You are a little soul carrying around a corpse, as Epictetus used to say.
[Ψυχάριον εἶ βαστάζον νεκρόν, ὡς Ἐπίκτητος ἔλεγεν.]
Epictetus (c. 55-c. 135 AD) Greek (Phrygian) Stoic philosopher [Ἐπίκτητος, Epíktētos]
Discourses, Fragment 26 (Schenkl) (AD 108) [tr. Gill (2013)]
(Source)
The sole source for this fragment is Marcus Aurelius, Meditations [To Himself; Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν], Book 4, ch. 41 (4.41) (AD 161-180). The parallel translations here are from translators of both Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus.
(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:What art thou, that better and divine part excepted, but as Epictetus said well, a wretched soul, appointed to carry a carcass up and down?
[tr. Casaubon (1634), 4.33]Would you know what you are? Epictetus will tell you that you are a Living Soul, that drags a Carcass about with her.
[tr. Collier (1701)]“Thou art a poor spirit, carrying a dead carcase about with thee,” says Epictetus.
[tr. Hutcheson/Moor (1742)]As to your own being, "It is a living soul, that bears about with it a lifeless carcass," as Epictetus expresses it.
[tr. Graves (1792), 4.33]Thou art a little soul bearing about a corpse, as Epictetus used to say.
[tr. Long (1862)]You are a little soul carrying a dead body, as Epictetus said.
[tr. Long (1890), frag. 176]Epictetus will tell you that you are a living soul, that drags a corpse about with her.
[tr. Collier/Zimmern (1887)]What am I? "A poor soul, laden with a corpse" -- said Epictetus.
[tr. Rendall (1898)]“Thou art a poor soul, saddled with a corpse,” said Epictetus.
[tr. Hutcheson/Chrystal (1902)]You are a little soul, carrying a corpse, as Epictetus used to say.
[tr. Matheson (1916)]Thou art a little soul bearing up a corpse, as Epictetus said.
[tr. Haines (Loeb) (1916)]You are a little soul, carrying around a corpse, as Epictetus used to say.
[tr. Oldfather (Loeb) (1928)]You are a spirit bearing the weight of a dead body, as Epictetus used to say.
[tr. Farquharson (1944)]"A poor soul burdened with a corpse," Epictetus calls you.
[tr. Staniforth (1964)]"You are a little soul carrying a corpse around," as Epictetus used to say.
[tr. Hard (1997 ed.)]“A little wisp of soul carrying a corpse.” -- Epictetus.
[tr. Hays (2003)]You are a soul carrying a corpse, as Epictetus used to say.
[tr. Hammond (2006)]You are a bit of soul carrying around a dead body, as Epictetus used to say.
[tr. Dobbin (2008)]You are a little soul carrying a corpse around, as Epictetus used to say.
[tr. Hard (2011; 2014)]You're a pathetic little soul sustaining a corpse, as Epictetus used to say.
[tr. Waterfield (2012)]
Quotations about:
human being
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
PIETY, n. Reverence for the Supreme Being, based upon His supposed resemblance to man.
Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Piety,” The Devil’s Dictionary (1911)
(Source)
See Voltaire.
Originally published in the "Cynic's Word Book" column in the New York American (1905-01-27) and the "Cynic's Dictionary" column in the San Francisco Examiner (1905-02-05).
From my point of view, no label, no slogan, no party, no skin color, and indeed no religion is more important than the human being.
James Baldwin (1924-1987) American novelist, playwright, activist
Comment (1963)
(Source)
Included in Karen Thorsen, et al., James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket, film (1989), a film biography of Baldwin using extensive archival film of the author (the project was started before Baldwin's death, and Baldwin intended to direct it).
