties are things that show a person what they are.

Silence is safer than speech.

If thy brother wrongs thee, remember not so much his wrong-doing, but more than ever that he is thy brother.

Only the educated are free.

If you seek truth you will not seek victory by dishonorable means, and if you find truth you will become invincible.

Unless we place our religion and our treasure in the same thing, religion will always be sacrificed.

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

All religions must be tolerated... for every man must get to heaven in his own way.

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

Practice yourself, for heaven's sake in little things, and then proceed to greater.

Keep silence for the most part, and speak only when you must, and then briefly.

Be careful to leave your sons well instructed rather than rich, for the hopes of the instructed are better than the wealth of the ignorant.

We should not moor a ship with one anchor, or our life with one hope.

Is freedom anything else than the right to live as we wish? Nothing else.

It is impossible to begin to learn that which one thinks one already knows.

If virtue promises happiness, prosperity and peace, then progress in virtue is progress in each of these for to whatever point the perfection of anything brings us, progress is always an approach toward it.

When you are offended at any man's fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings. Then you will forget your anger.

The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best.

One that desires to excel should endeavor in those things that are in themselves most excellent.

No great thing is created suddenly.