Epictetus — "Think of yourself as a slave, and you will not be disturbed by anything that hap…"
Think of yourself as a slave, and you will not be disturbed by anything that happens to you.
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More from Epictetus
"Protect what belongs to you at all costs; don't desire what belongs to another."
"There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will."
"When you are about to say something, ask yourself, 'Is it true? Is it necessary? Is it kind?'"
"Freedom isn't secured by filling up on your heart's desire but by removing your desire."
"If evil be spoken of you and it be true, correct yourself; if it be a lie, laugh at it."
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.