365 Stoic quotes

“You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”

“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.”

“Waste no more time arguing about what a good person should be. Be one.”

“If it is not right, do not do it. If it is not true, do not say it.”

“The best revenge is not to be like your enemy.”

“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself.”

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

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

“Confine yourself to the present.”

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

“The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.”

“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.”

“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.”

“Do not act as if you had ten thousand years to live.”

“Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future too.”

“When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous and surly.”

“Be tolerant with others and strict with yourself.”

“It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.”

“How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it.”

“To live a good life: We have the potential for it. If we can learn to be indifferent to what makes no difference.”

“Our life is what our thoughts make it.”

“The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.”

“Begin each day by telling yourself: Today I shall be meeting with interference, ingratitude, insolence, disloyalty, ill-will, and selfishness.”

“The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.”

“Look well into thyself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up if thou wilt always look.”

“Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.”

“If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it.”

“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.”

“You always own the option of having no opinion.”

“It is not death that a man should fear, but never beginning to live.”

“A man's worth is no greater than his ambitions.”

“Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now take what's left and live it properly.”

“Observe constantly that all things take place by change.”

“Loss is nothing else but change, and change is Nature's delight.”

“If someone can prove me wrong and show me my mistake in any thought or action, I shall gladly change.”

“He who lives in harmony with himself lives in harmony with the universe.”

“When you have assumed these names - good, modest, truthful, rational, a man of equanimity, and magnanimous - take care that you do not change these names.”

“Whatever happens at all happens as it should; you will find this true, if you watch narrowly.”

“Remember that very little is needed to make a happy life.”

“Perfection of character is this: to live each day as if it were your last.”

“Each of us lives only now, this brief instant.”

“Death smiles at us all, but all a man can do is smile back.”

“Your days are numbered. Use them to throw open the windows of your soul to the sun.”

“Do not indulge in dreams of having what you have not, but reckon up the chief of the blessings you do possess.”

“The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing.”

“Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul.”

“The things you think about determine the quality of your mind.”

“Stop whatever you're doing for a moment and ask yourself: Am I afraid of death because I won't be able to do this anymore?”

“When another blames you or hates you, or people voice similar criticisms, go to their souls, penetrate inside and see what sort of people they are.”

“Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life.”

“The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are.”

“Remember that to change your mind and follow someone who sets you right is to be none the less free.”

“The nearer a man comes to a calm mind, the closer he is to strength.”

“Receive without pride, let go without attachment.”

“Accept whatever comes to you woven in the pattern of your destiny, for what could more aptly fit your needs?”

“Here is a rule to remember in future, when anything tempts you to feel bitter: not 'This is misfortune,' but 'To bear this worthily is good fortune.'”

“Today I escaped anxiety. Or no, I discarded it, because it was within me, in my own perceptions — not outside.”

“Do every act of your life as though it were the very last act of your life.”

“The happiness and unhappiness of the rational, social animal depends not on what he feels but on what he does.”

“To understand the true quality of people, you must look into their minds.”

“The best answer to anger is silence.”

“Aptitude found in the understanding and is often inherited. Genius coming from reason and imagination, rarely.”

“Very soon you'll be ashes, or bones. A mere name, at most—and even that is just a sound, an echo.”

“No random actions, none not based on underlying principles.”

“Give yourself a gift: the present moment.”

“Such as are your habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of your mind.”

“External thinks are not the problem. It's your assessment of them. Which you can erase right now.”

“Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current.”

“How much time he gains who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks.”

“Your mind will take the shape of what you frequently hold in thought, for the human spirit is colored by such impressions.”

“Everything is only for a day, both that which remembers and that which is remembered.”

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

“And in the case of most pains let this remark of Epicurus aid thee, that the pain is neither intolerable nor everlasting.”

“What we do now echoes in eternity.”

“Consider how much more you often suffer from your anger and grief, than from those very things for which you are angry and grieved.”

“How ridiculous and how strange to be surprised at anything which happens in life!”

“If thou art pained by any external thing, it is not this that disturbs thee, but thy own judgment about it.”

