Plain
Epictetus — The Slave

Don't you know that a good person does nothing just to look good? They do things because they're right. What advantage does doing right give them? The advantage is that they did right. What advantage does someone get from writing Dion's name correctly? The advantage is that they wrote it correctly. Isn't there any reward then? Do you want a reward for a good person that's greater than doing what is good and just? At the Olympic games, you don't want anything more than winning. It seems like enough to be crowned champion. Does being good and happy seem so small and worthless to you? The gods brought you into this world for these purposes. It's now your duty to do the work of an adult. Do you still want nurses and a mommy? Do foolish women make you soft and weak with their crying? Will you never stop being a foolish child? Don't you know that when someone acts like a child, the older they get, the more ridiculous they become?

Discourses, That We Ought not to Be Moved by a Desire of Those Things Which Are not in Our Power 287 of 388
Doing The Right Thing Knowing Yourself
Epictetus — The Slave Original

Know you not that a good man does nothing for the sake of appearance, but for the sake of doing right? What advantage is it then to him to have done right? And what advantage is it to a man who writes the name of Dion to write it as he ought? The advantage is to have written it. Is there no reward then? Do you seek a reward for a good man greater than doing what is good and just? At Olympia you wish for nothing more, but it seems to you enough to be crowned at the games. Does it seem to you so small and worthless a thing to be good and happy? For these purposes being introduced by the gods into this city (the world), and it being now your duty to undertake the work of a man, do you still want nurses also and a mamma, and do foolish women by their weeping move you and make you effeminate? Will you thus never cease to be a foolish child? know you not that he who does the acts of a child, the older he is, the more ridiculous he is?

Discourses, That We Ought not to Be Moved by a Desire of Those Things Which Are not in Our Power 287 of 388
Epictetus — The Slave

Here's another example. Say you're a sailor on a ship. Stay where you're assigned and do your job. If the captain orders you to climb the mast, don't refuse. If he tells you to run to the front of the ship, don't refuse. What ship captain would put up with you? He'd throw you overboard as dead weight — just getting in the way and setting a bad example for the other sailors. Life works the same way. Everyone's life is like being in a war. It's long and full of different challenges. You need to act like a soldier and follow every order from your commanding officer. Try to figure out what he wants before he even asks. But remember — this general is nothing like any human general. He's far stronger and has much better judgment.

Discourses, That We Ought not to Be Moved by a Desire of Those Things Which Are not in Our Power 286 of 388
Doing The Right Thing Facing Hardship
Epictetus — The Slave Original

Again, in a vessel if you go as a sailor, keep to one place and stick to it. And if you are ordered to climb the mast, refuse; if to run to the head of the ship, refuse; and what master of a ship will endure you? and will he not pitch you overboard as a useless thing, an impediment only and bad example to the other sailors? And so it is here also: every man's life is a kind of warfare, and it is long and diversified. You must observe the duty of a soldier and do every thing at the nod of the general; if it is possible, divining what his wishes are; for there is no resemblance between that general and this, neither in strength nor in superiority of character.

Discourses, That We Ought not to Be Moved by a Desire of Those Things Which Are not in Our Power 286 of 388
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Ancient philosophy, in plain English.

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