Epictetus Quotes Page 5

“You may fetter my leg, but my will not even Zeus himself can overpower.”

“Books are the training weights of the mind.”

“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.”

“If you think that you have free rein over things that are naturally beyond your control, or if you attempt to adopt the affairs of others as your own, your pursuits will be thwarted and you will become a frustrated, anxious, and fault-finding person.”

“Most of what passes for legitimate entertainment is inferior or foolish and only caters to or exploits people's weaknesses. Avoid being one of the mob who indulges in such pastimes. Your life is too short and you have important things to do. Be discriminating about what images and ideas you permit into your mind. If you yourself don't choose what thoughts and images you expose yourself to, someone else will, and their motives may not be the highest. It is the easiest thing in the world to slide imperceptibly into vulgarity. But there's no need for that to happen if you determine not to waste your time and attention on mindless pap.”

“f you appear to be somebody important to others, distrust yourself.”

“If you have received an impression of any pleasure, guard yourself and create a delay. Then think of the time you will enjoy the pleasure, and the time after, when you will repent and be disappointed with yourself.

On the other side, imagine your happiness if you resist the temptation and get to commend yourself for the victory.”

“It is the act of an ill-instructed man to blame others for his own bad condition; it is the act of one who has begun to be instructed, to lay the blame on himself; and of one whose instruction is completed, neither to blame another, nor himself.”

“Men are disturbed, not by things, but by the principles and notions which they form concerning things.”

“People feel disturbed not by things, but by the views they take of them.”

“Remember that you ought to behave in life as you would at a banquet. As something is being passed around it comes to you; stretch out your hand, take a portion of it politely. It passes on; do not detain it. Or it has not come to you yet; do not project your desire to meet it, but wait until it comes in front of you. So act toward children, so toward a wife, so toward office, so toward wealth.”

“We should not have either a blunt knife or a freedom of speech which is ill-managed.”

“When any person treats you badly or speaks ill of you, remember that they do this because they think they must. It’s not possible for them to do what you think is right, but only what seems right to them.

If you understand this you will have a milder temper with those who revile you because you can always say: it seemed so to them.”

“When you do a thing because you have determined that it ought to be done, never avoid being seen doing it, even if the opinion of the multitude is going to condemn you.

For if your action is wrong, then avoid doing it altogether, but if it is right, why do you fear those who will rebuke you wrongly?”