Stoic Quotes

“No man is good by chance. Virtue is something which must be learned.”
― Seneca, Letters from a Stoic

“Nothing is more hostile to a firm grasp on knowledge than self-deception.”
― Zeno of Citium

“Heartless’ is a label that is all too often wrongly given to someone who is rational by someone who is emotional.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“You can dance in the rain or sulk in the rain. It will rain regardless.”
― William Mulligan

“There is a correlation between how seriously we take life and how many problems it gives us.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“In heaven, everything is good; in hell, everything bad. In the world, since it lies between the two, you find both. We are placed between two extremes, and so participate in both. Good and bad luck alternate; not all is happy, nor all hostile. This world is a zero: on its own, it's worth nothing; joined to heaven, a great deal. Indifference to its variety constitutes good sense - the wise are never surprised. Our life is arranged like a play, everything will be sorted out in the end. Take care, then, to end it well.”
― Baltasar Gracián, The Art of Worldly Wisdom: A Pocket Oracle

“Let whatever appears to be the best be to you an inviolable law. And if any instance of pain or pleasure, glory or disgrace, be set before you, remember that now is the combat, now the Olympiad comes on, nor can it be put off; and that by one failure and defeat honor may be lost or—won.”
― Epictetus, Enchiridion

“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.”
― Epictetus, THE ART OF LIVING

“Any person capable of angering you becomes your master; he can anger you only when you permit yourself to be disturbed by him.”
― Epictetus

“Remain undisturbed.”
― Maxime Lagacé

“Remind yourself that what you love is mortal … at the very moment you are taking joy in something, present yourself with the opposite impressions. What harm is it, just when you are kissing your little child, to say: Tomorrow you will die, or to your friend similarly: Tomorrow one of us will go away, and we shall not see one another any more?”
― Epictetus

“Happiness prefers to live inside those who do not have preferences, because it never gets evicted there.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“Equanimity is often mistaken for depression.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“Unless you learn your lesson, it will keep hurting. Not only it will never stop, it will also keep increasing the amount, so you won’t get used to it.”
― Cave Man, Modern Human's Handbook

“Not even once has life or the weather complained about a human being.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“Ich freu' mich wenn die Sonne lacht!”
― Rainbow Harvest

“Nothing can affect a person’s mind if he chooses not to be affected by it.”
― Cave Man, Modern Human's Handbook

“Not complaining is sometimes a show off of tolerance or patience.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana, P for Pessimism: A Collection of Funny yet Profound Aphorisms

“Most people will leave you with the impression that the main function of our emotions is to cloud our judgement.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“We always have a choice as to, not what we hear, but what we listen to.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“The sternest-seeming stoic is human after all.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“The vast majority of people make complaining seem to be a basic human need.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“Acceptance for what you truly can’t control, but responsibility for what you can control. The Stoic does not believe in categorizing so many things as ‘outside your control’ that you simply become a victim of circumstance. Far more is within your control than you might think.”
― Dan Crenshaw, Fortitude: American Resilience in the Era of Outrage

“The vast majority of people are each a puppet that is forever pulled in this or that direction, or pushed into this or that action, by things such as public opinion and an emotion.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“Your internal condition means nothing. It’s just another excuse that you give yourself permission to stay out of the risky zones of life. The problem is: Those risky zones are life. The rest is just existing.”
― Gary John Bishop, Unf*ck Yourself: Get out of your head and into your life & Stop Doing That Sh*t: End Self-Sabotage and Demand Your Life Back Gary John Bishop 2 Books Collection Set

“Eventually Washington ordered his doctors to cease their barbarisms and let him go in peace. “Doctor, I die hard,” he muttered, “but I am not afraid to go.” Then he gave an intriguing final instruction to Lear: “I am just going. Have me decently buried, and do not let my body be put into the Vault in less than two days after I am dead. . . . Do you understand me?” Washington believed that several apparently dead people, perhaps including Jesus, had really been buried alive, a fate he wished to avoid. His statement also calls attention to a missing presence at the deathbed scene: there were no ministers in the room, no prayers uttered, no Christian rituals offering the solace of everlasting life. The inevitable renderings of Washington’s death by nineteenth-century artists often added religious symbols to the scene, frequently depicting his body ascending into heaven surrounded by a chorus of angels. The historical evidence suggests that Washington did not think much about heaven or angels; the only place he knew his body was going was into the ground, and as for his soul, its ultimate location was unknowable. He died as a Roman stoic rather than a Christian saint.”
― Joseph J. Ellis, His Excellency: George Washington

“Sisu is a Finnish concept described as stoic determination, tenacity of purpose, grit, bravery, resilience, and hardiness and is held by Finns themselves to express their national character.”
― Wikipedia

“You can look unhappy but feel the opposite. Or vice versa.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana, P for Pessimism: A Collection of Funny yet Profound Aphorisms

“Wishing is usually an indirect way of feeling sorry for yourself.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“The idle business of show, plays on the stage, flocks of sheep, herds, exercises with spears, a bone cast to little dogs, a bit of bread into fish-ponds, labourings of ants and burden-carrying, runnings about of frightened little mice, puppets pulled by strings- all alike. It is thy duty then in the midst of such things to show good humour and not a proud air; to understand however that every man is worth just so much as the things are worth about which he busies himself.”
― Markus Aurelius