Epiktet

Epiktet (50-135) was a Greek Stoic philosopher, known in English as Epictetus, whose teaching became one of the clearest practical statements of Stoicism. Born enslaved in the Roman world and later freed, he taught philosophy in Rome and then in Nicopolis after imperial expulsions of philosophers. His major works survive through his student Arrian, especially the Discourses and the Enchiridion. Epiktet matters because he focused philosophy on what is within our control: judgment, desire, aversion, intention, and conduct. External events, reputation, wealth, and status are unstable; freedom begins when the mind stops treating them as sovereign. His teaching shaped later Stoicism, Christian moral thought, and modern self-discipline traditions. His quotes remain direct and useful because they translate metaphysics into daily choices about worry, company, desire, and resilience. His teaching still offers a compact discipline for freedom under pressure.

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