The Wisdom of Stoicism: 100 Powerful Stoic Quotes to Live By

With roots in Ancient Greece, Stoicism is a philosophy for achieving a lifetime of wisdom, inner peace, and contentment. It emerged around 300 BC in Athens, founded by Zeno of Citium.

While distinct from mindfulness, Stoicism holds ancient wisdom that may encourage those walking a mindful path today. Amongst other things, it reminds us to live in alignment with nature and to anchor ourselves in the current moment.

In this text, we are going to highlight 100 stoic quotes attributed to philosophers like Epictetus, Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius. May these stoic philosophy quotes encourage you in your personal journey through life.

What Are Stoicism’s Key Principles, and How Are They Reflected in Stoic Quotes?

To higher understand what Stoicism is all about, we are able to consider its cardinal virtues and other guiding principles. This philosophical school of thought identified 4 cardinal virtues: wisdom, courage, justice, and temperance. Inside these overarching virtues, we are able to find subdivisions, including but not limited to good sense, confidence, discipline, and honesty.

One other Stoic teaching that may be very relevant to those on a mindful journey is acceptance. Stoicism teaches us to focus our attention on what we are able to control in life and accept (or relinquish attempts to regulate) the things we cannot. Emotional awareness, self-control, and overcoming desires that contribute to our suffering are also a part of the center of Stoicism.

These principles (and others in alignment with Stoic philosophy) are found imbedded throughout the stoicism quotes below. These words of wisdom remind us to align our thoughts and actions with virtue, intention, self-awareness, and other key contributors to a satisfying life.

100 Stoicism Quotes for On a regular basis Life

Epictetus Quotes:

“It isn’t what happens to you, but the way you react to it that matters.”
“Freedom is the one worthy goal in life. It’s won by disregarding things that lie beyond our control.”
“I cannot escape death, but no less than I can escape the fear of it.”
“He who laughs at himself never runs out of things to laugh at.”
“Don’t explain your philosophy. Embody it.”
“Know, first, who you might be, after which adorn yourself accordingly.”
“A ship mustn’t ride on a single anchor, nor life on a single hope.”
“The hot button is to maintain company only with individuals who uplift you.”
“First, say to yourself what you could be, after which do what you’ve gotten to do.”
“There is just one method to happiness and that’s to stop worrying about things that are beyond the facility or our will.”
“Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.”
“Don’t search for all the things to occur as you would like it will, but fairly wish that all the things happens because it actually will—then your life will flow well.”
“You develop into what you give your attention to.”
“It’s the character of the smart to withstand pleasures, however the silly to be a slave to them.”
“The more we value things outside our control, the less control now we have.”
“Nothing great is created suddenly, any greater than a bunch of grapes or a fig.”
“Difficulties show an individual’s character..”
“Nature hath given men one tongue but two ears, that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak.”
“Men are disturbed not by things, but by the views which they take of things.”
“When someone is correctly grounded in life, they shouldn’t must look outside themselves for approval.”
“Decide on the style of person you need to be and stick with it, whether alone or in company.”
“If you find yourself offended at any man’s fault, turn to yourself and study your individual failings. You then will forget your anger.”
“Seek not that the things which occur should occur as you would like; but wish the things which occur to be as they’re, and you’ll have a tranquil flow of life.”
“Practice yourself, for heaven’s sake, in little things; and thence proceed to greater.”
“Any person able to angering you becomes your master; he can anger you simply whenever you permit yourself to be disturbed by him.”
“Circumstances don’t make the person, they only reveal him to himself.”
“First learn the meaning of what you say, after which speak.”
“He’s a smart man who doesn’t grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”

Seneca Quotes

“We suffer more often in imagination than in point of fact.”
“Ignorance is the explanation for fear.”
“Stop to hope and you may stop to fear.”
“A present consists not in what is completed or given, but within the intention of the giver or doer.”
“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”
“To be in every single place is to be nowhere.”
“The problem comes from our insecurity.”
“It isn’t because things are difficult that we don’t dare; it’s because we don’t dare that they’re difficult.”
“Begin directly to live, and count each separate day as a separate life.”
“What really ruins our character is the indisputable fact that none of us looks back over his life.”
“The best treatment for anger is delay.”
“If a person knows to not which port he sails, no wind is favourable.”
“The entire future lies in uncertainty: live immediately.”
“He who’s brave is free.”
“It’s in no man’s power to have whatever he wants, but he has it in his power to not wish for what he hasn’t got, and cheerfully profit from the things that do come his way.”
“Wealth is the slave of a smart man. The master of a idiot.”
“No man was ever smart by probability.”
“Floods will rob us of 1 thing, fire of one other. These are conditions of our existence which we cannot change. What we are able to do is adopt a noble spirit, such a spirit that befits an excellent person, in order that we may bear up bravely under all that fortune sends us and convey our wills into tune with nature’s.”
“The best wealth is a poverty of desires.”
“Associate with people who find themselves more likely to improve you.”
“Life may be very short and anxious for individuals who forget the past, neglect the current, and fear the long run.”
“True happiness is… to benefit from the present, without anxious dependence upon the long run.”
“Anger, if not restrained, is continuously more hurtful to us than the injury that provokes it.”
“A gem can’t be polished without friction, nor a person perfected without trials.”
“It isn’t the person who has too little that’s poor, however the one who hankers after more.”
“The best obstacle to living is expectancy, which hangs upon tomorrow and loses today.”
“Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labour does the body.”
“How a lot better to heal than seek revenge from injury.”
“The mind that’s anxious about future events is miserable.”
“Only time can heal what reason cannot.”
“While we’re postponing, life speeds by.”

