Discourses and Selected Writings
by Epictetus, translated by Robert Dobbin
The lectures of a former slave who became Rome's most influential Stoic teacher, recorded by his student Arrian: what is in our control and what is not, how to treat impressions, how to bear loss and insult, the discipline of desire, action and assent. This Penguin edition is clear and well-annotated. It is the source behind Marcus Aurelius and most modern Stoicism.
Read it if…
you want Stoicism from the original teacher rather than a modern summary.
Skip it if…
you want an easy read; the Discourses are lectures and require patience. The shorter Enchiridion is included.
Three things you will actually use
- Some things are up to us; most are not; focus on the first.
- It is not events that disturb us but our judgments about them.
- Practice: philosophy is training, not reading.
Do this first
Read the Enchiridion first, then one Discourse a day.
Our verdict
The source; demanding and worth it.
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