Epictetus

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

It is not death or pain that is to be dreaded, but the fear of pain or death.

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

Do not laugh much or often or unrestrainedly.

You may be always victorious if you will never enter into any contest where the issue does not wholly depend upon yourself.

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

If you desire to be good, begin by believing that you are wicked.

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

Whoever does not regard what he has as most ample wealth, is unhappy, though he be master of the world.

There is nothing good or evil save in the will.

If you wish to be a writer, write.

No greater thing 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.

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.

Not every difficult and dangerous thing is suitable for training, but only that which is conducive to success in achieving the object of our effort.

If one oversteps the bounds of moderation, the greatest pleasures cease to please.

Freedom is the right to live as we wish.

Whenever you are angry, be assured that it is not only a present evil, but that you have increased a habit.

First learn the meaning of what you say, and then speak.

Silence is safer than speech.

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