Plain
Epictetus — The Slave

Must your leg be injured? You fool, will you blame the entire world because of one bad leg? Won't you willingly give it up for the sake of everything else? Won't you let it go? Won't you gladly give it back to the one who gave it to you? And will you get angry and upset with the way Zeus set things up — the way he and the Fates planned and ordered your life when they were spinning the thread of your birth? Don't you know how tiny you are compared to the whole universe? I mean when it comes to your body. But when it comes to your mind, you're not worse than the gods. Intelligence isn't measured by length or height. It's measured by your thoughts.

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Facing Hardship Freedom & Control
Epictetus — The Slave Original

Must my leg then be lamed? Wretch, do you then on account of one poor leg find fault with the world? Will you not willingly surrender it for the whole? Will you not withdraw from it? Will you not gladly part with it to him who gave it? And will you be vexed and discontented with the things established by Zeus, which he, with the Moirae (fates) who were present and spinning the thread of your generation, defined and put in order? Know you not how small a part you are compared with the whole. I mean with respect to the body, for as to intelligence you are not inferior to the gods nor less; for the magnitude of intelligence is not measured by length nor yet by height, but by thoughts.

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Epictetus — The Slave

What happens to people who refuse to accept their situation? They become exactly what they are. Are you unhappy being alone? Then stay alone. Are you unhappy with your parents? Then be a bad son and complain. Are you unhappy with your children? Then be a bad father. Throw him in prison. What prison? The one he's already in. He's already there against his will. And wherever you are against your will, that's your prison. Socrates wasn't in prison because he chose to be there.

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Freedom & Control Facing Hardship
Epictetus — The Slave Original

What then is the punishment of those who do not accept? It is to be what they are. Is any person dissatisfied with being alone? Let him be alone. Is a man dissatisfied with his parents? Let him be a bad son, and lament. Is he dissatisfied with his children? Let him be a bad father. Cast him into prison. What prison? Where he is already, for he is there against his will; and where a man is against his will, there he is in prison. So Socrates was not in prison, for he was there willingly.

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Ancient philosophy, in plain English.

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