It is no easy thing for a principle to become a man's own unless each day he maintains it and works it out in his life.
EpictetusYou may be always victorious if you will never enter into any contest where the issue does not wholly depend upon yourself.
EpictetusIt is impossible that happiness, and yearning for what is not present, should ever be united.
EpictetusWhat 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.
EpictetusSo you wish to conquer in the Olympic Games, my friend? And I, too... But first mark the conditions and the consequences. You will have to put yourself under discipline; to eat by rule, to avoid cakes and sweetmeats; to take exercise at the appointed hour whether you like it or not, in cold and heat; to abstain from cold drinks and wine at your will. Then, in the conflict itself you are likely enough to dislocate your wrist or twist your ankle, to swallow a great deal of dust, to be severely thrashed, and after all of these things, to be defeated.
Epictetus