All Quotes by Epictetus
“If virtue promises happiness, prosperity and peace, then progress in virtue is progress in each of these for to whatever point the perfection of anything brings us, progress is always an approach toward it.”
“The essence of philosophy is that a man should so live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things.”
“Freedom is not procured by a full enjoyment of what is desired, but by controlling the desire.”
“No man is free who is not master of himself.”
“We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.”
“Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens.”
“We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.”
“There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.”
“Nothing great 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.”
“The world turns aside to let any man pass who knows where he is going.”
“Know, first, who you are, and then adorn yourself accordingly.”
“We should not moor a ship with one anchor, or our life with one hope.”
“Only the educated are free.”
“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.”
“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.”
“You are a little soul carrying around a corpse.”
“First learn the meaning of what you say, and then speak.”
“If you desire to be good, begin by believing that you are wicked.”
“It is not death or pain that is to be dreaded, but the fear of pain or death.”
“Men are disturbed not by things, but by the view which they take of them.”
“Only the educated are free.”
“Never in any case say I have lost such a thing, but I have returned it. Is your child dead? It is a return. Is your wife dead? It is a return. Are you deprived of your estate? Is not this also a return?”
“He is a drunkard who takes more than three glasses though he be not drunk.”
“It takes more than just a good looking body. You've got to have the heart and soul to go with it.”
“It is the nature of the wise to resist pleasures, but the foolish to be a slave to them.”
“It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.”
“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?”
“God has entrusted me with myself.”
“No man is free who is not master of himself.”
“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”
“When you are offended at any man's fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings. Then you will forget your anger.”
“Now is the time to get serious about living your ideals. How long can you afford to put off who you really want to be? Your nobler self cannot wait any longer. Put your principles into practice – now. Stop the excuses and the procrastination. This is your life! You aren’t a child anymore. The sooner you set yourself to your spiritual program, the happier you will be. The longer you wait, the more you’ll be vulnerable to mediocrity and feel filled with shame and regret, because you know you are capable of better. 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.”
“What would have become of Hercules do you think if there had been no lion, hydra, stag or boar - and no savage criminals to rid the world of? What would he have done in the absence of such challenges?”
“Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens.”
“First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.”
“Keep silence for the most part, and speak only when you must, and then briefly.”
“Neither should a ship rely on one small anchor, nor should life rest on a single hope.”
“If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.”
“Difficulties are things that show a person what they are.”
“The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best.”
“It is not death or pain that is to be dreaded, but the fear of pain or death.”
“It is not he who reviles or strikes you who insults you, but your opinion that these things are insulting.”
“Is freedom anything else than the right to live as we wish? Nothing else.”
“Silence is safer than speech.”
“Control thy passions lest they take vengence on thee.”
“If thy brother wrongs thee, remember not so much his wrong-doing, but more than ever that he is thy brother.”
“There is nothing good or evil save in the will.”
“Imagine for yourself a character, a model personality, whose example you determine to follow, in private as well as in public.”
“Whenever you are angry, be assured that it is not only a present evil, but that you have increased a habit.”
“Do not laugh much or often or unrestrainedly.”
“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.”
“The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best.”
“Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.”
“People are not disturbed by things, but by the view they take of them.”
“The greater the difficulty the more glory in surmounting it. Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests.”
“Small-minded people blame others. Average people blame themselves. The wise see all blame as foolishness”
“If evil be spoken of you and it be true, correct yourself, if it be a lie, laugh at it.”
“It is impossible to begin to learn that which one thinks one already knows.”
“If one oversteps the bounds of moderation, the greatest pleasures cease to please.”
“Freedom is the right to live as we wish.”
“All religions must be tolerated... for every man must get to heaven in his own way.”
“God has entrusted me with myself.”
“The essence of philosophy is that a man should so live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things.”
“It takes more than just a good looking body. You've got to have the heart and soul to go with it.”
“Freedom is not procured by a full enjoyment of what is desired, but by controlling the desire.”
“No great thing is created suddenly.”
“We should not moor a ship with one anchor, or our life with one hope.”
“If you seek truth you will not seek victory by dishonorable means, and if you find truth you will become invincible.”
“If you wish to be a writer, write.”
