Book · 108
Discourses
by Epictetus
A freed slave lectures Roman students on why your opinions, not your circumstances, are the only thing making you miserable.
What does Reddit think of Discourses?
Nearly all of the 206 mentions live in r/Stoicism — 204, to be exact — which tells you where this book lands: squarely inside an existing practice community rather than at the crossroads of general philosophy. The two r/askphilosophy appearances are footnotes. Sentiment across both subs is neutral across seven years of data, not because people are indifferent but because the quotes that score highest are working arguments, not testimonials. The ↑642 thread leans on Epictetus to explain why insults require your consent to land. The ↑382 thread deploys him against the evangelical Stoic who can't stop haranguing their family. That pattern holds: r/Stoicism uses this book as a live tool, not a monument. The 2022 spike to 86 mentions, nearly double any adjacent year, suggests the pandemic cohort of converts embedded it as a foundational text. Engagement has slowed since, but it hasn't stopped.
Community feedback & reader fit
Themes
- · The dichotomy of control
- · Opinion as the root of suffering
- · Virtue as the only genuine good
- · Freedom through acceptance of externals
- · Practical ethics over abstract theory
Common praise
- + r/Stoicism commenters reach for Epictetus first when someone asks why they're letting a colleague's opinion wreck their week.
- + The dichotomy-of-control framework cuts cleanly enough that readers cite it without paraphrasing — they just quote the book.
- + Threads use it to push back against productivity-flavored Stoicism, distinguishing Epictetus's focus on character from outcome-chasing.
- + A ↑259 comment deploys it to explain why resentment toward bad coworkers is self-inflicted, and the argument lands without much scaffolding.
Common criticism
- − The neutral aggregate sentiment across 206 mentions suggests readers receive it as corrective rather than inspiring — useful medicine, not something you evangelize.
- − The ↑382 thread warns that the philosophy is easy to weaponize against people who aren't interested in it, a misuse the book arguably enables.
- − A ↑282 comment notes that beginners routinely mistake the practice for a coping mechanism and get the fundamentals wrong from the first read.
Who it's for
If you already practice some form of Stoicism and want the source material behind the Marcus Aurelius highlights, this is the next text. You've read Ryan Holiday; now you want the actual argument. Come here if you're the person in the ↑382 thread — the one who loved philosophy but kept trying to drag others into it — because Epictetus addresses that failure mode directly. If you're brand new to Stoicism and want an accessible entry point, the Discourses will work but expect a steeper first chapter. The r/Stoicism community treats it as a reference to pull from during arguments, which is probably the right frame: less a book you read once and more one you consult when something has gone wrong.
Mentions over time
Top subreddits
Which Reddit comments matter for Discourses?
Top-upvoted quotes across the subreddits where this book is mentioned. Click through to read the full thread.
“>"A lesser man cannot harm a good man" -Socrates >"A gentleman will not insult me, and no man not a gentleman can insult me." - Frederick Douglass >"Remember that it is we who torment, we who make difficulties for ourselves — that is, our opinions do. What, for instance, does it mean to be insulte…
“Has it occurred to you that they appear to be able to take pleasure in the small things, and that it would be a far greater expression of your philosophical wisdom to try to achieve their happiness, rather than trying to drag them into topics they *clearly* have no interest in. I love philosophy. I…
“Short answer: no, being stoic is not a coping mechanism. But what you are doing right now is absolutely a coping mechanism. I've been where you are because I started my practice with the same book as you, and I think I can help here. You've got stoicism fundamentally wrong, which is a common pitfal…
“>That’s why I just want them to fail in the future so badly for making my life harder and stressful, and also having such attitudes that I think no jobs or leaders would even want. In Stoicism, emotions like this (called "passions") are the result our judgments and expectations. You seem to have a…
“I’ll say that the content you’ve read is modern day self help and not the philosophy you claim it is. You seem to measure your own “success” on its productivity rather than your character. Character or excellence of being is all a Stoic values. It could be that you see “outcomes” as more important…
“2.13 when I see a man anxious is say, “what does this man want? If he did not want something which is not in his lower how could he be anxious?” For this reason a mute player when is he singing by himself has no anxiety, but when he enters the theater, he is anxious even if he has a good voice and p…
“Someone’s opinion of you is out of your control, but your actions are not. It sounds like these activities are the cost of keeping this job. Best of luck, friend. > You are the one who knows yourself – which is to say, you know how much you are worth in your own estimation, and therefore at what pr…
“Unfortunately being south-east Asian doesn't free you from the reality that if you derive your sense of self from the judgments of other people, you will be miserable in exactly the way that you are now. Indeed, south-east Asian countries tend to demonstrate just how unhappy this approach makes you …
Convinced? Pick up Discourses
Readers also mention
Books that share discussion threads with Discourses — counted from the comments, not curated.
Enchiridion
Epictetus
A freed slave's 2,000-year-old field manual for deciding what you control — and letting go of everything else.
Meditations
Marcus Aurelius
The Roman emperor's private notebook — written to himself in Greek, never meant to be published — became the Stoic canon's most-cited text 1,800 years later.
Letters from a Stoic
Seneca
Seneca writes 124 letters to a friend about grief, fear, and wasted time — and 163 Reddit mentions later, r/Stoicism still treats them as the first thing to read.
How to Think Like a Roman Emperor
Donald Robertson
Donald Robertson follows Marcus Aurelius from student to emperor, using the Meditations as a manual for cognitive therapy anyone can apply today.
The Daily Stoic
Ryan Holiday
Ryan Holiday turns Stoic passages into a 366-day reading habit, and r/Stoicism's 250 mentions can't decide if that's a gateway or a ceiling.
Ego Is the Enemy
Ryan Holiday
Ryan Holiday's case for subordinating ego to craft draws 41 Reddit mentions, most from r/Stoicism, where the book is treated as a gateway to the primary sources.
Discourses — frequently asked
What does Reddit actually think of Discourses and Selected Writings?+
Neutral, in aggregate — 206 mentions, both subs registering flat sentiment. That's not a knock. r/Stoicism uses the book the way lawyers use case law: to settle arguments about what Stoicism actually requires. The ↑642 thread cites Epictetus on insults; the ↑259 thread on workplace resentment. People aren't gushing, they're working with it.
Is Discourses and Selected Writings a good starting point for Stoicism?+
Depends. A ↑282 r/Stoicism comment specifically warns that readers who start here often get the fundamentals wrong and mistake the whole practice for a coping mechanism. Meditations is a softer entry. If you want the sharper, more argumentative Epictetus from the start, come prepared — this is lecture transcripts, not personal journaling.
Why did Discourses and Selected Writings spike to 86 mentions in 2022?+
The data doesn't say explicitly, but 2022 was the peak of a pandemic-era cohort discovering Stoicism. r/Stoicism grew substantially in that period, and Epictetus appears to have been cemented as the foundational text for that wave. Mentions have declined each year since — 57 in 2023, 23 in 2024, 11 in 2025 — following the broader subreddit pattern.
How does Discourses and Selected Writings compare to Meditations on Reddit?+
The data here only covers Discourses — 204 mentions in r/Stoicism, 2 in r/askphilosophy. What's visible is that r/Stoicism deploys Epictetus as a corrective to softer readings of Stoicism, particularly against productivity reframings. The ↑238 thread explicitly calls out modern self-help Stoicism and points back to Epictetus on character over outcomes.