Stoic

Explore 58 quotes by Stoics

Each thing is of like form from everlasting and comes round again in its cycle.

Marcus Aurelius

Meditations

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Topic

Circle of life

Author

Marcus Aurelius

Source

Meditations

Medium

Personal journal

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

180 180s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations. c. 180, bk. 2.

Current Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations, edited and translated by Martin Hammond. Penguin Classics, 2015, bk. 2.

Never esteem anything as of advantage to you that will make you break your word or lose your self-respect.

Marcus Aurelius

Meditations

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Topic

Honor

Author

Marcus Aurelius

Source

Meditations

Medium

Personal journal

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

180 180s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations. c. 180, bk. 3.

Current Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations, edited and translated by Martin Hammond. Penguin Classics, 2015, bk. 3.

A great fortune is a great slavery.

Seneca the Younger

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Topic

Wealth as burden Downsides of wealth Wealth

Author

Seneca the Younger

Source

Consolation to Polybius

Medium

Essay

Genre

Philosophical literature

Statement Type

Paradox

Language

Latin

Time

44 40s 1st century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 0

Original Citation

Seneca the Younger. Ad Polybium De Consolatione [Of Consolation, To Polybius]. c. 44 AD, ch. 6, sect. 5.

The hour which gives us life begins to take it away.

Seneca the Younger

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Topic

Birth Life and death

Speaker

Chorus

Author

Seneca the Younger

Source

Hercules Furens

Medium

Play

Language

Latin

Time

65 60s 1st century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Seneca the Younger. Hercules Furens [The Mad Hercules]. 1st century.

Current Citation

Seneca the Younger. "Hercules Mad." The Complete Tragedies, translated by Shadi Barsch and Sussana Braund and David Konstan. Vol. 2, University of Chicago Press, 2022.

It is better, of course, to know useless things than to know nothing.

Seneca the Younger

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Topic

Knowledge Ignorance

Author

Seneca the Younger

Source

Epistles (Seneca the Younger)

Medium

Letter

Language

Latin

Time

65 60s 1st century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Seneca the Younger. Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium [Moral Letters to Lucilius]. c. 65 AD.

Current Citation

Seneca, Lucius Annaeus. Letters on Ethics, translated by Margaret Graver and A. A. Long. University of Chicago Press, 2017.

Man is a reasoning animal.

Seneca the Younger

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Topic

Nature of man Reason Man and animals

Author

Seneca the Younger

Source

Epistles (Seneca the Younger)

Medium

Letter

Language

Latin

Time

65 60s 1st century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Seneca the Younger. Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium [Moral Letters to Lucilius]. c. 65 AD.

Current Citation

Seneca, Lucius Annaeus. Letters on Ethics, translated by Margaret Graver and A. A. Long. University of Chicago Press, 2017.

Whom they have injured they also hate.

Seneca the Younger

On Anger

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Topic

Hate

Author

Seneca the Younger

Source

On Anger

Medium

Essay

Genre

Philosophical literature

Statement Type

Precepts and axioms

Language

Latin

Time

45 40s 1st century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Seneca the Younger. De Ira [On Anger]. c. 45 AD, bk. 2.

Current Citation

Seneca the Younger. "Anger." Anger, Mercy, Revenge, translated by Robert A. Kaster and Martha C. Nussbaum. University of Chicago Press, 2010, bk. 2.

You can tell the character of every man when you see how he receives praise.

Seneca the Younger

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Topic

Character Compliments

Author

Seneca the Younger

Source

Epistles (Seneca the Younger)

Medium

Letter

Language

Latin

Time

65 60s 1st century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Seneca the Younger. Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium [Moral Letters to Lucilius]. c. 65 AD.

Current Citation

Seneca, Lucius Annaeus. Letters on Ethics, translated by Margaret Graver and A. A. Long. University of Chicago Press, 2017.

Eternal law has arranged nothing better than this, that it has given us one way in to life, but many ways out.

Seneca the Younger

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Topic

Life and death

Author

Seneca the Younger

Source

Moral Letters to Lucilius

Medium

Letter

Language

Latin

Time

65 60s 1st century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Seneca the Younger. Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium [Moral Letters to Lucilius]. c. 65 AD.

Current Citation

Seneca, Lucius Annaeus. Letters on Ethics, translated by Margaret Graver and A. A. Long. University of Chicago Press, 2017.

Appearances to the mind are of four kinds. Things are either what they appear to be; or they are 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.

