Epictetus Enchiridion
Epictetus: When a raven happens to croak unluckily,…
When a raven happens to croak unluckily, don't allow the appearance hurry you away with it, but immediately make the distinction to yourself, and say, "None of these things are foretold to me; but either to my paltry body, or property, or reputation, or children, or wife. But to me all omens are lucky, if I will. For whichever of these things happens, it is in my control to derive advantage from it."
The passage follows a public-domain translation of the Enchiridion. The reading beside it is ours.
We still have ravens, only now they arrive as headlines, algorithms, market predictions, ominous texts, and strangers' comments. It is easy to treat every signal as proof that disaster is coming. Epictetus's response is not to deny uncertainty but to reclaim the one thing no omen can settle: how you will use what happens. A bad forecast may affect your body, finances, or reputation. It cannot force you to lie, panic, or abandon your values. In that sense, every event can become material for courage, patience, or wisdom. When you feel pulled into superstition or doom-scrolling, separate prediction from fact. Then separate fact from your response. You do not need to know that everything will turn out well in order to act well. Your agency is not a guarantee of outcomes; it is the ability to make good use of whatever arrives.
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