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Freedom Isn't The Right Or Ability To Do Whatever You Please. Freedom Comes From Understanding The Limits Of Our Own Power And The Inherent Limits Set In Place By Nature. By Accepting Life's Limits And Inevitabilities And Working With Them Rather Than Fighting Them, You Become Truly Free.

-Epictetus

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Freedom Isn't The Right

Epictetus

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Freedom Isn't The Right Or Ability To Do Whatever You Please. Freedom Comes From Understanding The Limits Of Our Own Power And The Inherent Limits Set In Place By Nature. By Accepting Life's Limits And Inevitabilities And Working With Them Rather Than Fighting Them, You Become Truly Free.

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No Living Being Is Held By Anything So Strongly As Its Own Needs.

Be Careful Whom You Associate With. It Is Human To Imitate The Habits Of Those With Whom We Interact. We Inadvertently Adopt Their Interests, Their Opinions, Their Values, And Their Habit Of Interpreting Events.

Nothing Truly Stops You. Nothing Truly Holds You Back. For Your Own Will Is Always Within Your Control.

Positive Thinking

Power Of Positive Thinking

God Has Made All Men To Be Happy.

Do Not Laugh Much Or Often Or Unrestrainedly.

We Should Not Have Either A Blunt Knife Or A Freedom Of Speech Which Is Ill-managed.

Freedom Of Speech

Common And Vulgar People Ascribe All Ills That They Feel To Others; People Of Little Wisdom Ascribe To Themselves; People Of Much Wisdom, To No One.

What Is A Good Person? One Who Achieves Tranquillity By Having Formed The Habit Of Asking On Every Occasion, "what Is The Right Thing To Do Now?"

Remember That You Are But An Actor, Acting Whatever Part The Master Has Ordained. It May Be Short Or It May Be Long. If He Wishes You To Represent A Poor Man, Do So Heartily; If A Cripple, Or A Magistrate, Or A Private Man, In Each Case Act Your Part With Honor.

Remember That You Are An Actor In A Play, And That The Playwright Chooses The Manner Of It: If He Wants You To Act A Poor Man You Must Act The Part With All Your Powers; And So If Your Part Be A Cripple Or A Magistrate Or A Plain Man. For Your Business Is To Act The Character That Is Given You And Act It Well. The Choice Of The Cast Is Another's.

Our Duties Naturally Emerge Form Such Fundamental Relations As Our Families, Neighborhoods, Workplaces, Our State Or Nation. Make It Your Regular Habit To Consider Your Roles-parent, Child, Neighbor, Citizen, Leader-and The Natural Duties That Arise From Them. Once You Know Who You Are And To Whom You Are Linked, You Will Know What To Do.

We Do Not Choose Our Own Parts In Life, And Have Nothing To Do With Those Parts. Our Duty Is Confined To Playing Them Well.

What Is The First Business Of One Who Practices Philosophy? To Get Rid Of Self-conceit. For It Is Impossible For Anyone To Begin To Learn That Which He Thinks He Already Knows.

Happiness And Freedom Begin With A Clear Understanding Of One Principle: Some Things Are Within Our Control, And Some Things Are Not. It Is Only After You Have Faced Up To This Fundamental Rule And Learned To Distinguish Between What You Can And Can't Control That Inner Tranquility And Outer Effectiveness Become Possible.

Act Well Your Given Part; The Choice Rests Not With You.

Men Are Not Worried By Things, But By Their Ideas About Things. When We Meet With Difficulties, Become Anxious Or Troubled, Let Us Not Blame Others, But Rather Ourselves. That Is: Our Ideas About Things.

I Laugh At Those Who Think They Can Damage Me. They Do Not Know Who I Am, They Do Not Know What I Think, They Cannot Even Touch The Things Which Are Really Mine And With Which I Live.

Fortune Is An Evil Chain To The Body, And Vice To The Soul.

People Are Not Disturbed By Things, But By The View They Take Of Them.

