“How can it be that one who hath nothing”

—  Epictetus

Golden Sayings of Epictetus
Context: How can it be that one who hath nothing, neither raiment, nor house, nor home, nor bodily tendance, nor servant, nor city, should live tranquil and contented? Behold God hath sent you a man to show you in act and deed that it may be so. Behold me! I have neither city nor house nor possessions nor servants: the ground is my couch; I have no wife, no children, no shelter—nothing but earth and sky, and one poor cloak. And what lack I yet? am I not untouched by sorrow, by fear? am I not free?... when have I laid anything to the charge of God or Man? when have I accused any? hath any of you seen me with a sorrowful countenance? And in what wise treat I those to whom you stand in fear and awe? Is it not as slaves? Who when he seeth me doth not think that he beholdeth his Master and his King? (114).

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 "How can it be that one who hath nothing" by Epictetus?
Epictetus photo
Epictetus 175
philosopher from Ancient Greece 50–138

Related quotes

Joyce Carol Oates photo
John Gay photo
Halldór Laxness photo

“How is one to have any respect for the world where nothing else matters except who can lie the most plausibly and steal the most?”

Halldór Laxness (1902–1998) Icelandic author

Þórunn of Kambar
Heimsljós (World Light) (1940), Book Two: The Palace of the Summerland

Walter Raleigh photo

“[History] hath triumphed over time, which besides it nothing but eternity hath triumphed over.”

Walter Raleigh (1554–1618) English aristocrat, writer, poet, soldier, courtier, spy, and explorer

The History of the World (1614), Preface

Thomas Fuller photo

“Fame sometimes hath created something of nothing.”

Thomas Fuller (1608–1661) English churchman and historian

Of Fame.
The Holy State and the Profane State (1642)

Jonathan Swift photo

“But nothing is so hard for those who abound in riches, as to conceive how others can be in want.”

Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, and poet

A Preface to the Bishop of Sarum's Introduction to the Third Volume of the History of the Reformation of the Church of England (8 December, 1713)

Simon Sinek photo

“You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.”

Simon Sinek (1973) British/American author and motivational speaker

Source: Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't

H. Havelock Ellis photo

“One can know nothing of giving aught that is worthy to give unless one also knows how to take.”

H. Havelock Ellis (1859–1939) British physician, writer, and social reformer

Source: Little Essays of Love and Virtue http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15687/15687-h/15687-h.htm (1922), Ch. 1

Piet Hein photo

“Experts have
their expert fun
ex cathedra
telling one
just how nothing
can be done.”

Piet Hein (1905–1996) Danish puzzle designer, mathematician, author, poet

Experts
Grooks

Henry Wotton photo

“Lord of himself, though not of lands;
And having nothing, yet hath all.”

Henry Wotton (1568–1639) English ambassador

The Character of a Happy Life (1614), stanza 6. Compare: "As having nothing, and yet possessing all things", 2 Corinthians vi. 10.

Related topics