No great thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen
Spoken byEpictetusc. AD 50 – c. 135 · Stoic philosopher, born enslaved
Genuine. The passage stands at Discourses I.15.7, in the chapter “What Philosophy Promises,” taken down by his pupil Arrian. This exact English, however, is a translator’s: it first appears in Thomas Wentworth Higginson’s revision of Elizabeth Carter’s translation ↗, first published Boston: Little, Brown, 1865 — the scan linked here is the 1866 printing, same text, p. 48.
“No great thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen” Epictetus, Discourses I.15.7, in the translation of Thomas Wentworth Higginson, revised edition (New York: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1890), pp. 55–56. Punctuation as usually quoted; both printings read "I answer you, that there must be time."
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Evoking the world of Epictetus — Greek Stoic philosopher, born enslaved. Theme: "No great thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.
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Provenance
The source
Work
The Discourses of Epictetus, Book I, ch. 15 — “What Philosophy Promises”
Recorded by
Arrian of Nicomedia, from Epictetus’ lectures at Nicopolis, c. AD 108
Thomas Wentworth Higginson, revising Elizabeth Carter — Boston: Little, Brown, 1866, p. 48
But the inquirer still further asking for a rule for self-government, if he should not be reconciled; Epictetus answered thus: — No great thing is created suddenly; any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me, that you desire a fig, I answer you, that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen. Since then, the fruit of a fig-tree is not brought to perfection suddenly, or in one hour; do you think to possess instantaneously and easily the fruit of the human mind? I warn you, expect it not.
Discourses I.15 · p. 48
The 1866 printing puts a semicolon after “suddenly” and a comma after “If you tell me.” The revised edition (New York: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1890, pp. 55–56) prints “No great thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig…” — nearly the punctuation that circulates today, though both printings still keep a comma after “I answer you.” The closing sentences about the fig-tree are almost always dropped in quotation.
The passage sits at Discourses I.15.7, in the chapter “What Philosophy Promises.” Wikiquote’s sourced Book I section ↗ carries the Greek and a near-identical English rendering under that citation — its text reads “No thing great is created suddenly…” and names no translator.
Elizabeth Carter’s eighteenth-century opening sentence is noticeably different — the 1759 Dublin printing ↗ reads “No great Thing is brought to Perfection suddenly; when not so much as a Bunch of Grapes or a Fig is.” Her closing, though, is the familiar one: “Let it first blossom, then bear Fruit, then ripen” (p. 45).
The Greek text is ancient and long out of copyright. The English wording quoted here was published in Boston by Little, Brown in 1866 — far earlier than the 1931 US copyright cut-off — so this translation is in the public domain as well.
⚠ This reflects the original work, which is public domain. If your exact English wording comes from a specific modern translation, that translation may itself still be under copyright — check the edition you quote.
Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.
Fact-check
The part that gets lost
The name on this quote is right: Epictetus really is behind it. What gets dropped is the translator — and translators disagree sharply about how to render the line.
✕
The exact English sentenceEpictetus, verbatim Translation
Epictetus taught in Koine Greek and left no writings; Arrian took the lectures down ↗. The polished opening sentence people share is Thomas Wentworth Higginson’s, first printed in 1865; the closing “Let it first blossom…” he kept from Elizabeth Carter.
~
Partly her wording, kept by Higginson — Elizabeth Carter Partly hers
Only the opening sentence is Higginson’s rewrite: Carter’s own text ↗ reads “No great Thing is brought to Perfection suddenly; when not so much as a Bunch of Grapes or a Fig is.” The famous closing — “Let it first blossom, then bear Fruit, then ripen” — is Carter word for word (1759 Dublin printing, p. 45), and Higginson only lightly trimmed the sentence between.
✕
The wording, credited to the common Victorian versionGeorge Long Wrong edition
Long’s translation ↗ renders it “Nothing great, said Epictetus, is produced suddenly, since not even the grape or the fig is” — a different sentence entirely.
✓The thought is Epictetus’ and the citation is solid — Discourses I.15.7. The memorable English comes from Higginson’s revision of Carter ↗: the opening sentence is his, the closing line is hers, and the credit belongs to both.
Context
Why it mattered
Someone came to Epictetus with a very ordinary complaint: my brother treats me badly, how do I make him stop? Epictetus refused the premise. Philosophy, he said, does not procure outward goods; the material of the art of living is your own life, not your brother’s. When the man pressed — fine, but how do I keep myself steady if he never comes round? — the fig answer is what he got.
It is a deliberately unglamorous image. Not an oak, not a mountain: a fig, the most everyday fruit on a Greek table. The point is that character ripens on the same schedule as produce, and the closing lines that almost never get quoted make it sting — if a fig tree cannot be hurried, why would you expect the fruit of a human mind in an hour?
Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.
More about Epictetus and the Discourses
Epictetus was born enslaved at Hierapolis in Phrygia and freed after Nero’s death; when Domitian expelled philosophers from Rome he set up a school at Nicopolis in north-western Greece, and it is those classroom sessions Arrian preserved.
Four of the original eight books of the Discourses survive. The fig passage closes Book I, chapter 15 — one of the shortest chapters in the collection.
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More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.
c. AD 50 – c. 135 · Greek Stoic philosopher, born enslaved
Epictetus was born into slavery at Hierapolis in Phrygia and served the freedman Epaphroditus in Rome before gaining his freedom after Nero’s death. When Domitian banished philosophers from the city he opened a school at Nicopolis in Greece, teaching that we control our judgements and nothing else. He wrote nothing himself: everything we have comes from his student Arrian, who said he wrote the lectures down as nearly word for word as he could.
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Cite this
Discourses I.15.7, trans. T. W. Higginson (1866)
Epictetus, The Works of Epictetus: Consisting of His Discourses, in Four Books, the Enchiridion, and Fragments, a translation from the Greek based on that of Elizabeth Carter, by Thomas Wentworth Higginson (Boston: Little, Brown, 1866), Book I, ch. 15, “What Philosophy Promises,” 48; first published 1865. Greek text at Discourses I.15.7. The sentence as usually quoted follows the punctuation of the revised edition (New York: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1890), 55–56, except that both printings read “I answer you, that there must be time.”
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Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘No great thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen’?” Last verified 6 Aug 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/no-great-thing-is-created-suddenly-any-more-than-a-bunch-of/