Pain Or Pleasure? I Say Pleasure.

Remember That You Are In Actor In A Play Of Such A Kind That The Author Chooses...for This Is Your Duty, To Act Well The Part That Is Given To You; But To Select The Part Belongs To Another.

The Two Powers Which In My Opinion Constitute A Wise Man Are Those Of Bearing And Forbearing.

When We Act Pugnaciously, And Injuriously, And Angrily, And Rudely, To What Level Have We Degenerated? To The Level Of The Wild Beasts. Well, The Fact Is That Some Of Us Are Wild Beasts Of A Larger Size, While Others Are Little Animals, Malignant And Petty.

No Great Thing Is Created Suddenly. There Must Be Time. Give Your Best And Always Be Kind.

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.

The Soul That Companies With Virtue Is Like An Ever-flowing Source. It Is A Pure, Clear, And Wholesome Draught, Sweet, Rich And Generous Of Its Store, That Injures Not, Neither Destroys.

First Tell Yourself What You Want To Be, Then Do What You Need To Do.

When We Blather About Trivial Things, We Ourselves Become Trivial, For Our Attention Gets Taken Up With Trivialities. You Become What You Give Your Attention To.

Any One Thing In The Creation Is Sufficient To Demonstrate A Providence To A Humble And Grateful Mind.

Ruin And Recovering Are Both From Within.

If Anyone Tells You That A Certain Person Speaks Ill Of You, Do Not Make Excuses About What Is Said Of You But Answer, "he Was Ignorant Of My Other Faults, Else He Would Not Have Mentioned These Alone.

Ask Yourself: Does This Appearance (of Events) Concern The Things That Are Within My Own Control Or Those That Are Not? If It Concerns Anything Outside Your Control, Train Yourself Not To Worry About It.

It Is Wicked To Withdraw From Being Useful To The Needy, And Cowardly To Give Way To The Worthless.

It Is Better To Die Of Hunger Having Lived Without Grief And Fear, Than To Live With A Troubled Spirit, Amid Abundance

Practice Yourself, For Heaven's Sake, In Little Things, And Thence Proceed To Greater.

Happiness And Freedom Begin With A Clear Understanding Of One Principle: Some Things Are Within Our Control, And Some Things Are Not.

When Any Person Treats You Ill Or Speaks Ill Of You, Remember That He Does This Or Says This Because He Thinks It Is His Duty. It Is Not Possible, Then, For Him To Follow That Which Seems Right To You, But That Which Seems Right To Himself.

All Human Beings Seek The Happy Life, But Many Confuse The Means - For Example, Wealth And Status - With That Life Itself. This Misguided Focus On The Means To A Good Life Makes People Get Further From The Happy Life. The Really Worthwhile Things Are The Virtuous Activities That Make Up The Happy Life, Not The External Means That May Seem To Produce It.

Let Silence Be Your General Rule; Or Say Only What Is Necessary And In Few Words.

We Have Two Ears And One Mouth So That We Can Listen Twice As Much As We Speak.

Never Depend On The Admiration Of Others For Self-satisfaction. It Is A Fact Of Life That Other People, Even People Who Love You, Will Not Necessarily Agree With Your Ideas, Understand You Always, Or Share Your Enthusiasms.

God Has Entrusted Me With Myself.

Self Improvement

Confidence In Nonsense Is A Requirement For The Creative Process.

If You Would Improve, Submit To Be Considered Wihout Sense And Foolish With Respect To Externals. Wish To Be Considered To Know Nothing; And If You Shall Seem To Someone To Be A Person Of Importance, Distrust Yourself.

You Bear God Within You, Poor Wretch, And Know It Not.

If Someone Irritates You, It Is Only Your Own Response That Is Irritating You. Therefore, When Anyone Seems To Be Provoking You, Remember That It Is Only Your Judgment Of The Incident That Provokes You. -

It Is Impossible For A Man To Learn What He Thinks He Already Knows.