“If virtue promises happiness, prosperity and peace, then progress in virtue is progress in each of these for to whatever point the perfection of anything brings us, progress is always an approach toward it.”
“The two powers which in my opinion constitute a wise man are those of bearing and forbearing.”
“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.”
“The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best.”
“Practice yourself, for heaven's sake in little things, and then proceed to greater.”
“We tell lies, yet it is easy to show that lying is immoral.”
“To the rational being only the irrational is unendurable, but the rational is endurable.”
“Whoever does not regard what he has as most ample wealth, is unhappy, though he be master of the world.”
“"But to be hanged—is that not unendurable?" Even so, when a man feels that it is reasonable, he goes off and hangs himself.”
“One that desires to excel should endeavor in those things that are in themselves most excellent.”
“Yet God hath not only granted these faculties, by which we may bear every event without being depressed or broken by it, but like a good prince and a true father, hath placed their exercise above restraint, compulsion, or hindrance, and wholly without our own control.”
“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.”
“Reason is not measured by size or height, but by principle.”
“O slavish man! will you not bear with your own brother, who has God for his Father, as being a son from the same stock, and of the same high descent? But if you chance to be placed in some superior station, will you presently set yourself up for a tyrant?”
“When you close your doors, and make darkness within, remember never to say that you are alone, for you are not alone; nay, God is within, and your genius is within. And what need have they of light to see what you are doing?”
“No thing great 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.”
“Any one thing in the creation is sufficient to demonstrate a Providence to an humble and grateful mind.”
“Were I a nightingale, I would act the part of a nightingale; were I a swan, the part of a swan.”
“Since it is Reason which shapes and regulates all other things, it ought not itself to be left in disorder.”
“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.”
“Practice yourself, for heaven's sake, in little things; and thence proceed to greater.”
“It is unlikely that the good of a snail should reside in its shell: so is it likely that the good of a man should?”
“Every art and every faculty contemplates certain things as its principal objects.”
“When one maintains his proper attitude in life, he does not long after externals. What would you have, O man?”
“It is difficulties that show what men are.”
“If we are not stupid or insincere when we say that the good or ill of man lies within his own will, and that all beside is nothing to us, why are we still troubled?”
“If the room is smoky, if only moderately, I will stay; if there is too much smoke I will go. Remember this, keep a firm hold on it, the door is always open.”
“First learn the meaning of what you say, and then speak.”
“When you are offended at any man's fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings. Then you will forget your anger.”
“In theory there is nothing to hinder our following what we are taught; but in life there are many things to draw us aside.”
“Appearances to the mind are of four kinds. Things either are what they appear to be; or they neither are, nor appear to be; or they are, and do not appear to be; or they are not, and yet appear to be. Rightly to aim in all these cases is the wise man's task.”
“For on these matters we should not trust the multitude who say that none ought to be educated but the free, but rather to philosophers, who say that the educated alone are free.”
“For it is not death or pain that is to be feared, but the fear of pain or death.”
“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.”
“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.”
“Whatever you would make habitual, practice it; and if you would not make a thing habitual, do not practice it, but accustom yourself to something else.”
“If you would be a good reader, read; if a writer, write.”
“Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.”
“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."”
“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.”
“For he who is unmusical is a child in music; he who is without letters is a child in learning; he who is untaught, is a child in life.”
“Some things are in our control and others not. Things in our control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever are our own actions. Things not in our control are body, property, reputation, command, and, in one word, whatever are not our own actions. (1).”
“Men are disturbed, not by things, but by the principles and notions which they form concerning things. (5).”
“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. (5) [tr. George Long (1888)].”
“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. (15).”
“Remember that it is not he who gives abuse or blows who affronts, but the view we take of these things as insulting. When, therefore, any one provokes you, be assured that it is your own opinion which provokes you. (20).”
“Imagine for yourself a character, a model personality, whose example you determine to follow, in private as well as in public.”
“If a person gave your body to any stranger he met on his way, you would certainly be angry. And do you feel no shame in handing over your own mind to be confused and mystified by anyone who happens to verbally attack you? (28) [tr. Elizabeth Carter]”
“If a man has reported to you, that a certain person speaks ill of you, do not make any defense (answer) to what has been told you: but reply, The man did not know the rest of my faults, for he would not have mentioned these only. (33) [tr. George Long (1888)].”
