Quotes By Epictetus

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

Not every difficult and dangerous thing is suitable for training, but only that which is conducive to success in achieving the object of our effort.

The essence of philosophy is that a man should so live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things.

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

Know, first, who you are, and then adorn yourself accordingly.

No great thing is created suddenly.

We tell lies, yet it is easy to show that lying is immoral.

If one oversteps the bounds of moderation, the greatest pleasures cease to please.

The two powers which in my opinion constitute a wise man are those of bearing and forbearing.

No man is free who is not master of himself.

We are not to give credit to the many, who say that none ought to be educated but the free; but rather to the philosophers, who say that the well-educated alone are free.

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

Men are disturbed not by things, but by the view which they take of them.

It is not death or pain that is to be dreaded, but the fear of pain or death.

Never in any case say I have lost such a thing, but I have returned it. Is your child dead? It is a return. Is your wife dead? It is a return. Are you deprived of your estate? Is not this also a return?

First learn the meaning of what you say, and then speak.

Neither should a ship rely on one small anchor, nor should life rest on a single hope.

All philosophy lies in two words, sustain and abstain.

Whoever does not regard what he has as most ample wealth, is unhappy, though he be master of the world.

No greater thing 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.

It takes more than just a good looking body. You've got to have the heart and soul to go with it.

People are not disturbed by things, but by the view they take of them.

He is a drunkard who takes more than three glasses though he be not drunk.