Preach Not To Others What They Should Eat, But Eat As Becomes You And Be Silent.

He Is Free Who Lives As He Wishes To Live; Who Is Neither Subject To Compulsion Nor To Hindrance, Nor To Force; Whose Movements To Action Are Not Impeded, Whose Desires Attain Their Purpose, And Who Does Not Fall Into That Which He Would Avoid.

If Anyone Is Unhappy, Remember That His Unhappiness Is His Own Fault... Nothing Else Is The Cause Of Anxiety Or Loss Of Tranquility Except Our Own Opinion.

To Epictetus, All External Events Are Determined By Fate, And Are Thus Beyond Our Control, But We Can Accept Whatever Happens Calmly And Dispassionately. Individuals, However, Are Responsible For Their Own Actions Which They Can Examine And Control Through Rigorous Self-discipline. Suffering Arises From Trying To Control What Is Uncontrollable, Or From Neglecting What Is Within Our Power. As Part Of The Universal City That Is The Universe, Human Beings Have A Duty Of Care To All Fellow Humans. The Person Who Followed These Precepts Would Achieve Happiness.

Happiness And Personal Fulfillment Are The Natural Consequences Of Doing The Right Thing.

Doing The Right Thing

Cowardice, The Dread Of What Will Happen.

You Ought To Choose Both Physician And Friend, Not The Most Agreeable, But The Most Useful.

It Has Been Ordained That There Be Summer And Winter, Abundance And Dearth, Virtue And Vice, And All Such Opposites For The Harmony Of The Whole, And (zeus) Has Given Each Of Us A Body, Property, And Companions.

In Prosperity It Is Very Easy To Find A Friend; But In Adversity It Is The Most Difficult Of All Things.

You Can Be Invincible, If You Enter Into No Contest In Which It Is Not In Your Power To Conquer.

Do You Know That Disease And Death Must Needs Overtake Us, No Matter What We Are Doing?... What Do You Wish To Be Doing When It Overtakes You?... If You Have Anything Better To Be Doing When You Are So Overtaken, Get To Work On That.

Disease And Death

Here Is The Beginning Of Philosophy: A Recognition Of The Conflicts Between Men, A Search For Their Cause, A Condemnation Of Mere Opinion .. . And The Discovery Of A Standard Of Judgement.

Nothing Great Is Produced Suddenly, Since Not Even The Grape Or The Fig Is. If You Say To Me Now That You Want A Fig, I Will Answer To You That It Requires Time: Let It Flower First, Then Put Forth Fruit, And Then Ripen.

If You Hear That Someone Is Speaking Ill Of You, Instead Of Trying To Defend Yourself You Should Say: 'he Obviously Does Not Know Me Very Well, Since There Are So Many Other Faults He Could Have Mentioned.'

If You Desire To Be Good, Begin By Believing That You Are Wicked.

Pleasure, Like A Kind Of Bait, Is Thrown Before Everything Which Is Really Bad, And Easily Allures Greedy Souls To The Hook Of Perdition.

By Accepting Life's Limits And Inevitabilities And Working With Them Rather Than Fighting Them, We Become Free.

Now Is The Time To Get Serious About Living Your Ideals. Once You Have Determined The Spiritual Principles You Wish To Exemplify, Abide By These Rules As If They Were Laws, As If It Were Indeed Sinful To Compromise Them. Don't Mind If Others Don't Share Your Convictions. How Long Can You Afford To Put Off Who You Really Want To Be? Your Nobler Self Cannot Wait Any Longer.

It Is Not Death Or Pain That Is To Be Dreaded, But The Fear Of Pain Or Death.

It's Not What Happens To You, But How You React To It That Matters.

We All Carry The Seeds Of Greatness Within Us, But We Need An Image As A Point Of Focus In Order That They May Sprout.

What Is Learned Without Pleasure Is Forgotten Without Remorse.

