If you only want to save the harmony of your judgment and will with nature, everything is safe, everything is easy for you; you have nothing to fear.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Épictète
Epictetus (c. 50 – c. 135 AD) was a Greek Stoic philosopher. He was born a slave at Hierapolis, Phrygia (present day Pamukkale, Turkey) and lived in Rome until his banishment, when he went to Nicopolis in northwestern Greece for the rest of his life.
As soon as you only want to save what is in your power, what is by its nature independent and free, [...] what do you have to worry about anymore?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
If you want to respect yourself and be honest, who will stop you? If you want to never be hindered or constrained, who will force you [...]?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
From the moment desire and fear are in your power, what can you still worry about?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Do you not find, then, that I have prepared [for life] my entire life?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
From the moment you submit what is you to what is not you, you must be a slave forever.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
You must absolutely and completely be in your soul [...] free or a slave, enlightened or ignorant.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Where truth and nature are, there also is prudence; where truth and nature are, there also is confidence.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
[My adversaries] can kill me, but they cannot harm me.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
It is you who are being judged, rather than I.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
If reason determines you to [...] do your best to persuade, you must be consistent with that first step, while not compromising what is truly yours.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
It is ridiculous to say: 'Advise me.' What you should say is this: 'Make my soul conform to everything that happens to it.'
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
If you have learned [the principles], you can be ready for any name you are asked.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
If you fall into ecstasy before external things, you will necessarily have to roll in all directions, at the whim of your master.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Whoever holds in his hand what you desire or what you fear, is your master.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
This pity you are the object of, is it your doing or that of the people who pity you?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
The only [power] you have been given is to convince yourself.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
There is only one way that leads [...], to renounce all things that do not depend on our free will, to detach ourselves from them, to recognize that they are foreign to us.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
The opinion of another about you, in which class of things does it fall? — In those that do not depend on my free will.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
As long as you worry and trouble yourself about it, can you believe yourself sufficiently convinced of the true goods and the true evils?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Will you not leave other men aside, and be your own disciple and your own master?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
The very pain that pity causes you to feel makes you worthy of pity.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
It is a king's lot to be well, and to hear that one is unwell.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
I am poor, but I have a just opinion of poverty; what does it matter to me then that they pity me for my poverty!
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
What is more rational than to see those who have worked for a thing have more of that thing for which they have worked?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Consent to tell yourself the truth: you have done nothing to be it, and they have done everything.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
The common person says very well that one cannot do two things at once.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Tell yourself as soon as you are up in the morning: 'What do I lack to rise above all passions, above all troubles?'
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
What am I then? A living being endowed with reason. Now, what is asked of such a being?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
If, indeed, you were truly persuaded that it is you who possess the true goods, and that they are mistaken, you would not worry about what they say of you.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
When you blame Providence for something, examine it closely, and you will see that what happened was logical.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
That dishonest man has more than I! [...] It's because from the point of view of money, he is better than you; for he flatters, he is shameless, he works into the night.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
See if he has more integrity than you, if he has more conscience and honor than you. You will find that he does not.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
You will find that you have more of that for which you are better than him.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
What wrong does Providence do in granting what is best to those who are best?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Is not honor worth more than wealth?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Why then be indignant, since you have what is best!
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
The law of nature is that he who is better has more than he who is lesser of that for which he is better; and you will never be indignant.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
'My wife treats me badly.' [...] Is there anything else to it? No.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
'My father gives me nothing.' [...] Is there anything else to it? No. Why add from the outside that this is an evil?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Why add from the outside that this is an evil? Why this lie?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
It is not poverty that must be rejected, but the idea one has of it.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
It is not poverty that must be rejected, but the idea one has of it; and in this way we will be happy.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Anyone who has an advantage over others, or believes they have one, [...] will necessarily become proud, if they are uncultured.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Can you ensure my desires meet no obstacles? [...] Do you yourself always succeed in avoiding what you wish to flee?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
It is not possible for a being born free to be disturbed or hindered by anyone but himself. His judgments alone cause his turmoil.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
He who values only his free will says: 'Put it in chains if it seems good to you.'
