Quotes checked, by author
Epictetus: what is (and is not) in the Enchiridion and Discourses
Each sentence below was searched in the Enchiridion and in the chapters of the Discourses we hold, in English and in French. The title never says more than the weakest verdict.
How we check
- The sentence is split into two fragments of four to six words, in English and in French.
- Each fragment is searched, normalized (case, apostrophes, punctuation, line breaks), in every public-domain edition we hold — the search is replayed by the build.
- A hit at the place the idea comes from, without the wording, is a paraphrase; a hit with the wording is attested.
- No hit anywhere gives “not found”, with the exact extent of what was searched; a documented earlier source gives “misattributed”.
- The title of a page never says more than the weakest verdict, and the edition’s own text is quoted whenever there is one.
By verdict
8 sentences checked
- Paraphrase
- 4
- Not found
- 1
- Misattributed
- 1
- Attested
- 2
| Sentence | Verdict | Page | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Don’t explain your philosophy. Embody it. | Paraphrase | Enchiridion, XLVI | Page → |
| Man, what are you talking about? Me in chains? You may fetter my leg but my will, not… | Attested | Discourses, “Of the things which are in our power and not in our power” | Page → |
| First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do. | Not found | in Carter 1758 (Enchiridion, 52 chapters) and Long 1877 (a selection of the Discourses, without book or chapter numbers, plus the Enchiridion) | Page → |
| And do you feel no shame in handing over your own mind to be confused and mystified by… | Paraphrase | Enchiridion, XXVIII | Page → |
| You are a little soul carrying around a corpse. | Paraphrase | Meditations, IV, 41 | Page → |
| Men are disturbed, not by things, but by the principles and notions which they form… | Attested | Enchiridion, V | Page → |
| We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak. | Misattributed | in Carter 1758 (Enchiridion, 52 chapters) and Long 1877 (a selection of the Discourses, without book or chapter numbers, plus the Enchiridion) | Page → |
| It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters. | Paraphrase | Enchiridion, V | Page → |
Editions searched
What “not found” means depends on what was searched. These are the editions, with their real extent.
- Enchiridion — Elizabeth Carter, 1758 · 52 chapters (Carter’s numbering)
- Discourses (selection) and Enchiridion — George Long, 1877 · a selection of the Discourses, without book or chapter numbers, plus the Enchiridion
- Enchiridion — Jean-Marie Guyau, 1875 · 53 chapters (modern numbering)
- Discourses — Victor Courdaveaux, 1862 · 9 chapters of the Discourses (I, 1 · I, 15 · I, 18 · I, 24 · I, 25 · II, 13 · II, 18 · III, 16 · III, 24)
EpictetusEnchiridionDiscoursesAll quote checks
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