Philosopher
Last reviewed:
c. 50–c. 135 CE · Stoicism · Ancient
Part of:Stoicism in 5 steps →
Epictetus was born around 50 CE, possibly at Hierapolis, and spent part of his life enslaved in Rome in the household of Epaphroditus, a freedman of Nero. He was later freed, studied with the Stoic Musonius Rufus, taught in Rome, and, when Domitian banished philosophers, set up a school in Nicopolis, in Greece. He died around 135.
He wrote nothing that survives. His student Arrian took notes and produced the Discourses, of which four books remain, and a short manual, the Enchiridion or Handbook. The Handbook is what most people meet. It is a set of exercises for students who are still progressing, not a description of how an ordinary day feels and not a book Epictetus polished for publication.
The opening distinction is the engine: some things are up to us, judgement and choice, and some things are not, body, property, reputation, office. Insults, illness, loss, and the wish that events match your preference are all worked over in the light of that distinction. He praises Socrates and Diogenes more often than he praises emperors. Marcus Aurelius thanks him in the first book of the Meditations and argues with himself in Epictetus's vocabulary.
Enchiridion 1, 3, 5, and 8, with a note of whose English you are reading.
Those chapters are the system in miniature, and they show how severe the exercises are before the quotations go on mugs.
“Some things are up to us and some are not. Up to us are judgement, impulse, desire, aversion — in a word, whatever is our own doing. Not up to us are our body, our property, reputation, office — in a word, whatever is not our own doing.”
Epictetus · Stoicism
“It is not things that disturb people, but their judgements about things.”
Epictetus · Stoicism
“Do not seek to have events happen as you wish, but wish them to happen as they do happen, and all will be well with you.”
Epictetus · Stoicism
“If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid with regard to externals.”
Epictetus · Stoicism
“Sickness is a hindrance to the body, but not to the will, unless the will itself consents.”
Epictetus · Stoicism
“Never say of anything, 'I have lost it,' but, 'I have given it back.'”
Epictetus · Stoicism
“Remember that you are an actor in a play, of the kind the playwright wants it to be.”
Epictetus · Stoicism
“Never call yourself a philosopher, and do not talk at length among non-philosophers about your principles.”
Epictetus · Stoicism
“When something delights you, or is useful, or is deeply loved, remind yourself of what kind of thing it is.”
Epictetus · Stoicism
“It is not the person who abuses or strikes you who insults you, but your judgement that these things are insulting.”
Epictetus · Stoicism
What is up to us
Freedom is located in judgement, impulse, desire, and aversion, not in controlling outcomes.
Judgements disturb us
Events do not upset people by themselves; the verdict added to the event is the part that can be worked on.
Externals
Body, property, and reputation are called externals because they are not fully your own doing.
Progress without costume
He tells the student not to wear the name of philosopher while the desires are still the old ones.
Discourses (c. 108 CE)
Arrian's notes of the teaching, four books surviving, of which the Handbook is a condensation.
Enchiridion (Handbook) (c. 108 CE)
A short manual of exercises, written down by Arrian, not a treatise Epictetus published.
None of the lines this library files for Epictetus is marked Questionable or Misattributed. That is only a fact about these cards. It is not a certificate that every popular sentence is theirs.
Enchiridion 1, 3, 5, and 8, with a note of whose English you are reading. Those chapters are the system in miniature, and they show how severe the exercises are before the quotations go on mugs.
This library does not measure fame, and it does not rank lines by how often they are shared. The first line it files for Epictetus that is not marked Questionable or Misattributed is “Some things are up to us and some are not. Up to us are judgement, impulse, desire, aversion — in a word, whatever is our own doing. Not up to us are our body, our property, reputation, office — in a word, whatever is not our own doing.” (Enchiridion 1, from Arrian's notes, Paraphrase or translation).
None of the lines this library files for Epictetus is marked Misattributed or Questionable. That is a fact about these cards, not a certificate that every popular sentence is theirs.
What is up to us: Freedom is located in judgement, impulse, desire, and aversion, not in controlling outcomes.