Truth Is A Thing Immortal And Perpetual, And It Gives To Us A Beauty That Fades Not Away In Time, Nor Does It Take Away The Freedom Of Speech Which Proceeds From Justice; But It Gives To Us The Knowledge Of What Is Just And Lawful, Separating From Them The Unjust And Refuting Them.

Don’t Consent To Be Hurt And You Won’t Be Hurt – This Is A Choice Over Which You Have Control

Things Themselves Don't Hurt Or Hinder Us. Things Simply Are What They Are. How We View These Things Is Another Matter.people Think What They Will Think; It Is Of No Concern To Us.

Caretake This Moment. Immerse Yourself In Its Particulars. Respond To This Person, This Challenge, This Deed. Quit Evasions. Stop Giving Yourself Needless Trouble. It Is Time To Really Live; To Fully Inhabit The Situation You Happen To Be In Now.

As You Think, So You Become.....our Busy Minds Are Forever Jumping To Conclusions, Manufacturing And Interpreting Signs That Aren't There.

The Foolish And The Uneducated Have Little Use For Freedom. Only The Educated Are Free.

It Is Unreasonable To Think We Can Earn Rewards Without Being Willing To Pay Their True Price. It Is Always Our Choice Whether Or Not We Wish To Pay The Price For Life's Rewards.

I Am Always Content With What Happens; For I Know That What God Chooses Is Better Than What I Choose.

All Religions Must Be Tolerated For Every Man Must Get To Heaven In His Own Way.

Don't Regard What Anyone Says Of You, For This, After All, Is No Concern Of Yours.

It Is Difficulties That Show What Men Are.

It Is Better By Assenting To Truth To Conquer Opinion, Than By Assenting To Opinion To Be Conquered By Truth.

To Live A Life Of Virtue, You Have To Become Consistent, Even When It Isn't Convenient, Comfortable, Or Easy.

If You Have Assumed A Character Above Your Strength, You Have Both Acted In This Matter In An Unbecoming Way, And You Have Neglected That Which You Might Have Fulfilled.

Attach Yourself To What Is Spiritually Superior, Regardless Of What Other People Think Or Do. Hold To Your True Aspirations No Matter What Is Going On Around You.

Your Master Is He Who Controls That On Which You Have Set Your Heart Or Wish To Avoid.

If One Oversteps The Bounds Of Moderation, The Greatest Pleasures Cease To Please.

Although We Can't Control Which Roles Are Assigned To Us, It Must Be Our Business To Act Our Given Role As Best We Possibly Can And To Refrain From Complaining About It. Where Ever You Find Yourself And In Whatever Circumstances, Give An Impeccable Performance.

Finding Yourself

It Is The Act Of An Ill-instructed Man To Blame Others For His Own Bad Condition; It Is The Act Of One Who Has Begun To Be Instructed, To Lay The Blame On Himself; And Of One Whose Instruction Is Completed, Neither To Blame Another, Nor Himself.

Contentment, As It Is A Short Road And Pleasant, Has Great Delight And Little Trouble.

A Ship Should Not Be Held By A Single Anchor; Neither Should Life Depend Upon A Single Hope.

Difficulty Shows What Men Are.

No Matter Where You Find Yourself, Comport Yourself As If You Were A Distinguished Person.

Finding Yourself

The Flourishing Life Cannot Be Achieved Until We Moderate Our Desires And See How Superficial And Fleeting They Are.

You Are But An Appearance, And Not Absolutely The Thing You Appear To Be.

It Is Not So Much What Happens To You As How You Think About What Happens." Epictetus

It Is Not The Events But Our Viewpoint Toward Events That Is The Determining Factor. We Ought To Be More Concerned About Removing Wrong Thoughts From The Mind Than Removing Tumors And Abscesses From The Body.

