“It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.”
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Respond to this passageWhere this comes from
The "handbook": a short distillation of the Discourses, compiled by Arrian.
Epictetus. Born enslaved in Phrygia around 50 CE and freed as a young man, he taught in Nicopolis after philosophers were expelled from Rome. He wrote nothing himself; the Discourses and the shorter Enchiridion were set down by his student Arrian.
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“Man is affected not by events but by the view he takes of them.”
— Epictetus, Enchiridion
“Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it.”
— Epictetus, Enchiridion
“The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best.”
— Epictetus, Enchiridion
“If anyone tells you that a certain person speaks ill of you, do not make excuses about what is said of you but answer, "He was ignorant of my other faults, else he would not have mentioned these alone."”
— Epictetus, Enchiridion