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Jupiter made me free. [...] You are the master of my carcass; take it.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
[Self-love] is not selfishness, for the living being is made to always act for its own sake.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
No reasonable being can find their own particular good except by doing something useful for all.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Thus one is not an enemy of the community, even while acting only for oneself.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
When we hold the absurd opinion about things outside our control that they are goods or evils, we must necessarily court tyrants.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
This is what it means to attach value to anything other than what is within our power of choice.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Who has ever offered a sacrifice for having had good desires and for having conformed their will to nature?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
We thank the gods only for what we mistake for a good.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
But my name will live on! — Write it on a stone; it will live on just the same.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
If you long for a crown, take one of roses and place it on your head: it will surely be more graceful to behold.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Who can the multitude imitate, if not you who are above them? And [...] upon whom are their eyes, if not upon you?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
You should have known, when you entered [a public space], that you were entering to serve as a rule and an example to others.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Every man hates what stands in his way.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
What would you want then? For you to do as you please, while they cannot even say what they please?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
[A ruler] knows that if he punished all who insult him, he would have no one left to rule.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
My goal is that my will shall be in harmony with nature.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
No one is dearer to me than myself. It would be ridiculous, then, to harm myself for the triumph of [an external cause].
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Who then do I want to see win? The one who will. In this way, the one who wins will always be the one I wanted.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
In public, do not encroach: do not claim for yourself what belongs to all.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
When you act like the multitude, you lower yourself to its level.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
All that is rigid and tense in Stoicism is found in [the Manual]; all that is affectionate and devoted is absent from it.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
All the principles of modern charity, all its general precepts, even the commandment to love one's enemies, are found in the Discourses of Epictetus.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
It is wrong to claim to be a Stoic because one speaks the language of Stoicism, when one does not have its maxims in one's heart, and especially when one does not apply them.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
For the first Stoics, as for him, we are all children of the same father, all brothers in God, who created us all with the same faculties and the same destiny. What more is needed to lead to charity?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
[...] one never does evil except through error or ignorance, and [...] the guilty are merely unfortunate blind men.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Man is here below to be happy; the Gods have given him the means to be so.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
For the Stoics, [...] there is nothing to fear after death: there is neither Hell, nor anything, upon leaving this life, that resembles a punishment.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
[...] below, freedom, and duties of purity, justice, devotion, with happiness through them, without hope as without fear of another life; that is in summary [...] the whole philosophy of Epictetus.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
A moral truth [...] cannot be revisited and repeated too many times, because the one who must apply it has never understood it enough.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
[The Stoic Sage] will be a man preoccupied with being, and no longer with seeming; and the basis of the doctrine will no longer be pride, but a profoundly religious sentiment.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Jupiter is not just if, by placing man on earth, he has not made him capable of being happy there, as he himself is.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
There is good and evil only in those things which emanate from our free will, and [...] outside of our judgments and our wills, everything is indifferent.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Let us ask of each thing only what we should expect from it by virtue of its own nature.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Would we demand that of two runners, the more virtuous should arrive first, and not the swifter?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Do what you must, come what may [...] could that really be called a precept of submission?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Do you not believe in the Unity of the world? [...] Do you not believe in the harmony of heaven and earth?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
How do the plants bloom so uniquely, as if on an order from God, when he has told them to bloom?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Our souls connect and attach to God, as parts that have been detached from him, without God noticing their movement [...]!
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Would God not be able to see everything, to be present everywhere, to be in communication with everything!
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
He who made the sun [...], who moves it around the world, would not be capable of knowing everything!
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
And who is it that tells you that you have faculties equal to those of Jupiter?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
He has placed near each one of us a guardian, the particular Genius of each, [...] who is subject neither to sleep nor to error.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
To what more powerful and vigilant protector could he have entrusted each of us?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
When you have closed your door [...], remember never to say that you are alone, for you are not.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
God is in your room, and your Genius also; and what need have they of light to see what you do?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
You should swear an oath to God, as soldiers swear an oath to Caesar.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Will you refuse to swear an oath, after all the magnificent gifts you have received!
