Epictetus — "When you are offended at any man's fault, turn to yourself and study your own fa…"
When you are offended at any man's fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings.
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More from Epictetus
"Whenever anyone criticizes or wrongs you, remember that they are only doing or saying what they think is right. They cannot be guided by your views, only their own; so if their views are wrong, they a…"
"He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has."
"If a man has seen a snake, and has not been bitten, but has been frightened, he is not on that account the less afraid, although he may say, 'I am not afraid.'"
"If a man has a bad smell, he knows it not, but his neighbor knows it. So too with our faults."
"Every difficulty in life is a chance for us to turn inward and to discover the resources we possess to deal with that difficulty. The resources are not without, but within."
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.