tags: 📥️/🔖️/🟥️ publish: true aliases: - The Daily Stoic cover: '' general_subject: specific_subject: source: kindle isbn: doi: url: author: "[[@Ryan Holiday, Stephen Hanselman]]" guest: publish_date: reviewed_date: ---  ## Highlights - The more things we desire and the more we have to do to earn or attain those achievements, the less we actually enjoy our lives—and the less free we are. [(Location 547)](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01HNJIJB2&location=547) - external events are not sentient beings—they cannot respond to our shouts and cries—and neither can the mostly indifferent gods. [(Location 955)](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01HNJIJB2&location=955) - “It wasn’t so much that the words brought me into a full understanding of events, as that, somehow, I had a personal experience of the events that allowed me to follow closely the meaning of the words.” [(Location 1373)](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01HNJIJB2&location=1373) - This is what Epictetus means about the study of philosophy. Study, yes, but go live your life as well. [(Location 1375)](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01HNJIJB2&location=1375) - “Your mind will take the shape of what you frequently hold in thought, for the human spirit is colored by such impressions.” —MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 5.16 [(Location 1472)](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01HNJIJB2&location=1472) - TRUST, BUT VERIFY [(Location 1522)](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01HNJIJB2&location=1522) - “Every man I meet is my master in some point, and in that I learn of him.” [(Location 1618)](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01HNJIJB2&location=1618) - If you want to learn, if you want to improve your life, seeking out teachers, philosophers, and great books is a good start. But this approach will only be effective if you’re humble and ready to let go of opinions you already have. [(Location 1619)](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01HNJIJB2&location=1619) - taxes go to a lot of programs and services you almost certainly take for granted. Second, you think you’re so special? People have been complaining about their taxes for thousands of years, and now they’re dead. Get over it. Third, this is a good problem to have. Far better than, say, making so little there is nothing left to pay the government or living in an anarchy and having to pay for every basic service in a struggle against nature. [(Location 1672)](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01HNJIJB2&location=1672) - On the other hand, the “good” that the Stoics advocate is simpler and more straightforward: wisdom, self-control, justice, courage. No one who achieves these quiet virtues experiences buyer’s remorse. [(Location 1750)](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01HNJIJB2&location=1750) - tags:: [[favorite]] - “If anyone can prove and show to me that I think and act in error, I will gladly change it—for I seek the truth, [(Location 1806)](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01HNJIJB2&location=1806) - notes:: Science vs faith - The goal is to turn these words into works. As Musonius Rufus put it, the justification for philosophy is when “one brings together sound teaching with sound conduct.” [(Location 1916)](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01HNJIJB2&location=1916) - Today, or anytime, when you catch yourself wanting to condescendingly drop some knowledge that you have, grab it and ask: Would I be better saying words or letting my actions and choices illustrate that knowledge for me? [(Location 1917)](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01HNJIJB2&location=1917) - This is why so many petty criminals confess or voluntarily surrender. They don’t always stick to it, but at the lowest moment, they finally realize: this is no way to live. They want the peace of mind that comes with doing right. And so do you. [(Location 2016)](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01HNJIJB2&location=2016) - “Diligence is the mother of good luck.” [(Location 2191)](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01HNJIJB2&location=2191) - Someone is a good person not because they say they are, but because they take good actions. [(Location 2231)](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01HNJIJB2&location=2231) - The mind and the body are there to be used—they begin to turn on themselves when not put to some productive end. [(Location 2259)](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01HNJIJB2&location=2259) - Worse is when we try to push these feelings away by buying things, going out, fighting, creating drama—indulging in the empty calories of existence instead of finding the real nourishment. [(Location 2262)](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01HNJIJB2&location=2262) - tags:: [[favorite]] - If the men begin to lose their wits, if the group is unsure of what to do next, it’s the leader’s job to do one thing: instill calm—not by force but by example. [(Location 2559)](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01HNJIJB2&location=2559) - I am awakening to the work of a human being. Why then am I annoyed that I am going to do what I’m made for, the very things for which I was put into this world? Or was I made for this, to snuggle under