Quotes from Epictetus

Remember that you are an actor in a drama of such sort as the author chooses, - if short, then in a short one; if long, then in a long one. If it be his pleasure that you should enact a poor man, see that you act it well; or a cripple, or a ruler, or a private citizen. For this is your business, to act well the given part; but to choose it, belongs to another.

What would Heracles have been if he had said, How am I to prevent a big lion from appearing, or a big boar, or brutal men? What care you, I say? If a big boar appears, you will have a greater struggle to engage in; if evil men appear, you will free the world from evil men.

secondly, what the nature of God is. Whatever that nature is discovered to be, the man who would please and obey Him must strive with all his might to be made like unto him. If the Divine is faithful, he also must be faithful; if free, he also must be free; if beneficent, he also must be beneficent; if magnanimous, he also must be magnanimous. Thus as an imitator of God must he follow Him in every deed and word.

Do your best to rein in your desire. For if you desire something that isn't within your own control, disappointment will surely follow; meanwhile, you will be neglecting the very things that are within your control that are worthy of desire.

Man, the rational animal, can put up with anything except what seems to him irrational; whatever is rational is tolerable.

Taking account of the value of externals, you see, comes at some cost to the value of one's own character.

In the long run, every man will pay the penalty for his own misdeeds. The man who remembers this will be angry with no one, indignant with no one, revile no one, blame no one, offend no one, hate no one.

Can we avoid people? How is that possible? And if we associate with them, can we change them? Who gives us that power?

Men are disturbed, not by things, but by the principles and notions.

As long as you honour material things, direct your anger at yourself rather than the thief or adulterer.

If anyone tells you that a certain person has spoken in a bad way about you, don't make excuses about what has been said, but answer: "He was ignorant of my other faults, otherwise he would have mentioned those also.

Seeing that our birth involves the blending of these two things—the body, on the one hand, that we share with animals, and, on the other hand, rationality and intelligence, that we share with the gods—most of us incline to this former relationship, wretched and dead though it is, while only a few to the one that is divine and blessed.