Epictetus Quote on Desire: The Art of Wanting

Quote

"The art of living is the art of wanting: want what is up to you, and you will never want in vain; want what is not up to you, and you will be the slave of the want." — Epictetus, Discourses, Book 3, Chapter 24 (2nd century CE)

Author

Epictetus (c. 50–135 CE) was a Stoic philosopher born a slave, freed in adulthood, and the teacher of the most influential Stoic school of his age. The discipline of desire is the center of his practical philosophy.

Source

The quotation is from Book 3, Chapter 24 of the Discourses, "That We Ought Not to Be Moved by a Desire of Those Things That Are Not in Our Power." The translation follows Robin Hard's Oxford edition (2014).

Context

The teaching belongs to the discipline of desire, one of the three Stoic disciplines (with action and assent). The Stoics analyzed desire as the judgment that something good is absent, and Epictetus made the correction of the desires the foundation of his teaching. The chapter from which the quotation comes develops the discipline: the person who desires what is not up to them — the wealth, the reputation, the outcome — has staked their happiness on what they cannot control, and the desire becomes the master. The person who desires only what is up to them — the virtue, the judgment, the conduct — has staked the happiness on what is secure.

Meaning

The quotation states the Stoic discipline of desire with complete clarity. "The art of living is the art of wanting" — the definition: the philosophical life is the discipline of the desires, and the mastery of the wants is the mastery of the life. "Want what is up to you" — the first rule: the desires are directed to what is in our power — the virtue, the judgment, the conduct. "And you will never want in vain" — the promise: the desires for what is up to us are always satisfiable, because what is up to us is always within our power. "Want what is not up to you, and you will be the slave of the want" — the contrast: the desire for the external is the slavery, because the external is in the power of others, and the want makes the wanter dependent. The quotation is the foundation of the Stoic discipline of desire, and it grounds the practice of the dichotomy of control in the Stoic wisdom tradition.

Related Wisdom

The quotation belongs to the Stoic discipline of desire and the practice of the dichotomy of control. Its account of the art of wanting connects to Marcus Aurelius's practice of the disciplined desire and to the wider wisdom tradition's teaching on the moderation of the wants. The teaching is among the most practical in the Stoic wisdom tradition.