the covers and keep warm? It’s so pleasurable. Were you then made for pleasure? In short, to be coddled or to exert yourself?” [(Location 2771)](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01HNJIJB2&location=2771) - “Receive without pride, let go without attachment.” —MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 8.33 [(Location 2992)](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01HNJIJB2&location=2992) - That’s what Marcus is saying. Do not take the slights of the day personally—or the exciting rewards and recognitions either, especially when duty has assigned you an important cause. Trivial details like the rise and fall of your position say nothing about you as a person. Only your behavior—as Cato’s did—will. [(Location 3002)](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01HNJIJB2&location=3002) - Some die on the first rungs of the ladder of success, others before they can reach the top, and the few that make it to the top of their ambition through a thousand indignities realize at the end it’s only for an inscription on their gravestone.” [(Location 3021)](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01HNJIJB2&location=3021) - The ability to work hard and long is admirable. But you are a human being, not a human doing. Seneca points out that we’re not animals. “Is it really so pleasant to die in harness?” he asked. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn put it better: “Work is what horses die of. Everybody should know that.” [(Location 3031)](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01HNJIJB2&location=3031) - tags:: [[favorite]] - Money creates problems. Climbing one mountain exposes another, higher peak. There is never enough love. There is something better out there: real virtue. It is its own reward. Virtue is the one good that reveals itself to be more than we expect and something that one cannot have in degrees. We simply have it or we don’t. And that is why virtue—made up as it is of justice, honesty, discipline, and courage—is the only thing worth striving for. [(Location 3054)](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01HNJIJB2&location=3054) - Joy, to Seneca, is a deep state of being. It is what we feel inside us and has little to do with smiles or laughing. So when people say that the Stoics are dour or depressive, they’re really missing the point. Who cares if someone is bubbly when times are good? What kind of accomplishment is that? But can you be fully content with your life, can you bravely face what life has in store from one day to the next, can you bounce back from every kind of adversity without losing a step, can you be a source of strength and inspiration to others around you? That’s Stoic joy—the joy that comes from purpose, excellence, and duty. It’s a serious thing—far more serious than a smile or a chipper voice. [(Location 3095)](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01HNJIJB2&location=3095) - “Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good enough”? [(Location 3218)](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01HNJIJB2&location=3218) - “As an organizer I start from where the world is, as it is, not as I would like it to be. That we accept the world as it is does not in any sense weaken our desire to change it into what we believe it should be—it is necessary to begin where the world is if we are going to change it to what we think it should be.” [(Location 3221)](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01HNJIJB2&location=3221) - And so, we should take a lighter view of things and bear them with an easy spirit, for it is more human to laugh at life than to lament it.” [(Location 3474)](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01HNJIJB2&location=3474) - Earlier we were reminded of Socrates’s tolerant belief that “no one does wrong on purpose.” The clearest proof of that hypothesis? All the times we did wrong without malice or intention. Remember them? The time you were rude because you hadn’t slept in two days. The time you acted on bad information. The time you got carried away, forgot, didn’t understand. The list goes on and on. This is why it is so important not to write people off or brand them as enemies. Be as forgiving of them as you are of yourself. Cut them the same slack you would for yourself so that you can continue to work with them and make use of their talents. [(Location 3536)](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01HNJIJB2&location=3536) - tags:: [[favorite]] - Cato the Younger had enough money to dress in fine clothing. Yet he often walked around Rome barefoot, indifferent to assumptions people made about him as he passed. He could have indulged in the finest food. He chose instead to eat simple fare. Whether it was raining or intensely hot, he went bareheaded by choice. Why not indulge in some easy relief? Because Cato was training his soul to be strong and resilient. Specifically, he was learning indifference: an attitude of “let come what may” that would serve him well in the trenches with the army, in the Forum and the Senate, and in his life as a father and statesman. [(Location 3552)](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01HNJIJB2&location=3552) - “I judge you unfortunate because you have never lived through misfortune. You have passed through life without an opponent—no one can ever know what you are capable of, not even you.” [(Location 3584)](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01HNJIJB2&location=3584) - “Try praying differently, and see what happens: Instead of asking for ‘a way to sleep with her,’ try asking for ‘a way to stop desiring to sleep with her.’ Instead of ‘a way to get rid of him,’ try asking for ‘a way to not crave his demise.’ Instead of ‘a way to not lose my child,’ try asking for ‘a way to lose my fear of it.’” —MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 9.40.(6) Prayer has a religious connotation, but in life we all find ourselves hoping and asking for things. In a tough situation, we might silently ask for help; or, after a tough break, for a second chance from above; during a sports game, we might sit on the edge of our seat wishing for some outcome. “C’mon, c’mon, c’mon,” we say. “Please . . .” Even if it is to no one in particular, we’re still praying. Yet it’s so revealing in these moments, when we’re privately, powerfully yearning for something, just how nakedly selfish our requests usually are. We want divine intervention so that our lives will magically be easier. But what about asking for fortitude and strength so you can do what you need to do? What if you sought clarity on what you do control, what is already within your power? You might find your prayers have already been answered. [(Location 3739)](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01HNJIJB2&location=3739) - Anyone can get lucky. There’s no skill in being oblivious, and no one would consider that greatness. On the other hand, the person who perseveres through difficulties, who keeps going when others quit, who makes it to their destination through hard work and honesty? That’s admirable, because their survival was the result of fortitude and resilience, not birthright or circumstance. A person who overcame not just the external obstacles to success but mastered themselves and their emotions along the way? That’s much more impressive. The person who has been dealt a harder hand, understood it, but still triumphed? That’s greatness. [(Location 3775)](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01HNJIJB2&location=3775) - UPON THE FIELDS OF FRIENDLY STRIFE ARE SOWN THE SEEDS THAT, UPON OTHER FIELDS, ON OTHER DAYS WILL BEAR THE FRUITS OF VICTORY. [(Location 3862)](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01HNJIJB2&location=3862) - When Marcus says that a mind can get to a place where “it won’t do anything contrary to its own will, even if its position is irrational,” what he means is that proper training can change your default habits. Train yourself to give up anger, and you won’t be angry at every fresh slight. Train yourself to avoid gossip, and you won’t get pulled into it. Train yourself on any habit, and you’ll be able to unconsciously go to that habit in trying times. [(Location 3883)](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01HNJIJB2&location=3883) - tags:: [[favorite]] - The light of reason suffuses the universe. Whether the wick of your lamp is being lit for the first time, after a long period of darkness, or even right before the proverbial big sleep, it makes no difference. Here is where you are right now, and it’s as good a place as any to let virtue shine and continue to shine for as long as you exist. [(Location 4004)](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01HNJIJB2&location=4004) - notes:: Now is as good a time as any - “Better to trip with the feet than with the tongue.” [(Location 4055)](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01HNJIJB2&location=4055) - This is what a virtuous person does. They teach themselves to actively cheer for other people—even in cases where that might come at their own expense—and to put aside jealousy and possessiveness. [(Location 4072)](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01HNJIJB2&location=4072) - “How much better to heal than seek revenge from injury. Vengeance wastes a lot of time and exposes you to many more injuries than the first that sparked it. Anger always outlasts hurt. Best to take the opposite course. Would anyone think it normal to return a kick to a mule or a bite to a dog?” [(Location 4153)](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01HNJIJB2&location=4153) - A virtuous person does not jump to hasty judgments about other people. A virtuous person is generous with assumptions: that something was an accident, that someone didn’t know, that it won’t happen again. This makes life easier to bear and makes us more tolerant. Meanwhile, assuming malice—the most hasty of judgments—makes everything harder to bear. Be deliberate and accommodating with your assumptions about other people and you’ll find, as Marcus says, calmer seas and fairer weather. [(Location 4192)](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01HNJIJB2&location=4192) - “We are like many pellets of incense falling on the same altar. Some collapse sooner, others later, but it makes no difference.” —MARCUS AURELIUS, [(Location 4779)](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01HNJIJB2&location=4779) - When, as Shakespeare’s Prospero puts it, “every third thought shall be my grave,” there’s no risk of getting caught up in petty matters or distractions. Instead of denying our fear of death, let’s let it make us the best people we can be. [(Location 4929)](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01HNJIJB2&location=4929)