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
What then will you swear? Never to disobey God, never to reproach him, never to complain about what he gives you as your lot.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
[Swear] to never be displeased with doing or suffering what is inevitable.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
In the one, they swear to prefer no one to Caesar; in this one, we swear to prefer ourselves to everyone.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
True good and true evil [...] lie in the use we make of our ideas, and [...] everything that is not under our control can be neither a good nor an evil.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
In everything that is not under your control, be full of confidence; but in everything that is, be on your guard.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
It is because we will be on guard against real evils that we can have confidence against what is not.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
[Some] perish for having preferred what they should have feared to what could not harm them.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
It is not death and pain that we should fear, but the very fear of pain and death.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
The evil is not in dying, but in dying shamefully.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
We should therefore be full of confidence against death, and on our guard against the fear of death.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
What is death? A frightening mask. Turn it over; see what it is; you will see that it does not bite.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
What is pain? A frightening mask. Turn it over, and see what it is.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
If you do not find it acceptable, the door is open to you; if you do, be patient. The door is always open to us.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
What do we gain by thinking this way? [...] Calm, security, freedom.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Is freedom anything other than the power to live as one wishes?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
All those [...] who are freed from sadness, fear, and turmoil, [...] are by the same means freed from servitude.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Show only one science in yourself, that of not failing to get what you desire, and not falling into what you want to avoid.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Think [...] of death, of prison, of torture, of exile; but think of them without trembling, submissive to the one who has called you to such a fate.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
The only [power] that has been given to you is that of convincing yourself.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Is there any person who is with you as constantly as yourself? Who has as many means to persuade you as yourself?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
There is only one way that leads there: to renounce all things that do not depend on our free will, to detach ourselves from them, to recognize that they are foreign to us.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
The opinion of another about you, into what class of things does it fall? — Into those that do not depend on my free will. — It is nothing to you then?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
As long as you worry and are troubled by it, can you believe yourself sufficiently convinced of what is truly good and what is truly evil?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Will you not leave other men aside, and be your own disciple and your own master?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
For my part, I have no one who is closer to me than myself.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
The very pain that pity causes you to feel makes you worthy of pity.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
It is a king's lot to be well, and to hear it said that one is unwell.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
I am poor, but I have a just opinion of poverty; what does it matter to me then that I am pitied for my poverty!
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
What is more rational than to see those who have worked for something have more of that thing for which they have worked?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
It would be supremely absurd for the one who pursues a goal to achieve it less than the one who does not bother with it.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
The common folk say very well that one cannot do two things at once.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
You, on the contrary, if you have really only ever been concerned with making the proper use of your ideas, say to yourself from the morning on [...]: 'What do I lack to rise above all passions, above all troubles?'
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
What am I then? A living being endowed with reason. Now, what is asked of such a being?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
To be abandoned is to find oneself without support. A man who is alone is not for that reason abandoned; on the contrary, one can be in the midst of many others and yet be abandoned.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
It is not the presence of a man that saves us from abandonment, but the presence of a trustworthy, honest man, ready to come to our aid.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
[...] nature made us to live in society, to love one another [...]. But yet, each of us must have within himself the means to be self-sufficient, and to be able to live alone.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
We too must [...] be able to converse with ourselves; to do without others; to need no distraction; to reflect [...] on our relationship with the rest of the world.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
See what great peace Caesar seems to have given us [...]. But has Caesar been able to guarantee us also from fever? [...] from love? He cannot. From grief? He cannot.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Philosophy undertakes to guarantee us from these things as well. [...] 'O men, if you attach yourselves to me, [...] there will be for you neither pain, nor anger, nor constraint, nor hindrances; you will be freed from everything, you will be free everywhere.'
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Does he who enjoys this peace, not promulgated by Caesar [...] but promulgated by God himself with the help of reason, need anything else when he is alone?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Now nothing bad can happen to me; for me there are no thieves, no earthquakes; everywhere is peace and tranquility.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
There is no road, no city, no fellow traveler, no neighbor, no associate who can be fatal to me.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
When it [the divine power] does not provide me with what is necessary, it is because it is sounding the retreat, opening the door, and telling me: Come.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Where to? — To nothing to be feared; to that from which you came; to friends, to relatives, to the elements.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
All that was fire in you will go to fire; all that was earth, to earth; all that was air, to air; all that was water, to water.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
But what if someone surprised me alone and killed me! — Fool! it would not be you he would kill, but your body!
