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Contents
On Wisdom
“The wise man is consistent in both his thoughts and actions.” – Donald Robertson
“How does it profit a man, if he gains the whole world but loses his wisdom and virtue.” – Donald Robertson
“The Stoic Sage, or wise man, needs nothing but uses everything well; the fool believes himself to “need” countless things, but he uses them all badly.” – Donald Robertson
“Wisdom, in all these forms, mainly requires understanding the difference between good, bad, and indifferent things. Virtue is good and vice is bad, but everything else is indifferent.” – Donald Robertson
“When we reason well about life and live rationally, we exhibit the virtue of wisdom. Living in agreement with Nature, in part, means fulfilling our natural potential for wisdom; that’s what it means for us to flourish as human beings.” – Donald Robertson
“The wise man who views the world rationally is never surprised by anything in life.” – Donald Robertson
“For what is impossible to see with mortal eyes is nevertheless possible to grasp with intellect.” – Marcus Aurelius
On Virtue
“Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be; just be one.” – Marcus Aurelius
“Virtue must be its own reward.” –
“Epictetus told his students that, just as someone who walks barefoot is cautious not to step on a nail or twist his ankle, they should be careful throughout the day not to harm their own character by lapsing into errors of moral judgment.” – Donald Robertson
“Pleasures, as we’ve seen, can blind us to their consequences if we’re not careful.” –
On Philosophy
“The Stoics can teach you how to find a sense of purpose in life, how to face adversity, how to conquer anger within yourself, moderate your desires, experience healthy sources of joy, endure pain and illness patiently and with dignity, exhibit courage in the face of your anxieties, cope with loss, and perhaps even confront your own mortality while remaining as unperturbed as Socrates.” – Donald Robertson
“The philosopher’s school is a doctor’s clinic: you should not go there expecting pleasure but rather pain.” – Epictetus
“According to Stoic philosophy, when we assign intrinsic values like “good” or “bad” to external events, we’re behaving irrationally and even exhibiting a form of self-deception. When we call something a “catastrophe,” for instance, we go beyond the bare facts and start distorting events and deceiving ourselves. Moreover, the Stoics consider lying a form of impiety—when a man lies, he alienates himself from Nature.” – Donald Robertson
“You cannot step into the same river twice, for new waters are constantly flowing through it.” – Heraclitus
On Equanimity
“Do away with the judgment, and the notion “I have been harmed” is done away with; do away with that notion, and the harm itself is gone.” – Marcus Aurelius
“There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.” – Shakespeare
“What matters, in other words, isn’t what we feel but how we respond to those feelings.” – Donald Robertson
“My most profitable journey began on the day I was shipwrecked and lost my entire fortune.” – Zeno of Citium
“Stoics did not believe that unhealthy emotions should be suppressed; rather, they should be replaced by healthy ones.” – Donald Robertson
“Virtue consists in doing your very best and yet not become upset if you come home from the hunt empty-handed.” – Donald Robertson
“From the moment we’re born we’re constantly dying, not only with each stage of life but also one day at a time. Our bodies are no longer the ones to which our mothers gave birth, as Marcus put it. Nobody is the same person he was yesterday. Realizing this makes it easier to let go: we can no more hold on to life than grasp the waters of a rushing stream.” – Donald Robertson
“We don’t control our initial reaction, perhaps, but we do control how we respond to it: it’s not what happens first that matters but what you do next.” – Donald Robertson
“The true goal of life for Stoics isn’t to acquire as many external advantages as possible but to use whatever befalls us wisely, whether it be sickness or health, wealth or poverty, friends or enemies.” – Donald Robertson
“Don’t let us build a second story to our sorrow by being sorry for our sorrow.” – Paul Dubois
On Self-Mastery
“This is important to note: for a Stoic to exhibit the virtue of temperance, he must have at least some trace of desire to renounce, and to exhibit courage he must have at least these first sensations of fear to endure.” – Donald Robertson
“As an aspiring Stoic, you should begin by practicing deliberately describing events more objectively and in less emotional terms.” – Donald Robertson
“Hunger is the best relish, whereas if we overeat we spoil our appetites.” – Socrates
“Does death appear terrible because I would be deprived of this?” – Marcus Aurelius
“In a sense, to desire something is to imagine having what you don’t have, the presence of something that’s absent.” – Donald Robertson
“Before we can exhibit the virtues of courage and moderation, we need to have at least some trace of fear and desire to overcome.” – Donald Robertson
On Tolerating Pain
“A little pain is contemptible, and a great one is not lasting.” – Epicurus
“Chronic pain beyond our ability to endure would have killed us, so the fact we’re still standing proves that we’re capable of enduring much worse.” – Donald Robertson
“Pain and discomfort can become advantages in life if they provide opportunities for us to develop our strengths.” – Donald Robertson
“Remember that the fear of pain does more harm than pain itself.” – Donald Robertson
“The wise man accepts his pain, endures it, but does not add to it.” – Marcus Aurelius
“What would have become of Hercules do you think if there had been no lion, hydra, stag or boar – and no savage criminals to rid the world of? What would he have done in the absence of such challenges? Obviously he would have just rolled over in bed and gone back to sleep. So by snoring his life away in luxury and comfort he never would have developed into the mighty Hercules. And even if he had, what good would it have done him? What would have been the use of those arms, that physique, and that noble soul, without crisis or conditions to stir into him action?” – Epictetus
On Conquering Anger
“No man does evil knowingly, which also entails that no man does it willingly.” – Donald Robertson
“‘This job is complete bullshit!” People tend to think that exclamations like these are a natural consequence of strong emotions like anger. But what if they’re also causing or perpetuating our emotions?” – Donald Robertson
”There are wicked men – they are useful to thee; without them, what need would there be for virtues?” – Apollonius of Chalcedon
“Stoics think of troublesome people as if they are a prescription from a physician, or a training partner we’ve been assigned by a wresting coach.” – Donald Robertson
“The wise man will not get upset about things that lie beyond his direct control, such as other people’s actions.” – Donald Robertson
On Relinquishing Fear
“Death is like some prankster in a scary mask, dressed as a bogeyman to frighten small children. The wise man carefully removes the mask and, looking behind it, he finds nothing worth fearing.” – Socrates
“One consequence of embracing our fears is that we’re more likely to creatively turn apparent setbacks to our advantage.” – Donald Robertson
“For death or pain is not fearsome, but rather the fear of pain or death.” – Epictetus
”If this will seem trivial to me twenty years from now, then why shouldn’t I view it as trivial today instead of worrying about it as if it’s a catastrophe?” – Donald Robertson
“Unhealthy emotions such as fear and anger actually do us more harm than the thing we’re upset about.” – Donald Robertson
“Indeed, to learn how to die is to unlearn how to be a slave.” – Marcus Aurelius
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