Epictetus Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old Epictetus quotes, Epictetus sayings, and Epictetus proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.'

Freedom is the only worthy goal in life. It is won by disregarding things that lie beyond our control. Stop aspiring to be anyone other than your own best self: for that does fall within your control. Epictetus
Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it. Epictetus
Fortify yourself with moderation; for this is an impregnable fortress. Epictetus
If a man is unhappy, remember that his unhappiness is his own fault, for God made all men to be happy. Epictetus
It's so simple really:  If you say you're going to do something, do it.  If you start something, finish it. Epictetus
If one oversteps the bounds of moderation, the greatest pleasures cease to please. Epictetus
The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best. Epictetus
Happiness and personal fulfillment are the natural consequences of doing the right thing. Epictetus
You can be invincible, if you enter into no contest in which it is not in your power to conquer. Epictetus
Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants. Epictetus
An ignorant person is inclined to blame others for his own misfortune. To blame oneself is proof of progress. But the wise man never has to blame another or himself. Epictetus
A vulgar man, in any ill that happens to him, blames others; a novice in philosophy blames himself; and a philosopher blames neither, the one nor the other. Epictetus
Man is not worried by real problems so much as by his imagined anxieties about real problems. Epictetus
Difficulty shows what men are. Epictetus
Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it. Epictetus
Pleasure, like a kind of bait, is thrown before everything which is really bad, and easily allures greedy souls to the hook of perdition. Epictetus
God has pitted you against a rough antagonist that you may be a conqueror, and this cannot be without toil. Epictetus
Know, first, who you are, and then adorn yourself accordingly. Epictetus
As it is pleasant to see the sea from the land, so it is pleasant for him who has escaped from troubles to think of them. Epictetus
Whatever you would make habitual, practice it; and if you would not make a thing habitual, do not practice it, but accustom yourself to something else. Epictetus
Practice yourself, for heaven's sake in little things, and then proceed to greater. Epictetus
Preach not to others what they should eat, but eat as becomes you and be silent.  Epictetus
The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best. Epictetus
A man that seeks truth and loves it must be reckoned precious to any human society. Epictetus
No man is free who is not master of himself. Epictetus
Any person capable of angering you becomes your master. Epictetus
We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak. Epictetus
The appearance of things to the mind is the standard of every action to man. Epictetus
Men are not afraid of things, but of how they view them. Epictetus
The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best. Epictetus