“Remember this – that there is a proper dignity and proportion to be observed in the performance of every act of life.”

“Take full account of the excellences which you possess, and in gratitude remember how you would hanker after them, if you had them not.”

“Everything is fruit to me which your seasons bring, O Nature.”

“You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think.”

“Nowhere you can go is more peaceful — more free of interruptions — than your own soul.”

“Forward, as occasion offers. Never look around to see whether any shall note it. Be satisfied with success in even the smallest matter.”

“Remember: Matter. How tiny your share of it. Time. How brief and fleeting your allotment of it.”

“It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own.”

“I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinion of himself than on the opinion of others.”

“A man's life is what his thoughts make of it.”

“He who pays no attention to what his neighbor does, says or thinks, preferring to concentrate on making his own actions appropriate and justifiable.”

“Let not your mind run on what you lack as much as on what you have already.”

“Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.”

“Choose not to be harmed — and you won't feel harmed. Don't feel harmed — and you haven't been.”

“Practice really hearing what people say. Do your best to get inside their minds.”

“It is in your power to withdraw into yourself whenever you desire.”

“The tranquility that comes when you stop caring what they say. Or think, or do.”

“Put from you the belief that 'I have been wronged', and with it will go the feeling. Reject your sense of injury, and the injury itself disappears.”

“Begin the morning by saying to thyself, I shall meet with the busybody, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial.”

“We ought to do good to others as simply and as naturally as a horse runs, or a bee makes honey, or a vine bears grapes.”

“Adapt yourself to the things among which your lot has been cast and love sincerely the fellow creatures with whom destiny has ordained that you shall live.”

“The first step: Don't be anxious. Nature controls it all.”

“Don't let your imagination be crushed by life as a whole. Don't try to picture everything bad that could possibly happen.”

“Stop allowing your mind to be a slave, to be jerked about by selfish impulses.”

“The universe is transformation: life is opinion.”

“Dig within. Within is the wellspring of Good; and it is always ready to bubble up, if you just dig.”

“When jarred, unavoidably, by circumstances, revert at once to yourself, and don't lose the rhythm more than you can help.”

“Frightened of change? But what can exist without it?”

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

“Don't seek for everything to happen as you wish it would, but rather wish that everything happens as it actually will.”

“The first rule of all is that the mind should be free from passion.”

“The happiness of those who want to be popular depends on others; the happiness of those who seek pleasure fluctuates with moods outside their control.”

“Run down the list of those who felt intense anger at something: the most famous, the most unfortunate, the most hated, the most whatever.”

“Receive without conceit, release without struggle.”

“Say to yourself in the early morning: I shall meet today ungrateful, violent, treacherous, envious, uncharitable men.”

“In the life of a man, his time is but a moment, his being an incessant flux, his sense a dim rushlight.”

“That which is not good for the beehive cannot be good for the bees.”

“Because your own strength is unequal to the task, do not assume that it is beyond the powers of man.”

“Look at everything that exists, and observe that it is already in dissolution and change.”

“Say nothing which can ruin you or others.”

“Every living organism is fulfilled when it follows the right path for its own nature.”

“Where a man can live, he can also live well.”

“To change your mind and to follow him who sets you right is to be nonetheless the free agent that you were before.”

“When you need encouragement, think of the qualities the people around you have.”

“Stick with first impressions. Don't extrapolate. And nothing can happen to you.”

“In your actions, don't procrastinate. In your conversations, don't confuse. In your thoughts, don't wander.”

“A rational being is one who can reflect and question and then change his own mind.”

“A man's true delight is to do the things he was made for.”

“Give yourself fully to every experience. Each situation is an opportunity to be present.”

“Remember, it is not enough to be hit or insulted to be harmed, you must believe that you are being harmed.”

“Don't waste the rest of your time here worrying about other people.”

“A man's life is dyed in the colors of his imagination.”

“A good man does not spy around for the black spots in others, but presses unswervingly on towards his mark.”

“Cultivate these, then, for they are wholly within your power: sincerity and dignity; industriousness.”

“Don't go on discussing what a good person should be. Just be one.”

