--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Man is not worried by real problems so…" description: "\"Man is not worried by real problems so much as by his imagined anxieties about real problems\" — Epictetus" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/47f/epictetus-413_anxiety_man-is-not-worried-by-real-problems-so-m_917968.jpg" --- # Man is not worried by real problems so much as by his… ![“Man is not worried by real problems so much as by his imagined anxieties about real problems” quote by Epictetus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/47f/epictetus-413_anxiety_man-is-not-worried-by-real-problems-so-m_917968.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/47f/epictetus-413_anxiety_man-is-not-worried-by-real-problems-so-m_917968.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/47f/epictetus-413_anxiety_man-is-not-worried-by-real-problems-so-m_917968.jpg) > “Man is not worried by real problems so much as by his imagined anxieties about real problems” [Epictetus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/epictetus/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. People suffer more from imagined worries than actual difficulties, magnifying stress unnecessarily. **In simple terms:** Imagined anxieties outweigh real problems. Key Takeaway Focus on present facts, not imagined fears. Themes anxiety perception control Mood reflective calm Type philosophical self‑help When to use this quote - workplace stress - personal health - decision making - relationships Key Concepts Stoicism cognitive distortion Questions to Reflect On - What imagined anxieties dominate your thoughts? - How can you differentiate real threats from imagined ones? A Different Perspective Imagined worries can be useful motivators, not just hindrances. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Anxieties](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anxieties/) [Anxieties Real](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anxieties-real-1398571/) [Anxiety](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anxiety/) [Imagined Anxieties](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imagined-anxieties-1398570/) [Man Worried](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/man-worried-1398572/) [Mankind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mankind/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Problem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/problem/) [Problems Imagined](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/problems-imagined-1398573/) [Real](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/real/) [Worried](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/worried/) ## Related quotes > [“Mr Davis was a middle class tremble of a man worried about an unseemly display and his Jerry Springer moment”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saira-viola/mr-davis-was-a-middle-class-tremble-of-a-man-worried-about-an/) [Saira Viola](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saira-viola/) > [That's one of the reasons I wanted to be an actor, to be like them. 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Pot opens everything up. 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We have to constantly confront our deepest anxieties, our emptiness, our despair, our doubts; and there is nowhere for us to escape and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-batchelor/we-have-to-constantly-confront-our-deepest-anxieties-our-emptiness/) [Stephen Batchelor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-batchelor/) > [“\[4It is hard to be carefree when you have many anxieties. But the more you have, the more necessary it is to feel carefree…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brenda-ueland/4it-is-hard-to-be-carefree-when-you-have-many-anxieties-but-the-more/) [Brenda Ueland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brenda-ueland/) > [When I looked further into my mother's history, I realised that her anxieties and her neuroses could be accounted for by facts from a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-rhys-davies/when-i-looked-further-into-my-mother-s-history-i-realised-that-her/) [John Rhys-Davies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-rhys-davies/) ## 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/) [Explore all 577 Epictetus quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/epictetus/) ## More Anxieties quotes > [That's one of the reasons I wanted to be an actor, to be like them. And there they were at my table, all talking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gavin-macleod/that-s-one-of-the-reasons-i-wanted-to-be-an-actor-to-be-like-them-and/) [Gavin MacLeod](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gavin-macleod/) > [“\[4It is hard to be carefree when you have many anxieties. But the more you have, the more necessary it is to feel carefree…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brenda-ueland/4it-is-hard-to-be-carefree-when-you-have-many-anxieties-but-the-more/) [Brenda Ueland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brenda-ueland/) > [“... We have to constantly confront our deepest anxieties, our emptiness, our despair, our doubts; and there is nowhere for us to escape and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-batchelor/we-have-to-constantly-confront-our-deepest-anxieties-our-emptiness/) [Stephen Batchelor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-batchelor/) > [I don't really have a lot of anxieties.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shannon-walker/i-don-t-really-have-a-lot-of-anxieties/) [Shannon Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shannon-walker/) > [In sharp contrast to the idea that this stage of life is enviable, we hear high levels of anxiety about getting old, anxieties about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rowan-williams/in-sharp-contrast-to-the-idea-that-this-stage-of-life-is-enviable-we/) [Rowan Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rowan-williams/) > [I think people respond to dystopian stories because they're ways of acting out anxieties that we have and fears that we have about the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suzanne-collins/i-think-people-respond-to-dystopian-stories-because-they-re-ways-of/) [Suzanne Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suzanne-collins/) > [Drugs pull you down and shut the lid on life. Pot opens everything up. All the anxieties, the creepy crawly blues,it all just drifts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilyn-monroe/drugs-pull-you-down-and-shut-the-lid-on-life-pot-opens-everything-up/) [Marilyn Monroe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilyn-monroe/) > [In nearly everything I write, I am like a ventriloquist, throwing my voice into my characters, animating them by the slightest twitch as I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-lock/in-nearly-everything-i-write-i-am-like-a-ventriloquist-throwing-my/) [Norman Lock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-lock/) > [“She believed that people revealed themselves most when they were vaguely anxious, and few things brought out nonspecific anxieties like being in the presence…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orson-scott-card/she-believed-that-people-revealed-themselves-most-when-they-were/) [Orson Scott Card](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orson-scott-card/) > [Everyone has the same anxieties about dating.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/coleen-nolan/everyone-has-the-same-anxieties-about-dating/) [Coleen Nolan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/coleen-nolan/) > [In the daytime, we can be busy and fine, and then suddenly, the moment you're asleep, things come back - whether it's your ex…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/griff/in-the-daytime-we-can-be-busy-and-fine-and-then-suddenly-the-moment/) [Griff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/griff/) > [Don't even feel like drinking, or even gettin high Cause all that's gonna do really, is accelerate The anxieties that I wish I could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bobby/don-t-even-feel-like-drinking-or-even-gettin-high-cause-all-that-s/) [Bobby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bobby/) > [I love to make songs out of some of those shadows - you know, some of the things you lie awake thinking about, social…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-berninger/i-love-to-make-songs-out-of-some-of-those-shadows-you-know-some-of/) [Matt Berninger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-berninger/) > [When I looked further into my mother's history, I realised that her anxieties and her neuroses could be accounted for by facts from a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-rhys-davies/when-i-looked-further-into-my-mother-s-history-i-realised-that-her/) [John Rhys-Davies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-rhys-davies/) > [“Some people feel guilty about their anxieties and regard them as a defect of faith. I don't agree at all. They are afflictions, not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis-2/some-people-feel-guilty-about-their-anxieties-and-regard-them-as-a/) [C.S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis-2/) [Browse all 123 Anxieties quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anxieties/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Man is not worried by real problems so much as by his imagined anxieties about real problems", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Epictetus" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/epictetus/man-is-not-worried-by-real-problems-so-much-as-by-his-imagined/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Anxieties" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/epictetus/man-is-not-worried-by-real-problems-so-much-as-by-his-imagined/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/47f/epictetus-413_anxiety_man-is-not-worried-by-real-problems-so-m_917968.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/47f/epictetus-413_anxiety_man-is-not-worried-by-real-problems-so-m_917968.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/47f/epictetus-413_anxiety_man-is-not-worried-by-real-problems-so-m_917968.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Man is not worried by real problems so much as by his imagined anxieties about real problems” — Epictetus", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Epictetus", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/epictetus/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Man is not worried by real...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/epictetus/man-is-not-worried-by-real-problems-so-much-as-by-his-imagined/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/epictetus/man-is-not-worried-by-real-problems-so-much-as-by-his-imagined/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```