Epictetus (/ˌɛpɪkˈtiːtəs/; Greek: Ἐπίκτητος, Epíktētos; c. 50 – 135 AD) was a Greek Stoic philosopher. He was born a slave at Hierapolis, Phrygia (present day Pamukkale, Turkey) and lived in Rome until his banishment, when he went to Nicopolis in northwestern Greece for the rest of his life. His teachings were written down and published by his pupil Arrian in his Discourses and Enchiridion.
Epictetus taught that philosophy is a way of life and not just a theoretical discipline. To Epictetus, all external events are beyond our control; we should accept calmly and dispassionately whatever happens. However, individuals are responsible for their own actions, which they can examine and control through rigorous self-discipline.
Epictetus's Quotes:
- “First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.”
- “It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.”
- “You are not your body and hair-style, but your capacity for choosing well.
If your choices are beautiful, so too will you be.” - “It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.”
- “Small-minded people blame others.
Average people blame themselves.
The wise see all blame as foolishness.” - “Demand not that things happen as you wish, but wish them to happen as they do, and you will go on well.”
- “It is better to die of hunger having lived without grief and fear, than to live with a troubled spirit, amid abundance”
- “Any person capable of angering you becomes your master; he can anger you only when you permit yourself to be disturbed by him.”
- “No man is free until he’s a master of himself!!”
- “Freedom is the only worthy goal in life. It is won by disregarding things that lie beyond our control.”
- “It takes more than just a good-looking body. You've got to have the heart and soul to go with it.”
- “Wherever a man is against his will, that to him is a prison.”
- “Men are not afraid of things, but of how they view them.”
- “It is difficulties that show what men are.”
- “Practice yourself, for heaven's sake, in little things; and thence proceed to greater.”
- “First learn the meaning of what you say, and then speak.”
- “Let silence be your general rule; or say only what is necessary and in few words.”
- “The greater the difficulty, the more glory in surmounting it. Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests.”
- “Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.”
- “Either God wants to abolish evil, and cannot; or he can, but does not want to.”
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