Epictetus · c. 50 – c. 135 CE
Discourses 3.6 ¶4 — Epictetus
From “Miscellaneous”
Translation by George Long (1877)
Epictetus, Discourses 3.6 ¶4
It is not easy to exhort weak young men; for neither is it easy to hold (soft) cheese with a hook. But those who have a good natural disposition, even if you try to turn them aside, cling still more to reason. Wherefore Rufus generally attempted to discourage (his pupils), and he used this method as a test of those who had a good natural disposition and those who had not. For it was his habit to say, “as a stone, if you cast it upwards, will be brought down to the earth by its own nature, so the man whose mind is naturally good, the more you repel him, the more he turns towards that to which he is naturally inclined.”
Cite this passage
Epictetus, Discourses 3.6 ¶4, tr. George Long (1877)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/discourses/3.6.4
Epictetus, Discourses (as recorded by Arrian), tr. George Long (1877). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesPeople with a genuine drive towards goodness cling to reason even when discouraged, like a thrown stone that falls back to earth, so a teacher can test commitment by discouraging pupils. Strong motivation shows when you keep going after someone tries to put you off.
Older wording
- “exhort”
- — urge or encourage
Themes and situations
- Learning and progress
- Virtue and character
- Resilience and endurance
- Self-discipline and habit
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