Stoic Quotes

• Belief in God and a future life makes it possible to go through life with less of stoic courage than is needed by skeptics.

  Bertrand Russell

  Belief, Skeptic, Needed

  Bertrand Russell (1971). “Bertrand Russell's best: silhouettes in satire”, Allen & Unwin

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• But then my mother, who's a very selfless, stoic person from a family of Marines, would tell us that what was good for our father was good for us - he would make more money; therefore, we'd be able to get better educations.

  Patricia Richardson

  Mother, Father, Marine

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• Peace of heart that is won by refusing to bear the common yoke of human sympathy is a peace unworthy of a Christian. To seek tranquility by stopping our ears to the cries of human pain is to make ourselves not Christian but a kind of degenerate stoic having no relation either to stoicism or Christianity.

  Aiden Wilson Tozer

  Sympathy, Christian, Pain

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• Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.

  Marcus Aurelius

  Truth, Intelligent, Greatness

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  You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.

  Marcus Aurelius

  Inspirational, Motivational, Strength

  Marcus Aurelius (2015). “Meditations”, p.116, Lulu.com

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• Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.

  Marcus Aurelius

  Time, Integrity, Insperational

  "Meditations". Book by Marcus Aurelius (Book X, Chapter 16), circa 170.

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• Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens.

  Epictetus

  Motivational, Philosophical, Responsibility

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• People are not disturbed by things, but by the view they take of them.

  Epictetus

  Inspirational, Positive, Attitude

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• A Stoic is someone who transforms fear into prudence, pain into transformation, mistakes into initiation, and desire into undertaking.

  Nassim Nicholas Taleb

  Pain, Mistake, Desire

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• The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.

  Marcus Aurelius

  Inspirational, Philosophical, Thinking

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• Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.

  Marcus Aurelius

  Life, Beauty, Running

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• Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.

  Marcus Aurelius

  Fear, Future, Adventure

  "Meditations" by Marcus Aurelius, Book VII, (8), (c. 161 - 180 AD).

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• He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.

  Epictetus

  Positive, Happiness, Thank You

  Epictetus (2012). “Enchiridion”, p.48, Courier Corporation

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• So I should say that civilizations begin with religion and stoicism: they end with scepticism and unbelief, and the undisciplined pursuit of individual pleasure. A civilization is born stoic and dies epicurean.

  Will Durant

  Civilization, Stoicism, Pleasure

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• What need is there to weep over parts of life? The whole of it calls for tears.

  Seneca the Younger

  Life, Death, Wise

  "Moral Essays: Ad Marciam De Consolatione". Translated by J. W. Basore,

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  It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.

  Marcus Aurelius

  Life, Moving On, Death

  Marcus Aurelius (2015). “Meditations”, p.144, Sheba Blake Publishing

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• A consciousness of wrongdoing is the first step to salvation...you have to catch yourself doing it before you can correct it.

  Seneca the Younger

  Firsts, Steps, Action

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• When you're wearing an animal costume and something bad happens, your facial expression doesn't change. The animal is deadpan the whole time. If you're skiing in a gorilla suit and you fall, you just see a gorilla who has no emotion. It's just a stoic gorilla, wildly falling down a hill, out of control.

  Demetri Martin

  Fall, Animal, Expression

  Interview with Litsa Dremousis, www.believermag.com. February 2006.

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• First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.

  Epictetus

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

  Epictetus (1807). “The Works of Epictetus: Consisting of His Discourses in Four Books Preserved by Arrian, the Enchiridion, and Fragments”, p.111

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• Reserved people often really need the frank discussion of their sentiments and griefs more than the expansive. The sternest-seeming stoic is human after all, and to burst with boldness and good-will into the silent sea of their souls is often to confer on them the first of obligations.

  Charlotte Bronte

  Grief, Sea, People

  Charlotte Bronte, Emily Bronte, Anne Bronte (2009). “The Bronte Sisters: Three Novels: Jane Eyre; Wuthering Heights; and Agnes Grey (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)”, p.303, Penguin

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• "Fate permitting" is a standard Stoic phrase meant to remind ourselves that planning things is up to us, but the ultimate outcomes are not under our control. It helps us to develop an attitude of equanimity toward the universe. We should very much try to change things for the better, that's the whole point of the Stoic discipline of action.

  Massimo Pigliucci

  Attitude, Fate, Discipline

  Source: www.3ammagazine.com

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• A good social system is not to be secured by making people unselfish, but, by making their own vital impulses fit in with other peoples. This is feasible. Those who have produced stoic philosophies have all had enough to eat and drink. I feel I shall find the truth on my deathbed and be surrounded by people too stupid to understand—fussing about medicines instead of searching for wisdom. I hate being all tidy like a book in a library where nobody reads – prison is horribly like that.

  Bertrand Russell

  Hate, Philosophy, Stupid

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• To be a good sportsman, one must be a stoic and never show rancor in defeat, or triumph in victory, or irritation, no matter what annoyance is encountered. One who can not help sulking, or explaining, or protesting when the loser, or exulting when the winner, has no right to take part in games or contests.

  Emily Post

  Sports, Games, Irritation

  Emily Post (2007). “Etiquette: In Society, in Business, in Politics and at Home”, p.529, Cosimo, Inc.

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• From forty to fifty a man is at heart either a stoic or a satyr.

  Arthur Wing Pinero

  Heart, Men, Age

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• Yeah, and so Max and Dylan are supposed to, like, go to Germany and have kids together," I heard Gazzy say. My eyes popped open and I bolted upright. "What?" Fang said, his voice icy. "Gazzy!" I yelled. Wide blue eyes looked at me in surprise, then back at Fang's stoic face. "Oh. Was I not supposed to say anything?" Gazzy asked.

  James Patterson

  Kids, Eye, Blue

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