Epictetus · c. 50 – c. 135 CE
Fragments 24 — Epictetus
Translation by George Long (1877)
Epictetus, Fragments 24
As it is better to lie compressed in a narrow bed and be healthy than to be tossed with disease on a broad couch, so also it is better to contract yourself within a small competence and to be happy than to have a great fortune and to be wretched.
Cite this passage
Epictetus, Fragments 24, tr. George Long (1877)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/epictetus-fragments/24
Epictetus, Enchiridion and Fragments, tr. George Long (1877). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesIt is better to be healthy in a narrow bed than sick on a grand one, and likewise better to live on modest means and be happy than to hold a fortune and be miserable. Do not trade your wellbeing for bigger riches.
Older wording
- “competence”
- — a modest but sufficient income
Themes and situations
- Simplicity and frugality
- Wealth and poverty
- Pleasure and pain
- Peace of mind
- Money, status and wanting more
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