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Born into slavery in Phrygia and physically disabled, Epictetus rose to become one of the most influential figures of the late Stoic period, proving that philosophy is a refuge accessible to anyone, regardless of circumstance. He lived during the height of the Roman Empire, studying under Musonius Rufus before earning his freedom and eventually being banished by Emperor Domitian to Nicopolis, Greece. While he never wrote a book himself, his lectures were meticulously captured by his student Arrian in the 'Discourses' and the distilled 'Enchiridion' (Handbook). Epictetus is distinct among Stoics for his rigorous focus on the 'dichotomy of control,' the foundational idea that suffering arises exclusively from trying to control events outside our power.
Philosopher · Teacher
Epictetus (c. 50–135 AD) was a Greek Stoic philosopher whose life trajectory—from a crippled slave in Hierapolis to a revered teacher in Nicopolis—exemplifies his philosophy of inner freedom. Unlike the wealthy Seneca or the imperial Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus taught that true liberty is not political status but the mastery of one’s own volition (prohairesis). He famously distinguished between what is 'up to us' (our judgments, desires, and aversions) and what is not (body, reputation, and wealth). Expelled from Rome by Emperor Domitian, he established a school where he lectured on ethics as a practical discipline, urging students to endure hardship and renounce dependency on external fortune. His teachings, transcribed by his student Arrian in the Discourses and the Enchiridion, remain the definitive manual for cultivating resilience, rationality, and peace of mind in an unpredictable world.
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"Book III, ch. 23, § 1."
"Who are those people by whom you wish to be admired? Are they not these about whom you are in the habit of saying that they are mad? What then? Do you wish to be admired by the mad? Book I, ch. 21, § 4."
"If anyone tells you that a certain person speaks ill of you, do not make excuses, just answer: He was ignorant of my other faults."
"For human beings, the measure of every action is the impression of the senses. Book I, ch. 28, § 10"
"Curb your desire—don't set your heart on so many things and you will get what you need."
"Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens."
"What should a philosopher say, then, in the face of each of the hardships of life? "It was for this that I've been training myself, it was for this that I was practising." Book III, ch. 10, § 7."
"It is the act of an ill-instructed man to blame others for his own bad condition; it is the act of one who has begun to be instructed, to lay the blame on himself; and of one whose instruction is completed, neither to blame another, nor himself. (5) [tr. George Long (1888)]."
"When you close your doors, and make darkness within, remember never to say that you are alone, for you are not alone; nay, God is within, and your genius is within. And what need have they of light to see what you are doing? Book I, ch. 14, § 13–14."
"Is it possible that what is not in our power to be either good or evil?"
"Be bold to look towards God and say, "Use me henceforward for whatever you want; I am of one mind with you; I am yours; I refuse nothing that seems good to you; lead me where you will; wrap me in what clothes you will." Book II, ch. 16, § 42"
"For what is it that everyone is seeking? To live securely, to be happy, to do everything as they wish to do, not to be hindered, not to be subject to compulsion. Book IV, ch. 1, § 46."
"What is the first business of one who practices philosophy? To get rid of self-conceit. For it is impossible for anyone to begin to learn that which he thinks he already knows. Book II, ch. 17, § 1."
"Show me someone who is ill and yet happy, in danger and yet happy, dying and yet happy, exiled and yet happy. Show me such a person; by the gods, how greatly I long to see a Stoic! Book II, ch. 19, § 24."
"Any person capable of angering you becomes your master; he can anger you only when you permit yourself to be disturbed by him."
"God has entrusted me with myself."
"The propositions which are true and evident must of necessity be employed even by those who contradict them Book II, ch. 20, § 1"
"Why, what is weeping and sighing? A judgement. What is misfortune? A judgement. What are strife, disagreement, fault-finding, accusing, impiety, foolishness? They are all judgements. Book III, ch. 3, § 18–19."
"Were I a nightingale, I would act the part of a nightingale; were I a swan, the part of a swan. Book I, ch. 16, § 20."
"But tell me this: did you never love any person... were you never commanded by the person beloved to do something which you did not wish to do? Have you never flattered your little slave? Have you never kissed her feet? And yet if any man compelled you to kiss Caesar's feet, you would think it an insult and excessive tyranny. What else then is slavery? Book IV, ch. 1, § 17."
"It is not things that trouble us, but our judgment about things."
"Attach yourself to what is spiritually superior, regardless of what other people think or do."
"It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows."
"Conduct me, Jove, and you, O Destiny, Wherever your decrees have fixed my station. ~ Cleanthes."
"Other people's views and troubles can be contagious. Don't sabotage yourself by unwittingly adopting negative attitudes."
"Man is not worried by real problems so much as by his imagined anxieties about real problems."
"You are a little soul carrying a corpse around, as Epictetus used to say. Fragment 26 (Oldfather translation). This fragment originates from Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, IV. 41."
"For what is lacking now is not quibbles; nay, the books of the Stoics are full of quibbles Book I, ch. 29, § 56"
"Sickness is a hindrance to the body, but not to your ability to choose, unless that is your choice."
"Small-minded people blame others. Average people blame themselves. The wise see all blame as foolishness."
"Look now, this is the starting point of philosophy: the recognition that different people have conflicting opinions, the rejection of mere opinion so that it comes to be viewed with mistrust, an investigation of opinion to determine whether it is rightly held, and the discovery of a standard of judgement, comparable to the balance that we have devised for the determining of weights, or the carpenter's rule for determining whether things are straight or crooked. Book II, ch. 11, § 13."
"as translated by Elizabeth Carter"
"True instruction is this: learning to will that things should happen just as they do happen."
"Yet God hath not only granted these faculties, by which we may bear every event without being depressed or broken by it, but like a good prince and a true father, hath placed their exercise above restraint, compulsion, or hindrance, and wholly within our own control. Book I, ch. 6, § 40."
"If it is my interest to have a farm, it is my interest to take it away from my neighbour; if it is my interest to have a cloak, it is my interest also to steal it from a bath. This is the source of wars, seditions, tyrannies, plots. Book I, ch. 22, § 14."
Quick answers about Epictetus.
Epictetus's contributions are crucial because he stripped philosophy of academic pretension, presenting it as a necessary survival kit for the human condition rather than an intellectual hobby. His rigorous emphasis on the 'dichotomy of control' provides a timeless framework for mental resilience, having influenced figures ranging from Emperor Marcus Aurelius to prisoner of war James Stockdale.
To apply Epictetus's specific teachings today, one must constantly interrogate their initial impressions of events by asking, 'Is this within my control? ' When facing adversity, his method involves separating the external event from one's internal judgment of it, focusing energy solely on maintaining a virtuous character rather than altering inevitable outcomes.
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"It is not things that disturb us, but our judgments concerning things."