Appearances to the mind are of four kinds. Things either are what they appear to be; or they neither are, nor appear to be; or they are, and do not appear to be; or they are not, and yet appear to be. Rightly to aim in all these cases is the wise man’s task.
The good or ill of a man lies within his own will.
- Topic: Action, Self, Work
- Location: Lake Powell
- Photo: Jeffrey Benjamin
More Quotes from Epictetus
Man is not worried by real problems so much as by his imagined anxieties about real problems.
If someone succeeds in provoking you, realize that your mind is complicit in the provocation.
Any person capable of angering you becomes your master.
Keep your attention focused entirely on what is truly your own concern, and be clear that what belongs to others is their business and none of yours.
More Quotes from Lake Powell
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The only impossible journey is the one you never begin.
What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated.
The average person puts only 25% of his energy and ability into his work. The world takes off its hat to those who put in more than 50% of their capacity, and stands on its head for those few and far between souls who devote 100%.
We acquire a particular quality by acting in a particular way.
If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts he shall end in certainties.
There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening, that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost.
The stability of the internal medium is a primary condition for the freedom and independence of certain living bodies in relation to the environment surrounding them.
How long are you going to wait before you demand the best for yourself?
The man who acquires the ability to take full possession of his own mind may take possession of everything else to which he is justly entitled.
Football is like life—it requires perseverance, self-denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication and respect for authority.
It’s not when you realize that nothing can help you—religion, pride, anything—it’s when you realize that you don’t need any aid.
Man, unlike any other thing organic or inorganic in the universe, grows beyond his work, walks up the stairs of his concepts, emerges ahead of his accomplishments.
We can do anything we want to if we stick to it long enough.
