“One cannot pursue one’s own highest good without at the same time necessarily promoting the good of others. A life based on narrow self-interest cannot be esteemed by any honorable measurement. Seeking the very best in ourselves means actively caring for the welfare of other human beings. Our human contract is not with the few people with whom our affairs are most immediately intertwined, nor to the prominent, rich, or well educated, but to all our human brethren.”
– Epictetus, Sharon Lebell. The Art of Living: The Classical Manual on Virtue, Happiness, and Effectiveness, HarperOne: 2007, p. 95.
Epictetus was born into slavery around 50 CE in what is now Turkiye. He became disabled in childhood, possibly due to an injury deliberately inflicted by his enslaver. He was permitted to study philosophy under Gaius Musonius Rufus, a Stoic, and went on to teach philosophy himself after having gained his freedom.
Image: Fronstispiece of Epicteti Enchiridion Latinis versibus adumbratum, Oxford: 1715 by William Sonmans (1650–1708) and Michael Burghers (–1727).
Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Epicteti_Enchiridion_Latinis_versibus_adumbratum_(Oxford_1715) frontispiece(cropped).jpg
Image license: Public Domain.
Remix: I cropped the image.