Epictetus

Discourses

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Topic

Appearance vs. reality Perception

Author

Epictetus

Source

Discourses

Medium

Lecture

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

108 100s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Epictetus. Ἐπικτήτου διατριβαί, Epiktētou diatribai [The Discourses of Epictetus]. c. 108, bk. 1, ch. 27.

Current Citation

Epictetus. "The Discourses." Discourses and Other Writings, edited and translated by Robert Dobbin. Penguin Classics, 2008, bk. 1, ch. 27.

Shall I show you the sinews of a philosopher? "What sinews are those?"-A will undisappointed; evils avoided; powers daily exercised; careful resolution; unerring decisions.

Epictetus

Discourses

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Topic

Philosophers Philosophy

Author

Epictetus

Source

Discourses

Medium

Lecture

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

108 100s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Epictetus. Ἐπικτήτου διατριβαί, Epiktētou diatribai [The Discourses of Epictetus]. c. 108, bk. 2, ch. 8.

Current Citation

Epictetus. "The Discourses." Discourses and Other Writings, edited and translated by Robert Dobbin. Penguin Classics, 2008, bk. 2, ch. 8.

What is the first business of one who practices philosophy? To get rid of self-conceit. For it is impossible for anyone to begin to learn that which he thinks he already knows.

Epictetus

Discourses

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Topic

Intellectual humility Certainty Obstacles to learning Learning

Author

Epictetus

Source

Discourses

Medium

Lecture

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

108 100s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Epictetus. Ἐπικτήτου διατριβαί, Epiktētou diatribai [The Discourses of Epictetus]. c. 108, bk. 2, ch. 17.

Current Citation

Epictetus. "The Discourses." Discourses and Other Writings, edited and translated by Robert Dobbin. Penguin Classics, 2008, bk. 2, ch. 17.

Nothing to my way of thinking is a better proof of a well-ordered mind than a man's ability to stop just where he is and pass some time in their own company.

Seneca the Younger

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Topic

Solitude

Author

Seneca the Younger

Source

Letters of Seneca the Younger

Medium

Letter

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Latin

Time

65 60s 1st century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Seneca the Younger. Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium [Moral Letters to Lucilius]. c. 65 AD.

Current Citation

Seneca, Lucius Annaeus. Letters on Ethics, translated by Margaret Graver and A. A. Long. University of Chicago Press, 2017.

Remember that no man loses other life than that which he lives, nor lives other than that which he loses.

Marcus Aurelius

Meditations

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Topic

Life

Author

Marcus Aurelius

Source

Meditations

Medium

Personal journal

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

180 180s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations. c. 180, bk. 2.

Current Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations, edited and translated by Martin Hammond. Penguin Classics, 2015, bk. 2.

In the morning, when you are sluggish about getting up, let this thought be present: "I am rising to a man's work."

Marcus Aurelius

Meditations

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Topic

Waking up Mornings

Author

Marcus Aurelius

Source

Meditations

Medium

Personal journal

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

180 180s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations. c. 180, bk. 5.

Current Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations, edited and translated by Martin Hammond. Penguin Classics, 2015, bk. 5.

One universe made up of all that is; and one God in it all, and one principle of being, and one law, the reason, shared by all thinking creatures, and one truth.

Marcus Aurelius

Meditations

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Topic

Monism Interconnectedness of all things

Author

Marcus Aurelius

Source

Meditations

Medium

Personal journal

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

180 180s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations. c. 180, bk. 7.

Current Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations, edited and translated by Martin Hammond. Penguin Classics, 2015, bk. 7.

A great step towards independence is a good humored stomach, one that is willing to endure rough treatment.

Seneca the Younger

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Topic

Adaptability

Author

Seneca the Younger

Source

Epistles (Seneca the Younger)

Medium

Letter

Language

Latin

Time

65 60s 1st century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Seneca the Younger. Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium [Moral Letters to Lucilius]. c. 65 AD.

Current Citation

Seneca, Lucius Annaeus. Letters on Ethics, translated by Margaret Graver and A. A. Long. University of Chicago Press, 2017.

We are not disturbed by what happens to us, but by our thoughts about what happens to us.

Epictetus

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Topic

Thoughts Inner turmoil

Author

Epictetus

Source

The Enchiridion

Language

Greek

Time

125 120s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 0

Original Citation

Epictetus. Ἐγχειρίδιον Ἐπικτήτου, Enkheirídion Epiktḗtou [Enchiridion of Epictetus]. c. 125 CE, ch. 5.

Current Citation

Epictetus. Enchiridion, translated by George Long. Dover Publications, 2004, ch. 5.