"WHAT, then, must my leg be lame?" And is it for one paltry leg, wretch, that you accuse the world? Why will you not give it up to the whole? Why will you not withdraw yourself from it? Why will you not gladly yield it to him who gave it? And will you be angry and discontented with the decrees of Jupiter, which he, with the Fates who spun in his presence the thread of your birth, ordained and appointed? Do not you know how very small a part you are of the whole? That is, as to body; for as to reason you are neither worse, nor less, than the gods. For reason is not measured by length or height, but by principles. Will you not therefore place your good there, where you are equal to the gods?
EPICTETUS. DISCOURSES. Book i. §12. ¶3.
The bodies we have are subject to the laws of nature and to the chances of fortune. We may not have control over the simplest of acts. We are so small and return to dust so quickly. But our minds are as the gods! For they are not measured by our stature or the length of our days, but by our principles, and by the care we give to one another. Why not place our efforts there, where we have the power to affect real change. - Inspired by Epictetus
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