Of things some are in our power, and others are not. In our power are opinion (ὑπόληψις), movement towards a thing (ὁρμή), desire, aversion (ἔκκλισις, turning from a thing); and in a word, whatever ar...

Of things some are in our power, and others are not. In our power are opinion (ὑπόληψις), movement towards a thing (ὁρμή), desire, aversion (ἔκκλισις, turning from a thing); and in a word, whatever ar...

Remember that desire contains in it the profession (hope) of obtaining that which you desire; and the profession (hope) in aversion (turning from a thing) is that you will not fall into that which you...

In everything which pleases the soul, or supplies a want, or is loved, remember to add this to the (description, notion); what is the nature of each thing, beginning from the smallest? If you love an ...

When you are going to take in hand any act, remind yourself what kind of an act it is. If you are going to bathe, place before yourself what happens in the bath: some splashing the water, others pushi...

Men are disturbed not by the things which happen, but by the opinions about the things: for example, death is nothing terrible, for if it were, it would have seemed so to Socrates; for the opinion abo...

Be not elated at any advantage (excellence), which belongs to another. If a horse when he is elated should say, I am beautiful, one might endure it. But when you are elated, and say, I have a beautifu...

As on a voyage when the vessel has reached a port, if you go out to get water, it is an amusement by the way to pick up a shellfish or some bulb, but your thoughts ought to be directed to the ship, an...

Seek not that the things which happen6 should happen as you wish; but wish the things which happen to be as they are, and you will have a tranquil flow of life....

Disease is an impediment to the body, but not to the will, unless the will itself chooses. Lameness is an impediment to the leg, but not to the will. And add this reflection on the occasion of everyth...

On the occasion of every accident (event) that befalls you, remember to turn to yourself and inquire what power you have for turning it to use. If you see a fair man or a fair woman, you will find tha...

Never say about anything, I have lost it, but say I have restored it. Is your child dead? It has been restored. Is your wife dead? She has been restored. Has your estate been taken from you? Has not t...

If you intend to improve, throw away such thoughts as these: if I neglect my affairs, I shall not have the means of living: unless I chastise my slave, he will be bad. For it is better to die of hunge...

If you would improve, submit to be considered without sense and foolish with respect to externals. Wish to be considered to know nothing: and if you shall seem to some to be a person of importance, di...

If you would have your children and your wife and your friends to live forever, you are silly; for you would have the things which are not in your power to be in your power, and the things which belon...

Remember that in life you ought to behave as at a banquet. Suppose that something is carried round and is opposite to you. Stretch out your hand and take a portion with decency. Suppose that it passes...

When you see a person weeping in sorrow either when a child goes abroad or when he is dead, or when the man has lost his property, take care that the appearance do not hurry you away with it, as if he...

Remember that thou art an actor in a play,12 of such a kind as the teacher (author)13 may choose; if short, of a short one; if long, of a long one: if he wishes you to act the part of a poor man, see ...

When a raven has croaked inauspiciously, let not the appearance hurry you away with it; but straightway make a distinction in your mind and say, None of these things is signified to me, but either to ...

You can be invincible, if you enter into no contest in which it is not in your power to conquer. Take care then when you observe a man honoured before others or possessed of great power or highly este...

Remember that it is not he who reviles you or strikes you, who insults you, but it is your opinion about these things as being insulting. When then a man irritates you, you must know that it is your o...

Let death and exile and every other thing which appears dreadful be daily before your eyes; but most of all death: and you will never think of anything mean nor will you desire anything extravagantly....

If you desire philosophy, prepare yourself from the beginning to be ridiculed, to expect that many will sneer at you, and say, He has all at once returned to us as a philosopher; and whence does he ge...

If it should ever happen to you to be turned to externals in order to please some person, you must know that you have lost your purpose in life.14 Be satisfied then in everything with being a philosop...

