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.
Epictetus

One that desires to excel should endeavor in those things that are in themselves most excellent.
Epictetus

Only the educated are free.
Epictetus

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

Practice yourself, for heaven's sake in little things, and then proceed to greater.
Epictetus

Silence is safer than speech.
Epictetus

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

The greater the difficulty the more glory in surmounting it. Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests.
Epictetus

The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best.
Epictetus

The two powers which in my opinion constitute a wise man are those of bearing and forbearing.
Epictetus

The world turns aside to let any man pass who knows where he is going.
Epictetus

There is nothing good or evil save in the will.
Epictetus

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

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.
Epictetus

Unless we place our religion and our treasure in the same thing, religion will always be sacrificed.
Epictetus

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.
Epictetus

We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.
Epictetus

We should not moor a ship with one anchor, or our life with one hope.
Epictetus

We tell lies, yet it is easy to show that lying is immoral.
Epictetus

Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.
Epictetus