Epictetus quotes, checked against the source

Epictetus, around AD 50 to 135: born a slave, freed, expelled from Rome with the other philosophers, and teacher at Nicopolis. He wrote nothing down himself. Every line below is labelled by how close it stays to what his student recorded.

What we have of him are the Discourses and the Handbook, written down by his student Arrian; how that happened is told in the case Arrian and the notes. The lines are grouped by how they relate to that text: taken from the sources, rendered freely after the source, or only attributed to him by tradition.

From the sources 46

• It is not the one who abuses you who insults you, but your judgment that he insults you.
• If someone tells you that a certain person speaks ill of you, answer: he did not know my other faults, or he would have mentioned those too.
• Act your given part well; to choose it belongs to another.
• It is impossible to learn what one thinks one already knows.
• Nothing great comes into being all at once, not even a bunch of grapes or a fig.
• Do not wait until you can speak about virtue; act on it.
• Any person capable of angering you becomes your master.
• First say to yourself what you would be, and then do what you have to do.
• Never call yourself a philosopher; simply do what follows from your principles.
• Never say of anything 'I have lost it', but 'I have given it back'.
• Seek not that things should happen as you wish, but wish them to happen as they do.
• Do not demand that things happen as you wish; wish them to happen as they do.
• Illness hinders the body, not the will, unless the will permits it.
• Some things are within our power, and some are not.
• When someone acts badly toward you, remember that he acts from his own view of what is good.
• Everything has two handles: one by which it can be carried, and one by which it cannot.
• It is not things that disturb us, but our judgments about things.
• If your brother acts unjustly, do not take hold of the injustice, but of the fact that he is your brother.
• Riches consist not in having many possessions, but in having few wants.
• If you wish to be rich, do not add to your money, but subtract from your desire.
• Difficulties show a person's character.
• If you wish to improve, be content to appear foolish.
• Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.
• Only the educated are free.
• It is not the man who reviles you who insults you, but your opinion that these things are insulting.
• No one is free who is not master of himself.
• Illness is a hindrance to the body, but not to the will, unless the will itself chooses.
• What you ought to do is generally measured by the relations you stand in.
• Be silent for the most part, or say what is necessary, and in few words.
• I am richer than you, therefore I am better: that does not follow.
• Sheep do not bring the shepherd grass to show how much they have eaten; they digest it and bear wool and milk.
• You are an actor in a play the author decides: your task is to play the part well.
• Circumstances do not make a person; they reveal him to himself.
• Impression, wait for me a little: let me first see what you are and where you come from.
• How long will you go on putting off thinking yourself worthy of the best?
• It is not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.
• Do not seek for things to happen as you wish, but wish for them to happen as they do.
• Never say of anything that you have lost it, but that you have given it back.
• Sickness impedes the body, not the will, unless the will itself consents.
• Show sympathy with the one who grieves, but do not let it sink in within you.
• It is not things themselves that disturb people, but their opinions about things.
• Remember that you are an actor in a play whose director is somebody else.
• Freedom is not achieved by satisfying desire, but by removing it.
• Whoever treats you badly does so because he believes he is right.
• If you take on a role beyond your strength, you both fail in it and neglect the one you could have filled.
• Some things are within our power, others are not.

Freely after the source 11

• For every challenge I ask myself what power nature has given me to meet it.
• “I speak better than you, so I am more than you”: the first may be true, the second does not follow.
• Whoever can make you angry has become your master.
• The first task of a thinking person: to test impressions, and accept nothing untested.
• Aim desire and aversion only at what is yours, and nobody can make you unhappy.
• What belongs to another you can neither give nor take. What is yours, nobody can take from you.
• You are bound to a father, not to a good father.
• Keep before your eyes each day what you fear, and nothing will take you by surprise.
• In company, speak as little as possible about other people: neither praising, nor blaming, nor comparing.
• First consider what a thing demands of you, and only then take it on.
• Do not give your assent to an impression before you have tested it.

Attributed 1

• If someone speaks ill of you and it is true, correct yourself; if it is false, laugh at it.

All authors on one page, with the labels explained · Seneca · Marcus Aurelius