Epictetus — "If you want to be a man of leisure, don't be a slave to your desires."
If you want to be a man of leisure, don't be a slave to your desires.
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More from Epictetus
"What would you rather have, a pig that grunts contentedly or a philosopher who complains?"
"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 …"
"If you always remember that God stands by you, and inspects your acts, whether in soul or body, you will not err either in your prayers or in your acts."
"You will never do anything in this life worth remembering unless you give up the hope of being remembered."
"Never say about anything, 'I have lost it,' but only 'I have given it back.' Is your child dead? It is given back. Is your wife dead? She is given back. Is your estate taken from you? Is not this also…"
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.