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Why make ourselves inferior to children? When they are left alone [...] they take shells and earth, and build houses [...]. In this way, they never lack for ways to pass the time.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Shall I then, if you sail away, sit down and weep because you have left me alone [...].? [...] shall we who have reason be made unhappy by it?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Man's good and evil are in his ways of judging and willing, and the rest is of no interest to us. What then can trouble or frighten us?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
No one has power over the things to which we attach importance; and those over which other men have some power, we do not care about.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Safeguard by all means what is yours; do not covet what does not belong to you. Integrity is yours; self-respect is yours.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
It is by coveting what is not yours that you will lose what is yours.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
If he told me: 'Believe that you are unhappy,' I would not believe it. And who could force me to?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Do nothing with annoyance; never grieve, and never believe yourself to be in misfortune, for no one can force you into it.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Is there smoke in the house? If it's moderate, I will stay; if it's far too much, I leave. For there is one thing to always remember [...], it is that the door is open to us.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Ultimately, beyond my shell, that is to say, my body, no one can have any power over me.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
If I attach value to my body, I make myself a slave; if to my [wealth], a slave again.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Know [...] that if you want to preserve something [external], it will be through that that your master will get a hold of you.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
It is we ourselves who inconvenience ourselves, we ourselves who confine ourselves; that is to say, it is our judgments that put us there.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
What is it, indeed, to be insulted? Stand in front of a stone, and insult it [...]. If then a person makes themselves like a stone, [...] what will the insulter achieve?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
There is nothing we would rather reflect upon and practice than the means to be free and unhindered.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
What is so surprising that in philosophy too there are truths that seem paradoxical to those who are not acquainted with it?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Even those who claim there is neither truth nor evidence are forced to use both.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
To fight the idea that there are general truths, one must posit the contrary: 'There is no general truth.' [...] But that statement itself is not true!
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Trust me [...]: you can trust no one.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Man, learn from me that one can learn nothing.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
What tears a man from sleep and forces him to write? [...] Nature, the strongest thing in him, pulling him where it wills, despite his resistance.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
By your own actions, give the lie to your theories.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Can the vine grow by the laws not of the vine, but of the olive tree? [...] Likewise, man can never cease to live the life of a man.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
You cannot take from man the inclinations of humanity [...] any more than you can get rid of your senses, however much you might want to.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Here is a man who has received from nature rules for judging the truth, and [...] he strives to suppress and destroy them!
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Was it with such speeches that great States grew? [...] With convictions that servitude is no more a shame than an honor, and freedom no more an honor than a shame?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
[Some say that] justice is nothing, restraint is foolishness, the name of father is nothing, the name of son is nothing.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Man, what are you doing? You refute yourself every day.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
In practice, they use all the gifts of nature, and in their theories, they suppress them.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Little do they care that their speeches [...] destroy in a young man all the noble seeds of his nature!
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Why try to convert people [...] who are so deaf and blind to their own ills?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Man, be grateful for these gifts, but at the same time, consider what surpasses them still.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Thank God [...] but remember that He has given you something better than all of those: that which uses them, which judges them, and which assesses the value of each.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
What faculty, then, could be superior to that which uses the others as its servants, appraises everything, and rules on everything?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Can that which serves be superior to the one who uses it? The horse, to the rider? The dog, to the hunter? [...] The servants, to the king?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
How could that which can be hindered be stronger than that which knows no hindrance?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Is there anything that can hinder our faculty of will? Nothing outside of it; it alone hinders itself. [...] It alone is vice, it alone is virtue.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
If you ask me what is best in the world, what shall I name? [...] Our faculty of judgment and will, when it is on the right path.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
It is through [our will] that we are happy or unhappy [...] it is what causes our misfortune when neglected, and our happiness when cared for.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
True greatness is to let each thing have its real nature; then [...] to appreciate its value, to discern what is best [...], and to commit to it in all circumstances.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Man, you have forgotten what you set out to do; that is not where you were going: you were only passing through.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
You did not come [...] to choose the prettiest places, but to live where you were born, and where you were ranked among the citizens.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Know how to analyze syllogisms as well as Chrysippus, and what will prevent you from being miserable, from lamenting, from being jealous, [...] and from being unhappy? Nothing, certainly.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
What you aimed for was to learn to use all the impressions that come to you in accordance with nature, to never fail to get what you desire, and to never fall into what you wish to avoid.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
When [the will] enters the right path, one who was not a good person becomes so; when it strays, the person becomes perverse.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
One must take care of one's eyes, not as the most important thing, but for the very sake of that [superior] thing; for it cannot remain in conformity with nature, unless it values the eyes as it should.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Never praise or blame anyone for the actions of common life, and never say because of them that one is wise or is not.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
As long as you do not know the idea according to which someone does something, never praise nor blame their action.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
What then is the material of the philosopher? His cloak? No, his reason. And what is his goal? [...] To have a sound reason.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
For a long time I sought to conceal that I was a philosopher; and that served me well.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Everything good that I did, I did not do for the spectators, but for myself.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
What harm was there in being recognized as a philosopher by my actions, but not by my appearance?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Content [...] with being a philosopher in reality, he was happy not to appear so, far from being angry about it.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
If I want something and it does not happen, I am unhappy.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Is it not enough for you to not be sick, without shouting out loud: 'see me in good health, without any kind of illness?'