Let not these thoughts afflict you, I shall live unhonoured and be nobody nowhere. For if want of honour (ἀτιμία) is an evil, you cannot be in evil through the means (fault) of another any more than y...

Has any man been preferred before you at a banquet, or in being saluted, or in being invited to a consultation? If these things are good, you ought to rejoice that he has obtained them: but if bad, be...

We may learn the wish (will) of nature from the things in which we do not differ from one another: for instance, when your neighbour’s slave has broken his cup, or anything else, we are ready to say f...

As a mark is not set up for the purpose of missing the aim, so neither does the nature of evil exist in the world.19...

If any person was intending to put your body in the power of any man whom you fell in with on the way, you would be vexed: but that you put your understanding in the power of any man whom you meet, so...

In every act observe the things which come first, and those which follow it; and so proceed to the act. If you do not, at first you will approach it with alacrity, without having thought of the things...

Duties are universally measured by relations (ταῖς σχέσεσι). Is a man a father? The precept is to take care of him, to yield to him in all things, to submit when he is reproachful, when he inflicts bl...

As to piety towards the Gods you must know that this is the chief thing, to have right opinions about them, to think that they exist, and that they administer the All well and justly; and you must fix...

When you have recourse to divination, remember that you do not know how it will turn out, but that you are come to inquire from the diviner. But of what kind it is, you know when you come, if indeed y...

Immediately prescribe some character and some form to yourself, which you shall observe both when you are alone and when you meet with men. And let silence be the general rule, or let only what is nec...

If you have received the impression (φαντασίαν) of any pleasure, guard yourself against being carried away by it; but let the thing wait for you, and allow yourself a certain delay on your own part. T...

When you have decided that a thing ought to be done and are doing it, never avoid being seen doing it, though the many shall form an unfavourable opinion about it. For if it is not right to do it, avo...

As the proposition it is either day or it is night is of great importance for the disjunctive argument, but for the conjunctive is of no value,28 so in a symposium (entertainment) to select the larger...

If you have assumed a character above your strength, you have both acted in this matter in an unbecoming way, and you have neglected that which you might have fulfilled....

In walking about as you take care not to step on a nail or to sprain your foot, so take care not to damage your own ruling faculty: and if we observe this rule in every act, we shall undertake the act...

The measure of possession (property) is to every man the body, as the foot is of the shoe.30 If then you stand on this rule (the demands of the body), you will maintain the measure: but if you pass be...

Women forthwith from the age of fourteen32 are called by the men mistresses (κυρίαι, dominae). Therefore since they see that there is nothing else that they can obtain, but only the power of lying wit...

It is a mark of a mean capacity to spend much time on the things which concern the body, such as much exercise, much eating, much drinking, much easing of the body, much copulation. But these things s...

When any person treats you ill or speaks ill of you, remember that he does this or says this because he thinks that it is his duty. It is not possible then for him to follow that which seems right to ...

Everything has two handles, the one by which it may be borne, the other by which it may not. If your brother acts unjustly, do not lay hold of the act by that handle wherein he acts unjustly, for this...

These reasonings do not cohere: I am richer than you, therefore I am better than you; I am more eloquent than you, therefore I am better than you. On the contrary these rather cohere, I am richer than...

Does a man bathe quickly (early)? do not say that he bathes badly, but that he bathes quickly. Does a man drink much wine? do not say that he does this badly, but say that he drinks much. For before y...

On no occasion call yourself a philosopher, and do not speak much among the uninstructed about theorems (philosophical rules, precepts): but do that which follows from them. For example at a banquet d...

When at a small cost you are supplied with everything for the body, do not be proud of this; nor, if you drink water, say on every occasion, I drink water. But consider first how much more frugal the ...

The condition and characteristic of an uninstructed person is this: he never expects from himself profit (advantage) nor harm, but from externals. The condition and characteristic of a philosopher is ...

When a man is proud because he can understand and explain the writings of Chrysippus, say to yourself, If Chrysippus had not written obscurely, this man would have had nothing to be proud of. But what...

