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It is not so much what happens to you as how you think about what happens. Epictetus

Epictetus

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Epictetus
Philosopher
Epictetus of Hierapolis
Thinking
Epictetus
Happens
Much
Think

More quotes by Epictetus

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Everything has two handles,-one by which it may be borne another by which it cannot.
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Give yourself fully to your endeavors. Decide to construct your character through excellent actions and determine to pay the price of a worthy goal. The trials you encounter will introduce you to your strengths.
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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.
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It is my business, to manage carefully and dexterously whatever happens
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What hurts this person is not the occurrence itself, for another person might not feel oppressed by this situation at all. What is hurting this person is the response he or she has uncritically adopted. It is not a demonstration of kindness or friendship to the people we care about to join them in indulging in wrongheaded, negative feelings.
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What disturbs people's minds are not events but their judgments on events.
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Practice yourself, for heaven's sake, in little things, and thence proceed to greater.
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Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it.
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If you see anybody wail and complain, call him a slave, though he be clad in purple.
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Reason is not measured by size or height, but by principle.
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No greater thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.
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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.
Epictetus
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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.
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Things true and evident must of necessity be recognized by those who would contradict them.
Epictetus
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What thou avoidest suffering thyself seek not to impose on others.
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You ought to choose both physician and friend, not the most agreeable, but the most useful.
Epictetus
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By accepting life's limits and inevitabilities and working with them rather than fighting them, we become free.
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These are the signs of a wise man: to reprove nobody, to praise nobody, to blame nobody, nor even to speak of himself or his own merits.
Epictetus
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Every difficulty in life presents us with an opportunity to turn inward and to invoke our own submerged inner resources. The trials we endure can and should introduce us to our strengths.
Epictetus
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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.
Epictetus