Epictetus Quotes: 40 Sayings Explained, With Their Real Sources

Facebook ↗WhatsApp ↗
0 0 Edit this post
40 Golden Words By Epictetus, The Ancient Greek Philosopher Who Was Born A Slave

Epictetus was a Greek Stoic teacher who began life as a slave and ended it running one of the most respected schools of philosophy in the Roman world. His central lesson is simple to state and hard to live: separate what is up to you (your judgements, choices and efforts) from what is not (other people, fortune, your reputation, your body), and put your energy only into the first. Almost every saying linked to his name is a variation on that idea.

Below are forty sayings that circulate under his name, grouped by theme and explained in plain English. Popular quote lists mix genuine translations with modern rewrites and misattributions, so each one carries a short note on where it really comes from.

Who was Epictetus?

He was born around AD 50 in Hierapolis, a city in Phrygia that is now Pamukkale in western Turkey. Older summaries give c. 55; the true year is unknown. He died around AD 135.

As a young man he lived in Rome as the slave of Epaphroditus, a wealthy freedman who had served as a secretary to the emperor Nero. Epictetus was lame. Ancient writers disagree on why: one claimed his master broke his leg, another that he was disabled from childhood. Some time after Nero died in AD 68 he gained his freedom and began teaching in Rome.

Around AD 93 the emperor Domitian expelled the philosophers from the city. Epictetus moved to Nicopolis in Epirus, on the west coast of Greece, opened a school and stayed there for the rest of his life.

He wrote nothing himself. What we have comes from his student Arrian, who recorded the lectures as the Discourses (four of an original eight books survive) and condensed the key teachings into the Enchiridion, or Handbook, a pocket guide of 53 short chapters.

His core idea: what is up to us

The Handbook opens by dividing the world in two. Our opinions, desires, aversions and choices belong to us. Our bodies, property, status and the behaviour of others do not. Modern writers call this the dichotomy of control, although Epictetus never used that phrase.

The practical consequence appears in chapter 5, which is probably the most quoted line he ever taught:

“What upsets people is not things themselves but their judgments about the things.” (Enchiridion 5)

The psychologist Albert Ellis, whose rational emotive behaviour therapy helped shape modern cognitive therapy, often pointed to Epictetus as a forerunner. The Handbook was also adapted as a rule for Greek monasteries and later owned by Franklin, Jefferson and Adam Smith. Marcus Aurelius quotes him in the Meditations.

Sayings on control, judgement and calm

The notes in brackets say whether the wording comes from Arrian’s texts or from later retellings.

  • 1. Freedom is a decision. Whether you live as a slave or as a free person, the saying goes, depends on you alone. (Popular wording with no exact match in Arrian; it sums up the spirit of the Discourses.)
  • 3. Want what actually happens. Stop insisting that events follow your wishes; wish for them to unfold as they do, and life goes smoothly. (Enchiridion 8, genuine.)
  • 10. Anger hands someone the controls. Whoever can make you furious becomes your master, but only because you allowed their behaviour to disturb you. (Loose rendering of Enchiridion 20.)
  • 11. Reaction over event. What matters is not what befalls you but how you respond. (A modern one-line summary of Enchiridion 5, not a translation.)
  • 15. Worry about the worry. We suffer less from real problems than from our imagined fears about them. (Modern paraphrase in the spirit of Enchiridion 5.)
  • 18. The single road to happiness. Stop fretting over what lies beyond the reach of your will. (Widely quoted wording that reflects the Discourses; exact source unconfirmed.)
  • 27. Views, not things, disturb us. An older translation of the line quoted above. (Enchiridion 5, genuine.)
  • 33. Self-mastery as freedom. Nobody is free who cannot govern himself. (Preserved among the fragments credited to Epictetus; wording varies by translator.)
  • 35. Look inward for the good. Do not hunt for goodness in outside things; it is found in yourself. (Close to passages in the Discourses; exact chapter unconfirmed.)
  • 36. Gratitude over grievance. The wise person rejoices in what he has rather than grieving for what he lacks. (One of the ancient fragments collected under his name.)
  • 40. The same lesson again. A second translation of number 3, about wishing events to happen as they do. (Enchiridion 8; a duplicate in the original list.)

Sayings on character, effort and learning

Epictetus treated philosophy as training, closer to the wrestling school than the library:

“Difficulty shows what men are.” (Discourses 1.24)

