Epictetus

Since then this I could not do, I have given thee a portion of Myself, in the power of desiring and declining and of pursuing and avoiding

the body which we share with the animals, and the Reason and Thought which we share with the Gods,

Yet what faculties and powers you possess for attaining courage and greatness of heart, I can easily show you; what you have for upbraiding and accusation, it is for you to show me

If you choose, you are free; if you choose, you need blame no man—accuse no man. All things will be at once according to your mind and according to the Mind of God

With ev­ery ac­ci­dent, ask your­self what abil­i­ties you have for mak­ing a proper use of it. If you see an at­trac­tive per­son, you will find that self-re­straint is the abil­ity you have against your de­sire. If you are in pain, you will find for­ti­tude. If you hear un­pleas­ant lan­guage, you will find pa­tience.

With re­gard to what­ever ob­jects give you de­light, are use­ful, or are deeply loved, re­mem­ber to tell your­self of what gen­eral na­ture they are, be­gin­ning from the most in­signif­i­cant things.

Don’t de­mand that things hap­pen as you wish, but wish that they hap­pen as they do hap­pen, and you will go on well.

Who told you, then, that these are among the things in our own con­trol, and not the af­fair of oth­ers? And who can give to an­other the things which he has not him­self?

If any­one tells you that such a per­son speaks ill of you, don’t make ex­cuses about what is said of you, but an­swer: “He does not know my other faults, else he would not have men­tioned only these.”

It is a mark of want of ge­nius to spend much time in things re­lat­ing to the body, as to be long in our ex­er­cises, in eat­ing and drink­ing, and in the dis­charge of other an­i­mal func­tions.