Epictetus — "What does not transmit light creates darkness."
What does not transmit light creates darkness.
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More from Epictetus
"Whoever is not content with what he has, would not be content with what he wishes to have."
"The greatest good is that which is chosen in spite of fear."
"You may fetter my leg, but Zeus himself cannot get the better of my free will."
"He who is not a good servant will not be a good master."
"You will never do anything in this life worth remembering unless you give up the hope of being remembered."
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.
Details
While this sentiment aligns with Stoic principles of reason and clarity, the exact phrasing is not found in his primary works.
Date: c. 108 AD (approximate)
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