Arrogance is normally a banal mask of cowardice
Epictietus (AD 55 – AD 135) was a Greek Stoic philosopher. He was born a slave in Greece, lived in Rome and was expelled and exiled to his homeland where he lived for most of his life.
During his exile, he created a way of teaching his disciples. Below, an excerpt of his book Discourses:
“Two things may happen when we meet someone: either we become friends or we try to convince this person to accept our convictions. The same happens when a live coal touches another piece of coal: it either shares its fire with it or it becomes suffocated for its size and ends up extinguished.”
“As generally we are insecure at first contact, we try showing indifference, arrogance or excessive humbleness. The result is that we stop being ourselves and things begin to stray toward a strange world that doesn’t belong to us.
“In order to avoid this to happen, allow your good feelings to be noticed right away. Arrogance is normally a banal mask of cowardice, but it ends up preventing important things from blossoming in your life.”
