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Tuesday, January 1, 2019

Epictetus, Golden Sayings 70


"Oh! when shall I see Athens and its Acropolis again?" Miserable man! Are you not contented with the daily sights that meet your eyes?  Can you behold anything greater or nobler than the Sun, Moon, and Stars, than the outspread Earth and Sea? 

If indeed you apprehend Him who administers the Universe, if you bear Him about within you, can you still hanker after mere fragments of stone and fine rock? 

When you are about to bid farewell to the Sun and Moon itself, will you sit down and cry like a child? 

Why, what did you hear, what did you learn? 

Why did you write yourself down as a philosopher, when you might have written what was the fact, namely, "I have made one or two Compendiums, I have read some works of Chrysippus, and I have not even touched the hem of Philosophy's robe!"

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