Stoic Paths

The study of philosophy and how to live a good life is a valuable undertaking, but only if what you learn is integrated into your life in a meaningful way. This selection of quotes from Marcus Aurelius is a good place to start. Following these simple maxims is an amazing start to a good life.

“Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be One.” – Marcus Aurelius

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“Think of the life you have lived until now as over and, as a dead man, see what’s left as a bonus and live it according to Nature. Love the hand that fate deals you and play it as your own, for what could be more fitting?” – Marcus Aurelius

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“It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own.” – Marcus Aurelius

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“In your actions, don’t procrastinate. In your conversations, don’t confuse. In your thoughts, don’t wander. In your soul, don’t be passive or aggressive. In your life, don’t be all about business.” – Marcus Aurelius

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“If it is not right, do not do it, if it is not true, do not say it.” – Marcus Aurelius

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“The best revenge is not to be like your enemy.” – Marcus Aurelius

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“Choose not to be harmed — and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed — and you haven’t been.” – Marcus Aurelius

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“It’s time you realized that you have something in you more powerful and miraculous than the things that affect you and make you dance like a puppet.” – Marcus Aurelius

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“External thinks are not the problem. It’s your assessment of them. Which you can erase right now.” – Marcus Aurelius

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“If anyone can refute me—show me I’m making a mistake or looking at things from the wrong perspective—I’ll gladly change. It’s the truth I’m after, and the truth never harmed anyone.” – Marcus Aurelius

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“You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think.” – Marcus Aurelius

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“Be tolerant with others and strict with yourself.” – Marcus Aurelius

I found this particular list of quotes already compiled on the wonderful Daily Stoic web site. It was a good enough core selection of Aurelius quotes that I lifted it in it’s entirety.

Stoicism is known as a philosophy for hard times with good reason. Many are turning to our ancient school for comfort during these days of fear and anxiety. Here is a roundup of recent articles on Stoic philosophy and the Covid-19 pandemic in the mainstream press.

True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future, not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is sufficient, for he that is so, wants nothing.

Seneca

From the CBC: Take it like a Stoic: coping in the time of coronavirus

The Guardian: How not to panic during the coronavirus pandemic

Thrive Global: The Value of Stoic Principles in Times of Crisis

Forge: Stoic Wisdom for Times of Chaos

Asia Times: We are all Stoics now

The Good Men Project: A Stoic Manual for Pandemic Survival

PsychCentral: How the Stoics Can Keep Us Calm During the Coronavirus Outbreak

Just as nature takes every obstacle, every impediment, and works around it—turns it to its purposes, incorporates it into itself—so, too, a rational being can turn each setback into raw material and use it to achieve its goal.

Marcus Aurelius

Living a good life in agreement with nature requires us to live lives of virtue.   “The man who has virtue,” said Cicero, “is in need of nothing whatever for the purpose of living well.”

For Stoics, virtue (aretê) essentially means goodness or moral excellence. Cicero and his contemporary stoics adhered to the Platonic/Socratic idea that there are four cardinal (or fundamental) virtues, all related to moral reason and the natural order.

Virtue may be defined as a habit of mind (animi) in harmony with reason and the order of nature. It has four parts: wisdom (prudentiam), justice, courage, temperance.”

Cicero, De Inventione, II, LIII

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Stoicism teaches that humans are rational animals, and we must strive to behave as such. By doing this, we are on our way to living in agreement with nature, by which the Stoics mean rational human nature: 

“For what is Man? A rational animal, subject to death. At once we ask, from what does the rational element distinguish us? From wild beasts. And from what else? From sheep and the like. Look to it then that you do nothing like a wild beast, else you destroy the Man in you and fail to fulfil his promise. See that you do not act like a sheep, or else again the Man in you perishes.

You ask how we act like sheep?

When we consult the belly, or our passions, when our actions are random or dirty or inconsiderate, are we not falling away to the state of sheep? What do we destroy? The faculty of reason. When our actions are combative, mischievous, angry, and rude, do we not fall away and become wild beasts?”

– Epictetus, Discourses

Living in agreement with nature also requires us to live lives of virtue. Indeed, virtue is the highest of all goods in the Stoic school, and some Stoics would even say it is the only good.

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It’s no accident that the Enchiridion, or ‘handbook’, of Epictetus begins with an explanation of what we can control and what we cannot.   If stoicism were a 12 step program, this so-called ‘Dichotomy of Control’ would certainly be step one.  Here is how Epictetus defines the dichotomy:

There are things which are within our power, and there are things which are beyond our power. Within our power are opinion, aim, desire, aversion, and, in one word, whatever affairs are our own. Beyond our power are body, property, reputation, office, and, in one word, whatever are not properly our own affairs.

Epictetus

Looking at Epictetus’ lists, we may wonder about his categorizations. 

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What follows is an essay asserting that, among other things, setting goals is contrary to Stoic philosophy, and what we should do instead. It’s an ambitious topic for the first essay on this site, and my thoughts on this are still evolving and coalescing, so please consider this a working paper.
– Joe Shockley (03/09/2020)

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Setting a big life goal, such as becoming a skilled doctor or owning a successful business or having a long and happy marriage, seems to be a benign and even progressive step towards achieving what we want. However, I will attempt to make the case that, in the Stoic school, setting such a concrete goal is dangerous in that it elevates the importance of something ultimately outside of our control. I will also show that it is indeed possible to work towards eventual outcomes without unnaturally elevating the outcome itself, primarily by using the Stoic “preferred indifferent” and “reserve clause.” This presupposes that any such outcome is not only preferred, but also virtuous and rational.

Stoicism is a philosophical and moral framework that supports the development of self-control and mental well-being by understanding and embracing fundamental rational precepts about the universe and human nature.  

These precepts include a largely deterministic world-view, in which some things are outside of our control and other things are not.  This is known as the Dichotomy of Control.  By learning to identify and accept the things outside of our control, these things are unable to bother or disturb us (i.e., harm us mentally). 

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Marcus Aurelius (121 AD – 180 AD) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180. He ruled the Roman Empire with his adoptive brother, Lucius Verus, until Lucius’ death in 169. He was the last of the rulers traditionally known as the Five Good Emperors and was also a great Stoic philosopher.

Here are some of my favorite Marcus Araleus quotes:

The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.

You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.

Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.

Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.

Death smiles at us all, but all a man can do is smile back.

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Lucius Annaeus Seneca, better known as Seneca the Younger, was a great Stoic philosopher, a Roman statesman, and a respected and gifted essayist and playwright. As an adviser to Emperor Nero, he was one of the most powerful and wealthy men in the Roman Empire. Along with Cicero and Lucretius, he helped adapt Greek philosophy to the Latin language and the Roman way of life.  His words of Stoic wisdom are as timely today as they were two millennia ago, as these sixteen quotes demonstrate.

What is quite unlooked for is more crushing in its effect, and unexpectedness adds to the weight of a disaster. The fact that it was unforeseen has never failed to intensify a person’s grief. This is a reason for ensuring that nothing ever takes us by surprise. We should project our thoughts ahead of us at every turn and have in mind every possible eventuality instead of only the usual course of events.
– Seneca, Letters from a Stoic

This is why we need to envisage every possibility and to strengthen the spirit to deal with the things which may conceivably come about. Rehearse them in your mind: exile, torture, war, shipwreck. Misfortune may snatch you away from your country… If we do not want to be overwhelmed and struck numb by rare events as if they were unprecedented ones; fortune needs envisaging in a thoroughly comprehensive way.
– Seneca, Letters from a Stoic

A commander never puts such trust in peace that he fails to prepare for a war.
– Seneca, Letters from a Stoic

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