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
[...] you seek happiness and tranquility, not where they are, but where they are not [...].
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Start by making sure no one knows what you are; for some time, be a philosopher for yourself alone.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
This is how wheat grows: the seed must be buried and hidden in the earth for some time, and develop there slowly, in order to come to fruition.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
If you blossom too quickly, the cold will burn you.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
You have grown too fast; you have thrown yourself at glory too soon; you seem to be something; you are but a fool among fools.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Let my root grow [...] and in this way the fruit will force its way into being, even if I did not wish it.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
It is easy to praise Providence [...], if one has within them these two things: the capacity to understand what happens to each person, and a grateful heart.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Each of our works will reveal its craftsman, and yet visible objects, sight, and light will not reveal theirs!
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
It is one thing to use, another to understand.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
When the constitution of beings is different, their works are different, and their end is different.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
He placed man in the world to contemplate it and its works, and not only to contemplate them, but also to explain them.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
It is shameful for man to begin and to stop where the beast begins and stops.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
[Our] nature [...] culminates in contemplation, in intelligence, in the harmony of our conduct with universal nature.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Will you then never feel who you are, for what end you were born, and why you have received the gift of sight?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Have you not received the means to face all events? Have you not received greatness of soul? [...] courage? [...] patience?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Once I have greatness of soul, what does it matter to me what may happen? Who can unhinge me and trouble me?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Shall I then, instead of using my strength for the purpose I received it, cry and groan over events?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Is it not much better to wipe your nose than to complain?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
[Trials], as soon as they existed and Hercules found them, served to reveal and to exercise him.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Look upon the faculties that are within you, consider them, and say: 'Send now [...] whatever circumstances you please; for I have resources [...] to make honorable use of all events.'
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
[God] has given you these faculties free, independent, and liberated from all external constraint; he has put them entirely at your disposal.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Just by seeing you, he will know you are a man. Are you a good one? Are you a bad one? He will know, if he has the talent to distinguish the good from the bad.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
If he does not have this talent, he will not know it, even if I were to write it to him a thousand times.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
You are like a drachma that would ask to be recommended to someone so they might value it.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
If he is an expert in coins, [...] he will recognize your value; for you are your own recommendation.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
You are your own recommendation.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
In the matters of life, we should have a way of assessing people, just like we do with currency.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Bring me whatever drachma you wish, and I will judge what it is worth.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Bring me whatever man you wish, and I will see if he knows how to analyze them.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
I have the knowledge required to recognize people who are skilled in it.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
In the matters of life, [...] I say of the same man that he is sometimes good, and sometimes bad.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Where does this come from? It is because [...] I lack knowledge and experience in this.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Man, if you are worth anything, know how to walk alone, to converse with yourself, and not to hide in a choir.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Sometimes be the object of ridicule, and then cast a calm gaze around you. You must be shaken up, so that you learn to know yourself.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
If it is good for you to drink it, then drink it; [...] If it is good for you, and you drink it, do not speak of it before those who do not like things done differently from them.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Among the things we do, some are done on principle, others by circumstance, others by calculation, others out of deference, others out of bias.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
There are two things that must be removed from man: presumption and self-distrust.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Presumption consists in believing that one needs nothing; self-distrust, in telling oneself that one cannot achieve happiness [...].
