Whenever you see someone holding political power, set against it the fact that you yourself have no need of power. Whenever you see someone wealthy, … - Epictetus

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Whenever you see someone holding political power, set against it the fact that you yourself have no need of power. Whenever you see someone wealthy, observe what you have instead of that. For if you have nothing in its place, you are in a miserable state; but if you have the absence of the need to have wealth, realize that you have something greater and much more valuable. One man has a beautiful wife, you have the absence of longing for a beautiful wife. Do you think these are little things? How much would these very people – the wealthy, the powerful, the ones who live with beautiful women – pay for the ability to look down on wealth and power and those very women whom they adore and get?

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About Epictetus

Epictetus (c. 55 – c. 135 AD), born a slave, was a Greek Stoic philosopher. His words were recorded by his student Arrian in the Discourses and Enchiridion written in the early 2nd-century.

Biography information from Wikiquote

Also Known As

Native Name: ΕΠΙΚΤΗΤΟΣ
Alternative Names: Epictetus of Hierapolis Epiktetos
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Additional quotes by Epictetus

Crows pick out the eyes of the dead, when the dead have no longer need of them; but flatterers mar the soul of the living, and her eyes they blind.

When a man is proud because he can understand and explain the
writings of Chrysippus, say to yourself, if Chrysippus had not written
obscurely, this man would have had nothing to be proud of.

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