Whatever things (rules) are proposed38 to you [for the conduct of life] abide by them, as if they were laws, as if you would be guilty of impiety if you transgressed any of them. And whatever any man ...

How long will you then still defer thinking yourself worthy of the best things, and in no matter transgressing the distinctive reason?39 Have you accepted the theorems (rules), which it was your duty ...

The first and most necessary place (part, τόπος) in philosophy is the use of theorems (precepts, φεωρήματα), for instance, that we must not lie: the second part is that of demonstrations, for instance...

In everything (circumstance) we should hold these maxims ready to hand: Lead me, O Zeus, and thou O Destiny, The way that I am bid by you to go: To follow I am ready. If I choose not, I make myself a ...

These Fragments are entitled “Epicteti Fragmenta maxime ex Ioanne Stobaeo, Antonio, et Maximo collecta” (ed. Schweig.). There are some notes and emendations on the Fragments; and a short dissertation ...

The life which is implicated with fortune (depends on fortune) is like a winter torrent: for it is turbulent, and full of mud, and difficult to cross, and tyrannical, and noisy, and of short duration....

A soul which is conversant with virtue is like an ever flowing source, for it is pure and tranquil and potable and sweet43 and communicative (social), and rich and harmless and free from mischief....

If you wish to be good, first believe that you are bad....

It is better to do wrong seldom and to own it, and to act right for the most part, than seldom to admit that you have done wrong and to do wrong often....

Check (punish) your passions (πάφη), that you may not be punished by them....

Do not so much be ashamed of that (disgrace) which proceeds from men’s opinion as fly from that which comes from the truth....

If you wish to be well spoken of, learn to speak well (of others): and when you have learned to speak well of them, try to act well, and so you will reap the fruit of being well spoken of....

Freedom and slavery, the one is the name of virtue, and the other of vice: and both are acts of the will. But where there is no will, neither of them touches (affects) these things. But the soul is ac...

It is an evil chain, fortune (a chain) of the body, and vice of the soul. For he who is loose (free) in the body, but bound in the soul is a slave: but on the contrary he who is bound in the body, but...

The bond of the body is loosened by nature through death, and by vice through money:45 but the bond of the soul is loosened by learning, and by experience and by discipline....

If you wish to live without perturbation and with pleasure, try to have all who dwell with you good. And you will have them good, if you instruct the willing, and dismiss those who are unwilling (to b...

It is a shame for those who sweeten drink with the gifts of the bees, by badness to embitter reason which is the gift of the gods....

No man who loves money, and loves pleasure, and loves fame, also loves mankind, but only he who loves virtue....

As you would not choose to sail in a large and decorated and gold-laden ship (or ship ornamented with gold), and to be drowned; so do not choose to dwell in a large and costly house and to be disturbe...

When we have been invited to a banquet, we take what is set before us: but if a guest should ask the host to set before him fish or sweet cakes, he would be considered to be an unreasonable fellow. Bu...

They are amusing fellows, said he (Epictetus), who are proud of the things which are not in our power. A man says, I am better than you, for I possess much land, and you are wasting with hunger. Anoth...

The sick are vexed with the physician who gives them no advice, and think that he has despaired of them. But why should they not have the same feeling towards the philosopher, and think that he has de...

Those who are well constituted in the body endure both heat and cold: and so those who are well constituted in the soul endure both anger and grief and excessive joy and the other affects....

Examine yourself whether you wish to be rich or to be happy. If you wish to be rich, you should know that it is neither a good thing nor at all in your power: but if you wish to be happy, you should k...

As when you see a viper or an asp or a scorpion in an ivory or golden box, you do not on account of the costliness of the material love it or think it happy, but because the nature of it is pernicious...

Wealth is not one of the good things; great expenditure is one of the bad; moderation (σωφροσύνη) is one of the good things. And moderation invites to frugality and the acquisition of good things: but...

