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Stoic quotes that are actually Stoic
The internet is full of Stoic quotes that no Stoic wrote. Every quote on this page comes from a public-domain translation and was checked against the text. Each has its book or letter number so you can find it yourself.
Translators choose different words, so you may see slightly different versions elsewhere.
On worry and fear
Both Seneca and Marcus Aurelius point at the same thing: the trouble is often in the mind, not the event.
“There are more things, Lucilius, likely to frighten us than there are to crush us; we suffer more often in imagination than in reality.”
Seneca, Letters to Lucilius 13 (Gummere translation)
“If thou art pained by any external thing, it is not this thing that disturbs thee, but thy own judgment about it.”
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 8.47 (George Long translation)
On judgment and thought
“Men are disturbed not by things, but by the views which they take of things.”
Epictetus, Enchiridion 5 (Elizabeth Carter translation)
“Such as are thy habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of thy mind; for the soul is dyed by the thoughts.”
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 5.16 (George Long translation)
On time and death
“Hold every hour in your grasp. Lay hold of to-day's task, and you will not need to depend so much upon to-morrow's. While we are postponing, life speeds by.”
Seneca, Letters to Lucilius 1 (Gummere translation)
“Do not act as if thou wert going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over thee. While thou livest, while it is in thy power, be good.”
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 4.17 (George Long translation)
On anger
“The best way of avenging thyself is not to become like the wrong-doer.”
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 6.6 (George Long translation)
On character and action
“If it is not right, do not do it: if it is not true, do not say it.”
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 12.17 (George Long translation)
“No longer talk at all about the kind of man that a good man ought to be, but be such.”
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 10.16 (George Long translation)
“If you would improve, be content to be thought foolish and dull with regard to externals.”
Epictetus, Enchiridion 13 (Elizabeth Carter translation)
On loss and acceptance
“Let not the eyes be dry when we have lost a friend, nor let them overflow. We may weep, but we must not wail.”
Seneca, Letters to Lucilius 63 (Gummere translation)
“Never say of anything, "I have lost it," but, "I have restored it."”
Epictetus, Enchiridion 11 (Elizabeth Carter translation)
“Demand not that events should happen as you wish; but wish them to happen as they do happen, and you will go on well.”
Epictetus, Enchiridion 8 (Elizabeth Carter translation)
Put it into practice
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Ask the OracleFrequently asked questions
Where can I read these in full?
All are in free public-domain translations: George Long's Meditations, Richard Gummere's Letters to Lucilius and Elizabeth Carter's Enchiridion.
Why do I see different wording elsewhere?
Translators make different choices, and modern translations are often easier to read. The ideas are the same.
Is a famous quote of yours missing?
It may be misattributed. See our page on Stoic quotes that Marcus Aurelius never wrote.