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1 " For in this Case, 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 , Discourses and Selected Writings
2 " Philosophy does not claim to secure for us anything outside our control. Otherwise it would be taking on matters that do not concern it. For as wood is the material of the carpenter, and marble that of the sculptor, so the subject matter of the art of life is the life of the self. "
3 " Don't put your purpose in one place and expect to see progress made somewhere else. "
4 " Freedom is not archived by satisfying desire, but by eliminating it. "
5 " Freedom, you see, is having events go in accordance with our will, never contrary to it. "
6 " So what oppresses and scares us? It is our own thoughts, obviously, What overwhelms people when they are about to leaves friends, family, old haunts and their accustomed way of life? Thoughts. "
7 " And where there is ignorance, there is also want of learning and instruction in essentials. "
8 " We should realize that an opinion is not easily formed unless a person says and hears the same things every day and practises them in real life. "
9 " It isn't death, pain, exile or anything else you care to mention that accounts for the way we act, only our opinion about death, pain and the rest. "
10 " Don't hope that events will turn out the way you want, welcome events in whichever way they happen: this is the path to peace. "
11 " The more we value things outside our control, the less control we have. "
12 " Sickness is a problem for the body, not the mind — unless the mind decides that it is a problem. Lameness, too, is the body's problem, not the mind's. Say this to yourself whatever the circumstance and you will find without fail that the problem pertains to something else, not to you. "
13 " There is no shame in making an honest effort. "
14 " We are at the mercy of whoever wields authority over the things we either desire or detest. If you would be free, then, do not wish to have, or avoid, things that other people control, because then you must serve as their slave. "
15 " What are we to do, then? To make the best of what lies within our power, and deal with everything else as it comes. ‘How does it come, then?’ As God wills. "
16 " It is a universal law — have no illusion — that every creature alive is attached to nothing so much as to its own self-interest. "
17 " Keep the prospect of death, exile and all such apparent tragedies before you every day – especially death – and you will never have an abject thought, or desire anything to excess. "
18 " Remember from now on whenever something tends to make you unhappy, draw on this principle: 'This is no misfortune; but bearing with it bravely is a blessing. "
19 " Whenever anyone criticizes or wrongs you, remember that they are only doing or saying what they think is right. They cannot be guided by your views, only their own; so if their views are wrong, they are the ones who suffer insofar as they are misguided. "
20 " Nothing great comes into being all at once, for that is not the case even with a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me now, ‘I want a fig,’ I’ll reply, ‘That takes time. "