Discourses by Epictetus is a work that only survived thanks to a student named Arrian, who’s credited with transcribing the lessons he learned in Epictetus’ classroom at the beginning of the second century AD. Arrian wrote in a letter prior to the Discourses’ publishing, “whatever I used to hear him say I wrote down, word […]

As remarkable of a text the Enchiridion is, being one of the canonical texts of Stoic philosophy, and one of the most important ancient documents that we are fortunate to have access to, the story of its creator is equally as impressive. Epictetus rose to become one of the most important Stoic philosophers, but the […]

Below is a guest post from Philip Ghezelbash, as he offered to share five of the most important lessons he took away from Stoicism. Enjoy! *** Live Every Day As If It Were Your Last Seneca was a Roman Stoic philosopher. He once said: “You live as if you were destined to live forever, no […]

This is a guest post by Isaac Chanakira Stoicism philosophy is on the rise. I have been practicing it for a couple of years now and would like to share 3 of the most effective and practical mental exercise/meditations that I have used. Method One: A view from above   ‘You can rid yourself of […]

Epictetus was born nearly 2,000 years ago in Hierapolis (present-day Pamukkale in Turkey) as a slave in a wealthy household. Later, Epictetus obtained his freedom shortly after emperor Nero’s death and started teaching philosophy in Rome for nearly 25 years. This lasted until emperor Domitian famously banished all philosophers in Rome. Epictetus fled to Nicopolis […]

This is part of our 3-part series on the three most important Stoic philosophers: Marcus Aurelius, Seneca and Epictetus. Here you will find a short introduction to Epictetus, suggested readings, three exercises/lessons from him as well as a selection of quotes. You can also read our introduction to Stoicism if you are not familiar with the […]

What Is Regret? “Two elements must therefore be rooted out once for all, – the fear of future suffering, and the recollection of past suffering; since the latter no longer concerns me, and the former concerns me not yet.” – Seneca, from Letters from a Stoic After a long day at work and terrible traffic, […]

“These individuals have riches just as we say that we ‘have a fever,’ when really the fever has us.” — Seneca We all know those people who have lots of money, and yet, they are miserable. On the flip side, we all know people who live happy and fulfilled lives despite not having lots of money. […]

“To be like the rock that the waves keep crashing over. It stands unmoved and the raging of the sea falls still around it.” — Marcus Aurelius The question of why and how we are supposed to live has been contemplated for centuries.  Absurdist Albert Camus wrote that life is like the Sisyphean task of […]