I have found, without good citation, two broader contexts for the quotation. First:The very dangerous effort one has got to make, according to me, is to deal with other people as though they were simply human beings. To remember that no matter what the details of their lives may be like, or how different they may seem to you superficially, or what the social pressures outside of what the psychological pressures are within, to deal with this other human being precisely as though he or she was here for the first and only time. To deal with them in some way that you’d like them to deal with you, no matter the price. From my point of view, no label, no slogan, no party, no skin color, and indeed no religion, is more important than the human being. The human core in everybody, which liberates you and me, because when the chips are down this is all there is -- there isn’t anything else.
The second looks to be a paraphrase of the above:We must all make the effort to deal with all people simply as human beings. From my point of view, no label, no slogan, no party, no skin color, and indeed no religion is more important than the human being. When the chips are down, this is all that matters.
Without better documentation, I cannot confirm either version.
You are not a human being having a spiritual experience. You are a spiritual being having a human experience.
Wayne Dyer (1940-2015) American self-help author, motivational speaker
You’ll See It When You Believe It: The Way to Your Personal Transformation, ch. 2, epigraph (1989)
(Source)
A variant of the phrase is also included in the Introduction to the book: "That you are not a human being having a spiritual experience, but rather a spiritual being having a human experience."
Dyer originally used a variation of this ("Can you see yourselves as spiritual beings having a human experience, rather than human beings who may be having a spiritual experience?") the previous year in "A Letter to the Next Generation," an advertisement by Volkswagen.
Also attributed, without citation to Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (incorrectly) and Georges I. Gurdjieff.
More discussion: You Are Not a Human Being Having a Spiritual Experience. You Are a Spiritual Being Having a Human Experience – Quote Investigator.
One person by himself is not a complete human being.
Northrop Frye (1912-1991) Canadian literary critic and literary theorist
The Educated Imagination, Talk 1 “The Motive for Metaphor” (1963)
(Source)
In a courtroom there is no system on trial, no History or historical trend, no ism, anti-Semitism for instance, but a person, and if the defendant happens to be a functionary, he stands accused precisely because even a functionary is still a human being, and it is in this capacity that he stands trial.
Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
Essay (1964-08), “Personal Responsibility Under Dictatorship,” The Listener Magazine
(Source)
On war crimes trials in general, and the Eichmann trial in particular.
Collected in Responsibility and Judgment, Part 1 "Responsibility" (2003).
Angels are souls blown into lights,
Jinn are souls blown into winds,
and Human Beings are souls blown into shapes.Ibn 'Arabi (1165-1240) Arab Andalusian Muslim scholar, Sufi mystic, poet, philosopher [ابن عربي]
(Attributed)
(Source)
If the human animal has any value at all, he is too valuable to be property. If he has an inner dignity, he is much too proud to own other men. I don’t give a damn how scrubbed and perfumed he may be, a slave owner is subhuman.
Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988) American writer
Time Enough For Love [Lazarus Long] (1973)
Many people genuinely do not wish to be saints, and it is probable that some who achieve or aspire to sainthood have never felt much temptation to be human beings.
George Orwell (1903-1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1949-01), “Reflections on Gandhi,” Partisan Review
(Source)
I am human, I consider nothing human is alien to me.
[Homo sum: humani nil a me alienum puto.]
Terence (186?-159 BC) African-Roman dramatist [Publius Terentius Afer]
Heauton Timoroumenos [The Self-Tormentor], l. 77
Alt. trans.:
- "I am human [being], I consider nothing human to be alien to me."
- "I am a human being, so there is nothing human I do not feel to be my concern."
- "I am a human being; nothing human is alien to me."
We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955) French Jesuit priest, paleontologist, philosopher
(Misattributed)
Sometimes paraphrased: "We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey."
Not actually found in Teilhard's works. Sometimes cited to Le Phénomène Humain [The Phenomenon of Man] (1955) [tr. Wall (1959)], but it is not present there.
The best credit seems to be to Wayne Dyer. Also sometimes cited to Stephen Covey, who used the phrase but credited it to Teilhard (without citation). For more discussion, see You Are Not a Human Being Having a Spiritual Experience. You Are a Spiritual Being Having a Human Experience – Quote Investigator.
