“First say to yourself what you would be.”
Documented source
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About this line
Epictetus taught from a bare room — a lamp, a pallet, and people who came across the empire to hear him. What he taught wasn’t comfort but an order: decide who you mean to be before the day decides for you.
Why we carry this line
He was a slave expressing how to talk to yourself. I normally tire of all the positivity culture sayings. But this rings true when you know the backstory.
The design
Set in Roman capitals, the way Latin was cut into stone. FIRST stands alone on the top line, the largest word, flanked by interpuncts, the dots Roman stonecutters carved between words. The same dots run through SAY · TO · YOURSELF underneath, set small and spaced out. The instruction is to decide first, so the word comes first, and biggest.
