Q0025

“Remember that you are an actor in a play, of such a…” — Epictetus (Enchiridion 17)

Verified English quotation. Primary source: Enchiridion 17. Theme: fate.

English

Remember that you are an actor in a play, of such a kind as the playwright may choose.
Thinker Epictetus
School Stoicism
Source Enchiridion 17
Theme Fate
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source and attribution

The archive attributes this English wording to Enchiridion 17 and files it under Stoicism. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.

About Epictetus

Epictetus (c. 50–c.

How to read this passage

Across 4 recurring voices here (notably Epictetus and Seneca), fate is framed through Stoicism and Philosophy of Will. Some passages define fate; others warn how it fails; still others relocate it inside habit, community, or language. This passage enters that discussion through fate.

Concepts in this quote

Fate
Fate appears in this archive as a live philosophical concern—not a slogan. These verified English passages show how thinkers treat fate as a problem of judgment, practice, or explanation.

How to cite this quotation

APA: Epictetus. (n.d.). Remember that you are an actor in a play, of such a kind as the playwright may choose. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0025

MLA: Epictetus. “Remember that you are an actor in a….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0025.

Chicago: Epictetus. “Remember that you are an actor in a….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0025.

Frequently asked questions

What is the source of the quotation “Remember that you are an actor in a…”?

The passage is attributed to Epictetus, Enchiridion 17. The archive attributes this English wording to Enchiridion 17 and files it under Stoicism. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.

What does Epictetus mean by fate?

Across 4 recurring voices here (notably Epictetus and Seneca), fate is framed through Stoicism and Philosophy of Will. Some passages define fate; others warn how it fails; still others relocate it inside habit, community, or language. This passage enters that discussion through fate.

Same thinker

More from Epictetus

  1. Of things, some are in our power, and some are not.
  2. It is not things that disturb people, but their judgments about things.
  3. With whatever delights you, remind yourself of its nature — then if it is lost, you will not be disturbed.
  4. The beginning of philosophy is a consciousness of one's own weakness and inability concerning necessary things.
  5. Do not seek for things to happen as you wish, but wish for things to happen as they do, and you will flow well.

All quotations by Epictetus

Same theme

More on fate

  1. It is through wonder that people both now begin and first began to philosophize.
  2. A person's character is their destiny.
  3. What is opposed brings together; from what differs comes the finest harmony.
  4. Death is nothing to us: for what has been dissolved has no sensation, and what has no sensation is nothing to us.
  5. Pleasure is the beginning and end of the happy life — not the pleasures of profligates, but freedom from pain in the body and from disturbance in the soul.

Browse the fate theme