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Remember That You Ought To Behave In Life As You Would At A Banquet. As Something Is Being Passed Around It Comes To You; Stretch Out Your Hand, Take A Portion Of It Politely. It Passes On; Do Not Detain It. Or It Has Not Come To You Yet; Do Not Project Your Desire To Meet It, But Wait Until It Comes In Front Of You. So Act Toward Children, So Toward A Wife, So Toward Office, So Toward Wealth.

-Epictetus

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Remember That You Ought

Epictetus

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Remember That You Ought To Behave In Life As You Would At A Banquet. As Something Is Being Passed Around It Comes To You; Stretch Out Your Hand, Take A Portion Of It Politely. It Passes On; Do Not Detain It. Or It Has Not Come To You Yet; Do Not Project Your Desire To Meet It, But Wait Until It Comes In Front Of You. So Act Toward Children, So Toward A Wife, So Toward Office, So Toward Wealth.

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In Theory There Is Nothing To Hinder Our Following What We Are Taught;but In Life There Are Many Things To Draw Us Aside.

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Survey And Test A Prospective Action Before Undertaking It. Before You Proceed, Step Back And Look At The Big Picture, Lest You Act Rashly On Raw Impulse.

If A Man Is Unhappy, Remember That His Unhappiness Is His Own Fault, For God Made All Men To Be Happy.

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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.

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

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

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

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You Know Yourself What You Are Worth In Your Own Eyes; And At What Price You Will Sell Yourself. For Men Sell Themselves At Various Prices. This Is Why, When Florus Was Deliberating Whether He Should Appear At Nero's Shows, Taking Part In The Performance Himself, Agrippinus Replied, 'appear By All Means.' And When Florus Inquired, 'but Why Do Not You Appear?' He Answered, 'because I Do Not Even Consider The Question.'

When One Maintains His Proper Attitude In Life, He Does Not Long After Externals.

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

Fight Against Yourself, Recover Yourself To Decency, To Modesty, To Freedom. And, In The First Place, Condemn Your Actions; But When You Have Condemned Them, Do Not Despair Of Yourself. For Both Ruin And Recovery Are From Within.

When A Youth Was Giving Himself Airs In The Theatre And Saying, 'i Am Wise, For I Have Conversed With Many Wise Men,' Epictetus Replied, 'i Too Have Conversed With Many Rich Men, Yet I Am Not Rich!’.

All Philosophy Lies In Two Words, Sustain And Abstain.

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

To A Reasonable Creature, That Alone Is Insupportable Which Is Unreasonable; But Everything Reasonable May Be Supported.

A Soul Which Is Conversant With Virtue Is Like An Ever Flowing Source, For It Is Pure And Tranquil And Potable And Sweet And Communicative (social) And Rich And Harmless And Free From Mischief.

If You Set Your Heart Upon Philosophy, You Must Straightway Prepare Yourself To Be Laughed At And Mocked By Many Who Will Say Behold A Philosopher Arisen Among Us! Or How Came You By That Brow Of Scorn? But Do You Cherish No Scorn, But Hold To Those Things Which Seem To You The Best, As One Set By God In That Place. Remember Too, That If You Abide In Those Ways, Those Who First Mocked You, The Same Shall Afterwards Reverence You; But If You Yield To Them, You Will Be Laughed At Twice As Much As Before.

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.

Never Say Of Anything I Have Lost It, Only Say That I Have Given It Back.

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.

On The Occasion Of Every Accident That Befalls You, Remember To Turn To Yourself And Inquire What Power You Have For Turning It To Use.

To Be Getting An Education Means This: To Be Learning What Is Your Own, And What Is Not Your Own.

It Is Not A Demonstration Of Kindness Or Friendship To The People We Care About To Join Them In Indulging In Wrongheaded, Negative Feelings. We Do A Better Service To Ourselves And Others By Remaining Detached And Avoiding Melodramatic Reactions.

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.

Avoid Banquets Which Are Given By Strangers An Ignorant Persons. But If There Is Ever Occasion To Join Them, Let Your Attention Be Carefully Fixed, That You Slip Not Into The Manner Of The Vulgar (the Uninstructed).

