Author & topic collection

Epictetus Quotes About Success

Browse 6 quotations connecting Epictetus with Success, with meanings, source notes and related themes.

All Epictetus quotes All Success quotes Sources Matching quotes

Sources

Where these success quotations appear

Sources represented here include Discourses of Epictetus, Enchiridion, The Golden Sayings of Epictetus.

Discourses of Epictetusc. 125 CE · 3 matching quotations Enchiridionc. 125 CE · 2 matching quotations The Golden Sayings of Epictetusc. 125 · 1 matching quotation

Find a word or source

Length

6 shown

Quotations

6 matching quotations with meanings and source context

Source identified1

Read & copy

“If you would make anything a habit, do it.”

Discourses of Epictetus · c. 125

Meaning & context

Habit formation is reduced to repeated action: the behavior itself is what trains the pattern.

Source details

Discourses of Epictetus, Book II, Chapter XVIII, “How we should struggle against appearances,” George Long translation; 1877 George Bell & Sons witness on Wikisource, cross-checked against Project Gutenberg #10661. This short catalog record is an excerpt of Long’s longer clause “Generally then if you would make any thing a habit, do it”; this collection lightly normalizes “any thing” to “anything.”

↓ Download image (JPG)

Source identified2

Read & copy

“If you would be a good reader, read; if a writer, write.”

Discourses of Epictetus · c. 125

Meaning & context

Skill grows through repeated practice rather than through wanting the identity without doing the activity.

Source details

Discourses of Epictetus, Book II, Chapter XVIII, “How we should struggle against appearances,” George Long translation; 1877 George Bell & Sons witness on Wikisource, cross-checked against Project Gutenberg #10661. Epictetus explains that habits and faculties are maintained by corresponding actions: “If you would be a good reader, read; if a writer, write.”

↓ Download image (JPG)

Source identified3

Read & copy

“Generally then if you would make anything a habit, do it.”

Discourses of Epictetus · c. 125 CE

Meaning & context

Repeated behavior trains the corresponding habit, so change depends on practicing the desired action rather than merely endorsing it in theory.

Source details

Discourses of Epictetus, Book II, Chapter XVIII, “How we should struggle against appearances,” George Long translation; 1877 George Bell & Sons witness on Wikisource, cross-checked against Project Gutenberg #10661. This collection lightly normalizes Long’s “any thing” to “anything”; this longer record contains the shorter retained habit excerpt represented by a separate legacy quote URL.

↓ Download image (JPG)

Source identified4

Read & copy

“When you have decided that a thing ought to be done, and are doing it, never avoid being seen doing it.”

Enchiridion · c. 125

Meaning & context

Once judgment has concluded an action is right, misplaced criticism should not become a reason to hide or abandon the action.

Source details

Enchiridion, chapter 35, George Long translation; the following sentence distinguishes right action from fear of wrong criticism.

↓ Download image (JPG)

Source identified5

Read & copy

“On the occasion of every accident that befalls you, remember to turn to yourself and inquire what power you have for turning it to use.”

Enchiridion · c. 125 CE

Meaning & context

Instead of beginning with what an event has taken away, the practice asks which capacity—endurance, restraint, patience, or judgment—can still be exercised.

Source details

Enchiridion, section X, George Long translation; Epictetus gives examples such as endurance under pain and patience under abuse.

↓ Download image (JPG)

Source identified6

Read & copy

“You must know that it is no easy thing for a principle to become a man’s own, unless each day he maintain it and hear it maintained, as well as work it out in life.”

The Golden Sayings of Epictetus · c. 125

Meaning & context

Principles become character through repetition: they must be rehearsed, tested, and practiced until they survive ordinary pressure.

Source details

The Golden Sayings of Epictetus, saying XXX, Hastings Crossley translation.

↓ Download image (JPG)

Where these success quotations appear

6 matching quotations with meanings and source context

Other themes carried by these quotations

Other topic collections for Epictetus