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Keep your attention focused entirely
on what is truly your own concern,
and be clear that what belongs to others
is their business and none of yours.
- Epictetus
Related topics: Life Human-Nature Psychology Envy Jealousy Attention Meddling
We cannot choose our external circumstances,
but we can always choose how to respond to them.
- Epictetus
If thy brother wrongs thee,
remember not so much his wrong-doing,
but more than ever that he is thy brother.
- Epictetus
When you have shut your doors, and darkened your room,
remember, never to say that you are alone,
for you are not alone, but God is within,
and your genius is within.
- Epictetus
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- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
He is a wise man who does not grieve
for the things which he has not,
but rejoices for those which he has.
- Epictetus
Is freedom anything else than the right
to live as we wish? Nothing else.
- Epictetus
Whoever does not regard what he has
as most ample wealth, is unhappy,
though he be master of the world.
- Epictetus
You are a little soul carrying around a corpse.
- Epictetus
Wealth consists not in having great possessions,
but in having few wants.
- Epictetus
Difficulties are things that show a person what he is.
- Epictetus
Men are disturbed not by things,
but by the view which they take of them.
- Epictetus
If you want to improve,
be content to be thought foolish and stupid.
- Epictetus
Fortify yourself with contentment,
for it is an impregnable fortress. -
- Epictetus
Do not seek to bring things to pass
in accordance with your wishes,
but wish for them as they are,
and you will find them.
- Epictetus
No great thing is created suddenly.
- Epictetus
We tell lies, yet it is easy to show that lying is immoral.
- Epictetus
When you are offended at any man's fault,
turn to yourself and study your own failings.
Then you will forget your anger.
- Epictetus
Know, first, who you are, and then adorn yourself accordingly.
- Epictetus
We should not moor a ship with one anchor,
or our life with one hope.
- Epictetus
Practice yourself, for heaven's sake in little things,
and then proceed to greater.
- Epictetus
We can't control the impressions others form about us,
and the effort to do so only debases our character.
- Epictetus
No man is free who is not master of himself.
- Epictetus
It is not he who reviles or strikes you who insults you,
but your opinion that these things are insulting.
- Epictetus
We have two ears and one mouth so that
we can listen twice as much as we speak.
- Epictetus
Not every difficult and dangerous thing
is suitable for training,
but only that which is conducive to success
in achieving the object of our effort.
- Epictetus
People are not disturbed by things,
but by the view they take of them.
- Epictetus
Make the best use of what is in your power,
and take the rest as it happens.
- Epictetus
The essence of philosophy is that a man should so live
that his happiness shall depend
as little as possible on external things.
- Epictetus
If evil be spoken of you
and it be true, correct yourself,
if it be a lie, laugh at it.
- Epictetus
First say to yourself what you would be;
then do what you have to do.
- Epictetus
Anyone is free who lives as he wishes to live.
- Epictetus
Freedom is the right to live as we wish.
- Epictetus
The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you,
whose presence calls forth your best.
- Epictetus
The greater the difficulty the more glory in surmounting it.
Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests.
- Epictetus
Control thy passions lest they take vengeance upon thee.
- Epictetus
It is not death or pain that is to be dreaded,
but the fear of pain or death.
- Epictetus
It is impossible to begin to learn
that which one thinks one already knows.
- Epictetus
First learn the meaning of what you say, and then speak.
- Epictetus
There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying
about things which are beyond the power of our will.
- Epictetus
Whenever you are angry, be assured that
it is not only a present evil,
but that you have increased a habit.
- Epictetus
Neither should a ship rely on one small anchor,
nor should life rest on a single hope.
- Epictetus
You may be always victorious if
you will never enter into any contest
where the issue does not wholly depend upon yourself.
- Epictetus
No one is free who is not master of himself.
- Epictetus
Never in any case say I have lost such a thing, but I have returned it.
Is your child dead? It is a return. Is your wife dead? It is a return.
Are you deprived of your estate? Is not this also a return?
- Epictetus
No greater 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 you that there must be time.
Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.
- Epictetus
Imagine for yourself a character,
a model personality whose example you determine to follow,
in private as well as in public.
- Epictetus
Be careful to leave your sons well instructed rather than rich,
for the hopes of the instructed
are better than the wealth of the ignorant.
- Epictetus
It's not what happens to you,
but how you react to it that matters.
- Epictetus
To accuse others for one's own misfortunes
is a sign of want of education.
To accuse oneself shows that one's education has begun.
To accuse neither oneself nor others
shows that one's education is complete.
- Epictetus
If anyone is unhappy, remember that
his unhappiness is his own fault...
Nothing else is the cause of anxiety or loss of tranquility
except our own opinion.
- Epictetus
All religions must be tolerated...
for every man must get to heaven in his own way.
- Epictetus
If someone irritates you, it is only
your own response that is irritating you.
Therefore, when anyone seems to be provoking you,
remember that it is only your judgment
of the incident that provokes you. -
- Epictetus
All philosophy lies in two words,
sustain and abstain.
- Epictetus
Difficulties show men what they are.
In case of any difficulty,
remember that God has pitted you
against a rough antagonist
that you may be a conqueror,
and this cannot be without toil.
- Epictetus
Those who are dedicated to a life of wisdom
understand that the impulse to blame
something or someone is foolishness,
that there is nothing to be gained in blaming,
whether it be others or oneself.
- Epictetus
The Main Thing is to Keep
The Main Thing The Main Thing.
- Stephen Covey
Trust your own inner guidance.
Have faith that your steps are
carrying you toward your dreams.
Keep your eyes on the heavens
and believe that your feet will carry you well.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
Keep a grateful journal. Every night,
list five things you are grateful for.
- Oprah Winfrey
In our willingness to give that which we seek,
we keep the abundance of the universe circulating in our lives.
- Deepak Chopra
If I keep a green bough in my heart the singing bird will come.
- Chinese proverb
To keep your thinking young, stay curious.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
My whole goal is to keep my spirit intact.
If that doesn't happen, none of this is worth it.
- Jewel
Keep your feet firmly planted on the ground
as you reach for the stars.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
Let the refining and improving of your own life
keep you so busy that you have little time to criticize others.
- H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed,
and in such desperate enterprises?
If a man does not keep pace with his companions,
perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.
- Henry David Thoreau
Do not anticipate trouble,
or worry about what may never happen.
Keep in the sunlight.
- Benjamin Franklin
Keep moving. Don't stop. But don't rush.
Don't race around.
Sure and steady gets you there every time.
- Neale Donald Walsch
Resolve to keep happy, and your joy
and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties.
- Helen Keller
The nature of life is to be
a study of contrasts: joy/sadness, full/empty.
The Main Thing is to Keep The Main Thing The Main Thing.
- Stephen Covey
Better keep yourself clean and bright;
you are the window through which
you must see the world.
- George Bernard Shaw
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May the world be kind to you,
and may your own thoughts be gentle upon yourself.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
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