Epictetus Quotes

He who laughs at himself never runs out of things to laugh at

Don’t explain your philosophy. Embody it

We suffer not from the events in our lives, but from our judgment about them

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

It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters

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

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

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

Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens

No great 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 that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen

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

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

No man is free who is not master of himself

Circumstances don’t make the man, they only reveal him to himself

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