  • 2. The rough sparring partner. When trouble comes, picture a wrestling coach pairing you with a tough opponent so that you can become an Olympic champion, which no one does without sweat. (Discourses 1.24, genuine.)
  • 5. Reading is not the goal. Books are weights for the mind; what counts is whether they made you think more clearly, not how many you got through. (From Sharon Lebell’s modern interpretation, The Art of Living, not a translation.)
  • 8. Knowing your price. Asked whether to perform in Nero’s shows, the Stoic Agrippinus said he would not even weigh the question; once you start pricing your integrity, you are halfway to losing it. (Discourses 1.2, genuine.)
  • 12. The contest is now. Stop postponing your own improvement; you are no longer a child, the Olympics have started, and a single day can make or break your progress. (Enchiridion 51, genuine.)
  • 14. Accept looking foolish. If you want to make progress, be willing to seem ignorant about things that do not matter. (Enchiridion 13, genuine.)
  • 16. Decide, then act. First tell yourself what kind of person you want to be, then do what that requires. (Discourses 3.23, genuine.)
  • 17. Live it, don’t lecture it. Show your philosophy through conduct rather than talk. (A modern compression of Enchiridion 46, which advises against calling yourself a philosopher.)
  • 24. Education as liberation. In Epictetus’s view only the educated are free, because only they can govern their own judgements. (Discourses 2.1, genuine; he turns around the common view that only free men deserve an education.)
  • 25. Three stages of learning. Blaming others for your misfortune shows you are untaught; blaming yourself shows you have started; blaming nobody shows you have finished. (Enchiridion 5, genuine.)
  • 26. Circumstances reveal. Hard situations do not create character; they show it to you. (Popular modern wording echoing Discourses 1.24.)
  • 28. The full cup. You cannot learn what you believe you already know. (Discourses 2.17, genuine.)
  • 34. Storms make pilots. The harder the struggle, the greater the credit for overcoming it, just as sailors earn their name in rough weather. (Found in older collections of his sayings; exact source unconfirmed.)
  • 37. Inhabit this moment. Attend to the person and task in front of you and stop dodging your own life. (Lebell’s interpretation, not ancient wording.)
  • 38. Do not perform wisdom. Avoid trying to look wise in front of others. (Enchiridion 13, genuine.)

Sayings on other people, speech and wealth

  • 4. Guard your attention. Much entertainment feeds on our weaknesses, so be selective about the images and ideas you let in, or someone else will choose them for you. (Lebell’s modern interpretation.)
  • 6. The rich man. Asked who is rich, Epictetus is said to have answered: the one who is content. (From the fragments in Hastings Crossley’s Golden Sayings; ancient attribution uncertain.)
  • 7. Two ears, one tongue. We were made to listen twice as much as we speak. (Appears in collections under his name, but the ancient biographer Diogenes Laertius credits the idea to Zeno of Citium, founder of Stoicism.)
  • 9. Do not bet everything on one hope. A ship should not trust a single anchor, nor a life a single hope. (One of the fragments attributed to Epictetus.)
  • 13. Choose your company. Spend time with people who bring out your best. (Lebell’s interpretation; the Handbook does warn about careless company in chapter 33.)
  • 19. Wealth as few wants. Being rich means needing little rather than owning much. (No exact ancient source located; treat as attributed.)
  • 20. Answering gossip with humour. If told that someone is speaking badly of you, skip the defence and reply that they clearly did not know your other faults. (Enchiridion 33, genuine.)
  • 21. Moods are catching. Avoid picking up negative attitudes from the people around you. (Lebell’s interpretation.)
  • 29. A small soul and a body. You are a little soul carrying a corpse around. (Quoted as a saying of Epictetus by Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 4.41.)
  • 30. Think before speaking. First understand what you mean, then say it. (Older collections; exact source unconfirmed.)
  • 31. Untouchable. Those who think they can harm me do not know me, and cannot reach the things that are truly mine. (Widely shared; no confirmed source in Arrian, though the idea is pure Epictetus.)
  • 32. Hold to your aims. Keep faith with your highest aspirations whatever others think or do. (Lebell’s interpretation.)
  • 39. Criticism, true or false. If a bad report about you is true, fix yourself; if it is false, laugh it off. (Older fragment collections; exact source unconfirmed.)

Modern paraphrases and misattributions

Two items in the list should not be credited to Epictetus at all.

  • 22. Laughing at yourself. The line about never running out of material if you laugh at yourself has no known source in his works or fragments. It appears to be a modern quip attached to a famous name.
  • 23. Tolerating all religions. The remark that all religions must be tolerated and that everyone must reach heaven in their own way is generally traced to Frederick the Great of Prussia in the eighteenth century, not to a Greek philosopher of the second century.

A larger group, marked above as Lebell’s interpretation, comes from The Art of Living (HarperOne, 1995). Its title page describes it as a new interpretation by Sharon Lebell, and it is exactly that: an accessible modern retelling of Stoic ideas, not a line-by-line translation.

To check any quote, search a full translation of the Discourses or the Enchiridion. If it is not there or among the ancient fragments, call it attributed.

How to put his ideas to work

Epictetus expected daily practice. Three small habits drawn from the texts:

  • Sort before you react. When something upsets you, ask which part is up to you. Your next action is; the other person’s tone is not.
  • Rename the event. Swap the judgement (a disaster) for a description (the train is late).
  • Review the day. In the evening, note where you acted well and where you blamed others, the three stages of item 25 in miniature.

Reading Epictetus yourself

For the real voice, start with the short Enchiridion, then the Discourses. Editions mentioned above:

For more on the thinkers who shaped him and those he influenced, see these pieces on happiness according to three Greek philosophers and the great philosophers and their books.

Sources: Wikipedia: Epictetus (life, dates, Arrian’s works); Wikipedia: Enchiridion of Epictetus (structure, chapter 5 translation, later influence); Wikipedia: Frederick the Great (religious tolerance in Prussia); Knox County Public Library catalogue (The Art of Living, a new interpretation by Sharon Lebell, 1995).

Related:

Labels:

Facebook ↗WhatsApp ↗

COMMENTS

BLOGGER