Quotes from Epictetus

So in the field of assent you cannot be hindered or obstructed. 'Evidently.

Consider at what price you sell your integrity; but please, for God's sake, don't sell it cheap.

I must be exiled; but is there anything to keep me from going with a smile, calm and self-composed?

Why act the part of a Jew when you're Greek? Don't you know why it is that a person is called a Jew, Syrian, or Egyptian? And when we see someone hesitating between two creeds, we're accustomed to say, 'He is no Jew, but is merely acting the part.' But when he assumes the frame of mind of one who has been baptized * and has made his choice, then he really is a Jew, and is called by that name.

Getting rid of these, too, requires looking to God for help, trusting him alone, and submitting to his direction. [47] Then if you're not willing to do this — all tears and agitation — you will serve someone physically more powerful than you, and continue to look outside yourself for happiness, fated never to find it. And that is because you look for it in the wrong place, forgetting to look where it really lies.

I'm in difficulty, lord, and pitiable: no one cares about me, no one helps me; I'm the object of universal scorn.' [49] Is that the witness you are going to bear, making a mockery of God's summons, when he honoured you and judged you worthy to be his public spokesman?

But what says Socrates?—One man finds pleasure in improving his land, another his horses. My pleasure lies in seeing that I myself grow better day by day.

The soul is like a bowl of water, with the soul's impressions like the rays of light that strike the water. Now, if the water is disturbed, the light appears to be disturbed together with it — though of course it is not.

It is for you to arrange your priorities; but whatever you decide to do, don't do it resentfully, as if you were being imposed on.

Let man be pleased with whatever has pleased God; let him marvel at himself and his own resources for this very reason, that he cannot be overcome, that he has the very powers of evil subject to his control, and that he brings into subjection chance and pain and wrong by means of that strongest of powers — reason. Love reason! The love of reason will arm you against the greatest hardships.

impassivity and a good flow of life are not attained except through unerring desire and unfailing avoidance

remain steadfast in pursuing your mission, always willing to shed distractions.