Discourses, That We Ought not to Be Moved by a Desire of Those Things Which Are not in Our Power

Epictetus — The Slave

But you say, 'I left someone behind, and now he's upset.' Why did he think something that belongs to another person was his own? When he looked at you and felt happy, why didn't he also remember that you're mortal? Why didn't he think that you might naturally leave him to go to another country? So now he's paying for his own foolishness. But why are you crying about it? What's the point of feeling sorry for yourself? Haven't you thought about these things either? Like useless women, you enjoyed everything that gave you pleasure as if you'd always have it — the places, the people, the conversations. And now you sit there crying because you don't see the same people and don't live in the same places anymore.

Epictetus — The Slave Original

But you say, I have parted from a certain person, and he is grieved. Why did he consider as his own that which belongs to another? why, when he looked on you and was rejoiced, did he not also reckon that you are a mortal, that it is natural for you to part from him for a foreign country? Therefore he suffers the consequences of his own folly. But why do you or for what purpose bewail yourself? Is it that you also have not thought of these things? but like poor women who are good for nothing, you have enjoyed all things in which you took pleasure, as if you would always enjoy them, both places and men and conversation; and now you sit and weep because you do not see the same persons and do not live in the same places.