Find below a selection of our favorite Stoic quotes. \u00a0If you are new to the philosophy, we invite you to read our\u00a0introduction to Stoicism\u00a0article.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWaste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be One.\u201d \u2013\u00a0Marcus Aurelius<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\u201cThink of the life you have lived until now as over and, as a dead man, see what\u2019s left as a bonus and live it according to Nature. Love the hand that fate deals you and play it as your own, for what could be more fitting?\u201d\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Marcus Aurelius<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\u201cIt never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own.\u201d\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Marcus Aurelius<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\u201cIn your actions, don\u2019t procrastinate. In your conversations, don\u2019t confuse. In your thoughts, don\u2019t wander. In your soul, don\u2019t be passive or aggressive. In your life, don\u2019t be all about business.\u201d\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Marcus Aurelius<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\u201cIf it is not right, do not do it, if it is not true, do not say it.\u201d \u2013\u00a0Marcus Aurelius<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\u201cThe best revenge is not to be like your enemy.\u201d \u2013\u00a0Marcus Aurelius<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\u201cChoose not to be harmed \u2014 and you won\u2019t feel harmed. Don\u2019t feel harmed \u2014 and you haven\u2019t been.\u201d \u2013\u00a0Marcus Aurelius<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\u201cIt\u2019s time you realized that you have something in you more powerful and miraculous than the things that affect you and make you dance like a puppet.\u201d\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Marcus Aurelius<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\u201cExternal thinks are not the problem. It\u2019s your assessment of them. Which you can erase right now.\u201d\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Marcus Aurelius<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\u201cIf anyone can refute me\u2014show me I\u2019m making a mistake or looking at things from the wrong perspective\u2014I\u2019ll gladly change. It\u2019s the truth I\u2019m after, and the truth never harmed anyone.\u201d\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Marcus Aurelius<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\u201cYou could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think.\u201d\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Marcus Aurelius<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\u201cBe tolerant with others and strict with yourself.\u201d\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Marcus Aurelius<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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Seneca quotes<\/h2>\n
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\u201cWe are more often frightened than hurt; and we suffer more in imagination than in reality.\u201d \u2013\u00a0Seneca<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\u201cIf a man knows not which port he sails, no wind is favorable.\u201d \u2013\u00a0Seneca<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\u201cNo person has the power to have everything they want, but it is in their power not to want what they don\u2019t have, and to cheerfully put to good use what they do have.\u201d\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Seneca<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\u201cNothing, to my way of thinking, is a better proof of a well ordered mind than a man\u2019s ability to stop just where he is and pass some time in his own company.\u201d\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Seneca<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\u201cHe who fears death will never do anything worthy of a man who is alive.\u201d\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Seneca<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\u201cThis is our big mistake: to think we look forward to death. Most of death is already gone. Whatever time has passed is owned by death.\u201d\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Seneca<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\u201cLife is very short and anxious for those who forget the past, neglect the present, and fear the future.\u201d\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Seneca<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\u201cI judge you unfortunate because you have never lived through misfortune. You have passed through life without an opponent\u2014no one can ever know what you are capable of, not even you.\u201d\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Seneca<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\u201cHow does it help\u2026to make troubles heavier by bemoaning them?\u201d\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Seneca<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\u201cPeople are frugal in guarding their personal property; but as soon as it comes to squandering tim ethey are most wasteful of the one thing in which it is right to be stingy.\u201d\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Seneca<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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<\/h3>\n
Epictetus Quotes<\/h2>\n
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\u201cHow long are you going to wait before you demand the best for yourself?\u201d\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Epictetus<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t seek for everything to happen as you wish it would, but rather wish that everything happens as it actually will\u2014then your life will flow well.\u201d \u2013\u00a0Epictetus<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\u201cFirst say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.\u201d\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Epictetus<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\u201cCurb your desire\u2014don\u2019t set your heart on so many things and you will get what you need.\u201d\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Epictetus<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\u201cThat\u2019s why the philosophers warn us not to be satisfied\u00a0with mere learning, but to add practice and then training. For as time passes we forget what we learned and end up doing the opposite, and hold opinions the opposite of what we should.\u201d\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Epictetus<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\u201cDon\u2019t explain your philosophy. Embody it.\u201d-\u00a0Epictetus<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\u201cThe 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, and which have to do with the choices I actually control. Where then do I look for good and evil? Not to uncontrollable externals, but within myself to the choices that are my own\u2026\u201d \u2013\u00a0Epictetus<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\u201cIf anyone tells you that a certain person speaks ill of you, do not make excuses about what is said of you but answer, \u2018He was ignorant of my other faults, else he would have not mentioned these alone.’\u201d\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Epictetus<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
<\/h3>\n
Cato Quotes<\/h2>\n
\u201cI begin to speak only when I\u2019m certain what I\u2019ll say isn\u2019t better left unsaid.\u201d \u2013 Cato<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
<\/h3>\n
Viktor Frankl Quotes<\/h2>\n
\u201cWhat man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for some goal worthy of him.\u201d \u2013 Viktor Frankl<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\u201cWhen we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.\u201d\u00a0\u2013 Viktor Frankl<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Find below a selection of our favorite Stoic quotes. \u00a0If you are new to the philosophy, we invite you to read our\u00a0introduction to Stoicism\u00a0article. Marcus Aurelius quotes \u201cWaste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be One.\u201d \u2013\u00a0Marcus Aurelius \u201cThink of the life you have lived until now as over and, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8682,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stoicism"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/pmascience.com\/pma\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/3922dbe42786d52b4a87c88542759211.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pmascience.com\/pma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pmascience.com\/pma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pmascience.com\/pma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pmascience.com\/pma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pmascience.com\/pma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2609"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pmascience.com\/pma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2609\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8923,"href":"https:\/\/pmascience.com\/pma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2609\/revisions\/8923"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pmascience.com\/pma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pmascience.com\/pma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pmascience.com\/pma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pmascience.com\/pma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}