Quote (bogie160 @ Oct 29 2020 01:33pm)
Epictetus. If life is intolerable you are free to quit it. If working is evil, no one can force you to do evil. Do not worry about circumstances outside of your control.
In our relations with other people we are to be governed by the attitudes Epictetus calls “modesty” (aidōs) and “love of humanity”(philanthrōpia). Modesty consists in an awareness of the perspective of others and a readiness to curtail one’s own unseemly behavior; love of humanity is a willingness to exert oneself on others’ behalf. The latter extends especially toward those with whom we are associated by our particular role in life: toward children if one is a parent, toward husband or wife if one is married, and so on (2.10, 2.22.20). While our best service to others is in helping them develop their own rational nature, it is also entirely appropriate that we should act to further the temporal interests of those to whom we are connected by birth or situation.