sage
and Stoic
philosopher
. He was born a slave
at Hierapolis
, Phrygia
(present day Pamukkale
, Turkey
), and lived in Rome
until banishment when he went to Nicopolis
in northwestern Greece
where he lived the rest of his life. His teachings were noted down and published by his pupil Arrian
in his Discourses
. Philosophy, he taught, is a way of life and not just a theoretical discipline. To Epictetus, all external events are determined by fate
, and are thus beyond our control, but we can accept whatever happens calmly and dispassionately.
"But to be hanged—is that not unendurable?" Even so, when a man feels that it is reasonable, he goes off and hangs himself.
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?
No thing great is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.
Practice yourself, for heaven's sake, in little things; and thence proceed to greater.
It is unlikely that the good of a snail should reside in its shell: so is it likely that the good of a man should?
It is difficulties that show what men are.
The good or ill of man lies within his own will.
In theory there is nothing to hinder our following what we are taught; but in life there are many things to draw us aside.
Appearances to the mind are of four kinds. Things either are what they appear to be; or they neither are, nor appear to be; or they are, and do not appear to be; or they are not, and yet appear to be. Rightly to aim in all these cases is the wise man's task.
Only the educated are free.