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He is a wise man who does not grieve
for the things which he has not,
but rejoices for those which he has.
- Epictetus
Related topics: Inspirational Wisdom Gratitude
We cannot choose our external circumstances,
but we can always choose how to respond to them.
- Epictetus
You are a little soul carrying around a corpse.
- Epictetus
If thy brother wrongs thee,
remember not so much his wrong-doing,
but more than ever that he is thy brother.
- Epictetus
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- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
Is freedom anything else than the right
to live as we wish? Nothing else.
- 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
Whoever does not regard what he has
as most ample wealth, is unhappy,
though he be master of the world.
- Epictetus
No great thing is created suddenly.
- Epictetus
Know, first, who you are, and then adorn yourself accordingly.
- Epictetus
Make the best use of what is in your power,
and take the rest as it happens.
- Epictetus
Anyone is free who lives as he wishes to live.
- Epictetus
It is not he who reviles or strikes you who insults you,
but your opinion that these things are insulting.
- Epictetus
First say to yourself what you would be;
then do what you have to do.
- Epictetus
It is impossible to begin to learn
that which one thinks one already knows.
- Epictetus
We should not moor a ship with one anchor,
or our life with one 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
Neither should a ship rely on one small anchor,
nor should life rest on a single hope.
- Epictetus
The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you,
whose presence calls forth your best.
- Epictetus
Freedom is the right to live as we wish.
- Epictetus
Wealth consists not in having great possessions,
but in having few wants.
- Epictetus
People are not disturbed by things,
but by the view they take of them.
- Epictetus
Men are disturbed not by things,
but by the view which they take of them.
- Epictetus
We have two ears and one mouth so that
we can listen twice as much as we speak.
- Epictetus
If you want to improve,
be content to be thought foolish and stupid.
- Epictetus
We can't control the impressions others form about us,
and the effort to do so only debases our character.
- Epictetus
The greater the difficulty the more glory in surmounting it.
Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests.
- Epictetus
Fortify yourself with contentment,
for it is an impregnable fortress. -
- Epictetus
If evil be spoken of you
and it be true, correct yourself,
if it be a lie, laugh at it.
- Epictetus
Control thy passions lest they take vengeance upon thee.
- Epictetus
First learn the meaning of what you say, and then speak.
- Epictetus
Difficulties are things that show a person what he is.
- Epictetus
It is not death or pain that is to be dreaded,
but the fear of pain or death.
- 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
When you are offended at any man's fault,
turn to yourself and study your own failings.
Then you will forget your anger.
- Epictetus
Practice yourself, for heaven's sake in little things,
and then proceed to greater.
- 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
No man is free who is not master of himself.
- Epictetus
We tell lies, yet it is easy to show that lying is immoral.
- 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
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
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
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
No one is free who is not master of himself.
- Epictetus
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
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
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
All religions must be tolerated...
for every man must get to heaven in his own way.
- Epictetus
It's not what happens to you,
but how you react to it that matters.
- 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
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
All philosophy lies in two words,
sustain and abstain.
- 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
He who knows others is wise.
He who knows himself is enlightened.
- Lao Tzu
See no evil, Hear no evil, Speak no evil.
- Japanese pictorial maxim (the Three Wise Monkeys)
The wise man does not lay up his own treasures.
The more he gives to others, the more he has for his own.
- Lao Tzu
The wise man in the storm prays God,
not for safety from danger,
but for deliverance from fear.
It is the storm within which endangers him,
not the storm without.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Before God we are all equally wise - and equally foolish.
- Albert Einstein
Excellence is the result of
caring more than others think wise,
risking more than other's think safe,
dreaming more than others think practical,
and expecting more than others think possible.
- Anonymous
It is always wise to look ahead,
but difficult to look further than you can see.
- Winston Churchill
It is noted that a stopped clock is correct twice each day.
In a similar manner, a person who is unchanging appears wise occasionally.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
I have always been regretting that
I was not as wise as the day I was born.
- Henry David Thoreau
Take risks: if you win, you will be happy;
if you lose, you will be wise.
- Anonymous
You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers.
You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions.
- Naguib Mahfouz
A wise man can learn more from a foolish question
than a fool can learn from a wise answer.
- Bruce Lee
Wise men put their trust in ideas
and not in circumstances
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Many receive advice, only the wise profit from it.
- Publilius Syrus
The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance;
the wise grows it under his feet.
- J. Robert Oppenheimer
Every day is a new beginning -
a day for a new plan and new action.
If today, in conscious awareness, you choose
the same plan as yesterday, you are wise.
If you choose a different plan, you are equally wise.
Whatever you choose, choose with intention.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
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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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