Home › Authors › Epictetus

Epictetus on fatherhood, character, and how to live

7 sourced quotes from Epictetus, each with the original work, the year, and links to a primary or scholarly source you can check yourself. Selected for what they say to a man raising children.

“The signs of one who is making progress are: he blames none, praises none, complains of none, accuses none.”
Discourses, Book IV, Chapter 12, c. 108 AD
“The seed must needs be buried first, and be hidden, and increase by slow degrees, that it may come to fullness.”
Discourses, Book IV, Chapter 8, c. 108 AD
“'Get up,' says the trainer, 'and wrestle again, until you are made strong.'”
Discourses, Book IV, Chapter 9, c. 108 AD
“Some things are in our control and others not. Things in our control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in one word, whatever are our own…”
Enchiridion, §1, c. 125 AD
“Remember that you are an actor in a play, the character of which is determined by the Playwright... For this is your business, to act well the given…”
The Enchiridion, §17, c. 125 AD
“Men are disturbed not by the things which happen, but by the opinions about the things.”
The Enchiridion, §5, c. 125 AD
“Seek not that the things which happen should happen as you wish; but wish the things which happen to be as they are, and you will have a tranquil…”
The Enchiridion, §8, c. 125 AD

The right words for exactly where you are right now.

DadVice matches wisdom like this to the real situations of fatherhood — the hard conversation, the long night, the moment you do not know what to say. Every quote is sourced. No motivational filler.

Download for iPhone Get it on Android
Works quoted here: Discourses, Book IV, Chapter 12, Discourses, Book IV, Chapter 8, Discourses, Book IV, Chapter 9, Enchiridion, §1, The Enchiridion, §17, The Enchiridion, §5, The Enchiridion, §8.