Epictetus: Man

Epictetus was philosopher from Ancient Greece. Explore interesting quotes on man.
Epictetus: 350   quotes 94   likes

“Rightly to aim in all these cases is the wise man's task.”

Epictetus

Book I, ch. 27.
Discourses
Context: 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.

“If any be unhappy, let him remember that he is unhappy by reason of himself alone. For God hath made man to enjoy felicity and constancy of good.”

Epictetus

122
Golden Sayings of Epictetus

God

“What prison?—Where he is already: for he is there against his will; and wherever a man is against his will, that to him is a prison.”

Epictetus

Golden Sayings of Epictetus
Context: You are impatient and hard to please. If alone, you call it solitude: if in the company of men, you dub them conspirators and thieves, and find fault with your very parents, children, brothers and neighbours. Whereas when by yourself you should have called it Tranquillity and Freedom: and herein deemed yourself like unto the Gods. And when in the company of the many, you should not have called it a wearisome crowd and tumult, but an assembly and a tribunal; and thus accepted all with contentment. What then is the chastisement of those who accept it not? To be as they are. Is any discontented with being alone? let him be in solitude. Is any discontented with his parents? let him be a bad son, and lament. Is any discontented with his children? let him be a bad father.—"Throw him into prison!"—What prison?—Where he is already: for he is there against his will; and wherever a man is against his will, that to him is a prison. Thus Socrates was not in prison since he was there with his own consent. (31 & 32).

“Not even on finding himself in a well-ordered house does a man step forward and say to himself, I must be master here! Else the lord of that house”

Epictetus

Golden Sayings of Epictetus
Context: Not even on finding himself in a well-ordered house does a man step forward and say to himself, I must be master here! Else the lord of that house takes notice of it, and, seeing him insolently giving orders, drags him forth and chastises him. So it is also in the great City, the World. Here also is there a Lord of the House, who orders all things... (110).

Housing

“Man, if thou art aught, strive to walk alone and hold converse with yourself, instead of skulking in the chorus! at length think; look around thee; bestir thyself, that thou mayest know who thou art!”

Epictetus

Golden Sayings of Epictetus
Context: Even as bad actors cannot sing alone, but only in chorus: so some cannot walk alone. Man, if thou art aught, strive to walk alone and hold converse with yourself, instead of skulking in the chorus! at length think; look around thee; bestir thyself, that thou mayest know who thou art! (103).

Art , Thinking

“If a man would pursue Philosophy, his first task is to throw away conceit. For it is impossible for a man to begin to learn what he has a conceit that he already knows.”

Epictetus

72
Golden Sayings of Epictetus
Variant: It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.

Learning

“A guide, on finding a man who has lost his way, brings him back to the right path—he does not mock and jeer at him and then take himself off.”

Epictetus

Golden Sayings of Epictetus
Context: A guide, on finding a man who has lost his way, brings him back to the right path—he does not mock and jeer at him and then take himself off. You also must show the unlearned man the truth, and you will see that he will follow. But so long as you do not show it him, you should not mock, but rather feel your own incapacity. (63).

Way

“God hath introduced Man to be a spectator of Himself and of His works; and”

Epictetus

Golden Sayings of Epictetus
Context: But God hath introduced Man to be a spectator of Himself and of His works; and not a spectator only, but also an interpreter of them. Wherefore it is a shame for man to begin and to leave off where the brutes do. Rather he should begin there, and leave off where Nature leaves off in us: and that is at contemplation, and understanding, and a manner of life that is in harmony with herself. See then that ye die not without being spectators of these things. (13).

God

“If a man has reported to you, that a certain person speaks ill of you, do not make any defense (answer) to what has been told you: but reply, The man did not know the rest of my faults, for he would not have mentioned these only.”

Epictetus

33
tr. George Long (1888)
The Enchiridion (c. 135)

Personality

“Let no man think that he is loved by any who loveth none.”

Epictetus

Fragment xxiii.
Golden Sayings of Epictetus, Fragments

Love , Thinking

“The appearance of things to the mind is the standard of every action to man.”

Epictetus

That we ought not to be angry with Mankind, Chap. xxviii.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

Appearance

“But in the present condition of things, which resembles an Army in battle array, ought not the Cynic to be free from all distraction and given wholly to the service of God, so that he can go in and out among men, neither fettered by the duties nor entangled by the relations of common life? For if he transgresses them, he will forfeit the character of a good man and true; whereas if he observe them, there is an end of him as the Messenger, the Spy, the Herald of the Gods!”

Epictetus

116
Golden Sayings of Epictetus

Life , Men , God

“It is the act of an ill-instructed man to blame others for his own bad condition; it is the act of one who has begun to be instructed, to lay the blame on himself; and of one whose instruction is completed, neither to blame another, nor himself.”

Epictetus

5
tr. George Long (1888)
The Enchiridion (c. 135)

“Seemeth it nothing to you, never to accuse, never to blame either God or Man? to wear ever the same countenance in going forth as in coming in? This was the secret of Socrates: yet he never said that he knew or taught anything… Who amongst you makes this his aim? Were it indeed so, you would gladly endure sickness, hunger, aye, death itself.”

Epictetus

85
Golden Sayings of Epictetus

Death , Hunger , God , Secret

“O slavish man! will you not bear with your own brother, who has God for his Father, as being a son from the same stock, and of the same high descent? But if you chance to be placed in some superior station, will you presently set yourself up for a tyrant?”

Epictetus

Book I, ch. 13.
Discourses

God , Chance

“If we are not stupid or insincere when we say that the good or ill of man lies within his own will, and that all beside is nothing to us, why are we still troubled?”

Epictetus

Book I, ch. 25.
Discourses

Stupidity

“In general, any methods of discipline applied to the body which tend to modify its desires or repulsions, are good—for ascetic ends. But if done for display, they betray at once a man who keeps an eye on outward show; who has an ulterior purpose, and is looking for spectators to shout, "Oh what a great man!" This is why Apollonius so well said: "If you are bent upon a little private discipline, wait till you are choking with heat one day—then take a mouthful of cold water, and spit it out again, and tell no man!"”

Epictetus

100
Golden Sayings of Epictetus

Water , Waiting

“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?”

Epictetus

Book I, ch. 20.
Discourses

“A man should also be prepared to be sufficient unto himself—to dwell within himself alone, even as God dwells with Himself alone… So should we also be able to converse with ourselves, to need none else beside, to sigh for no distraction, to bend our thoughts upon the Divine Administration, and how we stand related to all else; to observe how human accidents touched us of old, and how they touch us now; what things they are that still have power to hurt us, and how they may be cured and removed; to perfect what needs perfecting as Reason would direct.”

Epictetus

98
Golden Sayings of Epictetus

God , Hurt , Perfection

“When one maintains his proper attitude in life, he does not long after externals. What would you have, O man?”

Epictetus

Book I, ch. 21.
Discourses

Life