- The Stoic Ledger
- Posts
- April 13
April 13
Day 103/365: Epictetus on human excellence
Logan
April 13, 2025
Welcome to The Stoic Ledger, a daily money meditation from one of the Stoic sages.
103/365: Epictetus on human excellence
“Then what makes a beautiful human being? Isn’t is the presence of human excellence? Young friend, if you wish to be beautiful, then work diligently at human excellence. And what is that? Observe those whom you praise without prejudice. The just or the unjust? The just. The even-tempered or the undisciplined? The even-tempered. The self-controlled or the uncontrolled? The self-controlled. In making yourself that kind of person, you will become beautiful—but to the extent you ignore these qualities, you’ll be ugly, even if you use every trick in the book to appear beautiful.” – Epictetus
Beautiful possessions are errantly used to layer over parts of us that we want to appear beautiful. But that’s not how we become a beautiful human.
Excellence is derived from qualities, which are observable and “stealable.”
Look to those you admire. It’s not their house you admire, but their character. A benevolent man and a dictator buy the same million dollar home, you don’t look up to the dictator.
So you can take those traits you want, and that’s excellence. Note that money accentuates excellence. But it is not a prerequisite for excellence.
You can be benevolent without wealth. You can be disciplined without wealth. You can be self-controlled without wealth. You can be prudent without wealth. You can be just without wealth.
Excellence is at your door now, open it.
Reply