As if you were begotten or born in a ship, you would not be eager to be the master of it (κυβερνήτης), so⁠—.47 For neither there (in the ship) will the ship naturally be connected with you, nor wealth...

If you had been born among the Persians, you would not have wished to live in Hellas (Greece), but to have lived in Persia happy: so if you are born in poverty, why do you seek to grow rich, and why d...

As it is better to lie compressed in a narrow bed and be healthy than to be tossed with disease on a broad couch, so also it is better to contract yourself within a small competence and to be happy th...

It is not poverty which produces sorrow, but desire; nor does wealth release from fear, but reason (the power of reasoning, λογισμός). If then you acquire this power of reasoning, you will neither des...

Neither is a horse elated nor proud of his manger and trappings and coverings, nor a bird of his little shreds of cloth and of his nest: but both of them are proud of their swiftness, one proud of the...

To live well differs from living extravagantly: for the first comes from moderation and a sufficiency (αὐταρκείας） and good order and propriety and frugality; but the other comes from intemperance and...

Let the measure to you of all food and drink be the first satisfying of the desire; and let the food and the pleasure be the desire (appetite) itself: and you will neither take more than is necessary,...

Make your manner of eating neither luxurious nor gloomy, but lively and frugal, that the soul may not be perturbed through being deceived by the pleasures of the body, and that it may despise them; an...

Take care that the food which you put into the stomach does not fatten (nourish) you, but the cheerfulness of the mind: for the food is changed into excrement, and ejected, and the urine also flows ou...

In banquets remember that you entertain two guests, body and soul: and whatever you shall have given to the body you soon eject: but what you shall have given to the soul, you keep always....

Do not mix anger with profuse expenditure and serve them up to your guests. Profusion which fills the body is quickly gone; but anger sinks into the soul and remains for a long time. Consider then tha...

In your banquets (meals) take care that those who serve (your slaves) are not more than those who are served; for it is foolish for many souls (persons) to wait on a few couches (seats)....

It is best if even in the preparations for a feast you take a part of the labour, and at the enjoyment of the food, while you are feasting, you share with those who serve the things which are before y...

Quarrelling and contention are everywhere foolish, and particularly in talk over wine they are unbecoming: for a man who is drunk could not teach a man who is sober, nor on the other hand could a drun...

Grasshoppers (cicadae) are musical: snails have no voice. Snails have pleasure in being moist, but grasshoppers in being dry. Next the dew invites forth the snails and for this they crawl out: but on ...

Examine in three ways him who is talking with you, as superior, or as inferior, or as equal: and if he is superior, you should listen to him and be convinced by him: but if he is inferior, you should ...

It is better by assenting to truth to conquer opinion, than by assenting to opinion to be conquered by truth....

If you seek truth, you will not seek by every means to gain a victory; and if you have found truth, you will have the gain of not being defeated....

Truth conquers with itself; but opinion conquers among those who are external.54...

It is better to live with one free man and to be without fear and free, than to be a slave with many....

What you avoid suffering, do not attempt to make others suffer. You avoid slavery: take care that others are not your slaves. For if you endure to have a slave, you appear to be a slave yourself first...

As he who is in health would not choose to be served (ministered to) by the sick, nor for those who dwell with him to be sick, so neither would a free man endure to be served by slaves, or for those w...

Whoever you are who wish to be not among the number of slaves, release yourself from slavery: and you will be free, if you are released from desire. For neither Aristides nor Epaminondas nor Lycurgus ...

If you wish your house to be well managed, imitate the Spartan Lycurgus. For as he did not fence his city with walls, but fortified the inhabitants by virtue and preserved the city always free;56 so d...

Do not hang your house round with tablets and pictures, but decorate it with moderation (σωφροσύνη): for the one is of a foreign (unsuitable) kind, and a temporary deception of the eyes; but the other...