“When you do anything from a clear judgment that it ought to be done, never shun the being seen to do it, even though the world should make a wrong supposition about it; for, if you don't act right, shun the action itself; but, if you do, why are you afraid of those who censure you wrongly? (35).”
“Everything has two handles, the one by which it may be carried, the other by which it cannot. If your brother acts unjustly, don't lay hold on the action by the handle of his injustice, for by that it cannot be carried; but by the opposite, that he is your brother, that he was brought up with you; and thus you will lay hold on it, as it is to be carried. (43).”
“These reasonings are unconnected: "I am richer than you, therefore I am better"; "I am more eloquent than you, therefore I am better." The connection is rather this: "I am richer than you, therefore my property is greater than yours;" "I am more eloquent than you, therefore my style is better than yours." But you, after all, are neither property nor style. (44).”
“Does anyone bathe in a mighty little time? Don't say that he does it ill, but in a mighty little time. Does anyone drink a great quantity of wine? Don't say that he does ill, but that he drinks a great quantity. For, unless you perfectly understand the principle from which anyone acts, how should you know if he acts ill? Thus you will not run the hazard of assenting to any appearances but such as you fully comprehend. (45).”
“Upon all occasions we ought to have these maxims ready at hand:”
“Try to enjoy the great festival of life with other men. (3).”
“Thou shalt not blame or flatter any. (6).”
“If what philosophers say of the kinship of God and Men be true, what remains for men to do but as Socrates did:—never, when asked one’s country, to answer, 'I am an Athenian or a Corinthian,' but I am a citizen of the world. (15).”
“True instruction is this: —to learn to wish that each thing should come to pass as it does. And how does it come to pass? As the Disposer has disposed it. Now He has disposed that there should be summer and winter, and plenty and dearth, and vice and virtue, and all such opposites, for the harmony of the whole. (26).”
“Have this thought ever present with thee, when thou losest any outward thing, what thou gainest in its stead; and if this be the more precious, say not, I have suffered loss. (27).”
“Knowest thou what kind of speck thou art in comparison with the Universe?—That is, with respect to the body; since with respect to Reason, thou art not inferior to the Gods, nor less than they. For the greatness of Reason is not measured by length or height, but by the resolves of the mind. Place then thy happiness in that wherein thou art equal to the Gods. (33).”
“When we are invited to a banquet, we take what is set before us; and were one to call upon his host to set fish upon the table or sweet things, he would be deemed absurd. Yet in a word, we ask the Gods for what they do not give; and that, although they have given us so many things! (35).”
“If then all things that grow, nay, our own bodies, are thus bound up with the whole, is not this still truer of our souls? And if our souls are bound up and in contact with God, as being very parts and fragments plucked from Himself, shall He not feel every movement of theirs as though it were His own, and belonging to His own nature? (36).”
“People are not disturbed by things, but by the view they take of them.”
“What you shun enduring yourself, attempt not to impose on others. You shun slavery—beware of enslaving others! If you can endure to do that, one would think you had been once upon a time a slave yourself. For Vice has nothing in common with virtue, nor Freedom with slavery. (41).”
“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. (63).”
“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. (64).”
“If a man would pursue Philosophy, his first task is to throw away conceit. For it is impossible for a man to begin to learn what he has a conceit that he already knows. (72)”
“If you have assumed a character beyond your strength, you have both played a poor figure in that, and neglected one that is within your powers. (79).”
“And are all profited by what they hear, or only some among them? So that it seems that there is an art of hearing as well as one of speaking. (81).”
“You have not stirred my spirit. For what can I see in you to stir me, as a spirited horse will stir a judge of horses? Your body? That you maltreat. Your dress? That is luxurious. Your behavior, your look?—Nothing whatsoever. (81).”
“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. (81).”
“Seemeth it nothing to you, never to accuse, never to blame either God or Man? to wear ever the same countenance in going forth as in coming in? This was the secret of Socrates: yet he never said that he knew or taught anything... Who amongst you makes this his aim? Were it indeed so, you would gladly endure sickness, hunger, aye, death itself. (85).”
