Don't Take Credit for Things You Don't Control — The Enchiridion

Pride attaches easily to the wrong owner. Epictetus opens bluntly: do not be elated at any excellence that is not your own. The test is immediate. A horse that bragged about being handsome would be odd, but at least the boast would refer to the horse itself.

The mistake is borrowing merit. When you are elated and say you have a handsome horse, you are elated only on the horse's merit, not yours. Epictetus then asks the sharper question: what is actually yours? His answer is the use of the phenomena of existence, meaning how you employ what appears before you, not the raw gifts you never authored.

Close on legitimate pride. When you are in harmony with nature in this respect, you may be elated with reason, because the good you celebrate is your own: the wise use you make of what arrives, not the trophy, face, or pedigree attached to your name.