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Home  »  Dictionary of Quotations  »  Epictetus

James Wood, comp. Dictionary of Quotations. 1899.

Epictetus

[Greek]—Bear and forbear.

Contentment, as it is a short road and pleasant, has great delight and little trouble.

Cowardice is the dread of what will happen.

Difficulties are things that show what men are.

Envy is the antagonist of the fortunate.

Every faculty is conserved and increased by its appropriate exercise.

Every place is safe to him who lives with justice.

Forgiveness is better than revenge; for forgiveness is the sign of a gentle nature, but revenge the sign of a savage nature.

Fortify yourself with moderation; for this is an impregnable fortress.

Freedom and slavery, the one is the name of virtue, the other of vice, and both are acts of the will.

He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.

He who exercises wisdom exercises the knowledge which is about God.

He whom the inevitable cannot overcome is unconquerable.

If evil be said of thee, and if it be true, correct thyself; if it be a lie, laugh at it.

It is not he who gives abuse or blows who affronts, but the view we take of these things as insulting.

It is the part of a wise man to resist pleasures, but of a foolish one to be a slave to them.

Let no man think he is loved by any man, when he loves no man.

Liars are the cause of all the sins and crimes in the world.

Men are not influenced by things, but by their thoughts about things.

Nothing really pleasant or unpleasant subsists by nature, but all things become so by habit.

Of pleasures, those which occur most rarely give the greatest delight.

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 act 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.

The characteristic of a philosopher is that he looks to himself for all help or harm.

The first business of the philosopher is to part with self-conceit.

The universe is one great city, full of beloved ones, human and divine, by nature endeared to each other.

There is nothing good or evil save in the will.

Unless we place our religion and our treasure in the same thing, religion will always be sacrificed.

We are not to lead events, but to follow them.