Discourses and Selected Writings (Classics)

by Epictetus

while there is only the one thing we can care for and devote ourselves to, we choose instead to care about and attach ourselves to a score of others: to our bodies, to our property, to our family, friends

Make the best use of what is in our power, and treat the rest in accordance with its nature. And what is its nature? However God decides.

‘I will put you in chains.’ ‘What’s that you say, friend? It’s only my leg you will chain, not even God can conquer my will.’

‘I have to die. If it is now, well then I die now; if later, then now I will take my lunch, since the hour for lunch has arrived – and dying I will tend to later.’

Man, the rational animal, can put up with anything except what seems to him irrational; whatever is rational is tolerable.

Make it your goal never to fail in your desires or experience things you would rather avoid; try never to err in impulse and repulsion; aim to be perfect also in the practice of attention and withholding judgement.

If you are, in fact, acting in accord with nature, then show me, and I will be the first to say that you are making progress. But otherwise, be off, and rather than just comment on books, you might as well go write one yourself. But, in the end, what good will it do you?

Don’t put your purpose in one place and expect to see progress made somewhere else.

But anyone whose sole passion is reading books, and who does little else besides, having moved here for this – my advice for them is to go back home immediately and attend to business there, [23] because they left home for nothing.

even though you have these powers free and entirely your own, you don’t use them, because you still don’t realize what you have or where it came from.

some of you blind to your benefactor, and unable to acknowledge his existence; others assailing God with complaints and accusations from sheer meanness of spirit.

Getting an education means learning to bring our will in line with the way things happen – which is to say, as the ruler of the universe arranged. [16] He arranged for there to be summer and winter, abundance and lack, virtue and vice – all such opposites meant for the harmony of the whole; and he gave us each a body and bodily parts, material belongings, family and friends.

When you are by yourself you should call it peace and liberty,

When you’re with a large group you shouldn’t say you’re in a mob or crowd, but a guest at a feast or festival – and in that spirit learn to enjoy it.

The gods have released you from accountability for your parents, your siblings, your body, your possessions – for death and for life itself.

So why take on the burden of matters which you cannot answer for? You are only making unnecessary problems for yourself.

‘But I have a bill of sale for them, while they have none for me.’ ‘Don’t you see that, instead of the laws of the gods, you only have regard for the earth, the pit and the contemptible laws of the dead?’

Whenever you close your doors and turn out your lights, remember, never say to yourself that you are alone; [14] you’re not. God is inside,

‘Philosophy does not claim to secure for us anything outside our control. Otherwise it would be taking on∗ matters that do not concern it.

Antisthenes? It was he who wrote, ‘The beginning of education is the examination of terms.’

If you must be affected by other people’s misfortunes, show them pity instead of contempt. Drop this readiness to hate and take offence. [10] Who are you to use those common curses, like ‘These damned fools,’ etc.? [11] Let them be. Since when are you so intelligent as to go around correcting other people’s mistakes?

‘But the tyrant will chain –’ What will he chain? Your leg. ‘He will chop off –’ What? Your head. What he will never chain or chop off is your integrity. That’s the reason behind the ancient advice to ‘know yourself’.

A person who enjoys some advantage, or just believes they do, will invariably grow to be arrogant, especially if they are uneducated.

If a tyrant threatens to chain our leg, whoever holds his leg in high regard will beg for mercy, whereas the person who cares more for his character will answer back, “Go ahead and chain it, if that’s what you want.”’

‘But my name will survive me.’ ‘Carve it in stone and it will survive you just as well.

When someone is properly grounded in life, they shouldn’t have to look outside themselves for approval.

And who exactly are these people that you want to be admired by? Aren’t they the same people you are in the habit of calling crazy? And is this your life ambition, then – to win the approval of lunatics?

In the same way you may be sure that whatever you are seen to protect, that will become your enemy’s focus of attack.

remember that it is we who torment, we who make difficulties for ourselves – that is, our opinions do.

‘This, then, is the beginning of philosophy – an awareness of one’s own mental fitness. Consciousness of its weakness will keep you from tackling difficult subjects.

No, I cannot escape death, [10] but at least I can escape the fear of it

[1] The essence of good and evil consists in the condition of our character. [2] And externals are the means by which our character finds its particular good and evil.

Tell me, what Introduction to Philosophy could I have read that would have saved me from being dragged away if a stronger man grabs me by the cloak; or could have kept me out of prison if I am assaulted by a gang of ten? [24] What philosophy has taught me, though, is to be indifferent to events beyond the will’s control.

‘Be confident in everything outside the will, and cautious in everything under the will’s control.’

Death and pain are not frightening, it’s the fear of pain and death we need to fear. Which is why we praise the poet who wrote, ‘Death is not fearful, but dying like a coward is.’

What is a child? Ignorance and inexperience. But with respect to what it knows, a child is every bit our equal.

Eventually, body and soul will have to separate, just as they existed separately before we were born. So why be upset if it happens now? If it isn’t now, it’s later.

treat with confidence whatever lies outside the will, but must treat with caution what lies within.

Show them this, though, that you know how not to fail in your desires or experience what you don’t desire.

Which is why Socrates, when he was told to prepare himself for trial, said, ‘Haven’t I been preparing for it my whole life?’ [9] Preparing for it how? ‘I’ve tended to my own affairs, and never done anything in violation of the law, either publicly or privately.’

‘Who’s my “master”?’ Whoever controls what you desire or dislike.

as human beings, we are born to be faithful to one another, and that whoever denies this denies their humanity.

So in life our first job is this, to divide and distinguish things into two categories: externals I cannot control, but the choices I make with regard to them I do control.

‘All roads to Hades are of equal length.’

[1] God is helpful. Whatever is good is also helpful. It is reasonable to suppose, then, that the divine nature and the nature of the good will correspond. [2] So what is the divine nature? Is it flesh? Be serious. Do we associate it with real estate and status? Hardly. It is mind, intelligence and correct reason.

do you remember that it is God you are feeding, God you are exercising? You carry God around with you and don’t know it, poor fool. [13] Don’t imagine I am talking about some external deity made of silver or gold. You carry the living God inside you and are blind to the fact that you desecrate him with your dirty words and dirty thoughts – [14] none of which you would dare repeat if there were even a mere statue of a god near by. God himself is there within, seeing and overhearing everything you do and say

Next, remember that you are somebody’s son. What does this social role mean? It means regarding everything of yours as belonging to your father as well, always letting him have his way, never trying to hurt him with your words or actions, or griping about him behind his back. Defer to him at every opportunity, and in the same spirit cooperate with him as best you can.

Next, know that you are a brother. This role also calls for deference, respect and civility. Never get into family fights over material things; give them up willingly, and your moral standing will increase in proportion.

Finally, reflect on the other social roles you play. If you are a council member, consider what a council member should do. If you are young, what does being young mean, if you are old, what does age imply, [11] if you are a father, what does fatherhood entail? Each of our titles, when reflected upon, suggests the acts appropriate to it.

when a guide meets up with someone who is lost, ordinarily his reaction is to direct him on the right path, not mock or malign him, then turn on his heel and walk away.