It is circumstances (difficulties) which show what men are.
Where these words come from
- 95% sureThese words were traced back to where they first appeared. That source is listed below.
- How We Should Struggle with Circumstances, A Selection from the Discourses; English translation by George Long; parentheses are in the cited text.
- How We Should Struggle with Circumstances, A Selection from the Discourses
More from Epictetus
See allNo thing great is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig.
EpictetusFor where else is friendship than where there is fidelity, and modesty, where there is a communion of honest things and of nothing else.EpictetusPhilosophy does not propose to secure for a man any external thing.EpictetusFor as the carpenter’s material is wood, and that of the statuary is copper, so the matter of the art of living is each man’s life.EpictetusHow then shall my brother cease to be angry with me? Bring him to me and I will tell him. But I have nothing to say to you about his anger.EpictetusNothing great, said Epictetus, is produced suddenly, since not even the grape or the fig is. If you say to me now that you want a fig, I will answer to you that it requires time: let it flower first, then put forth fruit, and then ripen.Epictetus
EpictetusFor where else is friendship than where there is fidelity, and modesty, where there is a communion of honest things and of nothing else.EpictetusPhilosophy does not propose to secure for a man any external thing.EpictetusFor as the carpenter’s material is wood, and that of the statuary is copper, so the matter of the art of living is each man’s life.EpictetusHow then shall my brother cease to be angry with me? Bring him to me and I will tell him. But I have nothing to say to you about his anger.EpictetusNothing great, said Epictetus, is produced suddenly, since not even the grape or the fig is. If you say to me now that you want a fig, I will answer to you that it requires time: let it flower first, then put forth fruit, and then ripen.EpictetusMore inspiration
See allYou gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.
Eleanor RooseveltNo one can make you feel inferior without your consent.Eleanor RooseveltLittle strokes fell great oaks.
Benjamin FranklinEnergy and persistence conquer all things.Benjamin FranklinWell done is better than well said.Benjamin FranklinIf there is no struggle, there is no progress.
Frederick Douglass
Eleanor RooseveltNo one can make you feel inferior without your consent.Eleanor RooseveltLittle strokes fell great oaks.Benjamin FranklinEnergy and persistence conquer all things.Benjamin FranklinWell done is better than well said.Benjamin FranklinIf there is no struggle, there is no progress.Frederick Douglass