“If you want to be areader, read. If you want to be a writer, write.”   Epictetus

When I read these words of wisdom from Epictetus, a Greek former slave who became a Stoic philosopher, I knew I wanted to share more with you:

“Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.”

“Don’t explain your philosophy. Embody it.”

“There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power or our will. ”

“Don’t just say you have read books. Show that through them you have learned to think better, to be a more discriminating and reflective person. Books are the training weights of the mind. They are very helpful, but it would be a bad mistake to suppose that one has made progress simply by having internalized their contents.”

“First say to yourself what you would be; then do what you have to do.”

“If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.”

“It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.”

“The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best.”

“Freedom is the only worthy goal in life. It is won by disregarding things that lie beyond our control.”

“Circumstances don’t make the man, they only reveal him to himself.”

“Hold to your true aspirations no matter what is going on around you.”

“The greater the difficulty, the more glory in surmounting it.

Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests. ”

“Caretake this moment. Immerse yourself in its particulars. Respond to this person, this challenge, this deed. Quit evasions. Stop giving yourself needless trouble. It is time to really live; to fully inhabit the situation you happen to be in now.”

Inspired and emboldened by these gems, let’s all write on!