Stoic quotes on what you can control

If you work at what is before you, following reason seriously, vigorously, and calmly — keeping your inner self pure as if returning it now — expecting nothing, fearing nothing, speaking every word with conviction: you will live well.

Consider the man who says, 'I will buy, build, lend, collect, earn honours, then in old age give myself to ease.' All such things are uncertain, even for the fortunate. None of us holds a claim on the days ahead.

Such a person is like a priest of the gods: uncontaminated by pleasure, unharmed by pain, untouched by insult, a fighter in the noblest fight, dyed deep with justice, accepting with all his soul everything assigned as his portion.

Your ills, as long as you carry their causes, will wear you down over land and sea. What use is running away? That from which you are running is within you.

Does any man hinder me from going with smiles, with cheerfulness, with contentment? You will put me in chains? Me, in chains? You may fetter my leg, but not even Zeus himself can overpower my will.

Never value anything as profitable which would compel you to break your promise, lose your self-respect, hate, suspect, curse, or play the hypocrite. The one who prefers his own intelligence and inner deity needs neither solitude nor crowds.

When has anyone who actually tried found these tasks false to him? When did they not turn out easier in the doing? Our want of confidence is not the result of difficulty; the difficulty arises from our want of confidence.

The tyrant will chain — what? The leg. He will take — what? The neck. What will he never chain or take? The will. This is why the ancients taught Know yourself. Begin with small things; proceed to the greater.

The ruling mind requires no fixed material. It makes material from what opposes it, as fire lays hold of what falls in. What would extinguish a small flame feeds the strong fire and makes it rise higher.

Cast off gold and silver and whatever else weighs down our richly-furnished homes. Freedom is not bought for nothing; if you set a high value on freedom, then everything else must be set low.

It is your own opinions that disturb you. When the tyrant threatens to chain your leg, the man who values his leg begs for pity. But the man who values his will says: if it suits you, chain it.

Among the principles readiest to hand, keep this first: external things do not touch the soul. They remain immovable. Whatever disturbance you feel comes only from the opinion which forms within you.

Our souls must shape themselves to this law — to follow it, to obey it. Whatever befalls you, take it as something that had to fall. Spare yourself the urge to rage against Nature.

Keep what is your own. Do not claim what belongs to others. Use what is given. When something is taken away, give it up readily and be thankful for the time you had it.

What is evil to you does not reside in another person, nor in any change of your body. It resides in the part of you that forms opinions about evil. Let that part not form opinions, and all is well.

Whether the gods have appointed special guardians to each of us, or whether we are left to Fortune's hand, no heavier curse can fall on a man than to wish him at enmity with himself.

He who does not know who he is, what is true or false, what is good or bad, cannot desire or act rightly. He walks dumb and blind, thinking he is somebody.

Be like the promontory against which waves continually break — it stands firm and tames the water. Am I unhappy because this happened? Not so — happy, rather, since I continue free from pain, crushed by neither present nor future.

There is a saying from our philosopher Posidonius — never count yourself safe simply because you happen to wield the weapons of Fortune; fight with your own arms instead.

Exercise yourself daily. Each morning, examine every person and thing. Apply the rule. Is this within the will or outside it? Outside it. Take it away.

Set yourself in motion if it is in your power, and do not look about to see if anyone observes it. Do not expect Plato's Republic; be content if the smallest thing goes well.

They know nothing of that kingdom whose greatness matches the heavens. To rule oneself is the highest rule. Let her teach me what a sacred matter Justice is — ever attentive to another's good.

He bore the condemnation bravely. That is within the will. That is a good. Your son is dead. What has happened? Your son is dead. Nothing more. The rest is your own addition.