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
[...] almost all of philosophy consists in seeking ways not to be hindered in what one desires and what one wants to avoid.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Is there not for man what the race is for the horse [...]? Is there not honesty, loyalty, justice?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Show that you are superior to me in [honesty, loyalty, justice], if you want to be superior to me as a man.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
All great power is a danger at the start.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
One must bear its weight according to one's strength, but in a manner consistent with nature.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Study yourself sometimes to behave as if you were sick, to know one day how to behave like a healthy man.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Fast, drink water, forbid yourself every kind of desire, so that you may one day know how to desire in accordance with reason.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
You want to be useful to them! Show them by your own example what kind of men philosophy can make, and do not chatter uselessly.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
By the way you eat, be useful to those who eat with you; by the way you drink, to those who drink: yield to them; practice self-denial; endure everything from them.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
And what will one get out of it? One will become more talkative and more tiresome than one is now.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Among things, some are good, others bad, and others indifferent. The good are the virtues [...]; the bad are the vices [...]; the indifferent [...] are wealth, health, life, death, pleasure, pain.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Have you thoroughly examined any of their thoughts, and have you formed your own conviction on the matter?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Why did you adorn yourself with what was not your own? Why did you call yourself a Stoic?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Observe yourselves accordingly when you act, and you will find to what School you belong.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Where, in fact, in practice do you hold virtue to be equal and even superior to everything else! Show me a Stoic, if you have one.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Show me a man who is at once sick and happy, in peril and happy, dying and happy, in exile and happy, disgraced and happy. Show him to me.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
If you cannot show me one fully formed, show me one who is in the process of becoming, one who is inclined toward this way of being.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Let one of you show me a human soul that wishes [...] to blame neither God nor man, to be frustrated in nothing, [...] to have no anger, no hatred, no jealousy.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Why then do you deceive yourselves and play tricks on others? Why do you put on the clothes of another, [...] a name and a role that do not belong to you?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
My purpose [...] is to make of you men who are freed from all hindrance, all constraint, all obstacle, free, tranquil, and happy.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Neither wealth, nor health, nor reputation [...] is in our power, except for the right use of our ideas; this is the only thing that [...] escapes all constraint.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
[The project of becoming better] is possible, and the only one that is in our power. It remains, then, that it depends on me or on you, or, more precisely, on me and on you.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Let us leave the past behind, let us just get to work. Trust me, and you will see.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
What makes us believe in something? It is that it seems to us to be so.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
It is always in spite of itself that a soul is deprived of the truth. The error appeared to it as a truth. That is all.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Can someone [...] believe that a thing is good for them and not choose it? They cannot.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Show her clearly that she is mistaken, and she will act otherwise. But as long as you have not shown her, what do you expect her to follow, if not what she thinks she sees?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
It cannot be that the error is on one side and the suffering on the other.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
If one knows [...] that man has no other measure for his actions than what seems to him to be so [...], one will have no anger or indignation against anyone.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Did all these important things, then, depend on so little?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
[Man is superior] by the intelligence of what he does; [...] by sociability, by honesty, by restraint, by prudence, by wisdom.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Where, then, are important good and evil to be found in man? There where his superiority lies.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
No one is unhappy because of another's actions.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
His misfortune was when he lost his restraint, his honesty, [...] his respect for propriety.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
This is when a man is unhappy; this is when his city is taken by assault [...]: it is when his true opinions are taken from him and destroyed.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
[...] wherever we believe it is important for us to know the truth [...], we never proceed lightly. But when it comes to the [...] cause of our happiness or our misfortune, [...] only then do we act lightly and at random!
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
What tragedy has another starting point? What is Euripides' Atreus? A way of seeing. What is Sophocles' Oedipus? A way of seeing.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
What do we call those who obey all their ideas? Madmen. — Well, do we do anything else?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
The rational faculty [...] is the only one given to us that can understand itself, its nature, its power, and its value.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
The gods [...] have put in our power only what is best and most excellent in the world, the right use of our impressions. The rest, they have not put in our power.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
This body is not yours; it is but skillfully arranged clay.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
If you cultivate [the faculty of using your impressions], if you see in it alone all that is yours, you will never be hindered or thwarted; you will never weep.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
We prefer to occupy and trouble ourselves with a host of things [...]. And all these things with which we are burdened are a weight that drags us down.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
What then must be done? To make perfect that which depends on us, and to take other things as they come.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Do you not prefer to stretch out your neck, as Lateranus did in Rome when Nero ordered his head to be cut off? He stretched it out and was struck; but the blow was too weak: he drew it back for a moment, then stretched it out again.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
What then must we keep in mind? [...] What is mine? And what is not mine? What is possible for me? And what is not possible for me?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
I must be chained. Must it be while lamenting? I must go into exile. Who prevents me from going with a smile, a cheerful and serene heart?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