Instead of an herd of oxen, endeavour to assemble herds of friends in your house....

As a wolf resembles a dog, so both a flatterer, and an adulterer and a parasite, resemble a friend. Take care then that instead of watch dogs you do not without knowing it let in mischievous wolves....

To be eager that your house should be admired by being whitened with gypsum, is the mark of a man who has no taste: but to set off (decorate) our morals by the goodness of our communication (social ha...

If you begin by admiring little things,57 you will not be thought worthy of great things: but if you despise the little, you will be greatly admired....

Nothing is smaller (meaner) than love of pleasure, and love of gain and pride. Nothing is superior to magnanimity, and gentleness, and love of mankind, and beneficence....

They bring forward (they name, they mention) the peevish philosophers (the Stoics), whose opinion it is that pleasure is not a thing conformable to nature, but is a thing which is consequent on the th...

In Rome the women have in their hands Plato’s Polity (the Republic), because it allows (advises) the women to be common, for they attend only to the words of Plato, not to his meaning. Now he does not...

Of pleasures those which occur most rarely give the greatest delight....

If a man should transgress moderation, the things which give the greatest delight would become the things which give the least....

It is just to commend Agrippinus for this reason, that though he was a man of the highest worth, he never praised himself; but even if another person praised him, he would blush. And he was such a man...

Diogenes said that no labour was good, unless the end (purpose) of it was courage and strength (τόνος) of the soul, but not of the body....

As a true balance is neither corrected by a true balance nor judged by a false balance, so also a just judge is neither corrected by just judges nor is he judged (condemned) by unjust judges....

As that which is straight does not need that which is straight, so neither does the just need that which is just.61...

Do not give judgment in one court (of justice) before you have been tried yourself before justice.62...

If you wish to make your judgments just, listen not to (regard not) any of those who are parties (to the suit), nor to those who plead in it, but listen to justice itself....

You will fail (stumble) least in your judgments, if you yourself fail (stumble) least in your life....

It is better when you judge justly to be blamed undeservedly by him who has been condemned than when you judge unjustly to be justly blamed by (before) nature.63...

As the stone which tests the gold is not at all tested itself by the gold, so it is with him who has the faculty of judging.64...

It is shameful for the judge to be judged by others....

As nothing is straighter than that which is straight, so nothing is juster than that which is just....

Who among us does not admire the act of Lycurgus the Lacedaemonian? For after he was maimed in one of his eyes by one of the citizens, and the young man was delivered up to him by the people that he m...

Pittacus after being wronged by a certain person and having the power of punishing him let him go, saying, Forgiveness is better than revenge: for forgiveness is the sign of a gentle nature, but reven...

But before everything this is the act of nature to bind together and to fit together the movement towards the appearance of that which is becoming (fit) and useful....

To suppose that we shall be easily despised by others, if we do not in every way do some damage to those who first show us their hostility, is the mark of very ignoble and foolish men: for (thus) we a...

When you are attacking (or going to attack) any person violently and with threats, remember to say to yourself first, that you are (by nature) mild (gentle); and if you do nothing savage, you will con...

A man ought to know that it is not easy for him to have an opinion (or fixed principle), if he does not daily say the same things, and hear the same things, and at the same time apply them to life....

[Nicias was so fond of labour (assiduous) that he often asked his slaves, if he had bathed and if he had dined.]68...

[The slaves of Archimedes used to drag him by force from his table of diagrams and anoint him; and Archimedes would then draw his figures on his own body when it had been anointed.]...

[Lampis the shipowner being asked how he acquired his wealth, answered, With no difficulty, my great wealth; but my small wealth (my first gains), with much labour.]...

Solon having been asked by Periander over their cups (παρὰ πότον), since he happened to say nothing, Whether he was silent for want of words or because he was a fool, replied: No fool is able to be si...

Attempt on every occasion to provide for nothing so much as that which is safe: for silence is safer than speaking. And omit speaking whatever is without sense and reason....

