The Human Machine

Some things are up to you

Cites Epictetus

Bennett says your own mind is what you can control, has the reader object that this is old, and agrees: Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius and Christ said it.

1. c. 125 CE

   “There are things which are within our power, and there are things which are beyond our power. Within our power are opinion, aim, desire, aversion, and, in one word, whatever affairs are our own. Beyond our power are body, property, reputation, office, and, in one word, whatever are not properly our own affairs.”

   Epictetus, Enchiridion. Earliest we can find, about 1,780 years earlier.

2. 1908

   “But your own mind you can control. [...] ‘Oh, yes!’ you protest. ‘All that’s old. Epictetus said that. Marcus Aurelius said that. Christ said that.’ They did.”