The Daily Stoic

The causes of things are complicated, and rarely do they go how we’d like them to go. So it’s easy to point the finger— at other people, at unfair conditions, at the weather, at the advice we got. If it hadn’t been for _______, I’d have won. Why did so-and-so have to get involved like that? It’s all _______’s fault. And yet, the causes of things are also quite simple, at least according to the Sto...

Marcus Aurelius loved history and he loved literature. He loved reading about the courts of past emperors. He loved the plays of the great Romans and their poems. He loved the lectures of Epictetus, which had been given to him by his teacher Rusticus. Sometimes, as he pored over these pages, a thought struck him. Where are they now? ✉️  Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.co...

Which is more effective: theories or practice? Should kings study philosophy? These are the questions that Musonius Rufus examines in the second half of his lesser known Stoic fragments, read today as part two of our Musonius Rufus reading series.  You can listen to part one here: https://wondery.com/shows/the-daily-stoic/episode/11074-musonius-rufus-stoic-fragments-pt-1/   Check out “ T...

Ryan speaks with professor of moral philosophy, author, and activist Peter Singer about the 10th anniversary edition of his book The Life You Can Save: How to Do Your Part to End World Poverty , how Peter’s views on charitable giving have changed throughout the years, the connections between Effective Altruism and Stoicism, applying ethical philosophy to issues in our daily lives, and more. Peter...

There was a message there in the mirror this morning. Did you see it? It must have been a strange experience for Marcus Arelius the first time he saw it…waking up, looking at his reflection, and noticing his hair turning gray. Feeling his body creak. Looking at the crows feet at the corners of his eyes and the wild hairs jutting this way and that in his eyebrows. Even for someone who had so active...

It would be wonderful if the Stoics promised you some sort of breakthrough. One that solved for the messy divorce or the unfortunate bankruptcy. One that helped you rehab from the car accident or magically deal with a pandemic that drags on for years (as Marcus knew well). One that soothes you as you sit up sleep-deprived with an infant. The Stoics do , actually, offer solutions for these kinds of...

Ryan speaks with historian of Rome Josiah Osgood about his new book Uncommon Wrath: How Caesar and Cato’s Deadly Rivalry Destroyed the Roman Republic , the complicated legacy of Cato, how Caesar and Cato’s relationship can help inform our daily lives, and more. Josiah Osgood is Professor of Classics at Georgetown University. His teaching and research cover many areas of Roman history and Latin lit...

You don’t know that someone acted wrongly or that they totally screwed a situation up, because you don’t know the full story. You don’t know their reasons or their side of things. And what do the Stoics tell us to do when we don’t have all the facts about something? They tell us to suspend judgment. ✉️  Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail 🏛 Check out the Daily...

A night spent at the airport. A prison sentence. A two week bout with COVID. The crazy rush of the busiest season of the year for your business. We know we’re in for it. We dread it. We curse our fate. Actually, we should take a page from the great performance artist Marina Abramović, which she shares in her incredible book Walk Through Walls: A Memoir . She was known for her artistic feats of str...

As summer now passes into fall and all too quickly fall turns to winter, it is worth stopping and thinking for a second. Where did that time go? Not long ago you were watching fireworks and enjoying the light late into the evening. Now, suddenly, you’re in sweaters, looking at your lawn covered in leaves, wondering why it’s so dark and the evening news hasn’t even finished. ✉️  Sign up f...

Nobody wrote about the “good life” more beautifully than Horace (65-8 BCE). In numerous writings, the Roman poet shared his wisdom on how to use virtue as a key to unlocking contentment and, therefore, happiness in our daily lives. Today, Ryan presents a selection of Horace’s ideas in the second half of the “The Search For the Good Life” chapter in the How to Be Content installment of Princeton Un...

In the second of a two-part interview, Ryan speaks with one of the great non-fiction writers and historians of our time, Adam Hochschild, about his classic 1986 memoir Half The Way Home: A Memoir of Father and Son , the impetus for his latest book American Midnight: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy's Forgotten Crisis , and the process that Adam went through to improve his relationship...

