Quote checked against the text
“Don’t explain your philosophy. Embody it.” — attributed to Epictetus
In substance, yes; in this wording, no. The idea is at Enchiridion, XLVI; Elizabeth Carter’s 1758 edition is quoted below, and the sentence as it circulates is not this translator’s.
In substance, yes; in these two short sentences, no. “Explain your philosophy” and “embody it” return no hit in Carter’s 1758 Enchiridion or in Long’s 1877 volume, the Discourses selection printed with the Enchiridion. The list of circulating quotes does not carry the two-liner either; what it carries under Epictetus’s name is the chapter itself, in Carter’s words.
The idea has a chapter. Enchiridion XLVI, in Carter’s rendering, begins: never call yourself a philosopher, do not talk a great deal among the unlearned about theorems, but act conformably to them; at an entertainment, do not talk how persons ought to eat, but eat as you ought. Then Socrates, the model of a man who avoided all ostentation; then the sheep, who do not throw up the grass to show the shepherds how much they have eaten but digest it and produce wool and milk; and last the application, show the unlearned not the theorems but the actions produced by them. Long, in 1877, prints the same chapter under the same number.
The modern two-liner compresses that chapter into an imperative and drops the examples. The fair label is paraphrase of Enchiridion XLVI: the idea is his, the slogan is not.
What we searched
Each fragment is searched, normalized, in every file of the editions below. The block is the search and its result, replayed at each build.
The wording was searched in Carter 1758 (Enchiridion, 52 chapters) and Long 1877 (a selection of the Discourses, without book or chapter numbers, plus the Enchiridion).
$ node tools/seo/grep-quote.mjs --lang en --author epictete "explain your philosophy" "embody it" "call yourself a philosopher"
Elizabeth Carter, 1758 — Enchiridion · 52 chapters (Carter’s numbering) (1 file)
"explain your philosophy" 0 hits
"embody it" 0 hits
"call yourself a philosopher" 1 hit
l. 241 Never call yourself a Philosopher; nor talk…
George Long, 1877 — Discourses (selection) and Enchiridion · a selection of the Discourses, without book or chapter numbers, plus the Enchiridion (1 file)
"explain your philosophy" 0 hits
"embody it" 0 hits
"call yourself a philosopher" 1 hit
l. 5246 On no occasion call yourself a philosopher, and do…
$ node tools/seo/grep-quote.mjs --lang fr --author epictete "n’explique pas ta philosophie" "philosophie. Incarne-la" "ne te dis jamais philosophe"
Jean-Marie Guyau, 1875 — Manuel · 53 chapters (modern numbering) (1 file)
"n’explique pas ta philosophie" 0 hits
"philosophie. Incarne-la" 0 hits
"ne te dis jamais philosophe" 1 hit
l. 616 I. Ne te dis jamais philosophe, et ne…
Victor Courdaveaux, 1862 — Entretiens · 9 chapters of the Discourses (I, 1 · I, 15 · I, 18 · I, 24 · I, 25 · II, 13 · II, 18 · III, 16 · III, 24) (9 files)
"n’explique pas ta philosophie" 0 hits
"philosophie. Incarne-la" 0 hits
"ne te dis jamais philosophe" 0 hitsWhat the text says
Never call yourself a Philosopher; nor talk a great deal among the Unlearned about Theorems; but act conformably to them. Thus, at an Entertainment, do not talk how Persons ought to eat; but eat as you ought.
How to cite
The idea, not this wording, is at:
Epictetus, Enchiridion, XLVI (trans. Elizabeth Carter, 1758)
Other sentences checked
All sentences attributed to EpictetusAll quote checks
Every passage in Stoïque carries its reference. The 39 passages of Epictetus are in Stoic+, each with its locator.