Epictetus
Epictetus
Epictetuswas a Greek-speaking Stoic philosopher. He was born a slave at Hierapolis, Phrygia, and lived in Rome until his banishment, when he went to Nicopolis in north-western Greece for the rest of his life. His teachings were written down and published by his pupil Arrian in his Discourses and Enchiridion...
NationalityGreek
ProfessionPhilosopher
want slave be-a-slave
Whoever wants to be free, therefore, let him not want or avoid anything that is up to others. Otherwise he will necessarily be a slave.
excellence
Don't be prideful with any excellence that is not your own
justice safe
Every place is safe to him who lives with justice.
running action habit
Every habit and faculty is preserved and increased by correspondent actions, as the habit of walking, by walking; of running, by running.
evident
Things true and evident must of necessity be recognized by those who would contradict them.
thinking sorrow wish
If you wish to live a life free from sorrow, think of what is going to happen as if it had already happened.
friends speak treats
When our friends are present we ought to treat them well; and when they are absent, to speak of them well.
running hurt feet
As in walking it is your great care not to run your foot upon a nail, or to tread awry, and strain your leg; so let it be in all the affairs of human life, not to hurt your mind or offend your judgment. And this rule, if observed carefully in all your deportment, will be a mighty security to you in your undertakings.
cowardice dread happens
Cowardice, the dread of what will happen.
physicians discrimination ought
You ought to choose both physician and friend, not the most agreeable, but the most useful.
giving wicked charity
It is wicked to withdraw from being useful to the needy, and cowardly to give way to the worthless.
art hate conceited
Does a man reproach thee for being proud or ill-natured, envious or conceited, ignorant or detracting? Consider with thyself whether his reproaches are true. If they are not, consider that thou art not the person whom he reproaches, but that he reviles an imaginary being, and perhaps loves what thou really art, though he hates what thou appearest to be.
fear poverty should
We must be afraid of neither poverty nor exile nor imprisonment; of fear itself only should we be afraid.
brother kindness two
Everything has two handles; the one soft and manageable, the other such as will not endure to be touched. If then your brother do you an injury, do not take it by the hot hard handle, by representing to yourself all the aggravating circumstances of the fact; but look rather on the soft side, and extenuate it as much as is possible, by considering the nearness of the relation, and the long friendship and familiarity between you--obligations to kindness which a single provocation ought not to dissolve. And thus you will take the accident by its manageable handle.