Epictetus c. 50 – c. 135
Epictetus was a Greek Stoic philosopher of the first and early second centuries, born into slavery in Hierapolis in Roman Phrygia and freed in adulthood. He taught Stoic philosophy in Rome until the emperor Domitian banished philosophers from the city around 93 AD, after which he established a school in Nicopolis on the Adriatic coast. He left no written works of his own; his teachings survive in the Discourses and the Enchiridion, a short handbook compiled by his pupil Arrian. His central doctrine, that some things are within our power and others are not, became one of the defining formulations of Stoic ethics. His influence on Marcus Aurelius and on the modern revival of Stoicism has been substantial.
Key facts
- Nationality
- Greek
- Era
- Ancient
- Movements
- Stoicism, Hellenistic
Selected quotes
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Attributed to Epictetus:
“It is not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.”
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Attributed to Epictetus:
“First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.”
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Attributed to Epictetus:
“Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.”
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Attributed to Epictetus:
“Men are disturbed not by the things which happen, but by the opinions about the things.”
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Attributed to Epictetus:
“No man is free who is not master of himself.”