"Do not laugh much or often or unrestrainedly."
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Quote collection
Epictetus quotes (page 21 of 24)
467 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"I must die. Must I then die lamenting? I must be put in chains. Must I then also lament? I must go into exile. Does any man then hinder me from going with smiles and cheerfulness and contentment?"
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"Consider first the nature of the business in hand; then examine thy own nature, whether thou hast strength to undertake it."
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"What disturbs and alarms man are not the things, but his opinions and fancies about the things."
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"Focus not on what he or she does, but on keeping to your higher purpose. Your own purpose should seek harmony with nature itself. For this is the true road to freedom."
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"It is wicked to withdraw from being useful to the needy, and cowardly to give way to the worthless."
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"Think of God more often than thou breathest."
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"When you want to hear a philosopher, do not say, 'You say nothing to me'; only show yourself worthy or fit to hear, and then you will see how you will move the speaker."
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"It is not so much what happens to you as how you think about what happens." Epictetus"
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"Nothing outside the will can hinder or harm the will; it can only harm itself. If then we accept this, and, when things go amiss, are inclined to blame ourselves, remembering that judgment alone can disturb our peace and constancy, I swear to you by all the gods that we have made progress."
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"Some of their faults men readily admit, but others not so readily."
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"If you would be well spoken of, learn to be well-spoken; and having learnt to be well- spoken, strive also to be well-doing; so shall you succeed in being well spoken of."
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"Crows pick out the eyes of the dead, when the dead have no longer need of them; but flatterers mar the soul of the living, and her eyes they blind."
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"What thou avoidest suffering thyself seek not to impose on others."
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"No living being is held by anything so strongly as its own needs."
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"In theory it is easy to convince an ignorant person; in actual life, men not only object to offer themselves to be convinced, but hate the man who has convinced them."
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"It is not things in themselves which trouble us, but our opinions of things."
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"Nothing is in reality either pleasant or unpleasant by nature but all things become so through habit"
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"If I was a nightingale I would sing like a nightingale; if a swan, like a swan. But since I am a rational creature my role is to praise God."
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"Does a man reproach thee for being proud or ill-natured, envious or conceited, ignorant or detracting? Consider with thyself whether his reproaches are true. If they are not, consider that thou art not the person whom he reproaches, but that he reviles an imaginary being, and perhaps loves what thou really art, though he hates what thou appearest to be."
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