Persuit of Happiness -broken down by Epictetus

-Philosophy does not promise to secure anything external for man, otherwise it would be admitting something that lies beyond its proper subject-matter. For as the material of the carpenter is wood, and that of statuary bronze, so the subject-matter of the art of living is each person's own life.

Epictetus, Discourses 1.15.2, Robin Hard revised translation.

-Where is the good? In the will. Where is the evil? In the will. Where is neither of them? In those things which are independent of the will.

-Man is disturbed not by things, but by the views he takes of them.

-If, therefore, any be unhappy, let him remember that he is unhappy by reason of himself alone.

-I am formed by nature for my own good: I am not formed for my own evil.

-Permit nothing to cleave to you that is not your own; nothing to grow to you that may give you agony when it is torn away.

Epictetus