“To you, all you have seems small: to me, all I have seems great. Your desire is insatiable, mine is satisfied. See children thrusting their hands into a narrow-necked jar, and striving to pull out the nuts and figs it contains: if they fill the hand, they cannot pull it out again, and then they fall to tears.—'Let go a few of them, and then you can draw out the rest!'—You, too, let your desire go! covet not many things, and you will obtain. (95).”
“Study how to give as one that is sick: that thou mayest hereafter give as one that is whole. Fast; drink water only; abstain altogether from desire, that thou mayest hereafter confirm thy desire to Reason. (101).”
“Even as bad actors cannot sing alone, but only in chorus: so some cannot walk alone. Man, if thou art aught, strive to walk alone and hold converse with yourself, instead of skulking in the chorus! at length think; look around thee; bestir thyself, that thou mayest know who thou art! (103).”
“Friend, bethink you first what it is that you would do, and then what your own nature is able to bear. (104).”
“You may be always victorious if you will never enter into any contest where the issue does not wholly depend upon yourself.”
“It takes more than just a good looking body. You've got to have the heart and soul to go with it.”
“He that hath no musical instruction is a child in Music; he that hath no letters is a child in Learning; he that is untaught is a child in Life. (105).”
“Unless we place our religion and our treasure in the same thing, religion will always be sacrificed.”
“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.”
“Till then these sound opinions have taken firm root in you, and you have gained a measure of strength for your security, I counsel you to be cautious in associating with the uninstructed. Else whatever impressions you receive upon the tablets of your mind in the School will day by day melt and disappear, like wax in the sun. Withdraw then somewhere far from the sun, while you have these waxen sentiments. (107).”
“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.”
“If what charms you is nothing but abstract principles, sit down and turn them over quietly in your mind: but never dub yourself a Philosopher, nor suffer others to call you so. Say rather: He is in error; for my desires, my impulses are unaltered. I give in my adhesion to what I did before; nor had my mode of dealing with the things of sense undergone any change. (109).”
“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.”
“Not even on finding himself in a well-ordered house does a man step forward and say to himself, I must be master here! Else the lord of that house takes notice of it, and, seeing him insolently giving orders, drags him forth and chastises him. So it is also in the great City, the World. Here also is there a Lord of the House, who orders all things... (110).”
“All philosophy lies in two words, sustain and abstain.”
“Give thyself more diligently to reflection: know thyself: take counsel with the Godhead; without God put thine hand into nothing. (115).”
“If you wish to be a writer, write.”
“If a Cynic is an object of pity, he seems a mere beggar; all turn away, all are offended at him. Nor should be be slovenly of look, so as not to scare men from him in this way either; on the contrary, his very roughness should be clean and attractive. (118).”
“Kings and tyrants have armed guards wherewith to chastise certain persons, though they be themselves evil. But to the Cynic conscience gives this power—not arms and guards. (119).”
“Does a Philosopher apply to people to come and hear him? does he not rather, of his own nature, attract those that will be benefited by him—like the sun that warms, and the food that sustains them? (120).”
“I apply to you to come and hear that you are in evil case; that what deserves your attention most is the last thing to gain it; that you know not good from evil, and are in short a hapless wretch; a fine way to apply! though unless the words of the Philosopher affect you thus, speaker and speech are alike dead. (120).”
“If any be unhappy, let him remember that he is unhappy by reason of himself alone. For God hath made man to enjoy felicity and constancy of good. (122).”
“This whole world is one great City, and one is the substance whereof it is fashioned: a certain period indeed there needs must be, while these give place to those; some must perish for others to succeed; some move and some abide: yet all is full of friends—first God, then Men, whom Nature hath bound by ties of kindred each to each. (123).”
“If you seek Truth, you will not seek to gain a victory by every possible means; and when you have found Truth, you need not fear being defeated. (149).”
“If thou wouldst make progress, be content to seem foolish and void of understanding with respect to outward things. Care not to be thought to know anything. If any should make account of thee, distrust thyself. (158).”
“Freedom is the right to live as we wish.”
