Latest Epictetus Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

• 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.

  Epictetus

  Hurt, Kindness, People

• Authentic happiness is always independent of external conditions. Vigilantly practice polite indifference to that which we can't control. Your happiness can only be found within.

  Epictetus

  Independent, Practice, Indifference

• Freedom isn't the right or ability to do whatever you please. Freedom comes from understanding the limits of our own power and the inherent limits set in place by nature. By accepting life's limits and inevitabilities and working with them rather than fighting them, you become truly free.

  Epictetus

  Fighting, Understanding, Limits

• Never depend on the admiration of others for self-satisfaction. It is a fact of life that other people, even people who love you, will not necessarily agree with your ideas, understand you always, or share your enthusiasms.

  Epictetus

  Love You, Ideas, Self

• Don't be concerned who is watching you. The triumphs and merits of others belong to them - as do yours to you. Make the most of what you've got.

  Epictetus

  Triumph, Merit, Concerned

• Wisdom means understanding without any doubt that circumstances do not rise to meet our expectations. Events happen as they may. People behave as they will.

  Epictetus

  Mean, Expectations, People

• 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.

  Epictetus

  Character, Thinking, Reality

• The wise realize that some things are within their control, and most things are not. They learn early on to distinguish between what they can and can't regulate.

  Epictetus

  Wise, Realizing

• 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.

  Epictetus

  Goal, Desire, Body

• 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.

  Epictetus

  Wise, What Matters, Care