Be mostly silent, or speak merely what is needful, and in few words.
Epictetus The Enchiridion, XXXIII Translated by Thomas Wentworth Higginson
Source checked by an editor
Read the source
The Enchiridion
Your turn
What does this bring up for you?
Saved to this device only. Nothing is sent to a server.
Continue transfers only this reflection. Review your account before saving. Your original browser copy stays here.
Read next
First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.
Discourses, Book III, §23 (108 CE)
Practice yourself, for heaven's sake, in little things; and thence proceed to greater.
Discourses, Book I, §18 (108 CE)
Nothing great, said Epictetus, is produced suddenly, since not even the grape or the fig is.
Discourses (108 CE)