It doesn't matter who you are, the facts are the same. Marcus Aurelius was Emperor. Epictetus was a slave. Two different fates, but the same reality. Most of life, most situations are out of our control. All we can do is respond to them well . All we can do is endure them. ✉️ Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email at https://dailystoic.com/dailyemai...

We live in unprecedented times, we like to think. Our technology. Our conflicts. The state of the world. It’s all very new, it’s all very different. But is it though? Check out the Read To Lead Challenge 2022 and the Memento Mori Medallion . ✉️  Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail 🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and...

In the first of a two-part interview, Ryan speaks with one of the great non-fiction writers and historians of our time, Adam Hochschild, about how history can inform the push for change in the present, the civil rights trailblazers he examined in his book Bury the Chains (one of Ryan’s favorites), the links between the Stoic virtues and the United States’ anti-slavery movement, and more. Part two...

In Meditations , Marcus Aurelius marvels at “nature’s inadvertence.” A baker, he writes, makes the dough, kneads it and then puts it in the oven. Then physics, then Nature takes over. “The way loaves of bread split open,” Marcus writes, “the ridges are just byproducts of the baking, and yet pleasing, somehow: they rouse our appetite without our knowing why.” Today is the last day you can order our...

“It is a vast kingdom to be able to cope without a kingdom,” Seneca wrote in his play,  Thyestes . This was no mere word play. This was hard-won wisdom. No one can stop you from ruling over yourself. It’s the best and the biggest and the strongest kingdom there is . --- Those who have never been tested should be pitied, Seneca said, because they don’t know what they’re capable of. To Marcus,...

The Roman Empire at that time was enormous. Jobs were scarce. Unemployment was high. Rapid expansion and economic stagnation had led to a sort of economic recession–one not unlike the one that looms globally right now. In response, the upper and ruling classes came together and instituted the Cura Annonae—the “care of grain.” The government distributed free grain to the poor and the suffering, ens...

For many people, happiness is associated with contentment: being around family, enjoying work, having enough. But what are the secrets to obtaining a contented life in a world of materialistic excess and personal pressures? One of Rome's greatest and most influential poets, Horace (65-8 BCE) shared his wisdom about this question in his writings. In  How to Be Content , Stephen Harrison, a lea...

Ryan talks to mother-daughter duo Drs. Edith Enger and Marianne Engle about their work in clinical psychology, the power of spreading kindness in a world that often seems very cruel, letting go of the past through forgiveness, and more. A native of Hungary, Dr. Edith Eva Eger was just a teenager in 1944 when she experienced one of the worst evils the human race has ever known. As a Jew living in N...

Yesterday we took a minute to think of all that we have to be grateful for, all the blessings life has bestowed on us–even if those things didn’t always appear to be blessings at the time. Well, today, on so called ‘Black Friday’ in America, instead of rushing out to get a deal on a flat-screen television, we should think about what to do with all that gratitude. It is our duty to help others. To...

Today in America is Thanksgiving. It’s the day when we’re supposed to actively practice gratitude, and be thankful for all that we have. Yet this can be hard to do…when the specter of a World War looms, the lingering of a terrible pandemic, the reality of a recession, divided politics and so many other obstacles sit before us. But just because it’s hard doesn’t mean it’s impossible. 📕 We created...

Ryan talks to Professor Jennifer Baker about her approach to teaching Stoicism, ethics, and political theory at the College of Charleston, what the Stoics might have said about driving a Mercedes instead of a Hyundai (or a Tesla), the challenges of teaching to today’s student population, and more. Jennifer Baker holds a Ph. D in Philosophy from the University of Arizona and B.A. in Philosophy from...

At the beginning of Meditations , Marcus Aurelius laments the kind of people he’s going to meet each day—the bitter, the stupid, the jealous, the petty. Throughout the book he mentions other undesirables—the shameless, the evil, the greedy, the ignorant, the manipulative. Today, we could add still others— racists, polluters, rage profiteers, trolls and on and on. These people are frustrating. They...

This is what we tell ourselves: Someday I will write my book. Someday I will travel abroad. Someday I will learn how to play guitar. But someday soon, you will no longer be able to say, “someday…” --- “A good character is the only guarantee of everlasting, carefree happiness.” – Seneca The Stoics believed in living a virtuous life, one with the potential to bring us personal happiness and fulfillm...