Introduction It’s humbling to know that as we look up to the Stoics of antiquity, they too idolized those who came before them. In the beginning pages of Meditations, Marcus Aurelius writes out the names of all the people who have mentored and molded him throughout his life. He speaks eloquently of a man named […]
If you run down the list of the great Stoics of history, you’d think of Seneca or Marcus Aurelius or Epictetus or Zeno or Cleanthes or Chrysippus. What do all those people have in common? They were all men. In fact, you really have to dig to come up with even one or two “accepted” female […]
“For I believe a good king is from the outset and by necessity a philosopher, and the philosopher is from the outset a kingly person.” Musonius Rufus, Lectures, 8.33.32–34 For thousands of years, the Stoics have not only been leaders, but the resource other leaders have turned to for advice and guidance. George Washington quoted […]
Introduction Not to be confused with the Peripatetic philosopher Aristo of Ceos, Aristo of Chios was a Greek Stoic philosopher, lecturer, and student-turned-contemporary of the more well-known Stoic philosopher Zeno. When exactly he was born and when he died are uncertain, but he lived and worked during the 3rd Century BCE. We do know that […]
The Stoics believed the formula to achieve mastery in any field was simple. “First, tell yourself what you want to be, then act your part accordingly,” Epictetus said. “This, after all, is what we find to be the rule in just about every other field. Athletes decide first what they want to be, then proceed […]
American jazz icon Miles Davis once said, “Time isn’t the main thing, it’s the only thing.” Seneca once wrote that it’s not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a great deal of it. We all envelop ourselves in various forms of escapism, hoping either to postpone our responsibilities or avoid them altogether. As […]