Epictetus, "Why, then, do we wonder any longer that, although in material things we are thoroughly experienced, nevertheless in our actions we are dejected, unseemly, worthless, cowardly, unwilling to stand the strain, utter failures one and all? For we have not troubled ourselves about these matters in time past, nor do we even now practice them. Yet if we were afraid, not of death or exile, but of fear itself, then we should practice how not to encounter those things that a

Epictetus, "Are we, then, at a loss to know how it comes about that we are subject to fear and anxiety? Why, what else can possibly happen, when we regard impending events as things evil? We cannot help but be in fear, we cannot help but be in anxiety. And then we say, “O Lord God, how may I escape anxiety?” Fool, have you not hands? Did not God make them for you? Sit down now and pray forsooth that the mucus in your nose may not run! Nay, rather wipe your nose and do not bla

Epictetus, "Why, then, are you not a good man yourself? – How do you make out, he answers, that I am not a good man? – Why, because no good man grieves or groans, no good man laments, no good man turns pale and trembles, or asks, “How will he receive me? How will he listen to me?” you slave! He will receive you and listen to you as seems best to him."

Epictetus, "But we act very much as though we were on a voyage. What is possible for me? To select the helmsman, the sailors, the day, the moment. Then a storm comes down upon us. Very well, what further concern have I? For my part has been fulfilled. The business belongs to someone else, that is, the helmsman. But, more than that, the ship goes down. What, then, have I to do? What I can; that is the only thing I do; I drown without fear, neither shrieking nor crying out agai

Epictetus, “Where the things that lie outside the province of the moral purpose are involved, there show confidence, but where the things that lie within the province of the moral purpose are involved, there show caution?” For if the evil lies in an evil exercise of the moral purpose, it is only in regard to matters of this kind that it is right to employ caution; but if the things which lie outside the province of the moral purpose and are not under our control are nothing t

Epictetus, "When you come into the presence of some prominent man, remember that Another looks from above on what is taking place, and that you must please Him rather than this man."

Epictetus,

Epictetus,

When the moment of live ammunition approaches, the moment to which all his professional training has been directed, when the lives of men under him, the issue of the combat, even the fate of a campaign may depend upon his decision at a given moment, what happens inside the heart and vitals of a commander? Some are made bold by the moment, some irresolute, some carefully judicious, some paralyzed and powerless to act.

Agelsilaos – Spartan General