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What Would Stoics Do

Epictetus · c. 50 – c. 135 CE

Fragments 96 — Epictetus

Translation by George Long (1877)

Epictetus, Fragments 96

To the longer life and the worse, the shorter life, if it is better, ought by all means to be preferred.
— Epictetus, Fragments 96 · tr. George Long (1877)Read in context →

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Epictetus, Fragments 96, tr. George Long (1877)

https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/epictetus-fragments/96

Epictetus, Enchiridion and Fragments, tr. George Long (1877). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences

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In plain English

AI-written notes

If a shorter life is the better one, it should be chosen over a longer, worse one. What counts is the quality of a life, not its length.

Themes and situations

  • Death and mortality
  • Virtue and character