Epictetus on Courage Quotes

"You are a little soul carrying around a corpse."

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

"Seek not that the things which happen should happen as you wish; but wish the things which happen to be as they are."

"To accuse neither oneself nor others shows that one's education is complete."

"It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters."

"No man is free who is not master of himself."

"The greater the difficulty, the more glory in surmounting it. Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests."

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

"Lameness is an impediment to the leg, but not to the will."

"Don't hope that events will turn out the way you want, welcome events in whichever way they happen."

"To accuse oneself shows that one's education has begun."

"It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows."

"I must die. Must I then die complaining?"

"Every habit and faculty is confirmed and strengthened by the corresponding actions."

"If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid."

"Curb your desire—don't set your heart on so many things and you will get what you need."

"Hold fast to your true aspirations no matter what is happening around you."

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

"To accuse others for one's own misfortunes is a sign of want of education."

"A philosopher's school is a clinic; you ought not to walk out of it with pleasure, but with pain."

"If you are ever tempted to look for outside approval, realize that you have compromised your integrity."

"Difficulties are things that show what men are."

"I must go into exile. Does any man then hinder me from going with smiles and cheerfulness and contentment?"

"Small-minded people blame others. Average people blame themselves. The wise see all blame as foolishness."

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

"Sickness is a hindrance to the body, but not to your ability to choose, unless that is your choice."

"True instruction is this: learning to will that things should happen just as they do happen."

"If you would be a good reader, read; if a writer, write."

"He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has."

"Freedom is the only worthy goal in life. It is won by disregarding things that lie beyond our control."

"If someone speaks badly of you, do not defend yourself against the accusations, but reply; 'He surely doesn't know my other faults, or he would have mentioned these too.'"

"I must be put in chains. Must I then also lament?"

"Man is not worried by real problems so much as by his imagined anxieties about real problems."