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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?

-Epictetus

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When You Have Decided

Epictetus

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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?

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

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

What Ought One To Say Then As Each Hardship Comes? I Was Practicing For This, I Was Training For This.

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

The Best Place To Get Help Is From Yourself.

Seek Not The Good In External Things;seek It In Yourselves.

To Adorn Our Characters By The Charm Of An Amiable Nature Shows At Once A Lover Of Beauty And A Lover Of Man.

Confidence In Nonsense Is A Requirement For The Creative Process.

Neither Should A Ship Rely On One Small Anchor, Nor Should Life Rest On A Single Hope.

The Essence Of Philosophy Is That A Man Should So Live That His Happiness Shall Depend As Little As Possible On External Things.

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.

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

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

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

Freedom And Happiness Come From Understanding - And Working With - Our Limits. Begin At Once A Program Of Self-mastery. Stick With Your Purpose. Do Not Seek External Approval. Do Not Worry About Anything Outside Of Your Control. The Only Things You Command Are Your Thoughts And Actions. We Choose Our Response. Stop Aspiring To Be Anyone Other Than Your Own Best Self: For That Does Fall Within Your Control.

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.

Tentative Efforts Lead To Tentative Outcome.

It Is My Business, To Manage Carefully And Dexterously Whatever Happens

Whatever Happens

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

Freedom Is Secured Not By The Fulfillment Of One's Desires, But By The Removal Of Desire.

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

Don't Explain Your Philosophy. Embody It.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

What Matters Most Is What Sort Of Person You Are Becoming. Wise Individuals Care Only About Whom They Are Today And Who They Can Be Tomorrow.

To The Rational Being Only The Irrational Is Unendurable, But The Rational Is Endurable.

Do Not Try To Seem Wise To Others.

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

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

You Can Be Happy If You Know This Secret: Some Things Are Within Your Power To Control And Some Things Are Not.

Wherever Any One Is Against His Will, That Is To Him A Prison.

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.

If You Seek Truth You Will Not Seek Victory By Dishonorable Means, And If You Find Truth You Will Become Invincible.

Cowardice, The Dread Of What Will Happen.

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.

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.

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

Dare To Look Up To God And Say, Deal With Me In The Future As Thou Wilt; I Am Of The Same Mind As Thou Art; I Am Thine; I Refuse Nothing That Pleases Thee; Lead Me Where Thou Wilt; Clothe Me In Any Dress Thou Choosest.

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.

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.

The World Turns Aside To Let Any Man Pass Who Knows Where He Is Going.

Nothing Truly Stops You. Nothing Truly Holds You Back. For Your Own Will Is Always Within Your Control. Sickness May Challenge Your Body. But Are You Merely Your Body? Lameness May Impede Your Legs. But You Are Not Merely Your Legs. Your Will Is Bigger Than Your Legs. Your Will Needn't Be Affected By An Incident Unless You Let It.

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

Freedom Of Speech

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

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

In The Long Run, Every Man Will Pay The Penalty For This Own Misdeeds.

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.

Happiness Is An Equivalent For All Troublesome Things.

Men Are Disturbed Not By The Things That Happen, But By Their Opinion Of The Things That Happen.

You May Fetter My Leg, But Zeus Himself Cannot Get The Better Of My Free Will.

In Trying To Please Other People, We Find Ourselves Misdirected Toward What Lies Outside Our Sphere Of Influence. In Doing So, We Lose Our Hold On Our Lifes Purpose.

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

To Accuse Others For One's Own Misfortunes Is A Sign Of Want Of Education. To Accuse Oneself Shows That One's Education Has Begun. To Accuse Neither Oneself Nor Others Shows That One's Education Is Complete.

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

Silence Is Safer Than Speech.

Envy Is The Antagonist Of The Fortunate.

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

With Ills Unending Strives The Putter Off.

Within Our Control Are Our Own Opinions, Aspirations, And Desires And The Demons That Distract Us From These Goals. Outside Of Our Control Are Such Things As What Kind Of Body We Have, Whether Or Not We Are Born Into Wealth, And How We Are Regarded By Others.

Who Is Not Attracted By Bright And Pleasant Children, To Prattle, To Creep, And To Play With Them?

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.

Think Of God Oftener Than You Breathe.

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

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

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.

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.

If You Have Anything Better To Be Doing When Death Overtakes You, Get To Work On That.

If You Wish To Live A Life Free From Sorrow, Think Of What Is Going To Happen As If It Had Already Happened.

And Be Silent For The Most Part, Or Else Make Only The Most Necessary Remarks, And Express These In Few Words. But Rarely, And When Occasion Requires You To Talk, Talk, Indeed, But About No Ordinary Topics. Do Not Talk About Gladiators, Or Horseraces, Or Athletes, Or Things To Eat Or Drink - Topics That Arise On All Occasions; But Above All, Do Not Talk About People, Either Blaming, Or Praising, Or Comparing Them.

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

It Is Not He Who Gives Abuse That Affronts, But The View That We Take Of It As Insulting; So That When One Provokes You It Is Your Own Opinion Which Is Provoking.

Embrace Reality. Think About What Delights You - The Small Luxuries On Which You Depend, The People Whom You Cherish Most. But Remember That They Have Their Own Distinct Character, Which Is Quite A Separate Matter From How We Happen To Regard Them.

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.

Either God Wants To Abolish Evil, And Cannot; Or He Can, But Does Not Want To.

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.

There Is Nothing Good Or Evil Save In The Will.

Wish That Everything Should Come About Just As It Does.

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

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

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.

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

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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