The Stoic Challenge: A Philosopher's Guide to Becoming Tougher, Calmer, and More Resilient

One sign of maturity is a realization of the extent to which you, either intentionally or unintentionally, make life difficult for those around you. Consequently, you should keep in mind the words of Seneca: “we are bad men living among bad men; and only one thing can calm us—we must agree to go easy on one another.

Thoughtful people, by contrast, minimize the number of setbacks they experience by learning how the world works and using this knowledge to plan their activities.

If you try to live without a philosophy of life, you will find yourself extemporizing your way through your days. As a result, your daily efforts are likely to be haphazard, and your life is likely to be misspent. What a waste!

You should have, since when you add up the costs imposed on you by being set back, you will often find that the biggest cost by far is the emotional distress a setback triggers.

When the number of options available is limited, it is foolish to fuss and fret. We should instead simply choose the best of them and get on with life. To behave otherwise is to waste precious time and energy.

Because of the connection between setbacks and desires, if a person were incapable of experiencing desire, nothing would count as a setback.