Discourse on Method

Some things are up to you

Echoes

Descartes’s third maxim states the split and the advice in his own words, conquer yourself rather than fortune, and mentions earlier philosophers without naming one.

1. c. 125 CE

   “There are things which are within our power, and there are things which are beyond our power. Within our power are opinion, aim, desire, aversion, and, in one word, whatever affairs are our own. Beyond our power are body, property, reputation, office, and, in one word, whatever are not properly our own affairs.”

   Epictetus, Enchiridion. Earliest we can find, about 1,510 years earlier.

2. 1637

   “My third maxim was to endeavor always to conquer myself rather than fortune, and change my desires rather than the order of the world, and in general, accustom myself to the persuasion that, except our own thoughts, there is nothing absolutely in our power”