Below we have listed some of the most important Stoicism quotes. Stoicism is a great way to reduce stress from work and life. A stoic mindset can help make challenging times easier, Stoicism helps to reduce stress and puts your mind into a state of peace. Take on anything with the power of these quotes below.
50 Stoicism Quotes
Zeno
“Well-being is realized by small steps but is truly no small thing.”
“Man conquers the world by conquering himself.”
“The goal of life is living in agreement with Nature.”
“Better to trip with the feet than with the tongue.”
“We have two ears and one mouth, so we should listen more than we say.”
“Happiness is a good flow of life.”
“If you lay violent hands on me, you’ll have my body, but my mind will remain with Stilpo.”
“A bad feeling is a commotion of the mind repugnant to reason, and against nature.”
“We have two ears and one mouth, so we should listen more than we say.”
Marcus Aurelius
“You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think.”
“The best revenge is not to be like your enemy.”
“In your actions, don’t procrastinate. In your conversations, don’t confuse. In your thoughts, don’t wander. In your soul, don’t be passive or aggressive. In your life, don’t be all about business.”
“It’s time you realized that you have something in you more powerful and miraculous than the things that affect you and make you dance like a puppet.”
“Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be One.”
“Let us prepare our minds as if we’d come to the very end of life. Let us postpone nothing. Let us balance life’s books each day . . . The one who puts the finishing touches on their life each day is never short of time.”
“If it is not right, do not do it, if it is not true, do not say it.”
“If anyone can refute me—show me I’m making a mistake or looking at things from the wrong perspective—I’ll gladly change. It’s the truth I’m after, and the truth never harmed anyone.”
“Choose not to be harmed—and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed—and you haven’t been.”
“It never ceases to amaze me: We all love ourselves more than other people but care more about their opinion than our own.”
“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?”
“Be tolerant with others and strict with yourself.”
Epictetus
“How long are you going to wait before you demand the best for yourself?”
“That’s why the philosophers warn us not to be satisfied with mere learning, but to add practice and then training. For as time passes, we forget what we learned and end up doing the opposite and hold opinions the opposite of what we should.”
“First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.”
“The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself which are externals not under my control, and which have to do with the choices I actually control. Where then do I look for good and evil? Not to uncontrollable externals, but within myself to the choices that are my own . . .”
“If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.”
“Don’t explain your philosophy. Embody it.”
“If anyone tells you that a certain person speaks ill of you, do not make excuses about what is said of you but answer, ‘He was ignorant of my other faults, else he would have not mentioned these alone.”
“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.”
“Curb your desire—don’t set your heart on so many things and you will get what you need.”
“The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best.”
Seneca
“How does it help . . . to make troubles heavier by bemoaning them?”
“We are more often frightened than hurt; and we suffer more in imagination than in reality.”
“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 his own company.”
“I judge you unfortunate because you have never lived through misfortune. You have passed through life without an opponent—no one can ever know what you are capable of, not even you.”
“Life is very short and anxious for those who forget the past, neglect the present, and fear the future.”
“No person has the power to have everything they want, but it is in their power not to want what they don’t have, and to cheerfully put to good use what they do have.”
“If a man knows not which port he sails, no wind is favourable.”
“People are frugal in guarding their personal property; but as soon as it comes to squandering time they are most wasteful of the one thing in which it is right to be stingy.”
“He who fears death will never do anything worthy of a man who is alive.”
Alisdair MacIntyre
“Business leaders love the humanities because they know that to innovate you need more than rote knowledge. You need a trained imagination.”
“Knowledge is no guarantee of good behaviour, but ignorance is a virtual guarantee of bad behaviour.”
“As human beings, we ought to be vulnerable. We shouldn’t try to say that we can be self-sufficient or do everything that’s necessary for a good life on our own, because we need other people.”
“You can’t really change the heart without telling a story.”
“To be a good human being is to have a kind of openness to the world, an ability to trust uncertain things beyond your own control.”
“Life is about more than earning a living, and if you’re not in the habit of thinking about it, you can end up middle-aged or even older and shocked to realize that your life seems empty.”
Final thoughts
Everyone goes through challenging times sooner or later, it’s how we handle the challenging times that separate the good from the great. Stoicism is there to help make the journey easier and keep us in control of the challenges that await us. Refer to these quotes often and you will learn the stoic way soon.
