ŷ������

“Some things are in our control and others not. Things in our control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever are our own actions. Things not in our control are body, property, reputation, command, and, in one word, whatever are not our actions. The things in our control are by nature free, unrestrained, unhindered; but those not in our control are weak, slavish, restrained, belonging to others. Remember, then, that if you suppose that things which are slavish by nature are also free, and that what belongs to others is your own, then you will be hindered. You will lament, you will be disturbed, and you will find fault both with gods and men. But if you suppose that only to be your own which is your own, and what belongs to others such as it really is, then no one will ever compel you or restrain you. Further, you will find fault with no one or accuse no one. You will do nothing against your will. No one will hurt you, you will have no enemies, and you not be harmed.”
― Epictetus, Enchiridion and Selections from the Discourses

“If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid with regard to external things. Don't wish to be thought to know anything; and even if you appear to be somebody important to others, distrust yourself.”
― Epictetus, Enchiridion and Selections from the Discourses

“As the sun does not wait for prayers and incantations tob e induced to rise, but immediately shines and is saluted by all, so do you also not wait for clappings of hands and shouts of praise tob e induced to do good, but be a doer of good voluntarily and you will be beloved as much as the sun.”
― Epictetus, Enchiridion and Selections from the Discourses

“A city is not adorned by external things, but by the virtue of those who dwell in it.”
― Epictetus, Enchiridion and Selections from the Discourses

“Men are disturbed not by the things which happen, but by the opinion about the things.”
― Epictetus, Enchiridion and Selections from the Discourses

“When you do anything from a clear judgment that it ought to be done, never shrink from being seen to do it, even though the world should misunderstand it; for if you are not acting rightly, shun the action itself; if you are, why fear those who wrongly censure you?”
― Epictetus, Enchiridion and Selections from the Discourses

“The condition and characteristic of an uninstructed person is this: he never expects from himself profit (advantage) nor harm, but from externals. The condition and characteristic of a philosopher is this: he expects all advantage and all harm from himself.”
― Epictetus, Enchiridion and Selections from the Discourses

“Fortify yourself with contentment for this is an impregnable fortress.”
― Epictetus, Enchiridion and Selections from the Discourses

“To admonish is better than to reproach for admonition is mild and friendly, but reproach is harsh and insulting; and admonition corrects those who are doing wrong, but reproach only convicts them.”
― Epictetus, Enchiridion and Selections from the Discourses

“He who exercises wisdom, exercises the knowledge which is about God.”
― Epictetus, Enchiridion and Selections from the Discourses

“When then any man assents to that which is false, be assured that he did not intend to assent to it as false, for every soul is unwillingly deprived of the truth, as Plato says; but the falsity seemed to him to be true.”
― Epictetus, A Selection from the Discourses of Epictetus with the Encheiridion

“Now there are two kinds of hardening, one of the understanding, the other of the sense of shame, when a man is resolved not to assent to what is manifest nor to desist from contradictions. Most of us are afraid of mortification of the body, and would contrive all means to avoid such a thing, but we care not about the soul's mortification. And indeed with regard to the soul, if a man be in such a state as not to apprehend anything, or understand at all, we think that he is in a bad condition; but if the sense of shame and modesty are deadened, this we call even power (or strength).”
― Epictetus, A Selection from the Discourses of Epictetus with the Encheiridion

“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.”
― Epictetus, Enchiridion and Selections from the Discourses

“Only consider at what price you sell your own will: if for no other reason, at least for this, that you sell it not for a small sum.”
― Epictetus, A Selection from the Discourses of Epictetus with the Encheiridion

“REST.—If a man should be able to assent to this doctrine as he ought, that we are all sprung from God in an especial manner, and that God is the father both of men and of gods, I suppose that he would never have any ignoble or mean thoughts about himself. But if Cæsar (the emperor) should adopt you, no one could endure your arrogance; and if you know that you are the son of Zeus, will you not be elated?”
― Epictetus, A Selection from the Discourses of Epictetus with the Encheiridion

“What is the product of virtue? Tranquillity.”
― Epictetus, A Selection from the Discourses of Epictetus with the Encheiridion

“If then you desire (aim at) such great things remember that you must not (attempt to) lay hold of them with a small effort;”
― Epictetus, A Selection from the Discourses of Epictetus with the Encheiridion

“sophistical questions, so we ought to exercise ourselves”
― Epictetus, A Selection from the Discourses of Epictetus with the Encheiridion

“but we should rather believe the philosophers who say that the educated only are free. How is this? In this manner: Is freedom anything else than the power of living as we choose? Nothing else.”
― Epictetus, A Selection from the Discourses of Epictetus with the Encheiridion

“But God has introduced man to be a spectator of God and of his works; and not only a spectator of them, but an interpreter. For this reason it is shameful for man to begin and to end where irrational animals do; but rather he ought to begin where they begin, and to end where nature ends in us; and nature ends in contemplation and understanding, and in a way of life conformable to nature. Take care then not to die without having been spectators of these things.”
― Epictetus, A Selection from the Discourses of Epictetus with the Encheiridion

“If a man, said Epictetus, opposes evident truths, it is not easy to find arguments by which we shall make him change his opinion. But this does not arise either from the man's strength or the teacher's weakness; for when the man, though he has been confuted, is hardened like a stone, how shall we then be able to deal with him by argument?”
― Epictetus, A Selection from the Discourses of Epictetus with the Encheiridion

“For what else is tragedy than the perturbations ([Greek: pathae]) of men who value externals exhibited in this kind of poetry?”
― Epictetus, A Selection from the Discourses of Epictetus with the Encheiridion

“But if with trembling and lamentation you seek not to fall into that which you avoid, tell me how you are improving.”
― Epictetus, A Selection from the Discourses of Epictetus with the Encheiridion

“For it is always true that to whatever point the perfecting of anything leads us, progress is an approach towards this point.”
― Epictetus, A Selection from the Discourses of Epictetus with the Encheiridion

“Epictetus is not superior to Socrates; but if he is not inferior, this is enough for me; for I shall never be a Milo, and yet I do not neglect my body; nor shall I be a Croesus, and yet I do not neglect my property; nor, in a word, do we neglect looking after anything because we despair of reaching the highest degree.”
― Epictetus, A Selection from the Discourses of Epictetus with the Encheiridion

“In short, if we observe, we shall find that the animal man is pained by nothing so much as by that which is irrational; and, on the contrary, attracted to nothing so much as to that which is rational.”
― Epictetus, A Selection from the Discourses of Epictetus with the Encheiridion

“Α�� γυναῖκε�� εὐθὺς ἀπ�� τεσσαρεσκαίδεκα ἐτῶν ὑπ�� τῶ�� ἀνδρῶ�� κυρίαι καλοῦντα��. τοιγαροῦ�� ὁρῶσαι, ὅτ�� ἄλλ�� μὲ�� οὐδὲν αὐταῖς πρόσεστι, μόνον δ�� συγκοιμῶντα�� τοῖ�� ἀνδράσι, ἄρχοντα�� καλλωπίζεσθαι κα�� ἐ�� τούτ�� πάσας ἔχει�� τὰ�� ἐλπίδας. προσέχειν οὖ�� ἄξιο��, ἵν�� αἴσθωντα��, διότι ἐπ' οὐδενὶ ἄλλῳ τιμῶντα�� �� τ�� κόσμιαι φαίνεσθαι κα�� αἰδήμονε��.”
― Επίκτητος, Enchiridion and Selections from the Discourses