Sages · Stoics · Former slave · Stoic · 50–138
Epictetus
“It is not events that trouble people, but their judgments about events. Know what is yours and what is another's, and you will be free.”
You have found me in Nicopolis, under the open sky. Sit on a stone — let us talk of what is in your power.
At the threshold
I was a slave, and my master broke my leg. I could change neither that nor the other — but I could choose how to bear it. Ever since, I teach one thing: separate what is in your power from what is not.
I wrote no books. My words were written down by a pupil, Arrian — I spoke plainly, as I speak to you now. Ask directly, and I will answer as I taught: briefly, without ornament, about what depends on you.
What I am asked about
Near me
my pupil in spiritMarcus AureliusThe emperor who wrote to himself every evening. He understood that power over oneself matters more than power over the world.enterSmy predecessorSenecaHe wrote of the same things I speak of, but lived in wealth. His words are true; his life is an example of how hard it is to follow them.enter