Stoic Quotes

100 Stoicism Quotes for Everyday Life

Epictetus Quotes:

1. "It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters."

2. "Freedom is the only worthy goal in life. It is won by disregarding things that lie beyond our control."

3. “I cannot escape death, but at least I can escape the fear of it.”

4. "He who laughs at himself never runs out of things to laugh at."

5. "Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it."

6. "Know, first, who you are, and then adorn yourself accordingly."

7. "A ship should not ride on a single anchor, nor life on a single hope."

8. "The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you."

9. "First, say to yourself what you would be, and then do what you have to do."

10. “There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power or our will.”

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

12. "Don't seek for everything to happen as you wish it would, but rather wish that everything happens as it actually will—then your life will flow well."

13. "You become what you give your attention to."

14. "It is the nature of the wise to resist pleasures, but the foolish to be a slave to them."

15. "The more we value things outside our control, the less control we have."

16. "Nothing great is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig."

17. "Difficulties show a person's character.."

18. "Nature hath given men one tongue but two ears, that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak."

19. “Men are disturbed not by things, but by the views which they take of things."

20. "When someone is properly grounded in life, they shouldn't have to look outside themselves for approval."

21. “Settle on the type of person you want to be and stick to it, whether alone or in company.”

22. "When you are offended at any man's fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings. Then you will forget your anger."

23. "Seek not that the things which happen should happen as you wish; but wish the things which happen to be as they are, and you will have a tranquil flow of life."

24. "Practice yourself, for heaven's sake, in little things; and thence proceed to greater."

25. “Any person capable of angering you becomes your master; he can anger you only when you permit yourself to be disturbed by him.”

26. “Circumstances don't make the man, they only reveal him to himself.”

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

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

Seneca Quotes

29. "We suffer more often in imagination than in reality."

30. “Ignorance is the cause of fear.”

31. "Cease to hope and you will cease to fear."

32. “A gift consists not in what is done or given, but in the intention of the giver or doer.”

33. "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."

34. "To be everywhere is to be nowhere."

35. “The difficulty comes from our lack of confidence.”

36. "It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult."

37. "Begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life."

38. "What really ruins our character is the fact that none of us looks back over his life."

39. "The greatest remedy for anger is delay."

40. “If a man knows not to which port he sails, no wind is favourable.”

41. "The whole future lies in uncertainty: live immediately."

42. "He who is brave is free."

43. “It is in no man's power to have whatever he wants, but he has it in his power not to wish for what he hasn't got, and cheerfully make the most of the things that do come his way.”

44. "Wealth is the slave of a wise man. The master of a fool."

45. "No man was ever wise by chance."

46. "Floods will rob us of one thing, fire of another. These are conditions of our existence which we cannot change. What we can do is adopt a noble spirit, such a spirit that befits a good person, so that we may bear up bravely under all that fortune sends us and bring our wills into tune with nature’s."

47. "The greatest wealth is a poverty of desires."

48. "Associate with people who are likely to improve you."

49. "Life is very short and anxious for those who forget the past, neglect the present, and fear the future."

50. "True happiness is... to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future."

51. "Anger, if not restrained, is frequently more hurtful to us than the injury that provokes it."

52. "A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials."

53. "It is not the man who has too little that is poor, but the one who hankers after more."

54. "The greatest obstacle to living is expectancy, which hangs upon tomorrow and loses today."

55. "Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labour does the body."

56. “How much better to heal than seek revenge from injury.”

57. “The mind that is anxious about future events is miserable.”

58. “Only time can heal what reason cannot.”

59. “While we are postponing, life speeds by.”

Marcus Aurelius Quotes

60. "Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one."

61. "Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking."

62. “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.”

63. "In your actions, don't procrastinate. In your conversations, don't confuse. In your thoughts, don't wander. In your soul, don't be passive or aggressive."

64. "The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts."

65. "The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury."

66. “How much time he gains who does not look to see what his neighbour says or does or thinks, but only at what he does himself, to make it just and holy.”

67. "Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together."

68. "Our life is what our thoughts make it."

69. "The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts."

70. "The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way."

71. "The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."

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

73. "Loss is nothing else but change, and change is Nature's delight."

74. "The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it."

75. "Nothing happens to anybody which he is not fitted by nature to bear."

76. "The best way to avenge yourself is to not be like that."

77. "Be content with what you are, and wish not change; nor dread your last day, nor long for it."

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

79. “If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.”

80. “The best answer to anger is silence.”

81. “Confine yourself to the present.”

82. “When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.”

83. “Each day provides its own gifts.”

84. “Give yourself a gift: the present moment.”

Zeno of Citium Quotes

85. "The goal of life is living in agreement with nature."

86. "Well-being is realized by small steps, but is truly no small thing."

87. "Happiness is a good flow of life."

88. “Better to trip with the feet than with the tongue.”

89. “Man conquers the world by conquering himself.”

90. “Nothing is more hostile to a firm grasp on knowledge than self-deception.”

91. “All things are parts of one single system, which is called nature; the individual life is good when it is in harmony with nature.”

92. “Fate is the endless chain of causation, whereby things are; the reason or formula by which the world goes on.”

93. “Extravagance is its own destroyer.”

94. "A bad feeling is a commotion of the mind repugnant to reason, and against nature."

More Stoic Quotes

95. “He needs little who desires but little.” Cleanthes 

96. “The Fates lead the willing, but drag the unwilling.” Cleanthes 

97. “He has his wish, whose wish can be to have what is enough.” Cleanthes 

98. “Thought is the fountain of speech.” Chrysippus

99. “Living virtuously is equal to living in accordance with one's experience of the actual course of nature.” Chrysippus

100. "He with the most who is content with the least." Diogenes