If What The Philosophers Say Be True, That All Men's Actions Proceed From One Source; That As They Assent From A Persuasion That A Thing Is So, And Dissent From A Persuasion That It Is Not, And Suspend Their Judgment From A Persuasion That It Is Uncertain, So Likewise They Seek A Thing From A Persuasion That It Is For Their Advantage.

Difficulty Shows What Men Are. Therefore When A Difficulty Falls Upon You, Remember That God, Like A Trainer Of Wrestlers, Has Matched You With A Rough Young Man. Why? So That You May Become An Olympic Conqueror; But It Is Not Accomplished Without Sweat.

It Is Better To Advise Than Upbraid, For The One Corrects The Erring; The Other Only Convicts Them.

What Is It That Every Man Seeks? To Be Secure, To Be Happy, To Do What He Pleases Without Restraint And Without Compulsion.

In A Word, Neither Death, Nor Exile, Nor Pain, Nor Anything Of This Kind Is The Real Cause Of Our Doing Or Not Doing Any Action, But Our Inward Opinions And Principles.

Who Exactly Do You Want To Be? What Kind Of Person Do You Want To Be? What Are Your Personal Ideals? Whom Do You Admire? What Are Their Special Traits That You Would Make Your Own It's Time To Stop Being Vague. If You Wish To Be An Extraordinary Person, If You Wish To Become Wise, Then You Should Explicitly Identify The Kind Of Person You Aspire To Become. If You Have A Daybook, Write Down Who You're Trying To Be, So That You Can Refer To This Self-determination. Precisely Describe The Demeanor You Want To Adopt So That You May Preserve It When You Are By Yourself Or With Other People.

Law Intends Indeed To Do Service To Human Life, But It Is Not Able When Men Do Not Choose To Accept Her Services; For It Is Only In Those Who Are Obedient To Her That She Displays Her Special Virtue.

When You Are Offended At Any Man's Fault, Turn To Yourself And Study Your Own Failings. Then You Will Forget Your Anger.

You Lose Only The Things You Have

He Is A Wise Man Who Does Not Grieve For The Things Which He Has Not, But Rejoices For Those Which He Has.

It Was The First And Most Striking Characteristic Of Socrates Never To Become Heated In Discourse, Never To Utter An Injurious Or Insulting Word -- On The Contrary, He Persistently Bore Insult From Others And Thus Put An End To The Fray.

Characteristics

It Is Our Attitude Toward Events, Not Events Themselves, Which We Can Control. Nothing Is By Its Own Nature Calamitous -- Even Death Is Terrible Only If We Fear It.

First Say To Yourself What You Would Be; And Then Do What You Have To Do.

Why, Do You Not Know, Then, That The Origin Of All Human Evils, And Of Baseness, And Cowardice, Is Not Death, But Rather The Fear Of Death?

What Is Death? A Scary Mask. Take It Off-see, It Doesn't Bite.

Wealth Consists Not In Having Great Possessions, But In Having Few Wants.

Keep Silence For The Most Part, And Speak Only When You Must, And Then Briefly.

Know You Not That A Good Man Does Nothing For Appearance Sake, But For The Sake Of Having Done Right?

Liars Are The Cause Of All The Sins And Crimes In The World.

The Soul's Impurity Consists In Bad Judgements, And Purification Consists In Producing In It Right Judgements, And The Pure Soul Is One Which Has Right Judgements, For This Alone Is Proof Against Confusion And Pollution In Its Functions.

We Need To Regularly Stop And Take Stock; To Sit Down And Determine Within Ourselves Which Things Are Worth Valuing And Which Things Are Not; Which Risks Are Worth The Cost And Which Are Not. Even The Most Confusing Or Hurtful Aspects Of Life Can Be Made More Tolerable By Clear Seeing And By Choice.

Every Habit And Faculty Is Preserved And Increased By Correspondent Actions, As The Habit Of Walking, By Walking; Of Running, By Running.

Every Art And Every Faculty Contemplates Certain Things As Its Principal Objects.

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.

The Soul Is Unwillingly Deprived Of Truth.

