Stoicism Quotes 🙏
10.04.202515:32
“As Plato said, every soul is deprived of truth against its will. The same holds true for justice, self-control, goodwill to others, and every similar virtue. It’s essential to constantly keep this in your mind, for it will make you more gentle to all.”
—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 7.63
—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 7.63
08.04.202513:30
“For nothing outside my reasoned choice can hinder or harm it—my reasoned choice alone can do this to itself. If we would lean this way whenever we fail, and would blame only ourselves and remember that nothing but opinion is the cause of a troubled mind and uneasiness, then by God, I swear we would be making progress.”
—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 3.19.2–3
—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 3.19.2–3
05.04.202518:16
“For I believe a good king is from the outset and by necessity a philosopher, and the philosopher is from the outset a kingly person.”
—MUSONIUS RUFUS, LECTURES, 8.33.32–34
—MUSONIUS RUFUS, LECTURES, 8.33.32–34
03.04.202509:24
“Anything that must yet be done, virtue can do with courage and promptness. For anyone would call it a sign of foolishness for one to undertake a task with a lazy and begrudging spirit, or to push the body in one direction and the mind in another, to be torn apart by wildly divergent impulses.”
—SENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 31.b–32
—SENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 31.b–32
01.04.202506:43
“I judge you unfortunate because you have never lived through misfortune. You have passed through life without an opponent—no one can ever know what you are capable of, not even you.”
—SENECA, ON PROVIDENCE, 4.3
—SENECA, ON PROVIDENCE, 4.3
29.03.202515:20
“There is no vice which lacks a defense, none that at the outset isn’t modest and easily intervened —but after this the trouble spreads widely. If you allow it to get started you won’t be able to control when it stops. Every emotion is at first weak. Later it rouses itself and gathers strength as it moves along—it’s easier to slow it down than to supplant it.”
—SENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 106.2b–3a
—SENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 106.2b–3a
10.04.202508:40
“When you’ve done well and another has benefited by it, why like a fool do you look for a third thing on top—credit for the good deed or a favor in return?”
—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 7.73
—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 7.73
07.04.202506:35
“Won’t you be walking in your predecessors’ footsteps? I surely will use the older path, but if I find a shorter and smoother way, I’ll blaze a trail there. The ones who pioneered these paths aren’t our masters, but our guides. Truth stands open to everyone, it hasn’t been monopolized.”
—SENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 33.11
—SENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 33.11
05.04.202513:58
“No person has the power to have everything they want, but it is in their power not to want what they don’t have, and to cheerfully put to good use what they do have.”
—SENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 123.3
—SENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 123.3
02.04.202516:29
“It is possible to curb your arrogance, to overcome pleasure and pain, to rise above your ambition, and to not be angry with stupid and ungrateful people—yes, even to care for them.”
—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 8.8
—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 8.8
31.03.202516:28
“Don’t let your reflection on the whole sweep of life crush you. Don’t fill your mind with all the bad things that might still happen. Stay focused on the present situation and ask yourself why it’s so unbearable and can’t be survived.”
—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 8.36
—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 8.36
28.03.202516:14
“To the youngster talking nonsense Zeno said, ‘The reason why we have two ears and only one mouth is so we might listen more and talk less.’”
—DIOGENES LAERTIUS, LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS, 7.1.23
—DIOGENES LAERTIUS, LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS, 7.1.23
09.04.202515:32
“My reasoned choice is as indifferent to the reasoned choice of my neighbor, as to his breath and body. However much we’ve been made for cooperation, the ruling reason in each of us is master of its own affairs. If this weren’t the case, the evil in someone else could become my harm, and God didn’t mean for someone else to control my misfortune.”
—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 8.56
—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 8.56
06.04.202516:40
“Love the humble art you have learned, and take rest in it. Pass through the remainder of your days as one who whole-heartedly entrusts all possessions to the gods, making yourself neither a tyrant nor a slave to any person.”
—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 4.31
—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 4.31
04.04.202516:34
“Enough of this miserable, whining life. Stop monkeying around! Why are you troubled? What’s new here? What’s so confounding? The one responsible? Take a good look. Or just the matter itself? Then look at that. There’s nothing else to look at. And as far as the gods go, by now you could try being more straightforward and kind. It’s the same, whether you’ve examined these things for a hundred years, or only three.”
—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 9.37
—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 9.37
02.04.202506:08
“Whenever you take offense at someone’s wrongdoing, immediately turn to your own similar failings, such as seeing money as good, or pleasure, or a little fame—whatever form it takes. By thinking on this, you’ll quickly forget your anger, considering also what compels them—for what else could they do? Or, if you are able, remove their compulsion.”
—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 10.30
—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 10.30
30.03.202517:51
“Let Fate find us prepared and active. Here is the great soul—the one who surrenders to Fate. The opposite is the weak and degenerate one, who struggles with and has a poor regard for the order of the world, and seeks to correct the faults of the gods rather than their own.”
—SENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 107.12
—SENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 107.12
27.03.202518:15
“In this way you must understand how laughable it is to say, ‘Tell me what to do!’ What advice could I possibly give? No, a far better request is, ‘Train my mind to adapt to any circumstance.’ . . . In this way, if circumstances take you off script . . . you won’t be desperate for a new prompting.”
—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 2.2.20b–1; 24b–25a
—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 2.2.20b–1; 24b–25a
09.04.202504:36
“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. In your life, don’t be all about business.”
—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 8.51
—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 8.51
06.04.202511:18
“The founder of the universe, who assigned to us the laws of life, provided that we should live well, but not in luxury. Everything needed for our well-being is right before us, whereas what luxury requires is gathered by many miseries and anxieties. Let us use this gift of nature and count it among the greatest things.”
—SENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 119.15b
—SENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 119.15b
03.04.202516:33
“While it’s true that someone can impede our actions, they can’t impede our intentions and our attitudes, which have the power of being conditional and adaptable. For the mind adapts and converts any obstacle to its action into a means of achieving it. That which is an impediment to action is turned to advance action. The obstacle on the path becomes the way.”
—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 5.20
—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 5.20
01.04.202518:18
“If you are defeated once and tell yourself you will overcome, but carry on as before, know in the end you’ll be so ill and weakened that eventually you won’t even notice your mistake and will begin to rationalize your behavior.”
—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 2.18.31
—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 2.18.31
29.03.202521:11
“Don’t be ashamed of needing help. You have a duty to fulfill just like a soldier on the wall of battle. So what if you are injured and can’t climb up without another soldier’s help?”
—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 7.7
—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 7.7
26.03.202516:16
“How much more harmful are the consequences of anger and grief than the circumstances that aroused them in us!”
—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 11.18.8
—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 11.18.8
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