Ruin and recovery are both from within.

The line condenses a central Stoic claim associated with Epictetus: what harms or helps us most decisively is not external circumstance but our own judgments, choices, and habits of mind. “Ruin” names the inner collapse that follows from assenting to false impressions—fear, resentment, craving, or the belief that externals determine our worth. “Recovery” likewise is an inward work: regaining freedom and steadiness by correcting judgments, aligning desire and aversion with what is in our control, and practicing virtue. The saying shifts responsibility from fate or other people to the self, emphasizing moral agency and the possibility of renewal regardless of outward losses.