December 7th Reading from The Daily Stoic - The Cards We're Dealt

"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, Meditations, 7.56-57

December 6th Reading from The Daily Stoic - The Sword Dangles Over You

"Don't behave as if you are destined to live forever. What's fated hangs over you. As long as you live and while you can, become good now."

~ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 4.17

December 5th Reading from The Daily Stoic - The Benefits of Sobering Thoughts

"Keep death and exile before your eyes each day, along with everything that seems terrible - by doing so, you'll never have a base thought nor will you have excessive desire."

~ Epictetus, Enchiridion, 21

December 4th Reading from The Daily Stoic - You Don't Own That

"Anything that can be prevented, taken away, or coerced is not a person's own - but those things that can't be blocked are their own."

~ Epictetus, Discourses, 3.24.3

December 3rd Reading from The Daily Stoic - The Philosopher As An Artisan of Life and Death

"Philosophy does not claim to get a person any external possession. To do so would be beyond its field. As wood is to the carpenter, bronze to the sculptor, so our own lived are the proper material in the art of living."

~ Epictetus, Discourses, 1.15.2

December 2nd Reading from The Daily Stoic - Don't Mind Me, I'm Only Dying Slow(ly!)

"Let each thing you would do, say, or intend be like that of a dying person."

~ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 2.11.1

December 1st Reading from The Daily Stoic - Pretend Today Is The End

"Let us prepare our minds as if we'd come to the very end of life. Let us postpone nothing. Let us balance life's books each day . . . The one who puts the finishing touches on their life each day is never short of time."

~ Seneca, Moral Letters, 101.7b-8a