— I will chain you. — [...] you will chain my leg; but my power of choice, not even Jupiter himself can conquer.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
— I will cut off your head. — When did I ever tell you that I was the only one whose head could not be cut off?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
I would rather be killed today than exiled tomorrow.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Will you not practice being content with what has been given to you?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
I do not hinder myself.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
I must die. If at once, I die; if soon, I dine now, as the hour for it has come; afterwards I will die. [...] As befits one who is giving back what is not his own.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Life is an indifferent thing, but the way we live it is not.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
It is good [...] to remain calm in matters one has not learned, and not to be indignant at seeing others succeed better than you in them.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
In all that requires practice, do not claim to have what practice alone gives; leave the advantage to those who have practiced, and be content with your tranquility.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Always remember what is yours and what is not yours, and you will not be disturbed by anything.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
As long as I do not know what is to follow, I always choose what is most suitable for living according to nature.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
If I knew it was my destiny to be sick, I would go towards the sickness of my own accord.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Let us know that [...] it is an impious desire in man to wish never to die. It is like the wish never to ripen, never to be cut.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
It is because we do not know what we are [...] that we become indignant.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
None of us, when necessity calls, is willing to comply without difficulty: it is with tears, it is with groans, that we endure what we must endure.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
What is there to deplore in the perishing of that which was born?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
What does it matter to you by which road you descend into the underworld? They are all of equal worth.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
What could compel you to believe what you do not want to believe? [...] And what danger is there for you in the errors of others?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
What is it to be exiled? Is it to be somewhere other than Rome?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
The tribunal and the prison are different places [...]; but your judgment and your will can remain the same in either, if you wish.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
We shall be emulators of Socrates when we can write paeans in prison.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Where is the good? In our free will. Where is the evil? In our free will. What are the indifferent things? Those which do not depend on our free will.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Why then be surprised to surpass yourself in the things for which you have prepared, and to remain troubled in those for which you have not prepared?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
[The orator] wants to be praised by the audience. Now, he has studied to [...] deliver his speech, but concerning praise and blame, he has studied nothing.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
What do we value? External things. To what do we attach ourselves? To external things. Can we then ask ourselves where our fears and torments come from?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
For the present case [...] has he given you nothing? Has he not given you patience? Has he not given you greatness of soul? Has he not given you courage?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Who, when walking, is concerned with their manner of walking? Who, when deliberating [...], is concerned with the deliberation itself, and not with the means of success?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
If we were afraid, not of death and exile, but of fear itself, it is fear that we would strive to avoid as an evil.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
What is it then that troubles me [...]? Is it the sea? No; it is my judgment.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
What then is the cause of our sorrows and despairs? What is it, if not our judgments?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
I do not want it to be some trifle, but the correctness of our judgments, that produces this effect on us.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
What is [...] the law? To look after what is our own, and not to desire what is not our own; to use what is given to us; not to regret what is not given to us.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Wretched man, is not what you see every day enough for you? Can you see anything more beautiful [...] than the sun, the moon, the stars, and the earth, and the sea?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Man, renounce everything [...] to be happy, to be free, to have a great soul. Hold your head high; you are delivered from servitude.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Dare to lift your eyes to God, and say to him: 'Do with me from now on as you please; I submit to you; I am yours. I refuse nothing that you shall judge fitting.'
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Drive from your heart [...] sadness, fear, covetousness, envy, malevolence, avarice, effeminacy, and intemperance.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
The beginning of philosophy [...] is the feeling of our infirmity and our weakness in essential matters.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
As for good and evil, [...] who has come into the world without having the notion of it within them?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
All men agree on first principles [...]; but they reach doubtful conclusions because they do not apply them well.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
If, along with these notions [of good and evil], one also had the talent to apply them, what would prevent one from being perfect?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Is it possible, when your judgments contradict each other, that both sides are properly applying the first principles?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Therefore, arrive at something that is superior to appearance.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
The beginning of philosophy is to perceive contradictions [...], to seek their cause, to make little of mere appearance, and to hold it in suspicion.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
How could contradictory things be equally true?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Just because something seems true to someone is not a reason for it to be so.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
In matters of weights and measures we do not rely on appearance, [...] we have found a sure way to decide in each case.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
How could it be that what is most necessary for humankind is impossible to discover and recognize? Such a standard must therefore exist.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Should the good be of a nature to give us complete security and confidence? [...] Now, can one be sure of that which is unstable?
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
Remove [pleasure], then; take it from the scales; cast it far from the place of true goods.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
This is how one appraises and weighs things, when one has established rules of judgment.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus
To philosophize is nothing other than to examine and strengthen these rules. And to apply those which are recognized is the task of the wise person.
c. 108 AD
Source: The Discourses of Epictetus