100 Days of Stoic Wisdom

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

“We suffer more in imagination than in reality.”

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

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

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

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

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

“How long are you going to wait before you demand the best for yourself?”

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

“The obstacle on the path becomes the path. Never forget, within every obstacle is an opportunity to improve our condition.”

“To be even-minded is the greatest virtue.”

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

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

“Do not 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.”

“Time is like a river made up of the events which happen, and a violent stream; for as soon as a thing has been seen, it is carried away, and another comes in its place.”

“No great thing is created suddenly.”

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

“Throw me to the wolves and I will return leading the pack.”

“He who fears death will never do anything worth of a man who is alive.”

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

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

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

“It is not things themselves that disturb us, but our opinions about them.”

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

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

“Don't stumble over something behind you.”

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

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

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

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

“Be tolerant with others and strict with yourself.”

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

“No man was ever wise by chance.”

“Don't demand that things happen as you wish, but wish that they happen as they do, and you will go on well.”

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

“Be like the cliff against which the waves continually break; but it stands firm and tames the fury of the water around it.”

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

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

“What we do now echoes in eternity.”

“No evil is honorable: but death is honorable; therefore death is not evil.”

“Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be.”

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

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

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

“The wise man is indifferent to everything which he cannot control.”

“Self-control is strength. Right thought is mastery. Calmness is power.”

“He who is brave is free.”

“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.”

“Let us prepare our minds as if we'd come to the very end of life. Let us postpone nothing.”

“Tranquility is nothing else than the good ordering of the mind.”

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

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

“Only the educated are free.”

“Receive without pride, let go without attachment.”

“Nothing external can ever truly touch the soul.”

“Be content to seem what you really are.”

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

“To love only what happens, what was destined. No greater harmony.”

“Every night, when you go to bed, remind yourself: I may not wake up. Then live accordingly.”

“Do not talk about what a good man is like. Be one.”

“Events don't disturb people, their judgments do.”

“He who puts off nothing till tomorrow has done a great deal.”

“Do not be ashamed of help.”

“To bear trials with a calm mind robs misfortune of its strength and burden.”

“Cling tooth and nail to the following rule: not to give in to adversity, never to trust prosperity, and always take full note of fortune's habit of behaving just as she pleases.”

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

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

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

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

“There is no better way to grow toward greatness of soul than to do every day one thing you would rather not do.”

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

“Whatever can happen at any time can happen today.”

“Freedom is the prize we are working for — not being a slave to anything: not to compulsion, not to chance, not to any man, not to yourself.”

“Don't hanker after what you don't have. Instead, fix your attentions on the finest and best that you have, and imagine how much you would long for these if they weren't in your possession.”

“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.”

“No one can lose either the past or the future — how could anyone be deprived of what he does not possess?”

“The more one judges, the less one loves.”

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

“A fit body is not the goal — a disciplined soul is.”

“Nothing 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.”

“Don't hope that events will turn out the way you want, welcome events in whichever way they happen: this is the path to peace.”

“Time is a river of passing events, and a violent current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place.”

“A Stoic is someone who transforms fear into prudence, pain into transformation, mistakes into initiation, and desire into undertaking.”

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

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

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

“We all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own.”

“Don't be overheard complaining… not even to yourself.”

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

“A Stoic is not emotionless. A Stoic has emotions on a leash — not the other way around.”

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

“A man who has committed a mistake and doesn't correct it is committing another mistake.”

“No man is hurt but by himself.”

“Let your desires be ruled by reason.”

“Don't 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.”

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

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

“Don't wish for events to happen as you want them, but wish for them to happen as they do, and your life will go smoothly.”

“Difficulty shows what men are.”

“Be tolerant with others and strict with yourself.”