A passage from Epictetus

Epictetus, Discourses III.16

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When you see a person weeping in sorrow, either when a child goes abroad or when he is dead, or when the man has lost his property, take care that the appearance does not hurry you away with it. But immediately make the distinction within yourself, and say, 'It is not the thing that distresses this man, but his judgment about it.'
Epictetus·Discourses·III.16·trans. George Long
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