Epictetus

Imagine for yourself a character, a model personality, whose example you determine to follow, in private as well as in public.

The essence of philosophy is that a man should so live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things.

There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.

An ignorant person is inclined to blame others for his own misfortune. To blame oneself is proof of progress. But the wise man never has to blame another or himself.

The essence of good and evil is a certain disposition of the will.

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.

By accepting life's limits and inevitabilities and working with them rather than fighting them, we become free.

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.

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?

I am always content with what happens; for I know that what God chooses is better than what I choose.

To the rational being only the irrational is unendurable, but the rational is endurable.

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.

Progress is not achieved by luck or accident, but by working on yourself daily.

If a person had delivered up your body to some passer-by, you would certainly be angry. And do you feel no shame in delivering up your own mind to any reviler, to be disconcerted and confounded?

If you think you control things that are in the control of others, you will lament. You will be disturbed and you will blame both gods and men.

No man is free who is not master of himself... Is freedom anything else than the power of living as we choose?

What is a child? Ignorance. What is a child? Want of instruction.

It is the part of an uneducated person to blame others where he himself fares ill; to blame himself is the part of one whose education has begun; to blame neither another nor his own self is the part of one whose education is already complete.

To make anything a habit, do it; to not make it a habit, do not do it; to unmake a habit, do something else in place of it.

Liars are the cause of all the sins and crimes in the world.

Books are the training weights of the mind.