Of Pleasures, Those Which Occur Most Rarely Give The Most Delight.

In Order To Please Others, We Loose Our Hold On Our Life's Purpose.

We Must Be Afraid Of Neither Poverty Nor Exile Nor Imprisonment; Of Fear Itself Only Should We Be Afraid.

It Is Not Events That Disturb The Minds Of Men, But The View They Take Of Them.

What Will The World Be Quite Overturned When You Die?

Every Place Is Safe To Him Who Lives With Justice.

Don't Just Say You Have Read Books. Show That Through Them You Have Learned To Think Better, To Be A More Discriminating And Reflective Person. Books Are The Training Weights Of The Mind. They Are Very Helpful, But It Would Be A Bad Mistake To Suppose That One Has Made Progress Simply By Having Internalized Their Contents." Translation By Sharon Lebell

Don't Seek To Have Events Happen As You Wish, But Wish Them To Happen As They Do Happen, And All Will Be Well With You.

What Is It To Be A Philosopher? Is It Not To Be Prepared Against Events?

Whoever Wants To Be Free, Therefore, Let Him Not Want Or Avoid Anything That Is Up To Others. Otherwise He Will Necessarily Be A Slave.

Any Person Capable Of Angering You Becomes Your Master; He Can Anger You Only When You Permit Yourself To Be Disturbed By Him.

Neither The Victories Of The Olympic Games Nor Those Achieved In Battles Make The Man Happy. The Only Victories That Make Him Happy Are Those Achieved Against Himself. Temptations And Tests Are Combats. You Have Beaten One, Two, Many Times; Still Fight. If You Defeat At Last You Will Be Happy Your Entire Life, As If You Have Always Defeated.

Imagine For Yourself A Character, A Model Personality, Whose Example You Determine To Follow, In Private As Well As In Public.

Follow Your Heart

Do Not Strive For Things Occurring To Occur As You Wish, But Wish The Things Occurring As They Occur, And You Will Flow Well.

I Must Die. I Must Be Imprisoned. I Must Suffer Exile. But Must I Die Groaning? Must I Whine As Well? Can Anyone Hinder Me From Going Into Exile With A Smile? The Master Threatens To Chain Me: What Say You? Chain Me? My Leg You Will Chain--yes, But Not My Will--no, Not Even Zeus Can Conquer That.

Whoever Is Going To Listen To The Philosophers Needs A Considerable Practice In Listening.

If You See Anybody Wail And Complain, Call Him A Slave, Though He Be Clad In Purple.

To Know That You Do Not Know And To Be Willing To Admit That You Do Not Know Without Sheepishly Apologizing Is Real Strength And Sets The Stage For Learning And Progress In Any Endeavor.

Everything Has Two Handles,-one By Which It May Be Borne; Another By Which It Cannot.

Let No Man Think That He Is Loved By Any Who Loveth None.

It Were No Slight Attainment Could We Merely Fulfil What The Nature Of Man Implies.

Whoever Does Not Regard What He Has As Most Ample Wealth, Is Unhappy, Though He Be Master Of The World.

If You Would Be A Reader, Read; If A Writer, Write.

Shall I Show You The Sinews Of A Philosopher? What Sinews Are Those? - A Will Undisappointed; Evils Avoided; Powers Daily Exercised; Careful Resolutions; Unerring Decisions.

Learn To Distinguish What You Can And Can't Control. Within Our Control Are Our Own Opinions, Aspirations, Desires And The Things That Repel Us. They Are Directly Subject To Our Influence.

With Ills Unending Strives The Putter Off.

Be Careful To Leave Your Sons Well Instructed Rather Than Rich, For The Hopes Of The Instructed Are Better Than The Wealth Of The Ignorant.

It Is Impossible That Happiness, And Yearning For What Is Not Present, Should Ever Be United.

