With every accident, ask yourself what abilities you have for making a proper use of it. If you see an attractive person, you will find that self-restraint is the ability you have against your desire. If you are in pain, you will find fortitude. If you hear unpleasant language, you will find patience. And thus habituated, the appearances of things will not hurry you away along with them. (10)
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- In every situation, identify the virtue—self‑restraint, fortitude, patience—that lets you use the event constructively.
- In plain terms
- Find the appropriate virtue to handle each circumstance.
- What can you take from it?
- Match challenges with the corresponding virtue.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How can you recognize which virtue to apply?
- What if multiple virtues are needed?
Another view
Not every event neatly maps onto a single virtue.
More from Epictetus
Men are disturbed, not by things, but by the principles and notions which they form concerning things. (5)
Permalink to quote #17 Remember that you ought to behave in life as you would at a banquet. As something is being passed around it comes to you; stretch out your hand, take a portion…
Permalink to quote #19 Some things are in our control and others not. Things in our control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever are our own actions. Thin…
Permalink to quote #16
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