In a world often characterized by chaos and uncertainty, the ancient philosophy of Stoicism offers a beacon of calm and resilience. Stoicism, founded in Athens by Zeno of Citium, has inspired generations with its teachings on virtue, self-control, and rationality. This profound philosophy emphasizes the importance of inner peace, regardless of external circumstances. Whether you’re facing daily stressors or life-changing challenges, Stoic principles can provide the clarity and strength needed to navigate them.
We have curated 100 of the best Stoicism quotes Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, and Epictetus. These quotes serve not only as a source of inspiration but also as practical advice for leading a balanced and fulfilling life. Dive in to explore timeless wisdom that remains as relevant today as it was over two millennia ago.
If you are interested, we also have a collection of 100 Best Quotes from Seneca as well as 100 Best Marcus Aurelius Quotes.
"If it doesn’t harm your character, how can it harm your life? "
"If you would enjoy real freedom, you must be the slave of Philosophy. For the very service of Philosophy is freedom."
"You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think."
"That the longest-lived and those who will die soonest lose the same thing. The present is all that they can give up, since that is all you have, and what you do not have, you cannot lose… foryou can't lose either the past or the future"
"Our inward power: reacts to events by accommodating itself to what it faces—to what is possible ; it turns obstacles into fuel"
"Even the smallest things ought to be directed toward a goal"
"Is it your reputation that’s bothering you? But look at how soon we’re all forgotten. is it your reputation that’s bothering you? But look at how soon we’re all forgotten"
"This is sound practice—to refrain from associating with men of different stamp and different aims."
"Some things torment us more than they ought; some torment us before they ought; and some torment us when they ought not to torment us at all"
"It is equally faulty to trust everyone and to trust no one."
"It is likely that some troubles will befall us; but it is not a present fact. How often has the unexpected happened!"
"You should not copy the bad simply because they are many, nor should you hate the many because they are unlike you."
"It’s silly to try to escape other people’s faults. They are inescapable. Just try to escape your own."
"In everything you do, even the smallest thing, remember the chain that links them."
"Nothing, Lucilius, is ours, except time."
"The fool’s life is empty of gratitude and full of fears; its course lies wholly toward the future."
"Good people don’t know they are good."
"You’re better off not giving the small things more time than they deserve."
"Associate with those who will make a better man of you. Welcome those whom you yourself can improve."
"When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly. They are like this because they can’t tell good from evil"
"That everything you see will soon alter and cease to exist. Think of how many changes you’ve already seen"
"Your ability to control your thoughts—treat it with respect. It’s all that protects your mind from false perceptions—false to your nature"
"He does only what is his to do, and considers constantly what the world has in store for him—doing his best, and trusting that all is for the best. For we carry our fate with us—and it carries us"
"Without philosophy the mind is sickly, and the body, too"
"Forget everything else. Keep hold of this alone and remember it: Each of us lives only now, this brief instant."
"That things have no hold on the soul...Disturbance comes only from within—from our own perceptions."
"You don’t have to turn this into something. It doesn’t have to upset you."
"Do external things distract you? Then make time for yourself to learn something worthwhile;stop letting yourself be pulled in all directions"
"Let death and exile, and all other things which appear terrible, be daily before your eyes, but death chiefly; and you will never entertain an abject thought, nor too eagerly covet anything."
"I spend my time in the company of all the best; no matter in what lands they may have lived, or in what age, I let my thoughts fly to them."
"It is possible, or rather usual, for a man who has lived long to have lived too little."
"If you do the job in a principled way, with diligence, energy and patience, if you keep yourself free of distractions, and keep the spirit inside you undamaged… then your life will be happy"
"Show me that the good in life does not depend upon life’s length, but upon the use we make of it"
"The span we live is small—small as the corner of the earth in which we live it."
"Then what can guide us? Only philosophy. Which means making sure that the power within stays safe and free from assault, superior to pleasure and pain"
"There are things which are within our power, and there are things which are beyond our power."
"It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows."
"I am not your friend unless whatever is at issue concerning you is my concern also."
"There are more things likely to frighten us than there are to crush us; we suffer more often in imagination than in reality"
"Nowhere you can go is more peaceful—more free of interruptions— than your own soul."
"Philosophy, however, is the only power that can stir us, the only power that can shake off our deep slumber. Devote yourself wholly to philosophy” "
"But take into consideration: that doing what’s right sometimes requires patience"
"Circumstances don’t make the man, they only reveal him to himself."
"Our luxuries have condemned us to weakness."
"Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now take what’s left and live it properly."
"See to it that all your actions and words harmonize and correspond with each other and are stamped in the same mould. If a man’s acts are out of harmony, his soul is crooked."