You Will Do The Greatest Service To The State If You Shall Raise, Not The Roofs Of The Houses, But The Souls Of The Citizens: For It Is Better That Great Souls Should Dwell In Small Houses Rather Than For Mean Slaves To Lurk In Great Houses.

One That Desires To Excel Should Endeavor In Those Things That Are In Themselves Most Excellent.

If You Can Make Music With Someone You Don't Need Words. If You Wish To Be A Writer, Write.

The Best Place To Get Help Is From Yourself.

Watch Yourself As You Go About Your Daily Business And Later Reflect On What You Saw, Trying To Identify The Sources Of Distress In Your Life And Thinking About How To Avoid That Distress.

Getting Distracted By Trifles Is The Easiest Thing In The World… Focus On Your Main Duty

Appear To Know Only This--never To Fail Nor Fall.

Everything Has Two Handles; The One Soft And Manageable, The Other Such As Will Not Endure To Be Touched. If Then Your Brother Do You An Injury, Do Not Take It By The Hot Hard Handle, By Representing To Yourself All The Aggravating Circumstances Of The Fact; But Look Rather On The Soft Side, And Extenuate It As Much As Is Possible, By Considering The Nearness Of The Relation, And The Long Friendship And Familiarity Between You--obligations To Kindness Which A Single Provocation Ought Not To Dissolve. And Thus You Will Take The Accident By Its Manageable Handle.

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.

Men Are Not Afraid Of Things, But Of How They View Them.

Make It Your Business To Draw Out The Best In Others By Being An Exemplar Yourself.

Asked, Who Is The Rich Man? Epictetus Replied, �he Who Is Content.

He Who Exercises Wisdom Exercises The Knowledge Which Is About God.

If Someone Speaks Badly Of You, Do Not Defend Yourself Against The Accusations, But Reply; "you Obviously Don't Know About My Other Vices, Otherwise You Would Have Mentioned These As Well

A Guide, On Finding A Man Who Has Lost His Way, Brings Him Back To The Right Path—he Does Not Mock And Jeer At Him And Then Take Himself Off. You Also Must Show The Unlearned Man The Truth, And You Will See That He Will Follow. But So Long As You Do Not Show It Him, You Should Not Mock, But Rather Feel Your Own Incapacity.

As A Man, Casting Off Worn Out Garments Taketh New Ones, So The Dweller In The Body, Entereth Into Ones That Are New.

When Your Thoughts, Words, And Deeds Form A Seamless Fabric, You Streamline Your Efforts And Thus Eliminate Worry And Dread.

Concerning The Gods, There Are Those Who Deny The Very Existence Of The Godhead; Others Say That It Exists, But Neither Bestirs Nor Concerns Itself Not Has Forethought Far Anything. A Third Party Attribute To It Existence And Forethought, But Only For Great And Heavenly Matters, Not For Anything That Is On Earth. A Fourth Party Admit Things On Earth As Well As In Heaven, But Only In General, And Not With Respect To Each Individual. A Fifth, Of Whom Were Ulysses And Socrates, Are Those That Cry: -- I Move Not Without Thy Knowledge!

In Every Affair Consider What Precedes And What Follows, And Then Undertake It

Envy Is The Antagonist Of The Fortunate.

So You Wish To Conquer In The Olympic Games, My Friend? And I, Too... But First Mark The Conditions And The Consequences. You Will Have To Put Yourself Under Discipline; To Eat By Rule, To Avoid Cakes And Sweetmeats; To Take Exercise At The Appointed Hour Whether You Like It Or Not, In Cold And Heat; To Abstain From Cold Drinks And Wine At Your Will. Then, In The Conflict Itself You Are Likely Enough To Dislocate Your Wrist Or Twist Your Ankle, To Swallow A Great Deal Of Dust, To Be Severely Thrashed, And After All Of These Things, To Be Defeated.

A Thing Either Is What It Appears To Be; Or It Is Not, But Yet Appears To Be; Or It Is, But Does Not Appear To Be; Or It Is Not, And Does Not Appear To Be.