“All that is harmony for you, my Universe, is in harmony with me as well.”

“Hasten to examine your own ruling principle and that of the universe and that of your neighbor.”

“To live each day as though one's last, never flustered, never apathetic, never attitudinizing - here is perfection of character.”

“Men seek retreats for themselves, houses in the country, seashores, and mountains.”

“The soul is dyed the color of its leisure thoughts.”

“Don't be overawed by what other people think. Be aware of what goes on in your own mind.”

“Receive wealth or prosperity without arrogance; and be ready to let it go.”

“Let your chief fort and place of defense be a mind free from passions.”

“How much more harmful are the consequences of anger and grief than the circumstances that aroused them in us.”

“Your mind will be like its habitual thoughts; for the soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.”

“Do not act as if you were going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over you. While you live, while it is in your power, be good.”

“Choose not to be harmed, and you won't feel harmed. Don't feel harmed, and you haven't been.”

“The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts, therefore guard accordingly.”

“Let it be your constant method to look into the design of people's actions.”

“We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.”

“Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body.”

“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”

“Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.”

“It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.”

“He who is brave is free.”

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

“True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future.”

“Begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life.”

“As long as you live, keep learning how to live.”

“A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials.”

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

“All cruelty springs from weakness.”

“The whole future lies in uncertainty: live immediately.”

“Hang on to your youthful enthusiasms - you'll be able to use them better when you're older.”

“While we wait for life, life passes.”

“No man was ever wise by chance.”

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

“What need is there to weep over parts of life? The whole of it calls for tears.”

“A man who suffers before it is necessary, suffers more than is necessary.”

“We are more often frightened than hurt; and we suffer more in imagination than in reality.”

“Only time can heal what reason cannot.”

“Life, if well lived, is long enough.”

“Nothing, to my way of thinking, is a better proof of a well ordered mind than a man's ability to stop just where he is and pass some time in his own company.”

“The willing are led by fate, the reluctant dragged.”

“Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for kindness.”

“In the meantime, cling tooth and nail to the following rule: not to give in to adversity, not to trust prosperity.”

“Associate with people who are likely to improve you.”

“They lose the day in expectation of the night, and the night in fear of the dawn.”

“It does not matter what you bear, but how you bear it.”

“Enjoy present pleasures in such a way as not to injure future ones.”

“There is no genius without a touch of madness.”

“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.”

“To be everywhere is to be nowhere.”

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

“He who fears death will never do anything worthy of life.”

“Difficulties are things that show a person what they are.”

“A happy life is one which is in accordance with its own nature.”

“True greatness is measured by how much freedom you give to others, not by how much you can take for yourself.”

“Refuse to let the judgment of others limit your potential.”

“If you live in harmony with nature you will never be poor; if you live according to what others think, you will never be rich.”

“What fortune has made yours is not your own.”

“No person has the power to have everything they want, but it is in their power not to want what they don't have.”

“We should always allow some time to elapse, for time discloses the truth.”

“You act like mortals in all that you fear, and like immortals in all that you desire.”

“Let us train our minds to desire what the situation demands.”

“Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power.”

“The bravest sight in the world is to see a great man struggling against adversity.”

“A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand.”

“I judge you unfortunate because you have never lived through misfortune.”

“True happiness is to understand our duties toward God and man.”

“The mind, unless it is pure and holy, cannot see God.”

“God is near you, is with you, is inside you.”

“May be you are not in a position to control other people's behavior, but you are certainly in a position to control your own.”

“While we are postponing, life speeds by.”

“The sun also shines on the wicked.”

“Loyalty is the holiest good in the human heart.”

“If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.”

“Love of bustle is not industry.”

“All art is but imitation of nature.”

“Living is not the good, but living well.”

“There is no easy way from the earth to the stars.”

“What really frightens and dismays us is not external events themselves, but the way in which we think about them.”

“It takes a very long time to become young.”

“That which Fortune has not given, she cannot take away.”

“The display of grief makes more demands than grief itself.”

“Leisure without study is death; it is a tomb for the living person.”

“Night brings our troubles to the light, rather than banishes them.”

