Epictetus — "The price of apathy is to be at the mercy of those who are not."
The price of apathy is to be at the mercy of those who are not.
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More from Epictetus
"Freedom is the only worthy goal in life. It is won by disregarding things that are not within our control."
"What, then, is the fruit of these doctrines? It is the same as that of a vine: leaves, then a blossom, then a ripe cluster. So here, first an appearance, then an impulse, then an act. And the fruit is…"
"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."
"If you are grieved about anything external, it is not the thing itself that troubles you, but your judgment about it. And it is in your power to wipe out this judgment at any moment."
"When you have decided that a thing is good, and you cling to it, and you are not disturbed by it, then you have found your true good."
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.