Portrait of Epictetus

Epictetus

Stoic philosopher, former slave

Ancient influential 203 sayings

Sayings by Epictetus

It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.

c. 108 AD — Fragments
General Unverifiable

You will be an admirable person, if you care for nothing but your own will.

c. 108 AD — Discourses, Book I, Chapter 25
General Unverifiable

Every difficulty in life is a chance for us to turn inward and to discover the resources we possess to deal with that difficulty. The resources are not without, but within.

c. 108 AD — Discourses, Book I, Chapter 6
General Unverifiable

We are not to be like sheep, who, when they have filled themselves, stand and gaze, and bring nothing home but their pasture; but we should rather be like bees, which both fly and collect, and bring home honey.

c. 108 AD — Discourses, Book III, Chapter 24
General Unverifiable

No man can rob us of our will.

c. 108 AD — Discourses, Book I, Chapter 17
General Unverifiable

It is our attitude toward events, not events themselves, which determines how we will act.

c. 108 AD — Discourses, Book I, Chapter 1
General Unverifiable

To make a good man, you must first make a good citizen.

c. 108 AD — Discourses, Book II, Chapter 10
General Unverifiable

What, then, is the fruit of these doctrines? Tranquillity, fearlessness, freedom.

c. 108 AD — Discourses, Book II, Chapter 16
General Unverifiable

If you wish for nothing, you will be free.

c. 108 AD — Discourses, Book II, Chapter 2
General Unverifiable

The price of apathy is to be ruled by evil men.

c. 108 AD — Fragments
General Unverifiable

If you wish to be good, know that you are bad.

c. 108 AD — Discourses, Book II, Chapter 21
General Unverifiable

The true man is one who wills to be a man, and he who wills to be a man is a man.

c. 108 AD — Discourses, Book II, Chapter 1
General Unverifiable

Don't just say you have read books. Show that through them you have learned to think more accurately, to be less of a slave to your passions, to be more tranquil and self-possessed. Speeches are one thing, life another.

c. 108 AD — Discourses, Book IV, Chapter 4
Social & Racial Unverifiable

A man's master is he who has power over what the man wishes or does not wish, to secure or to take away.

c. 108 AD — Discourses, Book I, Chapter 17
General Unverifiable

The more we value things outside our control, the less control we have.

c. 108 AD — Discourses, Book IV, Chapter 1
General Unverifiable

If you want to be a man, or a woman, and do what is proper to a human being, do not go to others and ask, 'Am I a human being?'

c. 108 AD — Discourses, Book I, Chapter 2
General Unverifiable

It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.

c. 108 AD — Fragments
General Unverifiable

Never say about anything, 'I have lost it,' but only, 'I have given it back.'

c. 108 AD — Enchiridion, Chapter 11
General Unverifiable

To receive benefits is to lose liberty.

c. 108 AD — Fragments
General Unverifiable

If you want to be a writer, write.

c. 108 AD — Discourses, Book I, Chapter 17
General Confirmed
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