The Practicing Stoic: A Philosophical User's Manual

Our ultimate insignificance makes the case for living well in the present, for no other purpose survives. It

The first principle of practical Stoicism is this: we don’t react to events; we react to our judgments about them, and the judgments are up to us.

with respect to emotion and adversity, Stoics want the kind of wisdom that we associate with long experience. But in certain settings they seek, in effect, the attitude of the newcomer.

Seneca, along with others we will see, gave early recognition to many tendencies of the mind that are relearned, often the hard way, by every generation and most individuals: that we most desire what we do not or cannot have; that the pursuit of a thing is more pleasing than the possession of it; that possession of a good and familiarity with it te

An ancient Greek saying holds that we are tormented not by things themselves but by the opinions that we have of them.

Our good or bad depends on no one but ourselves. Montaigne,

Each of us is as well or badly off as we believe. The happy are those who think they are, not those who are thought to be so by others; and in this way alone, belief makes itself real and true. Montaigne,

our pleasures, griefs, desires and fears all involve three stages rather than two: not just an event and a reaction, but an event, then a judgment or opinion about it, and then a reaction (to the judgment or opinion). Our task is to notice the middle step, to understand its frequent irrationality, and to control it through the patient use of reason

If distress is caused by our thoughts about things rather than by the things themselves, we should try dropping those thoughts and using new ones.

show them those qualities that are entirely up to you: sincerity, dignity, endurance of hardship; not pleasure-seeking, not complaining of your lot, needing little; kindness and generosity; being modest, not chattering idly, but high-minded. Don’t you see how many you could display immediately – having no excuse on account of lack of natural capaci