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Epictetus

Quote of Epictetus - Men are disturbed not by things...


Biography - Epictetus:

*Approximate years of birth and death.
Born: 50 - Died: 125
Period:
2nd century
1st century
Place of birth: Turkey
Turkey

Men are disturbed not by things, but by the view which they take of them.


Note 

Note



Other version: "It is not the things themselves that disturb men, but their judgements about these things."


Quote source: Handbook (Enchiridion)

Wikisource - Discourses of Epictetus (en) 



Men are disturbed not by things, but by the view which they take of them.



Translation

Translation

(French, German)



French
Ce qui trouble les hommes, ce ne sont pas les choses, mais les opinions et les jugements qu’ils portent sur les choses.

German
Nicht die Dinge selbst beunruhigen die Menschen, sondern die Meinungen und die Urteile über die Dinge.




See also 

See also...



If you suffer pain because of some external cause, what troubles you is not the thing but your decision about it.

So when any one makes you angry, know that it is your own thought that has angered you.

Our temper sets a price upon every gift that we receive from fortune.

The happiness or unhappiness of men depends no less upon their dispositions than their fortunes.

I think my opinions are good and sound, but who does not think the same of his own?

The world of the happy man is a different one from that of the unhappy man.

It is very obvious that we are not influenced by “facts” but by our interpretation of the facts.

The solution to the problem, which you see in life, lies in living in a way that makes the problems disappear.

It is possible to entertain no thought about this, and not to be troubled in spirit; for things of themselves are not so constituted as to create our judgements upon them.




Quotes for: thing


Quotes

Quotes about thing:


He is fortunate who had been able to learn the causes of things.





There are certain things that we hide in order to reveal them.





Conformity of the intellect to the things.





It is valid to conclude from actuality to possibility, but not from possibility to actuality.
 / 





The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run.





Things do not change we change.











Quotes for: opinion


Quotes

Quotes for: opinion


Good sense is, of all things among men, the most equally distributed; for every one thinks himself so abundantly provided with it, that those even who are the most difficult to satisfy in everything else, do not usually desire a larger measure of this quality than they already possess. And in this it is not likely that all are mistaken: the conviction is rather to be held as testifying that the power of judging aright and of distinguishing truth from error, which is properly what is called good sense or reason, is by nature equal in all men; and that the diversity of our opinions, consequently, does not arise from some being endowed with a larger share of reason than others, but solely from this, that we conduct our thoughts along different ways, and do not fix our attention on the same objects. For to be possessed of a vigorous mind is not enough; the prime requisite is rightly to apply it.





Article X – No one may be disturbed for his opinions, even religious ones, provided that their manifestation does not trouble the public order established by the law.





Article XI – The free communication of thoughts and of opinions is one of the most precious rights of man: any citizen thus may speak, write, print freely, except to respond to the abuse of this liberty, in the cases determined by the law.





We are so fond of being out among Nature, because it has no opinions about us.





So many men, so many opinions.





Though men be much governed by interest; yet even interest itself, and all human affairs, are entirely governed by opinion.











Quotes for: judgement


Quotes

Quotes for: judgement


True artists scorn nothing: they are obliged to understand rather than to judge.





Haste in judgement is to look for guilt.





A judgment can be refuted, but never a prejudice.





It is not permitted to the most equitable of men to be a judge in his own cause.





Do not wait for the Last Judgment. It takes place every day.





Personally, I enjoy understanding people more than judging them.











Quotes

Epictetus also said...


Tell yourself, first of all, what kind of man you want to be; and then go ahead with what you are doing.





So when any one makes you angry, know that it is your own thought that has angered you.





If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid with regard to external 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.





To accuse others for one's own misfortunes is a sign of want of education. To accuse oneself shows that one's education has begun. To accuse neither oneself nor others shows that one's education is complete.





We should not moor a ship with one anchor, or our life with one hope.












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