Stoic quotes for every day of the month

1. Death and pain are not frightening, but the fear of death and pain are. [Epictetus, D2.1]
2. If you follow reason in all things, you will be both tranquil and active at the same time, and cheerful and collected as well. [Marcus Aurelius, M10.12]
3. We have other people’s vices before our eyes, and our own behind our backs. [Seneca, A1.30]
4. Sooner or later, body and soul will separate, as they formerly were. Why be upset if it happens now? If it is not now, it will be later. [Epictetus, D2.1]
5. When you wake up, ask yourself: would it make any difference to you if others blame you for doing what is just and right? Of course, not. [Marcus Aurelius, M10.13]
6. Most of us are not angry with sins but only with the sinner. We will be more moderate if we question ourselves; “Have we committed any crime like this one? Did we ever fall into this type of error? Is it in our interest to condemn this conduct?” [Seneca, A1.28]
7. It is not, as common people say, that, “Only the free can be educated”. Rather it is, as philosophers say, “only the educated are free”. [Epictetus, D2.1]
8. Nature gives everything and takes everything away. A modest person will tell her, “Give what you like. Take away what you like”, not with pride but with obedience and goodwill. [Marcus Aurelius, M10.14]
9. Maybe it is a good person who has wronged you. Don’t believe it. Maybe it is a bad person. Don’t be surprised. [Seneca, A1.30]
10. No one who lives in fear, grief, or sorrow is free. But anyone who doesn’t live in fear, grief, and sorrow is free. [Epictetus, D2.1]
11. You have only a few more years left. Live them, then, as though on a mountain top. [Marcus Aurelius, M10.15]
12. People think some things are unfair because they shouldn’t have to suffer them or because they were unexpected. [Seneca, A1.31]
13. Be content to look like a nobody who knows nothing. [Epictetus, D2.1]
14. Don’t waste time arguing what a good person should be. Be one. [Marcus Aurelius, M10.16]
15. Because we believe that unforeseen things are unacceptable, we are particularly upset by them. Therefore, the most trivial stuff at home irritates us, and this is why we see treat our friends’ carelessness as intentional. [Seneca, A1.31]
16. Be confident in what does not depend on our choice and be cautious in what does. [Epictetus, D2.1]
17. Constantly think about all of the time and all of substance. Each separate thing is a grain of sand compared to all substance, a turn of a screw in eternity. [Marcus Aurelius, M10.17]
18. This thinking is the result of our excessive self-love. We think that we should not be injured even by our enemies. [Seneca, A1.31]
19. If your choice is fully in line with nature, you are totally secure. All will go as planned and you have nothing to worry about. [Epictetus D2.2]
20. Understand that all material things are already undergoing change, decay, or dispersion. Everything that is born dies. [Marcus Aurelius, M10.18]
21. What makes us angry is either ignorance or arrogance. [Seneca, A1.31]
22. If you want to be a person of honour and trust, who can stop you? [Epictetus, D2.2]
23. See what people are when they are eating, sleeping, mating, easing themselves, and the rest. Then see how pompous, arrogant, overbearing, and angry they are from their high position. [Marcus Aurelius, M10.19]
24. What is there to wonder if bad people commit harmful acts? [Seneca, A1.31]
25. If you control your desires and aversions, there is nothing to worry about. This is your opening statement, your case, and your proof. [Epictetus D2.2]
26. Nature brings what is good for everyone and everything, and at the precise moment. [Marcus Aurelius, M10.20]
27. Fabius used to say that the most shameful excuse a general could make was, “I did not think”. I believe it is the most shameful excuse that anyone can make. [Seneca, A1.31]
28. Be one or the other fully: free or a slave, cultivated or ignorant, a fighting cock or a docile one. [Epictetus, D2.2]
29. The universe loves to create the next thing. I tell the universe, “I love what you love”. [Marcus Aurelius, M10.21]
30. We will be able to keep ourselves from becoming angry straightway if we silently say to ourselves when each offence is committed: “I have done this very thing myself ”. [Seneca, A1.28]

D: Discourses. M: Meditations. A: On Anger

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