“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).

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Aug. 12, 2022. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Not even on finding himself in a well-ordered house does a man step forward and say to himself, I must be master here! …" by Epictetus?
Epictetus photo
Epictetus 175
philosopher from Ancient Greece 50–138

Related quotes

Malcolm X photo

“If you're afraid of black nationalism, you're afraid of revolution. And if you love revolution, you love black nationalism. To understand this, you have to go back to what the young brother here referred to as the house Negro and the field Negro back during slavery. There were two kinds of slaves, the house Negro and the field Negro. The house Negroes — they lived in the house with master, they dressed pretty good, they ate good because they ate his food — what he left. They lived in the attic or the basement, but still they lived near the master; and they loved the master more than the master loved himself. They would give their life to save the master's house — quicker than the master would. If the master said, "We got a good house here," the house Negro would say, "Yeah, we got a good house here." Whenever the master said "we," he said "we."”

Malcolm X (1925–1965) American human rights activist

That's how you can tell a house Negro.
Malcolm X Speaks (1965)

J.B. Priestley photo

“A man can afford to let himself go in a hen-house.”

J.B. Priestley (1894–1984) English writer

Bk 1, Ch. 1. iii
The Good Companions (1929)

José Martí photo

“Man needs to go outside himself in order to find repose and reveal himself.”

José Martí (1853–1895) Poet, writer, Cuban nationalist leader

"Vivir en Sí" [To Live in Oneself] (1891)

Bawa Muhaiyaddeen photo

“Each of us who came here with wisdom must learn from this school. Heaven does not come from building beautiful churches, mosques, and temples. Man must build his church, mosque, and temple within himself. The house of God must be built within. The place of worship must be seen within. The completeness of God must be built within the self. If man can understand his story and the story of God and then build a church within himself, that is victory.”

Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (1900–1986) Sri Lankan Sufi leader

The Wisdom of Man (1980)

Paavo Väyrynen photo

“Well, there must be the man in the house - and a mistress, too.”

Paavo Väyrynen (1946) Finnish politician

Presidential Election Campaign 2012

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn photo

“A man should build a house with his own hands before he calls himself an engineer.”

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn book One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1962)

Benjamin Disraeli photo

“A man may speak very well in the House of Commons, and fail very completely in the House of Lords. There are two distinct styles requisite: I intend, in the course of my career, if I have time, to give a specimen of both.”

Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Prime Minister

Book V, Chapter 6.
Books, Coningsby (1844), The Young Duke (1831)

James Patterson photo

“Gazzy, man, jeezum!" Fang exclaimed. "What the heck have you been eating for God's sake?"
That was a smoke bomb!" Gazzy defended himself. "Not even i could fill this whole flippin' house!”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Source: Fang

Robert G. Ingersoll photo

“Any man that does not give to everybody else the rights he claims for himself, is not an honest man.”

Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–1899) Union United States Army officer

The trial of Charles B. Reynolds for blasphemy (1887)
Context: Religions are for a day. They are the clouds. Humanity is the eternal blue. Religions are the waves of the sea. These waves depend upon the force and direction of the wind -- that is to say, of passion; but Humanity is the great sea. And so our religions change from day to day, and it is a blessed thing that they do. Why? Because we grow, and we are getting a little more civilized every day, -- and any man that is not willing to let another man express his opinion, is not a civilized man, and you know it. Any man that does not give to everybody else the rights he claims for himself, is not an honest man.

Related topics