Plain
Epictetus — The Slave

Diogenes kept everything loose. Nothing really stuck to him. If you grabbed his stuff, he'd rather let you have it than chase after you. If you grabbed his leg, he'd let go of his leg. If you grabbed his whole body, his whole body. Same with his close friends, his buddies, his country. He knew where all these things came from, who gave them to him, and what the deal was.

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Freedom & Control What Matters Most
Epictetus — The Slave Original

He had everything easily loosed, everything only hanging to him. If you laid hold of his property, he would have rather let it go and be yours, than he would have followed you for it; if you had laid hold of his leg, he would have let go his leg; if of all his body, all his poor body; his intimates, friends, country, just the same. For he knew from whence he had them, and from whom, and on what conditions.

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Epictetus — The Slave

You might ask me, "Are you free then?" I wish I were, by the gods. I pray to be free. But I'm not able to face my masters yet. I still value my poor body too much. I care greatly about keeping it safe and whole, even though I don't really own it. But I can point out a free man to you, so you don't have to keep looking for an example. Diogenes was free. How was he free? Not because his parents were free citizens, but because he himself was free. He had thrown off all the handles that slavery uses to grab hold of people. No one could approach him in a way that would let them enslave him. No one had any way to get a grip on him.

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Freedom & Control Knowing Yourself
Epictetus — The Slave Original

You then, a man may say, are you free? I wish, by the gods, and pray to be free; but I am not yet able to face my masters, I still value my poor body, I value greatly the preservation of it entire, though I do not possess it entire. But I can point out to you a free man, that you may no longer seek an example. Diogenes was free. How was he free? Not because he was born of free parents, but because he was himself free, because he had cast off all the handles of slavery, and it was not possible for any man to approach him, nor had any man the means of laying hold of him to enslave him.

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Ancient philosophy, in plain English.

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