July 11, 2026

Some things are in our control, and others not. Things in our control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever are our own actions. Things not in our control are body, property, reputation, command, and, in one word, whatever are not our own actions.

Epictetus was born a slave in Hierapolis, later freed, and taught philosophy in Rome until Emperor Domitian banished all philosophers, sending him to Nicopolis in Greece where he ran his school. The Enchiridion, compiled by his student Arrian, opens with exactly this distinction, and it became the founding move of Stoic practice. He is saying that your opinions, desires, aversions, and choices belong entirely to you, while your body, possessions, reputation, and any official standing do not, however much they feel like yours. Stoics train themselves to ask, before reacting to anything, whether it falls on the controllable or uncontrollable side of this line. Effort spent on the wrong side, Epictetus warns elsewhere, breeds frustration and servitude, while effort spent on the right side produces the only freedom worth having.