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.
“In your actions, don't procrastinate. In your conversations, don't confuse. In your thoughts, don't wander. In your soul, don't be passive or aggressive. In your life, don't be all about business.”
- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 8.51
“But what does Socrates say? 'Just as one person delights in improving his farm, and another his horse, so I delight in attending to my own improvement day by day.'”
- Epictetus, Discourses, 3.5.14
“Love the humble art you have learned, and take rest in it. Pass through the remainder of your days as one who whole-heartedly entrusts all possessions to the gods, making yourself neither a tyrant nor a slave to any person.”
- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 4.31
“For I believe a good king is from the outset and by necessity a philosopher, and the philosopher is from the outset a kingly person.”
- Musonius Rufus, Lectures, 8.33.32–34
“Enough of this miserable, whining life. Stop monkeying around! Why are you troubled? What's new here? What's so confounding? The one responsible? Take a good look. Or just the matter itself? Then look at that. There's nothing else to look at. And as far as the gods go, by now you could try being more straightforward and kind. It's the same, whether you've examined these things for a hundred years, or only three.”
- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 9.37
“This is what you should teach me, how to be like Odysseus — how to love my country, wife and father, and how, even after suffering shipwreck, I might keep sailing on course to those honorable ends.”
- Seneca, Moral Letters, 88.7b