--- title: "8 Foolish Quotes By Epictetus" description: "8 Foolish quotes by Epictetus. Plus more from Epictetus and more Foolish sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5a6/epictetus-413_distrust_if-you-would-improve-submit-to-be-consid_55068.jpg" --- > [If you would improve, submit to be considered wihout sense and foolish with respect to externals. Wish to be considered to know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/epictetus/if-you-would-improve-submit-to-be-considered-wihout-sense-and-foolish/) [Epictetus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/epictetus/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5a6/epictetus-413_distrust_if-you-would-improve-submit-to-be-consid_55068.jpg) > [It is the nature of the wise to resist pleasures, but the foolish to be a slave to them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/epictetus/it-is-the-nature-of-the-wise-to-resist-pleasures-but-the-foolish-to/) [Epictetus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/epictetus/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a09/epictetus-413_foolish_it-is-the-nature-of-the-wise-to-resist-p_204990.jpg) > [Be free from grief not through insensibility like the irrational animals, nor through want of thought like the foolish, but like a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/epictetus/be-free-from-grief-not-through-insensibility-like-the-irrational/) [Epictetus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/epictetus/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a8/epictetus-413_animal_be-free-from-grief-not-through-insensibi_585181.jpg) > [If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/epictetus/if-you-want-to-improve-be-content-to-be-thought-foolish-and-stupid/) [Epictetus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/epictetus/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9e1/epictetus-413_foolish_if-you-want-to-improve-be-content-to-be_776976.jpg) > [If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid with regard to external things. Don't wish to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/epictetus/if-you-want-to-improve-be-content-to-be-thought-foolish-and-stupid-2/) [Epictetus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/epictetus/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/30c/epictetus-413_careful_if-you-want-to-improve-be-content-to-be_2121986.jpg) > [“If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid with regard to external things. Don't wish to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/epictetus/if-you-want-to-improve-be-content-to-be-thought-foolish-and-stupid-3/) [Epictetus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/epictetus/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eaa/epictetus-413_quote_if-you-want-to-improve-be-content-to-be_2154191.jpg) > [“If you want to improve, you must be content to be thought foolish and stupid.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/epictetus/if-you-want-to-improve-you-must-be-content-to-be-thought-foolish-and/) [Epictetus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/epictetus/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a93/epictetus-413_foolish_if-you-want-to-improve-you-must-be-conte_2330462.jpg) > [The foolish and the uneducated have little use for freedom. Only the educated are free.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/epictetus/the-foolish-and-the-uneducated-have-little-use-for-freedom-only-the/) [Epictetus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/epictetus/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bc3/epictetus-413_educated_the-foolish-and-the-uneducated-have-litt_3189804.jpg) ## Other authors on Foolish ## More by Epictetus > [“We are at the mercy of whoever wields authority over the things we either desire or detest. If you would be free, then, do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/epictetus/we-are-at-the-mercy-of-whoever-wields-authority-over-the-things-we/) [Epictetus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/epictetus/) > [Practice yourself, for heaven's sake in little things, and then proceed to greater.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/epictetus/practice-yourself-for-heaven-s-sake-in-little-things-and-then-proceed/) [Epictetus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/epictetus/) > [Do not laugh much or often or unrestrainedly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/epictetus/do-not-laugh-much-or-often-or-unrestrainedly/) [Epictetus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/epictetus/) > [When men are unhappy, they do not imagine they can ever cease to be so; and when some calamity has fallen on them, they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/epictetus/when-men-are-unhappy-they-do-not-imagine-they-can-ever-cease-to-be-so/) [Epictetus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/epictetus/) > [We are not disturbed by what happens to us, but by our thoughts about what happens to us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/epictetus/we-are-not-disturbed-by-what-happens-to-us-but-by-our-thoughts-about/) [Epictetus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/epictetus/) > [Don't be prideful with any excellence that is not your own](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/epictetus/don-t-be-prideful-with-any-excellence-that-is-not-your-own/) [Epictetus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/epictetus/) > [You know yourself what you are worth in your own eyes; and at what price you will sell yourself. For men sell themselves at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/epictetus/you-know-yourself-what-you-are-worth-in-your-own-eyes-and-at-what/) [Epictetus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/epictetus/) > [Crows pick out the eyes of the dead, when the dead have no longer need of them; but flatterers mar the soul of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/epictetus/crows-pick-out-the-eyes-of-the-dead-when-the-dead-have-no-longer-need/) [Epictetus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/epictetus/) > [As a man, casting off worn out garments taketh new ones, so the dweller in the body, entereth into ones that are new.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/epictetus/as-a-man-casting-off-worn-out-garments-taketh-new-ones-so-the-dweller/) [Epictetus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/epictetus/) > [If you would improve, submit to be considered wihout sense and foolish with respect to externals. Wish to be considered to know nothing; and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/epictetus/if-you-would-improve-submit-to-be-considered-wihout-sense-and-foolish/) [Epictetus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/epictetus/) > [“For it is not death or pain that is to be feared, but the fear of pain or death.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/epictetus/for-it-is-not-death-or-pain-that-is-to-be-feared-but-the-fear-of-pain/) [Epictetus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/epictetus/) > [What else can I do, a lame old man, but sing hymns to God? If I were a nightingale, I would do the nightingale's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/epictetus/what-else-can-i-do-a-lame-old-man-but-sing-hymns-to-god-if-i-were-a/) [Epictetus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/epictetus/) > [People are disturbed not by things, but by the view they take of them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/epictetus/people-are-disturbed-not-by-things-but-by-the-view-they-take-of-them-2/) [Epictetus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/epictetus/) > [“Small-minded people blame others. Average people blame themselves. The wise see all blame as foolishness”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/epictetus/small-minded-people-blame-others-average-people-blame-themselves-the/) [Epictetus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/epictetus/) > [All philosophy lies in two words, sustain and abstain.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/epictetus/all-philosophy-lies-in-two-words-sustain-and-abstain/) [Epictetus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/epictetus/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/foolish/epictetus/#itemlist", "name": "8 Foolish Quotes By Epictetus", "numberOfItems": 8, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If you would improve, submit to be considered wihout sense and foolish with respect to externals. 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