“He who does not prevent a crime when he can, encourages it.”

“We are bad men living among bad men, and only one thing can calm us: we must agree to go easy on one another.”

“Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful.”

“We become wiser by adversity; prosperity destroys our appreciation of the right.”

“In war there is no prize for runner-up.”

“The fates lead the willing and drag the unwilling.”

“A great fortune is a great slavery.”

“Fate leads the willing, and drags along the reluctant.”

“All is change; all yields its place and goes.”

“Life's like a play: it's not the length, but the excellence of the acting that matters.”

“The pressure of adversity does not affect the mind of the brave man. It is more powerful than external circumstances.”

“Fire is the test of gold; adversity, of strong men.”

“You should live in such a way that there is nothing which you could not as easily tell your enemy as keep to yourself.”

“To wish to be well is part of becoming well.”

“Light griefs are loquacious, but the great are dumb.”

“Anger: an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.”

“You can tell the character of every man when you see how he receives praise.”

“Begin at once to live, and count each day as a separate life.”

“Shun no toil to make yourself remarkable by some talent or other.”

“One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and to be understood.”

“There is no easy way from earth to stars.”

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

“What is true belongs to me!”

“We should every night call ourselves to an account: What infirmity have I mastered today? What passion opposed? What temptation resisted?”

“A guilty person sometimes has the luck to escape detection, but never to feel sure of it.”

“Where reason and prudence dictate, ignorance and shamelessness demand.”

“Let tears flow of their own accord; their flowing is not inconsistent with inward peace and harmony.”

“Treat your superior as a father, your equal as a brother, and your inferior as a son.”

“A wise man is content with his lot, whatever it may be, without wishing for what he has not.”

“No good thing is pleasant to possess, without friends to share it.”

“It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness.”

“Philosophy is good advice, and no one gives good advice at the top of his lungs.”

“We suffer more in imagination than in reality.”

“Ignoranti quem portum petat nullus suus ventus est.”

“Not how long, but how well you have lived is the main thing.”

“It is the power of the mind to be unconquerable.”

“The greatest wealth is a poverty of desires.”

“Human affairs are not so happily arranged that the best things please the most men.”

“To have may be taken from us, to have had, never.”

“I shall never be ashamed of citing a bad author if the line is good.”

“Conversation has a kind of charm about it, an insinuating and insidious something that elicits secrets from us just like love or liquor.”

“The less we deserve good fortune, the more we hope for it.”

“Brave men rejoice in adversity, just as brave soldiers triumph in war.”

“I will govern my life and thoughts as if the whole world were to see the one and read the other.”

“I was not born for one corner. The whole world is my native land.”

“No one can be despised by another until he has learned to despise himself.”

“The wise man is self-sufficient. He can be happy alone.”

“He suffers more than necessary, who suffers before it is necessary.”

“Call it Nature, Fate, Fortune; all these are names of the one and self-same God.”

“Expect poison from standing water.”

“They who have light in themselves will not revolve as satellites.”

“Speech is the mirror of the mind.”

“Those whom true love has held, it will go on holding.”

“There is no person so severely punished, as those who subject themselves to the whip of their own remorse.”

“He who spares the bad injures the good.”

“The poor lack much, but the greedy lack everything.”

“True love knows no measure, but knows how to measure all things.”

“The display of grief makes more demands than grief itself. How few men are sad in their own company.”

“Timendi causa est nescire - Ignorance is the cause of fear.”

“He who is everywhere is nowhere.”

“Wherever the storm carries me, I go a willing guest.”

“A man's as miserable as he thinks he is.”

“While the fates permit, live happily; life speeds on with hurried step.”

“The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart.”

“In war the path to safety lies in the wound.”

“Anger is like those ruins which smash themselves on what they fall.”

“Wherever there is danger, there lurks opportunity; whenever there is opportunity, there lurks danger.”

“The sun shines even on the wicked.”

“Throw aside fear; you will forge fear out of terror.”

“As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.”

“To be feared is to fear. No one has been able to strike terror into others and at the same time enjoy peace of mind.”

“Set aside a certain number of days, during which you shall be content with the scantiest and cheapest fare.”

