Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded by Zeno of Citium in Athens in the early 3rd century BC. Stoicism teaches us to govern our lives from within, according to our own moral compass, rather than being pushed around by external forces and factors.
According to stoic teachings, as social beings, the path to eudaimonia (happiness, or blessedness) is found in accepting the moment as it presents itself, by not allowing oneself to be controlled by the desire for pleasure or by the fear of pain, by using one’s mind to understand the world and to do one’s part in nature’s plan, and by working together and treating others fairly and justly.
Here are 30 great quotes on stoicism:
- Some things are within our power, while others are not. Within our power are opinion, motivation, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever is of our own doing; not within our power are our body, our property, reputation, office, and, in a word, whatever is not of our own doing. – Epictetus
- Think of the life you have lived until now as over and, as a dead man, see what’s left as a bonus and live it according to Nature. Love the hand that fate deals you and play it as your own, for what could be more fitting? – Marcus Aurelius
- We are more often frightened than hurt, and we suffer more in imagination than in reality. – Seneca
- What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for some goal worthy of him. – Viktor Frankl
- If you are pained by any external thing, it is not this thing that disturbs you, but your own judgment about it. And it is in your power to wipe out this judgment now. – Marcus Aurelius
- Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom. – Viktor Frankl
- The wise man is neither raised up by prosperity nor cast down by adversity; for always he has striven to rely predominantly on himself, and to derive all joy from himself. – Seneca
- You live as if you were destined to live forever, no thought of your frailty ever enters your head, of how much time has already gone by you take no heed. You squander time as if you drew from a full and abundant supply, though all the while that day which you bestow on some person or thing is perhaps your last. – Seneca
- Self-control is strength. Right thought is mastery. Calmness is power. – James Allen
- A rational person can find peace by cultivating indifference to things outside of their control. – Naval Ravikant
- Don’t wish it was easier, wish you were better. Don’t wish for less problems, wish for more skills. Don’t wish for less challenge, wish for more wisdom – Jim Rohn
- You are the true master of death, because the true master does not seek to run away from Death. He accepts that be must die, and understands that there are far, far worse things in the living world than dying. – J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
- True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future, not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is sufficient, for he that is so wants nothing. The greatest blessings of mankind are within us and within our reach. A wise man is content with his lot, whatever it may be, without wishing for what he has not. – Seneca
- To be calm is the highest achievement of the self. – Zen Proverb
- He who has a Why to live for can bear almost any How. – Nietzsche
- Don’t seek for everything to happen as you wish it would, but rather wish that everything happens as it actually will—then your life will flow well. – Epictetus
- Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them-Albert Einstein
- A stoic is someone who transforms fear into prudence, pain into transformation, mistakes into initiation, and desire into undertaking.-Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- Seek not for events to happen as you wish but rather wish for events to happen as they do and your life will go smoothly. Epictetus
- Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny. -C. S. Lewis
- Stoicism, understood properly, is a cure for a disease. The disease in question is the anxiety, fear, and various other negative emotions that plague humans and prevent them from experiencing a joyful existence. -William B. Irvine
- At the head of all understanding – is realizing what is and what cannot be, and the consoling of what is not in our power to change – Solomon Ibn Gabirol
- f there’s a remedy when trouble strikes, What reason is there for dejection? And if there is no help for it, What use is there in being glum? – Shantideva
- f you have the right idea about what really belongs to you and what does not, you will never be subject to force or hindrance, you will never blame or criticize anyone, and everything you do will be done willingly. – Epictetus
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