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.
“No person has the power to have everything they want, but it is in their power not to want what they don't have, and to cheerfully put to good use what they do have.”
- Seneca, Moral Letters, 123.3
“The founder of the universe, who assigned to us the laws of life, provided that we should live well, but not in luxury. Everything needed for our well-being is right before us, whereas what luxury requires is gathered by many miseries and anxieties. Let us use this gift of nature and count it among the greatest things.”
- Seneca, Moral Letters, 119.15b
“Heraclitus would shed tears whenever he went out in public — Democritus laughed. One saw the whole as a parade of miseries, the other of follies. 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.”
- Seneca, On Tranquility Of Mind, 15.2
“I was shipwrecked before I even boarded … the journey showed me this — how much of what we have is unnecessary, and how easily we can decide to rid ourselves of these things whenever it's necessary, never suffering the loss.”
- Seneca, Moral Letters, 87.1
“Won't you be walking in your predecessors' footsteps? I surely will use the older path, but if I find a shorter and smoother way, I'll blaze a trail there. The ones who pioneered these paths aren't our masters, but our guides. Truth stands open to everyone, it hasn't been monopolized.”
- Seneca, Moral Letters, 33.11
“I'll never be ashamed to quote a bad writer with a good saying.”
- Seneca, On Tranquility Of Mind, 11.8