EpictetusDawnstone

Epictetus · Discourses 8.5

What punishment for those who refuse to accept? To remain what they are. Is someone dissatisfied with solitude? Let him remain alone. With his parents? Then a bad son. With his children? A bad father.
Epictetus, Discourses and Selected Writings (Discourses 8.5)

What this means

The punishment for refusing reality, Epictetus says, is simply to keep being the person who refuses it. The discontented loner stays alone; the resentful son stays a bad son. Character is its own consequence, paid out quietly over a life.

On judgment, fate.

Read the source

Discourses and Selected Writings

Epictetus · trans. Robert Dobbin · Penguin Classics

Get the book on Bookshop.org

Affiliate link. Your purchase may earn Dawnstone a small commission, at no extra cost to you.

More from Epictetus

Read Epictetus every morning.

One short passage in your inbox, quietly, once a day. Unsubscribe anytime.

One email a day. No tracking, no sharing — ever.

Put a passage like this on your Lock Screen — free