March 31st: You’re a Product of Your Training
“Chasing what can’t be done is madness. But the base person is unable to do anything else.”
—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 5.17
Excerpt From
The Daily #Stoic
Ryan Holiday & Stephen Hanselman
March 31st: You’re a Product of Your Training
“Chasing what can’t be done is madness. But the base person is unable to do anything else.”
—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 5.17
Excerpt From
The Daily #Stoic
Ryan Holiday & Stephen Hanselman
March 30th: Reason in All Things
“Hurry to your own ruling reason, to the reason of the Whole, and to your neighbor’s. To your own mind to make it just; to the mind of the Whole to remember your place in it; and to your neighbor’s mind to learn whether it’s ignorant or of sound knowledge—while recognizing it’s like yours.”
—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 9.22
Excerpt From
The Daily #Stoic
Ryan Holiday & Stephen Hanselman
March 29th: Why Do You Need To Impress These People Again?
“If you should ever turn your will to things outside your control in order to impress someone, be sure that you have wrecked your whole purpose in life. Be content, then, to be a philosopher in all that you do, and if you wish also to be seen as one, show yourself first that you are and you will succeed.”
—Epictetus, Enchiridion, 23
Excerpt From
The Daily #Stoic
Ryan Holiday & Stephen Hanselman
March 28th: Cowardice as a Design Problem
“Life without a design is erratic. As soon as one is in place, principles become necessary. I think you’ll concede that nothing is more shameful than uncertain and wavering conduct, and beating a cowardly retreat. This will happen in all our affairs unless we remove the faults that seize and detain our spirits, preventing them from pushing forward and making an all-out effort.”
—Seneca, Moral Letters, 95.46
Excerpt From
The Daily #Stoic
March 27th: Pay What Things Are Worth
“Diogenes of Sinope said we sell things of great value for things of very little, and vice versa.”
—Diogenes Laertius, Lives Of The Eminent Philosophers, 6.2.35b
Excerpt From
The Daily #Stoic
Ryan Holiday & Stephen Hanselman
March 26th: What Rules Your Ruling Reason?
“How does your ruling reason manage itself? For in that is the key to everything. Whatever else remains, be it in the power of your choice or not, is but a corpse and smoke.”
—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 12.33
Excerpt From
The Daily #Stoic
Ryan Holiday & Stephen Hanselman
March 25th: Wealth and Freedom Are Free
“…freedom isn’t secured by filling up on your heart’s desire but by removing your desire.”
—Epictetus, Discourses, 4.1.175
Excerpt From
The Daily #Stoic
Ryan Holiday & Stephen Hanselman
March 24th: There Is Philosophy in Everything
“Eat like a human being, drink like a human being, dress up, marry, have children, get politically active—suffer abuse, bear with a headstrong brother, father, son, neighbor, or companion. Show us these things so we can see that you truly have learned from the philosophers.”
—Epictetus, Discourses, 3.21.5–6
Excerpt From
The Daily #Stoic
Ryan Holiday & Stephen Hanselman
March 23rd: The Straitjacketed Soul
“The diseases of the rational soul are long-standing and hardened vices, such as greed and ambition—they have put the soul in a straitjacket and have begun to be permanent evils inside it. To put it briefly, this sickness is an unrelenting distortion of judgment, so things that are only mildly desirable are vigorously sought after.”
—Seneca, Moral Letters, 75.11
Excerpt From
The Daily #Stoic
Ryan Holiday & Stephen Hanselman