Epictetus' Discourses and Essential Writings: Philosophical Wisdom for Everyday Life

B. Schoeffler: Two cons about the manufacturing of this hardcover book:
- There is no book jacket
- There are no page numbers

I normally like to remove the book jacket of my hard cover books to have more of a plain looking book. However, this hard cover book is printed on the cover itself. So there is no jacket to speak of. It's something small, but I just don't like the design and I wouldn't have gotten it had I known it wasn't a cover.

Secondly, there are no page numbers in this book. Very odd considering there is a table of contents. But you just have to flip through and sort of guess where the next essay is.

The font in this book is also strangely big. I guess it's good if you have bad eyesight.

When it comes to the content of the book, after reading it for a bit I've found this translation to be really difficult to understand. Perhaps I'm spoiled by the excellent translation of Marcus Aurelius' Meditations by Gregory Hays. Maybe I'm just dumb, but it is very hard to read any of these essays by Epictetus.

I'm going to keep the book and try reading it a bit more. If I find my opinions changing, I'll update this review accordingly.

United States on Oct 07, 2023

John Napieralski: A must-read for anyone.

United States on Aug 27, 2023

phone thant: The book was packaged nicely, and it is in a good condition when it arrived

Singapore on Aug 23, 2023

Michelle Vicino: I read this every morning for 30 minute as a part of my meditation. I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. Highly recommend this book!

United States on Aug 19, 2023

Carlos: Lo que dice el título.

Mexico on Aug 10, 2023

Tini Mäh: Schnelle Lieferung.
Gute Taschenbuchqualität.
Zu Epictetus muss man an sich nichts mehr sagen - eines meiner Lieblingsbücher für unterwegs.

Germany on Aug 03, 2023

William II: I find this book really helpful, on top of that the print is clear and the pages are of sufficient thickness. If someone is interested in the content of this book then Penguin Classics is good.

India on Jul 21, 2023

Kabaal van Napels: “Discourses and Selected Writings” by Epictetus (and his student Arrian) contains the surviving four works as well as some fragments and a manual (Enchiridion) from this second century Greek Stoic philosopher from the Roman Empire. Founded by Zeno of Citium, the Stoics competed with other Hellenistic schools such as the Epicurians and Cynics on the question what it is to live a good life. Together with the Roman senator Seneca and the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, the freed slave Epictetus is one of the most influential and famous of these ancient Stoic philosophers.

Although the teachings in the “Discourses” seem to be timeless, the actual text is not always easy to read. However, as with most of the Penguin classics, the introduction and footnotes are excellent and provide details and explanations on the philosophy as well as appreciation for this work. In short, Epictetus states that in order to be free and happy, one has to understand what is in one’s control and accept that all other events (“externals”) just happen (fate). One cannot choose what external events happen, but one can choose how to react to those. This requires rigorous self-assessment to...

United Kingdom on Dec 27, 2022

ewomack: The world presents itself as a dilemma. It seems to enjoy throwing hardships, challenges, diseases, scandals, betrayals, injustices and a horde of other calamities right in the path of seemingly normal, happy lives. Why do these things happen? Do we deserve them? Did our own actions bring them about in some way? Why should they come along and foil our "reasonable" expectations of lives of unhindered pleasure or tranquil peacefulness? After all, we naturally want things, things that make us feel better about ourselves or about our lifestyles. Things that entertain or impress ourselves and others or things that just give us a serotonin buzz simply because they exist and we have the privilege of "owning" them. Such things could have material or monetary form. Or even the form of an office or a position with prestige, honor and power. Why wouldn't we want such things? Why wouldn't everyone want such things? Shouldn't we strive and even fight for them? Not only that, shouldn't we berate, criticize or possibly even brutalize those who keep us from obtaining such things? What if the world and all of its obstacles keeps us from obtaining these things? Shouldn't we curse this "stupid...

United States on Dec 29, 2020

Brian Johnson | Heroic: The media could not be loaded.  “The true man is revealed in difficult times. So when trouble comes, think of yourself as a wrestler whom God, like a trainer, has paired with a tough young buck. For what purpose? To turn you into Olympic-class material. But this is going to take some sweat to accomplish. From my perspective, no one’s difficulties ever gave him a better test than yours, if you are prepared to make use of them the way a wrestler makes use of an opponent in peak condition.”

~ Epictetus from Discourses

Epictetus is known as one of the world’s leading Stoic philosophers. Along with Seneca and Marcus Aurelius, the three make up a very interesting bunch.

Seneca was essentially a billionaire advisor to Nero who was exiled and compelled to commit suicide while Aurelius was part Roman Emperor + part Stoic philosopher who wrote his Meditations while leading battles in the Danube.

Epictetus was a former slave turned philosopher who lived from 55-135 (a little later than Seneca and before Aurelius). After all the philosophers were kicked out of Rome, he settled in to a town called Nicopolis on the Adriatic coast of Greece where he ran...

United States on Sep 07, 2016