quote · Legacy record
If you want to make progress, put up with being perceived as ignorant or naive in worldly matters, don't aspire to a reputation for sagacity. If you do impress others as somebody, don't altogether believe it. You have to realize, it isn't easy to keep your will in agreement with nature, as well as externals. Caring about the one inevitably means you are going to shortchange the other.
If you want to make progress, put up with being perceived as ignorant or naive in worldly matters, don't aspire to a reputation for sagacity. If you do impress others as somebody, don't altogether believe it. You have to realize, it isn't easy to keep your will in agreement with nature, as well as externals. Caring about the one inevitably means you are going to shortchange the other.
Approximate author period: c. 50 AD · classical
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- Author or tradition
- Epictetus
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
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- Approximate author period: c. 50 AD · classical
Approximate author-period anchor from documented birth year 50; activity date not established; Wikidata Q183144, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q183144 (accessed 2026-10-08). Not a quotation composition date.
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Supplied reference C; CSV row 11453; supplied attribution, independently unverified
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