Love Quote by Epictetus

A pretty body is easy to rent; a life worth inhabiting is harder to build. Even if the wording here sounds suspiciously modern for Epictetus, the underlying Stoic intent is unmistakable: he’s demoting the visible, applause-ready parts of a person to the status of “indifferents” and re-centering what can’t be airbrushed. For Epictetus, the only real possession is prohairesis, the faculty of choice. Everything else - looks, health, status - is contingent, on loan from fortune, and guaranteed to be reclaimed.

The subtext is a quiet attack on the entire marketplace of appearance. “Good looking body” stands in for all the things society treats as proof of value: beauty, strength, youth, aesthetic discipline. Epictetus doesn’t deny their appeal; he denies their authority. He’s saying: the body can attract attention, but it can’t confer dignity. That job belongs to “heart and soul” - not as sentimental fluff, but as character under pressure: self-command, courage, restraint, honesty when it’s inconvenient. In Stoic terms, virtue is the only stable currency.

Context matters because Epictetus isn’t delivering this from a position of comfort. Born enslaved and later disabled, he’s uniquely qualified to puncture the fantasy that the body is destiny. His philosophy is survival-minded: when the world can take your body, your freedom has to live somewhere else. The line works because it refuses the era’s glamour logic (and ours) without turning puritanical. Enjoy the body, sure. Just don’t make it your résumé.