It Doesn't Take Much To Lose Everything, Just A Little Departure From Reason

We Are Not To Give Credit To The Many, Who Say That None Ought To Be Educated But The Free; But Rather To The Philosophers, Who Say That The Well-educated Alone Are Free.

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

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.

There Is But One Way To Tranquility Of Mind And Happiness, And That Is To Account No External Things Thine Own, But To Commit All To God.

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

If Thy Brother Wrongs Thee, Remember Not So Much His Wrong-doing, But More Than Ever That He Is Thy Brother.

Against Specious Appearances We Must Set Clear Convictions, Bright And Ready For Use. When Death Appears As An Evil, We Ought Immediately To Remember That Evils Are Things To Be Avoided, But Death Is Inevitable.

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

A Man That Seeks Truth And Loves It Must Be Reckoned Precious To Any Human Society.

Let Death And Exile, And All Other Things Which Appear Terrible Be Daily Before Your Eyes, But Chiefly Death, And You Win Never Entertain Any Abject Thought, Nor Too Eagerly Covet Anything.

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.

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.

Bid A Singer In A Chorus, Know Thyself; And Will He Not Turn For The Knowledge To The Others, His Fellows In The Chorus, And To His Harmony With Them?

Nature Hath Given Men One Tongue But Two Ears, That We May Hear From Others Twice As Much As We Speak.

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.

What Will The World Be Quite Overturned When You Die?

The Beginning Of Philosophy Is The Recognition Of The Conflict Between Opinions.

Some Of Their Faults Men Readily Admit, But Others Not So Readily.

Do Not Seek To Bring Things To Pass In Accordance With Your Wishes, But Wish For Them As They Are, And You Will Find Them.

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

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.

A Soul That Makes Virtue Its Companion Is Like An Over-flowing Well, For It Is Clean And Pellucid, Sweet And Wholesome, Open To All, Rich, Blameless And Indestructible.

The Appearance Of Things To The Mind Is The Standard Of Every Action To Man.

Never Call Yourself A Philosopher, Nor Talk A Great Deal Among The Unlearned About Theorems, But Act Conformably To Them. Thus, At An Entertainment, Don't Talk How Persons Ought To Eat, But Eat As You Ought. For Remember That In This Manner Socrates Also Universally Avoided All Ostentation.

He Is A Drunkard Who Takes More Than Three Glasses Though He Be Not Drunk.

You Lose Only The Things You Have

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.

Unremarkable Lives Are Marked By The Fear Of Not Looking Capable When Trying Something New.

Trying Something New

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.

First Learn The Meaning Of What You Say, And Then Speak.

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.

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

From This Instant On, Vow To Stop Disappointing Yourself. Separate Yourself From The Mob. Decide To Be Extraordinary And Do What You Need To Do -- Now.

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

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 Have Decided That A Thing Ought To Be Done And Are Doing It, Never Avoid Bein Seen Doing It, Though Many Shall Form An Unfavorable Opinion About It. For If It Is Not Right To Do It, Avoid Doing The Thing; But If It Is Right, Why Are You Afraid Of Those Who Shall Find Fault Wrongly?

The Pleasure Which We Most Rarely Experience Gives Us Greatest Delight.

You Make Me Happy

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.

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

It Is Not He Who Reviles Or Strikes You Who Insults You, But Your Opinion That These Things Are Insulting.

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 Enact A Poor Man, Or A Cripple, Or A Ruler, Or A Private Citizen, See That You Act It Well. For This Is Your Business, To Act Well The Given Part. But To Choose It Belongs To Another.

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

It Takes More Than Just A Good Looking Body. You've Got To Have The Heart And Soul To Go With It.

Cowardice, The Dread Of What Will Happen.

Other People's Views And Troubles Can Be Contagious. Don't Sabotage Yourself By Unwittingly Adopting Negative, Unproductive Attitudes Through Your Associations With Others.

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.

With Ills Unending Strives The Putter Off.

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

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

We Ought To Flee The Friendship Of The Wicked, And The Enmity Of The Good.

Try Not To React Merely In The Moment. Pull Back From The Situation. Take A Wider View. Compose Yourself.

God Has Made All Men To Be Happy.

What Concerns Me Is Not The Way Things Are, But Rather The Way People Think Things Are.

