Lives of the Stoics: The Art of Living from Zeno to Marcus Aurelius

“Best,” to the Stoics, did not meaning winning battles. Superior did not mean accumulating the most honors. It meant, as it still does today, virtue. It meant excellence not in accomplishing external things—though that was always nice if fate allowed—but excellence in the areas that you controlled: Your thoughts. Your actions. Your choices.

Anything you do well is noble, no matter how humble. And possibly even more admirable if you deliberately forgo status in the pursuit of what you really love.

There is no better definition of a Stoic: to have but not want, to enjoy without needing.

Anything you do well is noble, no matter how humble. And possibly even more admirable if you deliberately forgo status in the pursuit of what you really love.

We commit. We hold up what’s right as our target. We take action. But much happens after that—much of it not remotely up to us.

Just because someone has anxieties or self-doubts or was taught the wrong things early in life doesn’t mean they can’t become something great, provided they have the courage (and the mentors) to help them change.

The choices you made, the causes you served, the principles you adhered to in the face of adversity. They cared about what you did, not what you said.

“Well-being is realized by small steps,” he would say, looking back, “but is truly no small thing.”

There is sometimes no better way to strengthen your defense than to learn your opponent’s offense, and this is precisely what a good philosopher does.