As the fire-lights in harbours by a few pieces of dry-wood raise a great flame and give sufficient help to ships which are wandering on the sea; so also an illustrious man in a state which is tempest-...

As if you attempted to manage a ship, you would certainly learn completely the steersman’s art, [so if you would administer a state, learn the art of managing a state]. For it will be in your power, a...

If you propose to adorn your city by the dedication of offerings (monuments), first dedicate to yourself (decorate yourself with) the noblest offering of gentleness, and justice and beneficence....

You will do the greatest services to the state, if you shall raise not the roofs of the houses, but the souls of the citizens: for it is better that great souls should dwell in small houses than for m...

Do not decorate the walls of your house with the valuable stones from Euboea and Sparta; but adorn the minds (breasts) of the citizens and of those who administer the state with the instruction which ...

As, if you wished to breed lions, you would not care about the costliness of their dens, but about the habits of the animals; so, if you attempt to preside over your citizens, be not so anxious about ...

As a skilful horse-trainer does not feed (only) the good colts and allow to starve those who are disobedient to the rein, but he feeds both alike, and chastises the one more and forces him to be equal...

As a goose is not frightened by cackling nor a sheep by bleating, so let not the clamour of a senseless multitude alarm you....

As a multitude, when they without reason demand of you anything of your own, do not disconcert you, so do not be moved from your purpose even by a rabble when they unjustly attempt to move you....

What is due to the state pay as quickly as you can, and you will never be asked for that which is not due....

As the sun does not wait for prayers and incantations to be induced to rise, but immediately shines and is saluted by all: so do you also not wait for clappings of hands, and shouts and praise to be i...

Neither should a ship rely on one small anchor, nor should life rest on a single hope....

We ought to stretch our legs and stretch our hopes only to that which is possible....

When Thales was asked what is most universal, he answered, Hope, for hope stays with those who have nothing else....

It is more necessary to heal the soul than the body, for to die is better than to live a bad life....

Pyrrho used to say that there is no difference between dying and living: and a man said to him, Why then do you not die? Pyrrho replied, Because there is no difference....

Admirable is nature, and, as Xenophon says, a lover of animated beings. The body then, which is of all things the most unpleasant and the most foul (dirty), we love and take care of; for if we were ob...

When a man dies young, he blames the gods. When he is old and does not die, he blames the gods because he suffers when he ought to have already ceased from suffering. And nevertheless, when death appr...

To the longer life and the worse, the shorter life, if it is better, ought by all means to be preferred....

When we are children our parents deliver us to a paedagogue to take care on all occasions that we suffer no harm. But when we are become men, God delivers us to our innate conscience (συνειδήσει) to t...

[We ought to use wealth as the material for some act, not for every act alike.]...

[Virtue then should be desired by all men more than wealth which is dangerous to the foolish; for the wickedness of men is increased by wealth. And the more a man is without sense, the more violent is...

What we ought not to do, we should not even think of doing....

Deliberate much before saying or doing anything, for you will not have the power of recalling what has been said or done....

Every place is safe to him who lives with justice....

Crows devour the eyes of the dead, when the dead have no longer need of them. But flatterers destroy the souls of the living and blind their eyes....

The anger of an ape and the threats of a flatterer should be considered as the same....

Listen to those who wish to advise what is useful, but not to those who are eager to flatter on all occasions; for the first really see what is useful, but the second look to that which agrees with th...

The man who gives advice ought first to have regard to the modesty and character (reputation) of those whom he advises; for those who have lost the capacity of blushing are incorrigible....

To admonish is better than to reproach: for admonition is mild and friendly, but reproach is harsh and insulting; and admonition corrects those who are doing wrong, but reproach only convicts them....

Give of what you have to strangers (ξένοις) and to those who have need: for he who gives not to him who wants, will not receive himself when he wants....

