Highlights: Lives of the Stoics

A few of my highlights and reflections from the book, Lives of the Stoics, by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman

An athlete isn’t thinking on the court or field; their movements come from the muscle memory of their training, guided by their intuition. It’s from this flow state, rather than from conscious deliberation, that excellence – moral or physical – emerges.

Aristo, pg. 29

Reflect on where intuition exists for you, then practice, with frequency and intensity. Profit.

Still, has yelling ever deterred a contrarian?

Aristo, pg 32

If anything, yelling at a contrarian is equivalent to telling them that they win. Old wisdom. Hard to follow. 

There is no better definition of a Stoic: to have but to not want, to enjoy without needing.

Chrysippus Pg. 46

This phrase cleared up a common misconception and one I was struggling with.

A Stoic can enjoy the finer things, admire them, and take pleasure in them.

But also be perfectly happy without them.

Grateful for their presence.

Indifferent to their absence. 

…a controversial plot that sought to redistribute some of Rome’s land to its poorest citizens

Antipater, pg. 71

Wealth inequality has been around for a lot longer than one would think. If wealth exists, is wealth inequality a natural byproduct?

Panaetius was the first Stoic to believe that virtue was not self-sufficient, claiming that strength, health, and material are also needed. 

Complements enhance even the most desirable characteristics. 

You can and should be interested in everything, the Stoics taught, because you can and should learn wisdom from everything. The more you experience, the more you learn, and paradoxically, the more humbled you are by the endless amounts of knowledge that remain in front of you.

Posidonius, pg. 100

The act of trying or learning new things is a win-win.

Learning what you don’t enjoy doing is every bit as powerful as learning what you do.

The worst case is that it provides a reference point that leads to the next attempt being more accurate.

Imagine if when you bought a losing lottery ticket, you learned that you never needed to play those numbers again. Every ticket, even the losers, help you get closer to winning.

The best case is you find something you love.