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The voices / 189 fragments

Epictetus

Life dates uncertain · Stoicism

Stoic teacher concerned with judgment, choice and how to live with others. His teachings survive through Arrian; the short Enchiridion is a guide into a larger discussion.

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Historical source references

Life and writing

Epictetus taught Stoic philosophy after gaining freedom from slavery. He later established a school at Nicopolis. His account of ethical life asks people to examine the judgments through which they respond to events, while taking their responsibilities toward others seriously. The surviving teaching has a practical setting: a student must learn to use an idea in conduct, rather than merely repeat it.

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — Epictetus ↗ Life and Works; Main contentions 4.3, 4.6 and 4.7; Educational method

Arrian preserved the Discourses associated with Epictetus’s teaching. The Enchiridion condenses that material into a shorter handbook, so a brief instruction can lose some of the reasoning supplied by the longer discussions. The linked reading edition uses Thomas Wentworth Higginson’s English translation. It is related reading; it does not establish the translation or exact wording of every anthology passage on this page.

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — Epictetus ↗Project Gutenberg — The Enchiridion, PG 45109 ↗ Life and Works: Discourses and Enchiridion; PG45109 translator; original edition comparison

Reading this voice

Begin with the selected passages about judgment and gradual growth, then read an entire numbered section of the handbook. Ask what response the passage invites and what responsibilities remain. Life years stay uncertain here: the reference places his birth in the 50s CE and death around 135, rather than giving two exact years. The archive’s circa-60 coordinate comes from its anthology, not a date of composition. The linked translation and anthology wording can differ.

Subjects to explore

Editorial reading connections, distinct from the archive’s word matching.

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A work to read

Begin with these archive passages

Editorial starting points from this author’s existing entries.

Profile sources and editorial status

Original agent-assisted editorial profile, checked 2026-10-05. No human review is recorded. Life dates remain uncertain; no lifespan or quotation composition date is inferred.

Archive entries

18Undated
When any person harms you, or speaks badly of you, remember that he acts or speaks from a supposition of its being his duty. Now, it is not possible that he should follow what appears right to you, but what appears so to himself. Therefore, if he judges from a wrong appearance, he is the person hurt, since he too is the person deceived. For if anyone should suppose a true proposition to be false, the proposition is not hurt, but he who is deceived about it. Setting out, then, from these principles, you will meekly bear a person who reviles you, for you will say upon every occasion, "It seemed so to him."....
Epictetus / quote
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22Undated
Remember to act always as if you were at a symposium. When the food or drink comes around, reach out and take some politely; if it passes you by don't try pulling it back. And if it has not reached you yet, don't let your desire run ahead of you, be patient until your turn comes. Adopt a similar attitude with regard to children, wife, wealth and status, and in time, you will be entitled to dine with the gods. Go further and decline these goods even when they are on offer and you will have a share in the gods' power as well as their company. That is how Diogenes, Heraclitus and philosophers like them came to be called, and considered, divine.
Epictetus / quote
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23Undated
The first and most important field of philosophy is the application of principles such as “Do not lie.” Next come the proofs, such as why we should not lie. The third field supports and articulates the proofs, by asking, for example, “How does this prove it? What exactly is a proof, what is logical inference, what is contradiction, what is truth, what is falsehood?” Thus, the third field is necessary because of the second, and the second because of the first. The most important, though, the one that should occupy most of our time, is the first. But we do just the opposite. We are preoccupied with the third field and give that all our attention, passing the first by altogether. The result is that we lie – but have no difficulty proving why we shouldn’t.
Epictetus / quote
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