Don't Demand Or Expect That Events Happen As You Would Wish Them Do. Accept Events As They Actually Happen. That Way, Peace Is Possible.

The People Have A Right To The Truth As They Have A Right To Life, Liberty And The Pursuit Of Happiness.

It Is Impossible To Begin To Learn That Which One Thinks One Already Knows.

Be Not Diverted From Your Duty By Any Idle Reflections The Silly World May Make Upon You, For Their Censures Are Not In Your Power And Should Not Be At All Your Concerns.

Even As The Sun Doth Not Wait For Prayers And Incantations To Rise, But Shines Forth And Is Welcomed By All: So Thou Also Wait Not For Clapping Of Hands And Shouts And Praise To Do Thy Duty; Nay, Do Good Of Thine Own Accord, And Thou Wilt Be Loved Like The Sun.

We Must Ever Bear In Mind --that Apart From The Will There Is Nothing Good Or Bad, And That We Must Not Try To Anticipate Or To Direct Events, But Merely To Accept Them With Intelligence.

Man Is Not Fully Free Unless He Is Master Of Himself.

Books Are The Training Weights Of The Mind.

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.

To A Longer And Worse Life, A Shorter And Better Is By All Means To Be Preferred.

Wisdom Means Understanding Without Any Doubt That Circumstances Do Not Rise To Meet Our Expectations. Events Happen As They May. People Behave As They Will.

Living A Good Life Leads To Enduring Happiness. Goodness In And Of Itself Is The Practice And The Reward.

From Now On Practice Saying To Everything That Appears Unpleasant: You Are Merely An Appearance And Not What You Appear To Be.

God Has Entrusted Me With Myself. No Man Is Free Who Is Not Master Of Himself. A Man Should So Live That His Happiness Shall Depend As Little As Possible On External Things. The World Turns Aside To Let Any Man Pass Who Knows Where He Is Going.

If You Would Cure Anger, Do Not Feed It. Say To Yourself: 'i Used To Be Angry Every Day; Then Every Other Day; Now Only Every Third Or Fourth Day.' When You Reach Thirty Days Offer A Sacrifice Of Thanksgiving To The Gods.

Fortify Yourself With Contentment, For This Is An Impregnable Fortress.

Think Of God More Often Than Thou Breathest.

Events Do Not Just Happen, But Arrive By Appointment.

-….when Things Seem To Have Reached That Stage, Merely Say “i Won’t Play Any Longer”, And Take Your Departure; But If You Stay, Stop Lamenting.

Covetousness Like Jealousy, When It Has Taken Root, Never Leaves A Person, But With Their Life. Cowardice Is The Dread Of What Will Happen.

It Is The Nature Of The Wise To Resist Pleasures, But The Foolish To Be A Slave To Them.

What Disturbs And Alarms Man Are Not The Things, But His Opinions And Fancies About The Things.

Do Not So Much Be Ashamed Of That Disgrace Which Proceeds From Men's Opinion As Fly From That Which Comes From The Truth.

You Have Been Given Your Own Work To Do. Get To It Right Now, Do Your Best At It, And Don't Be Concerned With Who Is Watching You. Create Your Own Merit.

Some Things Are Up To Us [eph' Hêmin] And Some Things Are Not Up To Us. Our Opinions Are Up To Us, And Our Impulses, Desires, Aversions–in Short, Whatever Is Our Own Doing. Our Bodies Are Not Up To Us, Nor Are Our Possessions, Our Reputations, Or Our Public Offices, Or, That Is, Whatever Is Not Our Own Doing.

The Wise Realize That Some Things Are Within Their Control, And Most Things Are Not. They Learn Early On To Distinguish Between What They Can And Can't Regulate.

We Are Not Disturbed By What Happens To Us, But By Our Thoughts About What Happens To Us.

If You Wish To Be A Writer, Write.

Confident Because Of Our Caution

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