What if I tell you that Stoicism will make your life happier? Yes! You have read it right. One who learns the art of stoicism will be happy forever. We have brought you this amazing collection of stoic quotes and Sayings by famous authors, philosophers, and other personalities that will teach you to be stoic.
Stoic means suffering pain or difficulty without complaining. Stoicism makes a person calm while facing difficulty and makes him happier as he learns to accept the world as it is.
The concept of Stoicism was founded by Zeno in the 3rd century BC. He took philosophy classes in an area called ‘Stoa Poikile’. His followers were the very first Stoics, named after the place – Stoa.
Stoicism teaches people how to live a good life. It focuses on accepting the world as it is and using logic to understand the world.
The 4 main Stoic Virtues are – Wisdom, Temperance, Courage, and Justice.
Wisdom means accepting things as they are. Temperance means to behave nicely despite hardships. Courage means to stand for what is right and Justice means to act fairly.
Stoicism is the best way to lead a happy life. Here’s the list of Stoic Quotes and Sayings that will teach you the principles of Stoicism. Also share these Stoic quotes with your people with whom you want to live a happy and peaceful life.
Stoic Quotes
- “Keep your intention pure. Emotions will try to distract you. So keep going. That’s the cure.” – Maxime Lagacé
- “In each action that you undertake, consider what comes before and what follows after, and only then proceed to the action itself.” – Epictetus
- “A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials.” – Seneca
- “When you give your items away, don’t keep the excess of your pride.”- Bremer Acosta
- “That which Fortune has not given, she cannot take away.”- Seneca the Younger
- “True affluence is not needing anything.”- Gary Snyder
- “Sometimes in life we must fight not only without fear, but also without hope.” – Alessandro Pertini
- “Be so busy building your own life that other people’s bullshit is of no concern.” – Ed Latimore
- “Sick and yet happy, in peril and yet happy, dying and yet happy, in exile and happy, in disgrace and happy.”- Epictetus
- “It would be foolish to be stoical all the time, you’d wear yourself out for nothing”- John-Paul Sartre
- “Common man’s patience will bring him more happiness than common man’s power.”- Amit Kalantri
- “Difficulty is what wakes up the genius.” – Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- “Discomfort is the currency of success.” – Brooke Castillo
- “Problems only exist in the human mind.” – Anthony de Mello
- “We should always be asking ourselves: “Is this something that is, or is not, in my control?” – Epictetus
- “Suffering adds spice to life.”- Mokokoma Mokhonoana
- “What fortune has made yours is not your own.” – Lucius Annaeus Seneca
- “Warriors should suffer their pain silently.” – Erin Hunter
- “Self-control is strength. Right thought is mastery. Calmness is power.
- “Make the mind tougher by exposing it to adversity.” – Robert Greene
- “I begin to speak only when I’m certain what I’ll say isn’t better left unsaid.” – Cato
- “The best revenge is not to be like your enemy.” – Marcus Aurelius
Motivational Stoic Quotes
- “Stoicism, in our day, is not strength to overcome wishes, but to hide them.” – Rollo May
- “The one who puts the finishing touches on their life each day is never short of time. ” – Marcus Aurelius
- “Don’t explain your philosophy. Embody it.”- Epictetus
- “There is no better way to grow as a person than to do something you hate every day.” – David Goggins
- “And if you want to know why all this running away cannot help you, the answer is simply this: you are running away in your own company.” – Seneca
- “If it is not right, do not do it, if it is not true, do not say it.” – Marcus Aurelius
- “Man conquers the world by conquering himself.” – Zeno of Citium
- “It is not the man who has too little that is poor, but the one who hankers after more.”- Lucius Annaeus Seneca
- “When you master your mind, you master your thoughts, your habits and your reactions.” – Remez Sasson
- “Nothing can affect a person’s mind if he chooses not to be affected by it.”- Cave Man
- “They lose the day in expectation of the night, and the night in fear of the dawn. ” – Seneca
- “Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be One.” – Marcus Aurelius
- “You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think.” – Marcus Aurelius
- “Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response.” – Viktor Frankl
- “The man who fights for his ideals is the man who is alive.” – Miguel De Cervantes
