Discourses, That When We Cannot Fulfil That Which the Character of a Man Promises, We Assume the Character of a Philosopher

Epictetus — The Slave

Logic works the same way. A complex statement stays true when all its parts are true. A choice statement works when it delivers what it promises. Flutes, lyres, horses, and dogs are preserved when they fulfill their nature. So why be surprised that people work the same way? Each person improves through the right actions. A carpenter gets better by doing carpentry. A grammarian gets better by using proper grammar. But if someone writes with bad grammar all the time, their skill gets corrupted and destroyed. Modest actions preserve a modest person. Immodest actions destroy them. Faithful actions preserve a faithful person. Unfaithful actions destroy them. The opposite is also true. Bad actions strengthen bad character. Shameless acts make you more shameless. Faithless acts make you more faithless. Harsh words make you harsher. Anger makes you angrier. Taking more than you give makes you greedier.

Epictetus — The Slave Original

For when is a conjunctive (complex) proposition maintained? When it fulfils what its nature promises; so that the preservation of a complex proposition is when it is a conjunction of truths. When is a disjunctive maintained? When it fulfils what it promises. When are flutes, a lyre, a horse, a dog, preserved? (When they severally keep their promise.) What is the wonder then if man also in like manner is preserved, and in like manner is lost? Each man is improved and preserved by corresponding acts, the carpenter by acts of carpentry, the grammarian by acts of grammar. But if a man accustoms himself to write ungrammatically, of necessity his art will be corrupted and destroyed. Thus modest actions preserve the modest man, and immodest actions destroy him; and actions of fidelity preserve the faithful man, and the contrary actions destroy him. And on the other hand contrary actions strengthen contrary characters: shamelessness strengthens the shameless man, faithlessness the faithless man, abusive words the abusive man, anger the man of an angry temper, and unequal receiving and giving make the avaricious man more avaricious.