“The greatest remedy for anger is delay.”

“Be silent as to services you have rendered, but speak of favours you have received.”

“The ascent from earth to heaven is not easy.”

“Delay not till tomorrow what may be done today.”

“No man is free who is not master of himself.”

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

“First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.”

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

“There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond our control.”

“Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it.”

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

“Any person capable of angering you becomes your master.”

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

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

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

“Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens.”

“Seek not the good in external things; seek it in yourselves.”

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

“People are not disturbed by things, but by the views they take of them.”

“To accuse others for one's own misfortunes is a sign of want of education.”

“Only the educated are free.”

“Know, first, who you are, and then adorn yourself accordingly.”

“There is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”

“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.'”

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

“Other people's views and troubles can be contagious. Don't sabotage yourself by unwittingly adopting negative, unproductive attitudes through your associations with others.”

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

“He who laughs at himself never runs out of things to laugh at.”

“Caretake this moment. Immerse yourself in its particulars.”

“Do not seek to have events happen as you want them to, but instead want them to happen as they do happen.”

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

“No great thing is created suddenly.”

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

“Small-minded people blame others. Average people blame themselves. The wise see all blame as foolishness.”

“The greater the difficulty, the more glory in surmounting it.”

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

“A ship should not ride on a single anchor, nor life on a single hope.”

“It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it.”

“A half truth is the worst of all lies, because it can be defended in partiality.”

“To make anything a habit, do it; to not make it a habit, do not do it; to unmake a habit, do something else in place of it.”

“If evil be spoken of you and it be true, correct yourself, if it be a lie, laugh at it.”

“Fortify yourself with contentment, for this is an impregnable fortress.”

“From this instant on, vow to stop disappointing yourself.”

“The more we value things outside our control, the less control we have.”

“God has entrusted me with myself.”

“There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things we cannot control.”

“Be clearly aware of the stars and infinity on high. Then life seems almost enchanted after all.”

“When you are offended at any man's fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings.”

“Attach yourself to what is spiritually superior, regardless of what other people think or do. Hold to your true aspirations no matter what is going on around you.”

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

“Don't just say you have read books. Show that through them you have learned to think better.”

“The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself which are externals not under my control.”

“If you want something good, get it from yourself.”

“A man is worked upon by what he works on.”

“We have the power to hold no opinion about a thing and to not let it upset our state of mind.”

“Events are neither good nor bad; they are neutral. It's our opinion about them that makes them appear good or bad.”

“He is a drunkard who takes more than three glasses though he be not drunk.”

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

“The trials we endure introduce us to our strengths.”

“If virtue promises good fortune and tranquility and happiness, certainly also the progress in virtue is progress in each of these.”

“Progress is not achieved by luck or accident, but by working on yourself daily.”

“He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have.”

“Authentic happiness is always independent of external conditions.”

“Control thy passions lest they take vengeance on thee.”

“For it is not death or pain that is to be feared, but the fear of pain or death.”

“Practice yourself in little things, and then proceed to greater.”

“In prosperity it is very easy to find a friend; but in adversity it is the most difficult of all things.”

“You are a little soul carrying around a corpse.”

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

“It's time to stop being vague. If you wish to be an extraordinary person, if you wish to be wise, then you should explicitly identify the kind of person you aspire to become.”

“Don't demand or expect that events happen as you would wish them to. Accept events as they actually happen.”

“The chief task in life is simply this: to identify what is yours to control and what is not.”

“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.”

“Tentative efforts lead to tentative outcomes. Therefore give yourself fully to your endeavors.”

“A half-truth is the most cowardly of lies.”

“The greater the difficulty, the greater the glory.”

“If a person gave away your body to some passerby, you'd be furious. Yet you hand over your mind to anyone who comes along.”

“Difficulties show men what they are. In case of any difficulty remember that God has pitted you against a rough antagonist that you may be a conqueror.”

“If anyone tells you that a certain person speaks ill of you, don't make excuses. Instead, respond, 'He obviously isn't aware of my other faults, otherwise he wouldn't have mentioned only these.'”