- “A single day among the learned lasts longer than the longest life of the ignorant.” – Posidonius
- “He who fears death will never do anything worth of a man who is alive.” – Seneca
- “Life is very short and anxious for those who forget the past, neglect the present, and fear the future.” – Seneca
- “How long are you going to wait before you demand the best for yourself?” – Epictetus
Stoic Quotes on Love
- “To love only what happens, what was destined. No greater harmony. ” -Marcus Aurelius
- “I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinion of himself than on the opinion of others.” -Marcus Aurelius
- “I have to die. If it is now, well then I die now; if later, then now I will take my lunch, since the hour for lunch has arrived – and dying I will tend to later.” – Epictetus
- “The robbed that smiles steals something from the thief.” – Othello
- “Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future too.” – Marcus Aurelius
- “A fit body, a calm mind, a house full of love. These things cannot be bought – they must be earned.” -Naval Ravikant
- “It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own.” -Marcus Aurelius
- “People in love often become edgy, dangerous. They lose their sense of perspective.” -Charles Bukowski
- “But to recognize that if it’s humanly possible, you can do it too.” -Marcus Aurelius
- “Consult your friend on all things, especially on those which respect yourself. His counsel may then be useful where your own self-love might impair your judgment.” -Seneca
- “You don’t love yourself enough. Or No great thing is you’d love your nature too, and what it demands of you.” -Marcus Aurelius
Stoic Quotes on Control
- “The ultimate power in life is to be completely self-reliant, completely yourself.” – Robert Greene
- “Intelligence consists in ignoring things that are irrelevant.” – Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- “The mind that is anxious about future events is miserable.” – Seneca
- “There are two things a person should never be angry at, what they can help, and what they cannot.” – Plato
- “What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do.” – Tim Ferriss
- “When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” – Viktor Frankl
- “You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” – Marcus Aurelius
- There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.” – Epictetus
- “The more we value things outside our control, the less control we have.” – Epictetus
- “Be a master of the mind, not mastered by the mind.” – Zen proverb
Stoic Quotes on Strength
- “We’re never unhappy until we remember why we’re supposed to be unhappy.”- Daniel V Chappell
- “Feeling too much is a hell of a lot better than feeling nothing.”- Nora Roberts
- “In order to protect ourselves, we must live like doctors and be continually treating ourselves with reason.”- Musonius Rufus
- “Never say that I have taken it, only that I have given it back.” – Epicurus
- “Change: nothing inherently bad in the process, nothing inherently good in the result.”- Marcus Aurelius
- “All vices are at odds with nature.” – Seneca
- “Our efforts do not owe us our desired outcomes.”- Mokokoma Mokhonoana
- “We’re never unhappy until we remember why we’re supposed to be unhappy.”- Daniel V Chappell
- “For those who follow nature, everything is easy and straightforward, whereas for those who fight against her life is just like rowing against the stream.” – Seneca
- “No man is good by chance. Virtue is something which must be learned.”- Seneca
Stoic Quotes on Emotion
- “You shouldn’t give circumstances the power to rouse anger, for they don’t care at all.” – Marcus Aurelius
- “If you want to determine the nature of anything, entrust it to time: when the sea is stormy, you can see nothing clearly.” – Seneca
- “An angry man opens his mouth and shuts his eyes.” – Cato The Elder
- “The greatest remedy for anger is delay.” – Seneca
- “We are more often frightened than hurt, and we suffer more from imagination than from reality.” – Seneca
- “It doesn’t hurt me unless I interpret it’s happening as harmful to me. I can choose not to.” – Marcus Aurelius
- “Another person will not hurt you without your cooperation. You are hurt the moment you believe yourself to be.” – Epictetus
- “The best way to avenge yourself is to not be like that.” – Marcus Aurelius
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“Understand at last that you have something in you more powerful and divine than what causes the bodily passions and pulls you like a mere puppet.” – Marcus Aurelius