A pirate had been cast on the land and was perishing through the tempest. A man took clothing and gave it to him, and brought the pirate into his house, and supplied him with everything else that was ...

A man should choose (pursue) not every pleasure, but the pleasure which leads to the good.80...

It is the part of a wise man to resist pleasures, but of a foolish man to be a slave to them....

Pleasure, like a kind of bait, is thrown before (in front of) everything which is really bad, and easily allures greedy souls to the hook of perdition....

Choose rather to punish your appetites than to be punished through them....

No man is free who is not master of himself....

The vine bears three bunches of grapes: the first is that of pleasure, the second of drunkenness, the third of violence....

Over your wine do not talk much to display your learning; for you will utter bilious stuff.81...

He is intoxicated who drinks more than three cups: and if he is not intoxicated, he has exceeded moderation....

Let your talk of God be renewed every day, rather than your food....

Think of God more frequently than you breathe....

If you always remember that whatever you are doing in the soul or in the body, God stands by as an inspector, you will never err (do wrong) in all your prayers and in all your acts, but you will have ...

As it is pleasant to see the sea from the land, so it is pleasant for him who has escaped from troubles to think of them.83...

Law intends indeed to do service to human life, but it is not able when men do not choose to accept her services; for it is only in those who are obedient to her that she displays her special virtue....

As to the sick physicians are as saviours, so to those also who are wronged are the laws....

The justest laws are those which are the truest....

To yield to law and to a magistrate and to him who is wiser than yourself, is becoming....

The things which are done contrary to law are the same as things which are not done....

In prosperity it is very easy to find a friend; but in adversity it is most difficult of all things....

Time relieves the foolish from sorrow, but reason relieves the wise....

He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has....

Epictetus being asked how a man should give pain to his enemy answered, By preparing himself to live the best life that he can.84...

Let no wise man be averse to undertaking the office of a magistrate (τοῦ ἄρχειν): for it is both impious for a man to withdraw himself from being useful to those who have need of our services, and it ...

Nothing is more becoming to him who governs than to despise no man and not show arrogance, but to preside over all with equal care.85...

[In poverty any man lives (can live) happily, but very seldom in wealth and power (ἀρχαῖς). The value of poverty excels so much that no just man (νόμιμος) would exchange poverty for disreputable wealt...

Remember that such was, and is, and will be the nature of the universe, and that it is not possible that the things which come into being can come into being otherwise than they do now; and that not o...

He who is dissatisfied with things present and what is given by fortune is an ignorant man (ἰδιώτης) in life: but he who bears them nobly and rationally and the things which proceed from them is worth...

All things obey and serve the world (the universe), earth and sea and sun and the rest of the stars, and the plants of earth and animals. And our body obeys it also both in disease and in health when ...

Contentment, as it is a short road and pleasant, has great delight and little trouble. Fortify yourself with contentment, for this is an impregnable fortress. Let nothing be valued more than truth: no...

Contentment, as it is a short road and pleasant, has great delight and little trouble....

Fortify yourself with contentment, for this is an impregnable fortress....

Let nothing be valued more than truth: not even selection of a friendship which lies without the influence of the affects, by which (affects) justice is both confounded (disturbed) and darkened.87...

Truth is a thing immortal and perpetual, and it gives to us a beauty which fades not away in time nor does it take away88 the freedom of speech which proceeds from justice; but it gives to us the know...

We should not have either a blunt knife or a freedom of speech which is ill managed....

Nature has given to men one tongue, but two ears, that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak....

Nothing really pleasant or unpleasant subsists by nature, but all things become so through habit (custom).89...

Choose the best life, for custom (habit) will make it pleasant....

Be careful to leave your sons well instructed rather than rich, for the hopes of the instructed are better than the wealth of the ignorant....

A daughter is a possession to her father which is not his own....

The same person advised to leave modesty to children rather than gold....

The reproach of a father is agreeable medicine, for it contains more that is useful than it contains of that which gives pain....

