Category: The Daily Stoic Reflections

So in the majority of other things, we address circumstances not in accordance with the right assumptions, but mostly by following wretched habit. Since all that I’ve said is the case, the person in training must seek to rise above, so as to stop seeking out pleasure and steering away from pain; to stop clinging…

For if a person shifts their caution to their own reasoned choices and the acts of those choices, they will at the same time gain the will to avoid, but if they shift their caution away from their own reasoned choices to things not under their control, seeking to avoid what is controlled by others,…

A person who doesn’t know what the universe is, doesn’t know where they are. A person who doesn’t know their purpose in life doesn’t know who they are or what the universe is. A person who doesn’t know any one of these things doesn’t know why they are here. So what to make of people…

Let all your efforts be directed to something, let it keep that end in view. It’s not activity that disturbs people, but false conceptions of things that drive them mad. –Seneca, On Tranquility of Mind, 12.5 (quote found in The Daily Stoic; the following reflections are my own). If I were to meet you on the…

All you need are these: certainty of judgment in the present moment; action for the common good in the present moment; and an attitude of gratitude in the present moment for anything that comes your way. –Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 9.6 (quote found in The Daily Stoic; the following reflections are my own). I feel like he’s…

How many have laid waste to your life when you weren’t aware of what you were losing, how much was wasted in pointless grief, foolish joy, greedy desire, and social amusements–how little of your own was left to you. You will realize you are dying before your time! –Seneca, On The Brevity of Life, 3.3b…

What is the fruit of these teachings? Only the most beautiful and proper harvest of the truly educated–tranquility, fearlessness, and freedom. We should not trust the masses who say only the free can be educated, but rather the lovers of wisdom who say that only the educated are free. –Epictetus, Discourses, 2.1.21-23a (quote found in…

My dad has been recommending a book for a few months now: The Daily Stoic, by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman. In this secular devotional, the authors share a Stoic quote, along with a short reflection for each day of the year. Readers are encouraged to use the ancient teachings of Stoicism, a school of…