Stoic Quotes on Mindfulness
- “We should not, like sheep, follow the herd of creatures in front of us, making our way where others go, not where we ought to go.” – Seneca
- “It is the power of the mind to be unconquerable.” – Seneca
- “External thinks are not the problem. It’s your assessment of them. Which you can erase right now.” – Marcus Aurelius
- “If you are pained by any external thing, it is not this thing that disturbs you, but your own judgment about it. And it is in your power to wipe out this judgment now.” – Marcus Aurelius
- “Be tolerant with others and strict with yourself.” – Marcus Aurelius
- “Choose not to be harmed – and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed – and you haven’t been.” – Marcus Aurelius
- “Your perspective on life comes from the cage you were held captive in.” – Shannon L. Alder
- “Learn to be indifferent to what makes no difference.” – Marcus Aurelius
- “To be even-minded is the greatest virtue.” – Heraclitus
Stoic Quotes About Life
- “It is more civilized to make fun of life than to bewail it.” -Seneca
- “Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith.” -Steve Jobs
- “Think of the life you have lived until now as over and, as a dead man, see what’s left as a bonus and live it according to Nature.” -Marcus Aurelius
- “The ultimate power in life is to be completely self-reliant, completely yourself.” -Robert Greene
- “It can ruin your life only if it ruins your character. Otherwise, it cannot harm you – inside or out.” -Marcus Aurelius
- “In your soul, don’t be passive or aggressive. In your life, don’t be all about business.” -Marcus Aurelius
- “You will find no one willing to share out his money, but to how many does each of us divide up his life!” -Seneca
- “The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.” -Marcus Aurelius
- “Sometimes in life we must fight not only without fear, but also without hope.” -Alessandro Pertini
- “In life, it doesn’t matter what happens to you or where you came from. It matters what you do with what happens and what you’ve been given.” -Ryan Holiday
Stoic Quotes on Humility
- “Love sometimes injures. Friendship always benefits, after friendship is formed you must trust, but before that you must judge.” – Seneca
- “Having the fewest wants, I am nearest to the gods.” – Socrates
- “It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own.” – Marcus Aurelius
- “Be tolerant with others and strict with yourself.” – Marcus Aurelius
- “Too many people believe that everything must be pleasurable in life.” – Robert Greene
- “Complaining does not work as a strategy. We all have finite time and energy. Any time we spend whining is unlikely to help us achieve our goals. And it won’t make us happier.” – Randy Pausch
- “Warriors should suffer their pain silently.”- Erin Hunter
- “Imagine smiling after a slap in the face. Then think of doing it twenty-four hours a day.”- Markus Zusak
- “Man is mostly a collection of emotions, most of which he would do better not to be feeling.”- Neel Burton
Conclusion
Stoicism is not an easy art to master but once you start living a Stoic life, you will cross the hardest obstacles of your life happily. Start practicing Stoicism today.
FAQs
What is Stoicism?
Stoicism is an ancient Greek philosophy founded in the early 3rd century BCE by Zeno of Citium. It emphasizes rationality, self-control, virtue, and focusing on what we can control while accepting what we cannot.
Who were the major Stoic philosophers?
Zeno of Citium – Founder of Stoicism.
Seneca – Roman statesman and playwright.
Epictetus – A former slave who became a famous teacher of Stoicism.
Marcus Aurelius – Roman Emperor and author of Meditations.
What are the core principles of Stoicism?
Dichotomy of Control – Focus only on what you can control, and accept what you can't.
Virtue is the Highest Good – The four Stoic virtues are Wisdom, Courage, Justice, and Temperance.
Amor Fati (Love of Fate) – Accept and embrace life as it happens.
Memento Mori – Remembering that we will die helps us live meaningfully.
Premeditatio Malorum – Preparing for potential difficulties so they don’t disturb us.
Is Stoicism about suppressing emotions?
No, Stoicism teaches understanding and managing emotions, not suppressing them. It encourages responding with reason rather than reacting impulsively.
Can Stoicism and modern life go together?
Yes! Stoicism is highly relevant today, especially in dealing with stress, relationships, work challenges, and uncertainty. Many successful people, from entrepreneurs to athletes, apply Stoic principles.
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