<P> The ideal of the stiff upper lip is traced back to Ancient Greece -- to the Spartans , whose cult of discipline and self - sacrifice inspired the English public school system ; and to the Stoics . Stoic ideas were adopted by the Romans , particularly the Emperor Marcus Aurelius , who wrote , `` If you are distressed by any external thing , it is not this thing which disturbs you , but your own judgment about it . And it is in your power to wipe out that judgment now . '' The concept reached England in the 1590s , and featured in the plays of William Shakespeare ; his tragic hero Hamlet says , `` There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so '' . Poems that feature a memorable evocation of Victorian stoicism and a stiff upper lip include Rudyard Kipling 's `` If -- '' and W.E. Henley 's `` Invictus '' . The phrase became symbolic of the British people , and particularly of those who were products of the English public school system during the Victorian era . Such schools were heavily influenced by stoicism , and aimed to instill a code of discipline and devotion to duty in their students through competitive sports , corporal punishments and cold showers . </P>
<P> The ideal of the stiff upper lip is traced back to Ancient Greece -- to the Spartans , whose cult of discipline and self - sacrifice inspired the English public school system ; and to the Stoics . Stoic ideas were adopted by the Romans , particularly the Emperor Marcus Aurelius , who wrote , `` If you are distressed by any external thing , it is not this thing which disturbs you , but your own judgment about it . And it is in your power to wipe out that judgment now . '' The concept reached England in the 1590s , and featured in the plays of William Shakespeare ; his tragic hero Hamlet says , `` There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so '' . Poems that feature a memorable evocation of Victorian stoicism and a stiff upper lip include Rudyard Kipling 's `` If -- '' and W.E. Henley 's `` Invictus '' . The phrase became symbolic of the British people , and particularly of those who were products of the English public school system during the Victorian era . Such schools were heavily influenced by stoicism , and aimed to instill a code of discipline and devotion to duty in their students through competitive sports , corporal punishments and cold showers . </P>
where does the term stiff upper lip come from
where does the term stiff upper lip come from
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece