it’s a fact: the future is always uncertain, no matter how much we try to plan for it or predict it. And that uncertainty can easily upset people, because it’s always a possibility that the future won’t go as we want it to. For philosophers of Stoicism, though, uncertainty isn’t something to be frightened of; it’s instead something to be embraced, and to accept as a natural part of the world we live in.
Because uncertainty provides such a large part of the anxiety that people experience, there are numerous Stoic quotes to be found about uncertainty, not knowing what the future will bring, and anxiety about tomorrow’s imagined troubles. For Stoics, it’s clear that the unknown future isn’t what really makes us upset; rather, it’s our opinions about uncertainty that generate most of our anxieties.
Uncertainty is part of the human condition, and it’s not something that anyone will ever remove from their lives. In order to think like a Stoic and feel less anxiety about an uncertain tomorrow, consider these terrific quotes from famous Stoicism founders who discovered the way to free themselves from anxiety about the future.
Stoic Quotes on Uncertainty from Marcus Aurelius
“Today I escaped from anxiety. Or no, I discarded it . . . because the anxiety was within me, in my own perceptions — not outside.“
“Your problem isn’t external things. The real problem is the assessment you make of them . . . and you can erase those right now.”
Stoic Quotes on Uncertainty from Epictetus
“There is only one way to happiness, and that is to stop worrying about things which are beyond the power or our will.”
“Man isn’t worried about real problems, for the most part. He is worried about the imagined anxiety he has about real problems.”
Stoic Quotes on Uncertainty from Seneca
“The whole future lies in uncertainty. Live now, in the immediate present.”
“True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future, not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is sufficient, for he that is so wants nothing.“