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

The Beginning Of Philosophy Is A Consciousness Of Your Own Weakness And Inability In Necessary Things.

No Man Is Disturbed By Things, But By His Opinion About Things.

Freedom Is Not Procured By A Full Enjoyment Of What Is Desired, But By Controlling The Desire.

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

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

There Are Some Things Which Men Confess With Ease, And Others With Difficulty.

Happiness Is An Equivalent For All Troublesome Things.

Confidence In Nonsense Is A Requirement For The Creative Process.

There Is Nothing Good Or Evil Save In The Will.

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.

It Is Your Own Convictions Which Compels You; That Is, Choice Compels Choice.

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.

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.

Seek Not That The Things Which Happen Should Happen As You Wish; But Wish The Things Which Happen To Be As They Are, And You Will Have A Tranquil Flow Of Life.

"but To Be Hanged - Is That Not Unendurable?" Even So, When A Man Feels That It Is Reasonable, He Goes Off And Hangs Himself.

Each Man's Life Is A Kind Of Campaign, And A Long And Complicated One At That. You Have To Maintain The Character Of A Soldier, And Do Each Separate Act At The Bidding Of The General.

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

To Live A Life Of Virtue, Match Up Your Thoughts, Words, And Deeds.

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

Nothing Great Comes Into Being All At Once.

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

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.

You May Be Always Victorious If You Will Never Enter Into Any Contest Where The Issue Does Not Wholly Depend Upon Yourself.

Be Free From Grief Not Through Insensibility Like The Irrational Animals, Nor Through Want Of Thought Like The Foolish, But Like A Man Of Virtue By Having Reason As The Consolation Of Grief.

Ask Yourself, "how Are My Thoughts, Words And Deeds Affecting My Friends, My Spouse, My Neighbour, My Child, My Employer, My Subordinates, My Fellow Citizens?"

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.

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.

Do Not Laugh Much Or Often Or Unrestrainedly.

Nothing Is In Reality Either Pleasant Or Unpleasant By Nature But All Things Become So Through Habit

And Have You Not Received Faculties Which Will Enable You To Bear All That Happens To You? Have You Not Received Greatness Of Spirit? Have You Not Received Courage? Have You Not Received Endurance?

Two Principles We Should Always Have Ready — That There Is Nothing Good Or Evil Save In The Will; And That We Are Not To Lead Events, But To Follow Them.

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.

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

Consider First The Nature Of The Business In Hand; Then Examine Thy Own Nature, Whether Thou Hast Strength To Undertake It.

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

We All Dread A Bodily Paralysis, And Would Make Use Of Every Contrivance To Avoid It; But None Of Us Is Troubled About A Paralysis Of The Soul.

Not Every Difficult And Dangerous Thing Is Suitable For Training, But Only That Which Is Conducive To Success In Achieving The Object Of Our Effort.

Freedom And Slavery, The One Is The Name Of Virtue, And The Other Of Vice, And Both Are Acts Of The Will.

Contentment Comes Not So Much From Great Wealth As From Few Wants.

Freedom And Happiness Are Won By Disregarding Things That Lie Beyond Our Control.

Freedom And Happiness

Be Not Swept Off Your Feet By The Vividness Of The Impression, But Say, "impression, Wait For Me A Little. Let Me See What You Are And What You Represent. Let Me Try You."

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

In Life Our First Job Is This, To Divide And Distinguish Things Into Two Categories: Externals I Cannot Control, But The Choices I Make With Regard To Them I Do Control. Where Will I Find Good And Bad? In Me, In My Choices.

Don't Be Prideful With Any Excellence That Is Not Your Own

The Materials Are Indifferent, But The Use We Make Of Them Is Not A Matter Of Indifference.

If Anyone Should Tell You That A Particular Person Has Spoken Critically Of You, Don't Bother With Excuses Or Defenses. Just Smile And Reply, "i Guess That Person Doesn't Know About All My Other Faults. Otherwise, He Wouldn't Have Mentioned Only These."

There Is Only One Thing For Which God Has Sent Me Into The World, And That Is To Develop Every Kind Of Virtue Or Strength, And There Is Nothing In All The World That I Cannot Use For This Purpose.

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Friedrich Nietzsche

Bridget Moynahan

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