Skip to content

Epictetus · Discourses

Discourses, "What Things We Should Exchange for Other Things" (§1)

A quote
Keep this thought in readiness, when you lose anything external, what you acquire in place of it; and if it be worth more, never say, I have had a loss; neither if you have got a horse in place of an ass, or an ox in place of a sheep, nor a good action in place of a bit of money, nor in place of idle talk such tranquillity as befits a man, nor in place of lewd talk if you have acquired modesty. If you remember this, you will always maintain your character such as it ought to be.
Epictetus·Discourses, "What Things We Should Exchange for Other Things" (§1)·trans. Long
Another quote →