After hearing author Ryan Holiday on a podcast, I was intrigued with his knowledge of Stoicism and just how the philosophy aligned with my core values. After purchasing The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living and Lives of the Stoics: The Art of Living from Zeno to Marcus Aurelius I decided to document my journey. Here I will share my anecdote while learning and reflecting on Stoicism and how I plan to apply it to my life.
“That which isn't good for the hive, isn't good for the bee.””
- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 6.54
“Meditate often on the interconnectedness and mutual interdependence of all things in the universe. For in a sense, all things are mutually woven together and therefore have an affinity for each other — for one thing follows after another according to their tension of movement, their sympathetic stirrings, and the unity of all substance.”
- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 6.38
“But the wise person can lose nothing. Such a person has everything stored up for themselves, leaving nothing to Fortune, their own goods are held firm, bound in virtue, which requires nothing from chance, and therefore can't be either increased or diminished.”
- Seneca, On The Firmness Of The Wise, 5.4
“Does the light of a lamp shine and keep its glow until its fuel is spent? Why shouldn't your truth, justice, and self-control shine until you are extinguished?”
- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 12.15
“If you lay violent hands on me, you'll have my body, but my mind will remain with Stilpo.”
- Zeno, Quoted In Diogenes Laertius, Lives Of The Eminent Philosophers, 7.1.24
“Nothing can satisfy greed, but even a small measure satisfies nature. So it is that the poverty of an exile brings no misfortune, for no place of exile is so barren as not to produce ample support for a person.”
- Seneca, On Consolation To Helvia, 10.11b