Marcus Aurelius Quotes

“Waste no more time arguing about what an excellent man needs to be. Be one.”
“Little or no is required to make a glad life; it’s all inside yourself, in your way of considering.”
“Never let the long run disturb you. You’ll meet it, if you’ve gotten to, with the identical weapons of reason which today arm you against the current.”
“In your actions, don’t procrastinate. In your conversations, don’t confuse. In your thoughts, don’t wander. In your soul, do not be passive or aggressive.”
“The happiness of your life depends upon the standard of your thoughts.”
“The very best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.”
“How much time he gains who doesn’t look to see what his neighbour says or does or thinks, but only at what he does himself, to make it just and holy.”
“Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the individuals with whom fate brings you together.”
“Our life is what our thoughts make it.”
“The soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts.”
“The impediment to motion advances motion. What stands in the way in which becomes the way in which.”
“The article of life isn’t to be on the side of the bulk, but to flee finding oneself within the ranks of the insane.”
“You might have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this, and you will discover strength.”
“Loss is nothing else but change, and alter is Nature’s delight.”
“The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.”
“Nothing happens to anybody which he isn’t fitted by nature to bear.”
“The very best method to avenge yourself is to not be like that.”
“Be content with what you might be, and want not change; nor dread your last day, nor long for it.”
“Dwell on the fantastic thing about life. Watch the celebrities, and see yourself running with them.”
“In case you are distressed by anything external, the pain isn’t attributable to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you’ve gotten the facility to revoke at any moment.”
“The very best answer to anger is silence.”
“Confine yourself to the current.”
“If you arise within the morning, consider what a precious privilege it’s to be alive – to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to like.”
“Every day provides its own gifts.”
“Give yourself a present: the current moment.”

Zeno of Citium Quotes

“The goal of life resides in agreement with nature.”
“Well-being is realized by small steps, but is really no small thing.”
“Happiness is an excellent flow of life.”
“Higher to trip with the feet than with the tongue.”
“Man conquers the world by conquering himself.”
“Nothing is more hostile to a firm grasp on knowledge than self-deception.”
“All things are parts of 1 single system, which is named nature; the person life is sweet when it’s in harmony with nature.”
“Fate is the infinite chain of causation, whereby things are; the rationale or formula by which the world goes on.”
“Extravagance is its own destroyer.”
“A nasty feeling is a commotion of the mind repugnant to reason, and against nature.”

More Stoic Quotes

“He needs little who desires but little.” Cleanthes
“The Fates lead the willing, but drag the unwilling.” Cleanthes
“He has his wish, whose wish will be to have what’s enough.” Cleanthes
“Thought is the fountain of speech.” Chrysippus
“Living virtuously is the same as living in accordance with one’s experience of the particular course of nature.” Chrysippus
“He with probably the most who’s content with the least.” Diogenes

The way to Incorporate Stoic Quotes in Your Each day Life

The above list is a compilation of a few of the most effective stoic quotes. But how can we make use of them? How can these words serve to uplift and encourage our on a regular basis life? Consider these 3 ways of using day by day stoic quotes:

Journal Practice: Every day, select a stoic quote that inspires you. Write it at the highest of a latest page in your journal after which write about what it means to you. Why did you select it for at the present time?
Bedtime Practice: Stoic quotes on life will be read when you’ve crawled into bed, helping to enlighten and expand the mind prior to sleep. You can even select your favorite amongst the short stoic quotes to repeat to yourself a couple of times when you’ve turned off the sunshine.
Morning Inspiration: If you wake within the morning, read through this list. Is there any particular stoicism quote that stands out to you? Let or not it’s your guiding light for the day. Come back to it as often as needed.

What Makes Stoic Quotes Valuable in Modern Life?

What Makes Stoic Quotes Beneficial in Modern Life?

Many Stoic quotes carry a timeless wisdom that continues to have relevance in modern times. Though Stoicism emerged a really very long time ago, virtues and principles similar to courage, wisdom, and discipline transcend the boundaries of time.

We live in a time of immense external pressure and constant distractions at our fingertips. Perhaps now greater than ever we’d like these ancient reminders to come back back to the basics of what makes for a virtuous and fulfilling life. There isn’t a shortage of challenges in this contemporary world. Stoicism can provide inspiration to satisfy those challenges with presence, equanimity, and courage.

Summing up

We are able to turn to words of wisdom to uplift and guide our spirits as we navigate the difficulties of recent living. Stoic quotes are only one in all many wisdom philosophies that we are able to tap into to assist illuminate a grounded, fulfilling path ahead.

Use these quotes in any way that feels natural to you. Come back to this list as a source of guidance and inspiration at any time when it’s worthwhile to. May this ancient wisdom infuse itself into this contemporary, often difficult, and ever-changing world that we live in.

The Wisdom of Stoicism: 100 Powerful Stoic Quotes to Live By

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What Are Stoicism’s Key Principles, and How Are They Reflected in Stoic Quotes?

100 Stoicism Quotes for On a regular basis Life

Epictetus Quotes:

Seneca Quotes

Marcus Aurelius Quotes

Zeno of Citium Quotes

More Stoic Quotes

The way to Incorporate Stoic Quotes in Your Each day Life

What Makes Stoic Quotes Beneficial in Modern Life?

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