Discourses, Book IV · Chapter I

Epictetus

Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants. For what is poverty? It is not the want of money, but the want of much. Is not he then the richer who is content with less, and he the poorer who is always craving more? For what is it to be rich? To be contented. He therefore who is contented is rich, though he has little; he who is discontented is poor, though he has much.

In ancient Rome, where social status relied heavily on wealth and possessions, Epictetus stood apart by redefining the notion of wealth. His words challenge the relentless pursuit of material gain that consumed many of his contemporaries. True wealth, for him, is freedom from the endless cycle of desire. This perspective strips power from material goods and places it firmly within the individual's control.

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