"Doctors keep their scalpels and other instruments handy, for emergencies. Keep your philosophy ready too—ready to understand heaven and earth. I"
"Set aside a certain number of days, during which you shall be content with the scantiest and cheapest fare, with coarse and rough dress, saying to yourself the while: ‘Is this the condition that I feared?"
"You need to avoid certain things in your train of thought: everything random, everything irrelevant. And certainly everything self-important or malicious."
"A man has caught the message of wisdom, if he can die as free from care as he was at birth."
"We must make ready for death before we make ready for life."
"If you ever happen to turn your attention to externals, for the pleasure of anyone, be assured that you have ruined your scheme of life. "
"If reason becomes your ruler, you will become ruler over many."
"Sickness is an impediment to the body, but not to the will unless itself pleases. Lameness is an impediment to the leg, but not to the will; and say this to yourself with regard to everything that happens."
"The best revenge is not to be like your enemy."
"Just that you do the right thing. The rest doesn’t matter."
"If you embrace your child or your wife, remind yourself you embrace a mortal - if either of them dies you can bear it"
"How to act: Never under compulsion, out of selfishness, without forethought, with misgivings."
"Men are disturbed not by things, but by views which they take of things"
"He really lives who is made use of by many; he really lives who makes use of himself."
"Everyone gets one life. Yours is almost used up and instead of treating yourself with respect, you have entrusted your own happiness to the souls of others."
"And no one can live happily who has regard to himself alone ; you must live for your neighbor, if you would live for yourself."
"Before I became old I tried to live well; now that I am old, I shall try to die well; but dying well means dying gladly."
"Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.”
"For what else are you busied with except improving yourself every day"
"Fortune has no jurisdiction over character.”
"I have never wished to cater to the crowd; for what I know, they do not approve, and what they approve, I do not k n o w”
"At some point you have to recognize what world it is that you belong to; that there is a limit to the time assigned you, and if you don’t use it to free yourself it will be gone and will never return."
"For virtue needs nothing to set it off; it is its own great glory, and it hallows the body in which it dwells."
"Don’t waste the rest of your time here worrying about other people— unless it affects the common good."
"Upon every accident, remember to turn toward yourself and inquire what faculty you have for its use. if pain, then fortitude; if reviling, then patience. "
"Because most of what we say and do is not essential. Ask yourself at every moment, “Is this necessary?”
"The wise man is sufficient unto himself for a happy existence."
"No man is free who is not master of himself.”
"That everyday more of our life is used up and less and less of it is left"
"Never regard something as doing you good if it makes you betray a trust, or lose your sense of shame"
"Remember that it is not he who gives abuse or blows, who affronts, but the view we take of these things as insulting. When, therefore, anyone provokes you, be assured that it is your own opinion which provokes you"
"Choose as a guide one whom you will admire more when you see him act than when you hear him speak.”
"Death has its fixed rule—equitable and unavoidable"
"Always define whatever it is we perceive—to trace its outline—so we can see what it really is: its substance. Stripped bare. As a whole. Unmodified."
"Let us greedily enjoy our friends, because we do not know how long this privilege will be ours."
"Largest portion of our life passes while we are doing ill, a goodly share while we are doing nothing, and the whole while we are doing that which is not to the purpose."
"He who has learned to die has unlearned slavery”
"The world is nothing but change. Our life is only perception.”
"Accept this assurance from me – I shall never be frightened when the last hour comes; I am already prepared and do not plan a whole day ahead."
"I am endeavouring to live every day as if it were a complete life."
"Everything is just an impression"
"No random actions, none not based on underlying principles."
"For remember that, if you are persistent, those very persons who at first ridiculed will afterwards admire you. But if you are conquered by them, you will incur a double ridicule."
"Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.”
"We can get rid of most sins, if we have a witness who stands near us when we are likely to go wrong."
"Nothing natural is evil"
"You will perceive that it is not the loss that troubles us with reference to these things, but a notion of loss."
"The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.”
"But take into consideration: that no one does the wrong thing deliberately and the number of people who have feuded and envied and hated and fought and died and been buried."
"It takes trickery to win popular approval; and you must needs make yourself like unto them; they will withhold their approval if they do not recognise you as one of themselves. However, what you think of yourself is much more to the point than what others think of you"
"What is unique to the good man? To welcome with affection what is sent by fate."
"If it’s time for you to go, leave willingly—as you would to accomplish anything that can be done with grace and honor"
“In prosperity it is very easy to find a friend; but in adversity it is the most difficult of all things.”
“To make the best of what is in our power, and take the rest as it occurs.”
