Courage Under Fire Quotes

“So what Epictetus was telling his students was that there can be no such thing as being the "victim" of another. You can only be a "victim" of yourself. It's all in how you discipline your mind. Who”
― James B. Stockdale, Courage Under Fire: Testing Epictetus's Doctrines in a Laboratory of Human Behavior

“Work with what you have control of and you'll have your hands full.”
― James B. Stockdale, Courage Under Fire: Testing Epictetus's Doctrines in a Laboratory of Human Behavior

“So make sure in your heart of hearts, in your inner self, that you treat your station in life with indifference, not with contempt, only with indifference.”
― James B. Stockdale, Courage Under Fire: Testing Epictetus's Doctrines in a Laboratory of Human Behavior

“Epictetus: "The judgment seat and a prison is each a place, the one high, the other low; but the attitude of your will can be kept the same, if you want to keep it the same, in either place.”
― James B. Stockdale, Courage Under Fire: Testing Epictetus's Doctrines in a Laboratory of Human Behavior

“Epictetus: "Look not for any greater harm than this: destroying the trustworthy, self-respecting well-behaved man within you.”
― James B. Stockdale, Courage Under Fire: Testing Epictetus's Doctrines in a Laboratory of Human Behavior

“If you want to protect yourself from "fear and guilt," and those are the crucial pincers, the real long-term destroyers of will, you have to get rid of all your instincts to compromise, to meet people halfway. You have to learn to stand aloof, never give openings for deals, never level with your adversaries. You have to become what Ivan Denisovich called a "slow movin' cagey prisoner.”
― James B. Stockdale, Courage Under Fire: Testing Epictetus's Doctrines in a Laboratory of Human Behavior

“After ejection I had about thirty seconds to make my last statement in freedom before I landed in the main street of a little village right ahead. And so help me, I whispered to myself: "Five years down there, at least. I'm leaving the world of technology and entering the world of Epictetus.”
― James B. Stockdale, Courage Under Fire: Testing Epictetus's Doctrines in a Laboratory of Human Behavior

“don't let "reputation" get mixed up with your moral purpose or your will power; they are important. Make sure "reputation" is in that box in the bottom drawer marked "matters of indifference”
― James B. Stockdale, Courage Under Fire: Testing Epictetus's Doctrines in a Laboratory of Human Behavior

“Do what you will, reputation is at least as fickle as your station in life. Others decide what your reputation is.”
― James B. Stockdale, Courage Under Fire: Testing Epictetus's Doctrines in a Laboratory of Human Behavior