Q0438

Epictetus

A verified English rendering from the curated archive.

English

Be mostly silent, or speak only what is necessary.
Thinker Epictetus
School Stoicism
Source Enchiridion 33
Theme Language
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source context

This English passage is associated with Enchiridion 33, within the tradition of Stoicism. The wording below is a verified rendering prepared for careful reading rather than a claim of unique translation authority.

A short reading

Read in the register of language, the sentence asks the reader to test an assumption rather than to collect a slogan. In Epictetus's wider work, similar claims are usually offered as prompts for judgment: what would have to be true for the sentence to hold, and what would follow if it did?

How to cite this quotation

APA: Epictetus. (n.d.). Be mostly silent, or speak only what is necessary. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0438

MLA: Epictetus. “Be mostly silent, or speak only what is….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0438.

Chicago: Epictetus. “Be mostly silent, or speak only what is….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0438.

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. Remember that you are an actor in a play, of such a kind as the playwright may choose.
  5. The beginning of philosophy is a consciousness of one's own weakness and inability concerning necessary things.

All quotations by Epictetus

Same theme

More on language

  1. Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.
  2. What we do is to bring words back from their metaphysical to their everyday use.
  3. The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.
  4. The meaning of a word is its use in the language.
  5. He who knows only his own side of the case, knows little of that.

Browse the language theme