In earlier days  one of my great passions and obsessions was collecting quotations. I would collect them and keep them in journals. The journals would mount up as would the books of quotations- I had a substantial library at one time. ( I have downgraded the library since, due to issues with storage).

Some quotations just have a haunting, unforgettable quality. The following quotation from the Greek sage and philosopher Epictetus (55-135) is one of those.

 “Remember that you are an actor in a play, and that the playwright chooses the manner of it.

If he wants you to act a poor man, you must act the part with all your power. The same is if you are a cripple, a magistrate or a plain man.

For your business is to act the character that is given you and act it well.

The choice of the cast is another’s”.

 

The choice of the cast is another’s…a great line! How much of a role does fate play in our lives? How much free will do we really have ?