HomeQuotesEpictetus
Stoic philosophy
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 part; but to choose it belongs to another.
The Enchiridion, §17, c. 125 AD
Translated by T. W. Higginson · Stoic philosophy
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What this means, and why it matters to a father

Epictetus, a former slave who became one of the greatest Stoic teachers, used the actor metaphor to explain the Stoic division between what we control and what we do not.

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