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I have got you together to hear what I have written down. I do not wish your advice about the main matter — for that I have determined for myself. Attributed to President Abraham Lincoln. — Salmon P. Chase, diary entry for September 22, 1862, Diary and Correspondence of Salmon P Chase, p. 88 (1903, reprinted 1971). According to the Chase account, Lincoln spoke these words at a cabinet meeting he had called to inform the members of his decision to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. This quotation is also used in Carl Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln: The War Years, p. 584 (1939). Although these words are not used, the same thought is conveyed in the diary of another member of Lincoln's cabinet, Gideon Welles. See his diary entry for the same date in Diary of Gideon Welles, vol. 1, pp. 142-43 (1911).

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Apr 22, 2026

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Were I a nightingale, I would sing like a nightingale; were I a swan, like a swan. But as it is, I am a rational being, therefore I must sing hymns of praise to god.
Epictetus

Quote Author: Epictetus

Epictetus

Epictetus

Epictetus (Greek: Ἐπίκτητος; ca. 55 - ca. 135) was a Greek Stoic philosopher. He was probably born a slave at Hierapolis, Phrygia (present day Pamukkale, Turkey), and lived in Rome until his exile to Nicopolis in northwestern Greece, where he lived most of his life and died. The name given by his parents, if one was given, is not known—the word epiktetos in Greek simply means "acquired."

Other Epictetus Quotes

Only the educated are free.

Let death be daily before your eyes, and you will never entertain any abject thought, nor too eagerly covet Anything.

It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he Already knows.

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

If you wish to live a life free from sorrow, think of what is going to happen as if it had already happened.

If you wish to be good, first believe that you are bad.

Freedom is the right to live as we wish.

Fortify yourself with moderation; for this is an impregnable fortress.

For it is not death or hardship that is a fearful thing, But the fear of death and hardship.

Difficulties show men what they are. In case of any difficulty remember that God has pitted you against a rough antagonist that you may be a conqueror, and this cannot be without toil.

Demand not that events should happen as you wish, but wish them to happen as they do, and you will go on well.

As the touchstone which tries gold, but is not itself tried by the gold; such is he, who has the standard of judgment.

All philosophy lies in two words, sustain and abstain.

Envy is the adversary of the fortunate.

The Beginning of Philosophy...is a Consciousness of your own Weakness and inability in necessary things.

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

Unless we place our religion and our treasure in the same thing, religion will always be sacrificed.

When the idea of any pleasure strikes your imagination, make a just computation between the duration of the pleasure and that of the repentance that is likely to follow it.

Who is not attracted by bright and pleasant children, to prattle, to creep, and to play with them?

There is nothing good or evil save in the will.

First say to yourself what you would be, then do what you have to do.

Neither should a ship rely on one small anchor, nor should life rest on a single hope.

It is not he who gives abuse that affronts, but the view that we take of it as insulting; so that when one provokes you it is your own opinion which is provoking.

It is better to advise than upbraid, for the one corrects the erring; the other only convicts them.

Any one thing in the creation is suffiocient to demonstrate a Providence to a humble and grateful mind.

When you have closed your doors, and darkened your room, remember never to say that you are alone, for you are not alone; God is within, and your genius is within—and what need have they of light to see what you are doing?

If you do not wish to be prone to anger, do not feed the habit; give it nothing which may tend to its increase. At first, keep quiet and count the days when you were not angry: 'I used to be angry every day, then every other day: next, every two, then every three days!' and if you succeed in passing thirty days, sacrifice to the gods in thanksgiving.

Whenever you are angry, be assured that it is not only a Present evil, but that you have increased a habit.

Appearances to the mind are of four kinds. Things either are what they appear to be; or they neither are, nor appear to be; or they are, and do not appear to be; or they are not, and yet appear to be. Rightly to aim in all these cases is the wise man’s task.

A wise man is he who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.

In theory it is easy to convince an ignorant person; in actual life, men not only object to offer themselves to be convinced, but hate the man who has convinced them.

So when the crisis is upon you, remember that God, like a trainer of wrestlers, has matched you with a tough and stalwart antagonist—that you may prove a victor at the Great Games. Yet without toil or sweat this may not be.

Remember that you ought to behave in life as you would at a banquet. As something is being passed around it comes to you; stretch out your hand, take a portion of it politely. It passes on; do not detain it. Or it has not come to you yet; do not project your desire to meet it, but wait until it comes in front of you. So act toward children, so toward a wife, so toward office, so toward wealth.

Remember that you are an actor in a play, and that the Playwright chooses the manner of it: If he wants you to act a poor man you must act the part with all your powers; and so if your part be a cripple or a magistrate or a plain man. For your business is to act the character that is given you and act it well. The choice of the cast is Another’s.

If anyone tells you a person speaks ill of you, do not make excuse about what is said but answer, 'He was ignorant of my other faults else he would not have mentioned these alone.'

He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not but rejoices for those which he has.

God has made all men to be happy.

Where to do think he got that high brow?

If you would be good, first believe you are bad.

We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.

We must not believe the many,  who say that only free people ought to be educated,  but we should rather believe the philosophers who say that only the educated are free.

The materials are indifferent, but the use we make of them is not a matter of indifference.

No great thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.

Men are disturbed, not by things that happen, but by their opinion of things that happen.

Ruin and recovery are alike from within.

All philosophy lies in two words, 'sustain' and 'abstain.'

Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens.

Man is not fully free unless he is master of himself.

Sickness is a hindrance to the body, but not to the will, unless the will consent. Lameness is a hindrance to the leg, but not to the will. Say this to yourself at each event that happens, for you shall find that though it hinders something else it will not hinder you....

Shall I show you the sinews of a philosopher? 'What sinews are those?' — A will undisappointed; evils avoided; powers daily exercised; careful resolutions; unerring decisions.

There are some faults which men readily admit, but others not so readily.

Be not swept off your feet by the vividness of the impression, but say, 'Impression, wait for me a little. Let me see what you are and what you represent. Let me try you.'

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

Were I a nightingale, I would sing like a nightingale; were I a swan, like a swan. But as it is, I am a rational being, therefore I must sing hymns of praise to god.

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