Manual for Living

Epictetus's Enchiridion, whose name means manual, gathers the Stoic philosopher's conviction that philosophy is a practice for living rather than just a theoretical discipline. It separates external events, which lie beyond anyone's control and should be accepted calmly, from a person's own actions, which can be examined and governed through rigorous self-discipline. Once translated into the vernacular languages, the short text found readers among independent intellectuals and philosophers. Montaigne owned a copy, Pascal rejected the Stoic's pride outright, and Frederick the Great carried it on all his campaigns, while the Scottish philosophers Francis Hutcheson, Adam Smith and Adam Ferguson studied and quoted it.

It appears on James Clear's list of the best nonfiction books.