How long are you going to wait before you demand the best for yourself?
No thing 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. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.
More Quotes from Epictetus
Remember that you ought to behave in life as you would at a banquet. As something is being passed around it comes to you; stretch out your hand, take a portion of it politely. It passes on; do not detain it. Or it has not come to you yet; do not project your desire to meet it, but wait until it comes in front of you. So act toward children, so act toward a wife, so toward office, so toward wealth.
Be not swept off your feet by the vividness of the impression, but say, “Impression, wait for me a little. Let me see what you are and what you represent. Let me try you.”
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As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.
Man must cease attributing his problems to his environment, and learn again to exercise his will - his personal responsibility in the realm of faith and morals.
Many people resented my impatience and honesty, but I never cared about acceptance as much as I cared about respect.
Patience is not simply the ability to wait – it’s how we behave while we’re waiting.
Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.
With time and patience the mulberry leaf becomes a silk gown.
Real excellence does not come cheaply. A certain price must be paid in terms of practice, patience, and persistence—natural ability notwithstanding.
Be patient with yourself. Self-growth is tender; it’s holy ground. There’s no greater investment.
Be patient where you sit in the dark. The dawn is coming.
Death, the only immortal who treats us all alike, whose pity and whose peace and whose refuge are for all—the soiled and the pure, the rich and the poor, the loved and the unloved.
If you must look back, do so forgivingly. If you must look forward, do so prayerfully. However, the wisest thing you can do is be present in the present...gratefully.
Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is.
An hour of planning can say you 10 hours of doing.
They deem me mad because I will not sell my days for gold; and I deem them mad because they think my days have a price.
In short, the way to wealth, if you desire it, is as plain as the way to market. It depends chiefly on two words, industry and frugality; that is. waste neither time nor money, but make the best use of both.
You will find rest from vain fancies if you perform every act in life as though it were your last.
Rest not! Life is sweeping by; go and dare before you die. Something mighty and sublime, leave behind to conquer time.
I remember my youth and the feeling that I could last forever, outlast the sea, the earth and all men.
I am not a saint, unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.
All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath.
No one who does good work will ever come to a bad end, either here or in the world to come.
There will be obstacles. There will be doubters. There will be mistakes. But with hard work, there are no limits.
The perils of overwork are slight compared to the dangers of inactivity.
I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life's a bitch. You've got to go out and kick ass.
Work is love made visible.
