Epictetus — "You are not your body, you are a soul."
You are not your body, you are a soul.
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More from Epictetus
"The greater part of what we say and do is unnecessary, and if a man would cut it out, he would have more leisure and less disturbance."
"Don't just say you have read books. Show that through them you have learned to think more accurately, to be less of a slave to your passions."
"First learn the meaning of what you say, and then speak."
"The reason why we have two ears and only one mouth is that we may listen the more and talk the less."
"If you are struck by the appearance of any pleasure, guard yourself against being carried away by it; but let the thing wait for you, and allow yourself a short delay. Then think of two times: a time …"
About Epictetus (c. 50-135 CE)
Greek Stoic philosopher and former slave whose Discourses (recorded by his student Arrian) shaped Marcus Aurelius and the modern Stoic revival. Closely associated with Seneca (earlier Roman Stoic) and Marcus Aurelius (his student-by-text on the imperial throne). For an intellectual contrast, see Epicurus, Greek philosopher of pleasure-as-tranquility — the Stoic-Epicurean rivalry was the central philosophical debate of the Hellenistic and Roman world for 400 years — Epicurean materialist hedonism is the precise alternative the Stoic discipline-of-acceptance was built against.
The standard scholarly entry points to Epictetus's work: A.A. Long (UC Berkeley, Classics) — Epictetus: A Stoic and Socratic Guide to Life (2002); Pierre Hadot (Collège de France) — Philosophy as a Way of Life (1995); Anthony R. Birley (Manchester, Roman historian) — Marcus Aurelius (1987) — the standard biography of Epictetus's most famous student. These are the works graduate seminars cite when teaching Epictetus.