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You can find part one here in case you missed it. If you enjoy this post feel free to retweet this and help donate to charity

For this part we will be focusing on quotes by Epictetus, who, along with Marcus Aurelius and Seneca, is one of the three most important Stoic philosophers. Epictetus was born a slave and acquired his freedom soon after the death of emperor Nero. He started teaching philosophy at Rome until his banishment upon which he founded a philosophy school in Greece.

While Epictetus never wrote anything down, it is through one of his students that we have access to his lessons. Epictetus believed that philosophy is a way of living instead of just theoretical knowledge, so keep that in mind while you reflect on the following quotes:

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

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

“No thing 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.”

“We must not believe the many, who say that only free people ought to be educated, but we should rather believe the philosophers who say that only the educated are free.”

“Man is not worried by real problems so much as by his imagined anxieties about real problems”

“Freedom is secured not by the fulfilling of men's desires, but by the removal of desire.”

“Don't just say you have read books. Show that through them you have learned to think better, to be a more discriminating and reflective person. Books are the training weights of the mind. They are very helpful, but it would be a bad mistake to suppose that one has made progress simply by having internalized their contents.”

“Your happiness depends on three things, all of which are within your power: your will, your ideas concerning the events in which you are involved, and the use you make of your ideas.”

“You become what you give your attention to.

“If anyone tells you that a certain person speaks ill of you, do not make excuses about what is said of you but answer, “He was ignorant of my other faults, else he would not have mentioned these alone.”

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

“It isn’t the events themselves that disturb people, but only their judgements about them.”

“It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.”

“You are not your body and hair-style, but your capacity for choosing well. If your choices are beautiful, so too will you be.”

“Most of what passes for legitimate entertainment is inferior or foolish and only caters to or exploits people's weaknesses. Avoid being one of the mob who indulges in such pastimes. Your life is too short and you have important things to do. Be discriminating about what images and ideas you permit into your mind. If you yourself don't choose what thoughts and images you expose yourself to, someone else will, and their motives may not be the highest. It is the easiest thing in the world to slide imperceptibly into vulgarity.”

“You will do the greatest services to the state, if you shall raise not the roofs of the houses, but the souls of the citizens: for it is better that great souls should dwell in small houses than for mean slaves to lurk in great houses.”

“If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.”

“Remember, it is not enough to be hit or insulted to be harmed, you must believe that you are being harmed. If someone succeeds in provoking you, realize that your mind is complicit in the provocation. Which is why it is essential that we not respond impulsively to impressions; take a moment before reacting, and you will find it easier to maintain control”

If you enjoyed these quotes I recommend you to check the following works by Epictetus: Enchiridion and Discourses, although if this is your first time delving into stoic works I believe you should try reading Marcus Aurelius or Seneca first.

See below for a Stoic practice to prepare you for though times:

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