Disclosures and Selected Writings

Welcome! Today we’ll be reviewing Disclosures and Selected Writings by Epictetus.

Standing shoulder to shoulder with Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus is undeniably one of the most important philosophers of all time and is often noted as one of the most important contributors to the philosophy known as Stoicism. This book is brief, insightful, and a very good read if you’re interested in Stoicism, philosophy, or the era in which Epictetus lived. This book, as the title suggests, is a compilation of disclosures and selected writings that one of Epictetus’ students, Arrian, wrote down over the course of his tutelage under him and (despite the large volume of supposedly hand-written transcripts that comprise this book) is considered a credible source of Epictetus’ works.

Over the course of this relatively brief novel, Epictetus provides many great quotes and insights into how he believes we should lives our lives, here’s a few notable quotes:

• “[N]o one is ever unhappy because of someone else.”
• “[Y]ou are invincible if nothing outside the will can disconcert you.”
• “Plan carefully, know your limits, be reasonable and don’t go forward without God’s say-so. If he picks you, be aware that in addition to greatness his plans for you entail a good deal of discomfort.”
• “For he works overtime on his fellow man’s behalf; what sleep he gets only leaves him purer than when he first lay down; his thoughts never unworthy of a friend and minister of the gods…”

Epictetus, being a former slave, was no stranger to discomfort or unfairness – and it’s this experience, in addition to his selfless attitude towards helping and educating others while himself being in abject poverty – that truly sets Epictetus apart as one of the greatest known philosophers. Maybe now is a good time to mention that this novel is broken into three separate “books”, each covering a different theme, and each book itself is broken into 5-6 paragraph snippets that the editor of this book (Robert Dobbin) has carefully applied the transcripts to which answers questions such as:

• How we should struggle with circumstance
• On steadfastness
• How confidence and carefulness are compatible
• What is the substance of the good

and many, many other topics. As I previously mentioned, I think Robert did a great job editing the transcripts that Arrian so diligently documented many years ago, and I suspect if you have any interest in Stoicism or philosophy in general you’ll have as good a time reading this as I did.