Quotes
2,628 quote
You will do the greatest service to the state, if you shall raise not the roofs of the houses, but the souls of the citizens.
Epictetus
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Fragment
Humanities Books
A ship ought not to be held by one anchor, nor life by a single hope.
Epictetus
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Fragment
Humanities Books
You may be always victorious if you will never enter into any contest where the issue does not wholly depend upon yourself.
Epictetus
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Enchiridion
Humanities Books
We should not have either a blunt knife or a freedom of speech which is ill-managed.
Epictetus
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Enchiridion
Humanities Books
If I can acquire money and also keep myself modest and faithful and magnanimous, point out the way, and I will acquire it.
Epictetus
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Discourses
Humanities Books
In a word, neither death, nor exile, nor pain, nor anything of this kind is the real cause of our doing or not doing any action, but our inward opinions and principles.
Epictetus
•
Discourses
Humanities Books
Practice yourself, for heaven's sake, in little things; and thence proceed to greater.
Epictetus
•
Discourses
Humanities Books
It is unlikely that the good of a snail should reside in its shell: so is it likely that the good of a man should?
Epictetus
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Discourses
Humanities Books
Pain or pleasure? I say pleasure.
Epictetus
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Discourses
Humanities Books
For it is not death or pain that is to be feared, but the fear of pain or death.
Epictetus
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Discourses
Humanities Books
It is impossible for anyone to begin to learn that which he thinks he already knows.
Epictetus
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Discourses
Humanities Books
The rational and the irrational appear such in a different way to different persons, just as the good and the bad, the profitable and the unprofitable.
Epictetus
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Discourses
Humanities Books
We must make the best use that we can of the things which are in our power, and use the rest according to their nature.
Epictetus
•
Discourses
Humanities Books
If virtue promises good fortune and tranquility and happiness, certainly also the progress towards virtue is progress towards each of these things.
Epictetus
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Discourses
Humanities Books
No thing 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.
Epictetus
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Discourses
Humanities Books
Whatever you would make habitual, practice it; and if you would not make a thing habitual, do not practice it, but accustom yourself to something else.
Epictetus
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Discourses
Humanities Books
Difficulty shows what men are. Therefore when a difficulty falls upon you, remember that God, like a trainer of wrestlers, has matched you with a rough young man. Why? So that you may become an Olympic conqueror; but it is not accomplished without sweat.
Epictetus
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Discourses
Humanities Books
To the rational being only the irrational is unendurable, but the rational is endurable.
Epictetus
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Discourses
Humanities Books
Shall I show you the sinews of a philosopher? "What sinews are those?" — A will undisappointed; evils avoided; powers daily exercised, careful resolutions; unerring decisions.
Epictetus
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Discourses
Humanities Books
Reason is not measured by size or height, but by principle.
Epictetus
•
Discourses
Humanities Books