He who has been lucky in a son in law has found a son: but he who has been unlucky, has lost also a daughter....

The value of education (knowledge) like that of gold is valued in every place....

He who exercises wisdom exercises the knowledge which is about God....

Nothing among animals is so beautiful as a man adorned by learning (knowledge).90...

We ought to avoid the friendship of the bad and the enmity of the good....

The necessity of circumstances proves friends and detects enemies....

When our friends are present, we ought to treat them well; and when they are absent, to speak of them well....

Let no man think that he is loved by any man when he loves no man....

You ought to choose both physician and friend not the most agreeable, but the most useful....

If you wish to live a life free from sorrow, think of what is going to happen as if it had already happened....

Be free from grief not through insensibility like the irrational animals, nor through want of thought like the foolish, but like a man of virtue by having reason as the consolation of grief....

Whoever are least disturbed in mind by calamities, and in act struggle most against them, these are the best men in states and in private life....

Those who have been instructed, like those who have been trained in the palaestra, though they may have fallen, rise again from their misfortune quickly and skilfully....

We ought to call in reason like a good physician as a help in misfortune....

A fool having enjoyed good fortune like intoxication to a great amount becomes more foolish....

Envy is the antagonist of the fortunate....

He who bears in mind what man is will never be troubled at anything which happens....

For making a good voyage a pilot (master) and wind are necessary: and for happiness reason and art....

We should enjoy good fortune while we have it, like the fruits of autumn....

He is unreasonable who is grieved (troubled) at the things which happen from the necessity of nature....

Of the things which are, God has put some of them in our power, and some he has not. In our own power he has placed that which is the best and the most important, that indeed through which he himself ...

Of the things which are, God has put some of them in our power, and some he has not. In our own power he has placed that which is the best and the most important, that indeed through which he himself ...

When a young man was boasting in the theatre and saying, I am wise, for I have conversed with many wise men; Epictetus said, I also have conversed with many rich men, but I am not rich....

The same person said, It is not good for him who has been well taught to talk among the untaught, as it is not right for him who is sober to talk among those who are drunk....

Epictetus being asked, What man is rich, answered, He who is content (who has enough)....

Xanthippe was blaming Socrates, because he was making small preparation for receiving his friends: but Socrates said, If they are our friends, they will not care about it; and if they are not, we shal...

When Archelaus was sending for Socrates to make him rich, Socrates told the messengers to return this answer: At Athens four measures (choenices) of meal are sold for one obolus (the sixth of a drachm...

What do I care, he (Epictetus) says, whether all things are composed of atoms (ἀτόμων), or of similar parts (ὁμοιομερῶν) or of fire and earth? for is it not enough to know the nature of the good and t...

You are a little soul carrying a dead body, as Epictetus said.94...

He (Epictetus) said that he had discovered an art in giving assent; and in the topic (matter) of the movements he had discovered that we must observe attention, that the movements be subject to except...

About no common thing, he said, the contest (dispute) is, but about being mad or not.96...

Favorinum ego audivi dicere Epictetum philosophum dixisse, “plerosque istos qui philosophari videntur, philosophos esse hujuscemodi, ἄνευ τοῦ πράττειν, μέχρι τοῦ λέγειν.”97 Id significat, factis procu...

Philosophus in disciplina Stoica celebratus⁠ ⁠… ex sarcinula sua librum protulit Epicteti philosophi quintum Διαλεξέαν: quas ab Arriano digestas congruere scriptis Zenonis et Chrysippi non dubium est....

Quum de animarum agitur salute ac de respectu nostri; “aliquid et sine ratione faciendum est,”98 ut Epictetum dixisse approbat Arrianus....

In Schweighaeuser’s edition the title is “Επικτήτου ἐγχειρίδιον. Epicteti Manuale ex recensione et interpretatione Joannis Uptoni. Notabiliorem Lectionis varietatem adjecit Joh. Schweighaeuser.” There...