“Keep death and exile daily before thine eyes, with all else that men deem terrible, but more especially Death. Then wilt thou never think a mean thought, nor covet anything beyond measure. (161).”
“Piety towards the Gods, be sure, consists chiefly in thinking rightly concerning them—that they are, and that they govern the Universe with goodness and justice; and that thou thyself art appointed to obey them, and to submit under all circumstances that arise; acquiescing cheerfully in whatever may happen, sure that it is brought to pass and accomplished by the most Perfect Understanding. Thus thou wilt never find fault with the Gods, nor charge them with neglecting thee. (163).”
“Refuse altogether to take an oath if you can, if not, as far as may be. (166).”
“When you have decided that a thing ought to be done, and are doing it, never shun being seen doing it, even though the multitude should be likely to judge the matter amiss. For if you are not acting rightly, shun the act itself; if rightly, however, why fear misplaced censure? (172).”
“Everything has two handles, one by which it may be borne, the other by which it may not. If your brother sin against you lay not hold of it by the handle of his injustice, for by that it may not be borne: but rather by this, that he is your brother, the comrade of your youth; and thus you will lay hold on it so that it may be borne. (174).”
“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.”
“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.”
“Is freedom anything else than the right to live as we wish? Nothing else.”
“Nature hath given men one tongue but two ears, that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak.”
“Do not give sentence in another tribunal till you have been yourself judged in the tribunal of Justice.”
“Give me by all means the shorter and nobler life, instead of one that is longer but of less account!”
“Freedom is the name of virtue: Slavery, of vice…. None is a slave whose acts are free.”
“Of pleasures, those which occur most rarely give the most delight.”
“Exceed due measure, and the most delightful things become the least delightful.”
“The anger of an ape—the threat of a flatterer:—these deserve equal regard.”
“A ship should not ride on a single anchor, nor life on a single hope.”
“Fortify thyself with contentment: that is an impregnable stronghold.”
“Think of God more often than thou breathest.”
“Choose the life that is noblest, for custom can make it sweet to thee.”
“Let thy speech of God be renewed day by day, aye, rather than thy meat and drink.”
“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.”
“Let no man think that he is loved by any who loveth none.”
“If thou rememberest that God standeth by to behold and visit all that thou doest; whether in the body or in the soul, thou surely wilt not err in any prayer or deed; and thou shalt have God to dwell with thee.”
“You are a little soul, carrying a corpse.”
“It is more necessary for the soul to be cured than the body; for it is better to die than to live badly.”
“The appearance of things to the mind is the standard of every action to man.”
“The essence of good and evil is a certain disposition of the will.”
“It is not reasonings that are wanted now; for there are books stuffed full of stoical reasonings.”
“For what constitutes a child?—Ignorance. What constitutes a child?—Want of instruction; for they are our equals so far as their degree of knowledge permits.”
“Appear to know only this,—never to fail nor fall.”
“First say to yourself what you would be;”
“The materials of action are variable, but the use we make of them should be constant.”
“Dare to look up to God and say, "Make use of me for the future as Thou wilt. I am of the same mind; I am one with Thee. I refuse nothing which seems good to Thee. Lead me whither Thou wilt. Clothe me in whatever dress Thou wilt."”
“Every habit and faculty is preserved and increased by correspondent actions,—as the habit of walking, by walking; of running, by running.”
“Things true and evident must of necessity be recognized by those who would contradict them.”
“There are some things which men confess with ease, and others with difficulty.”
“Who is there whom bright and agreeable children do not attract to play and creep and prattle with them?”
“Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.”
“In every affair consider what precedes and what follows, and then undertake it.”
“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.”
“There is a fine circumstance connected with the character of a Cynic,—that he must be beaten like an ass, and yet when beaten must love those who beat him, as the father, as the brother of all.”
“Nothing great 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.”
“Let not another's disobedience to Nature become an ill to you; for you were not born to be depressed and unhappy with others, but to be happy with them. And if any is unhappy, remember that he is so for himself; for God made all men to enjoy felicity and peace.”
“There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.”
“Neither should a ship rely on one small anchor, nor should life rest on a single hope.”
“Only the educated are free.”
“The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best.”
“Men are disturbed not by things, but by the view which they take of them.”