December 31st Reading from The Daily Stoic - Get Active In Your Own Rescue

"Stop wandering about! You aren't likely to read your own notebooks, or ancient histories, or the anthologies you've collected to enjoy in your old age. Get busy with life's purpose, toss aside empty hopes, get active in your own rescue - if you care for yourself at all - and do it while you can."

~ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 3.14

December 30th Reading from The Daily Stoic - Taking The Bite Out Of It

"To bear trials with a calm mind
 robs misfortune of its strength and burden."

~ Seneca, Hercules Oetaeus, 231-232

December 29th Reading from The Daily Stoic - Give Thanks

"In all things we should try to make ourselves be as grateful as possible. For gratitude  is a good thing for ourselves, in a manner in which justice, commonly held to belong to others, is not. Gratitude pays itself back in large measure."

~ Seneca, Moral Letters, 81.19

December 28th Reading from The Daily Stoic - On Being Remembered

"Everything lasts for a day, the one who remembers and the remembered."

~ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 4.35

December 27th Reading from The Daily Stoic - Don't Let Your Soul Go First

"It's a disgrace in this life when the soul surrenders first while the body refuses to."

~ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 6.29

December 26th Reading from The Daily Stoic - Life Is Long - If You Know How To Use It

"It's not at all that we have too short a time to live, but that we squander a great deal of it. Life is long enough, and it's given in sufficient measure to do many things if we spend it well. But when it's poured down the drain of luxury and neglect, when it's employed to no good end, we're finally driven to see that it has passed by before we even recognized its passing. And so it is - we don't receive a short life, we make it so."

~ Seneca, On the Brevity of Life, 1.3-4a

December 25th Reading from The Daily Stoic - Don't Burn the Candle at Both Ends

"The mind must be given relaxation - it will rise improved and sharper after a good break. Just as rich fields must not be forced - for they will quickly lose their fertility if never given a break - so constant work on the anvil will fracture the force of the mind. But it regains its powers if it is set free and relaxed for a while. Constant work gives rise to a certain kind of dullness and feebleness in the rational soul."

~ Seneca, On Tranquility of Mind, 17.5

December 24th Reading from The Daily Stoic - Meaningless . . . Like A Fine Wine

"You know what wine and liqueur tastes like. It makes no difference whether a hundred or a thousand bottles pass through your bladder - you are nothing more than a filter."

~ Seneca, Moral Letters, 77.16

December 23rd Reading from The Daily Stoic - What Are You So Afraid of Losing?

"You are afraid of dying. But, come now, how is this life of yours anything but death?"

~ Seneca, Moral Letters, 77.18

December 22nd Reading from The Daily Stoic - Stake Your Own Claim

"For it is disgraceful for an old person, or one in sight of old age, to have only the knowledge carried in their notebooks. Zeno said this . . . what do you say? Cleanthes said that . . . what do you say? How long will you be compelled by the claims of another? Take charge and stake your own claim - something posterity will carry in its notebook."

~ Seneca, Moral Letters, 33.7

December 21st Reading from The Daily Stoic - What Do You Have To Show For Your Years?

"Many times an old man has no other evidence besides his age to prove that he has lived a long time."

~ Seneca, On Tranquility of Mind, 3.8b

December 20th Reading from The Daily Stoic - Fear The Fear of Death

"Do you then ponder how the supreme of human evils, the surest mark of the base and cowardly, is not death, but the fear of death? I urge you to discipline yourself against such fear, direct all your thinking, exercises, and reading this way - and you will know the only path to human freedom."

~ Epictetus, Discourses, 3.26.38-39

December 19th Reading from The Daily Stoic - Human Scale

"Think of the whole universe of matter and how small your share. Think about the expanse of time and how brief - almost momentary - the part marked for you. Think of the workings of fate and how infinitesimal your role."

~ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 5.24

December 18th Reading from The Daily Stoic - What Comes To Us All

"Both Alexander the Great and his mule-keeper were both brought to the same place by death - they were wither received into the all-generative reason, or scattered among the atoms."

~ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 6.24

December 17th Reading from The Daily Stoic - Know Thyself - Before It's Too Late

"Death lies heavy upon one
 who, known exceedingly well by all,
 dies unknown to himself."

~ Seneca, Thyestes, 400

December 16th Reading from The Daily Stoic - Everlasting Good Health

"I tell you, you only have to learn to live like the healthy person does . . . living with complete confidence. What confidence? The only one worth holding, in what is trustworthy, unhindered, and can't be taken away - your own reasoned choice."

~ Epictetus, Discourses, 3.26.3b-24

December 15th Reading from The Daily Stoic - A Simple Way To Measure Our Days

"This is the mark of perfection of character - to spend each day as if it were your last, without frenzy, laziness, or any pretending."

~ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 7.69

December 14th Reading from The Daily Stoic - What We Should Know By The End

"Soon you will die, and still you aren't sincere, undisturbed, or free from suspicion that external things can harm you, nor are you gracious to all, knowing that wisdom and acting justly are one and the same."

~ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 4.37

December 13th Reading from The Dail Stoic - It's Just A Number

"You aren't bothered, are you, because you weigh a certain amount and not twice as much? So why get worked up that you've been given a certain lifespan and not more? Just as you are satisfied with your normal weight, so you should be with the time you've been given."

~ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 6.49

I can see a number of people out there thinking that Marcus is underestimating just how many people actually are dissatisfied with their weight. He doesn't really mean weight in terms of body shape and physical fitness, though, he's talking physics. Just as you probably don't give too much thought to the measure of the Earth's gravitation on objects (it is just a way that the physical laws of the universe work), so we should not give too much thought to the way the laws of physics have arranged the lifespans of human beings. The important thing is what you do with the time you have. That's the point.

December 12th Reading from The Daily Stoic - The Beat Goes On

"Walk the long gallery of the past, of empires and kingdoms succeeding each other without number. And you can also see the future, for it will surely be exactly the same, unable to deviate from the present rhythm. It's all one whether we've experienced forty years or an aeon. What more is there to see?"

~ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 7.49

December 11th Reading from The Daily Stoic - Dignity and Bravery

"As Cicero says, we hate gladiators if they are quick to save their lives by any means, we favor them if they show contempt for their lives."

~ Seneca, On Tranquility of Mind, 11.4b

December 10th Reading from The Daily Stoic - Don't Sell Yourself Too Cheaply

"I say, let no one rob me of a single day who isn't going to make a full return on the loss."

~ Seneca, On Tranquility of Mind, 1.11b

December 9th Reading from The Daily Stoic - Spendthrifts of Time

"Were all the geniuses of history to focus on this single theme, they could never fully express their bafflement at the darkness of the human mind. No person would give up even an inch of their estate, and the slightest dispute with a neighbor can mean hell to pay; yet we easily let others encroach upon our lives - worse, we often pave the way for those who will take it over. No person hands out their money to passersby, but to how many do each of us hand out our lives! We're tight-fisted with property and money, yet think too little of wasting time, the one thing about which we should all be the toughest misers."

~ Seneca, On The Brevity of Life, 3.1-2

December 8th Reading from The Daily Stoic - Don't Hide From Your Feelings

"It's better to conquer grief than to deceive it."

~ Seneca, On Consolation To Helvia, 17.1b

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

November 30th Reading from The Daily Stoic - Follow the Logos

"The person who follows reason in all things will have both leisure and a readiness to act - they are at once both cheerful and self-composed."

~ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 10.12b

November 29th Reading from The Daily Stoic - You're Going To Be OK

"Don't lament this and don't get agitated."

~ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 7.43

November 28th Reading from The Daily Stoic - It's Not On Them, It's On You

"If someone is slipping up, kindly correct them and point out what they missed. But if you can't, blame yourself - or no one."

~ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 10.4

November 27th Reading from The Daily Stoic - The Pleasure of Tuning Out the Negative

"How satisfying it is to dismiss and block out any upsetting or foreign impression, and immediately to have peace in all things."

~ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 5.2

November 26th Reading from The Daily Stoic - The Altar of No Difference

"We are like many pellets of incense falling on the same altar. Some collapse sooner, others later, but it makes no difference."

~ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 4.15

November 25th Reading from The Daily Stoic - Funny How That Works Out

"As for me, I would choose to be sick over living in luxury, for being sick only harms the body, whereas luxury destroys both the body and the soul, causing weakness and incapacity in the body, and lack of control and cowardice in the soul. What's more, luxury breeds injustice because it also breeds greediness."

~ Musonius Rufus, Lectures, 20.95.14-17

November 24th Reading from The Daily Stoic - Train To Let Go Of What's Not Yours

"Whenever you experience the pangs of losing something, don't treat it like a part of yourself but as a breakable glass, so when it falls you will remember that and won't be troubled. So too, whenever you kiss your child, sibling, or friend, don't layer on top of the experience all the things you might wish, but hold them back and stop them, just as those who ride behind triumphant generals remind them they are mortal. In the same way, remind yourself that your precious one isn't one of your possessions, but something given for now, not forever . . ."

~ Epictetus, Discourses, 3.24.84-86a 

November 23rd Reading from The Daily Stoic - Attachments Are the Enemy

"In short, you must remember this - that if you hold anything dear outside of your own reasoned choice, you will have destroyed your capacity for choice."

~ Epictetus, Discourses, 4.4.23

November 22nd Reading from The Daily Stoic - The Glass Is Already Broken

"Fortune falls heavily on those for whom she's unexpected. The one always on the lookout easily endures."

~ Seneca, On Consolation To Helvia, 5.3

November 21st Reading from The Daily Stoic - Once Is Enough, Once Is Forever

"A good isn't increased by the addition of time, but if one is wise for even a moment, they will be no less happy than the person who exercises virtue for all time and happily passes their life in it."

~ Chrysippus, quoted by Plutarch in Moralia, "Against the Stoics on Common Conceptions," 1062

November 20th Reading from The Daily Stoic - Behold, Now As Ever

"If you've seen the present, you've seen all things, from time immemorial into all of eternity. For everything that happens is related and the same."

~ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 6.37

November 19th Reading from The Daily Stoic - Maxims From Three Wise Men

"For any challenge we should hold three thoughts at our command:
'Lead on God and Destiny,
To that goal fixed for me long ago.
I will follow and not stumble; even if my will
is weak I will soldier on.'"
~ Cleanthes

"Whoever embraces necessity count as wise,
skilled in divine matters."
~Euripides

"If it pleases the gods, so be it. They may well kill me, but they can't hurt me."
~ Plato's Crito and Apology

Compiled by Epictetus in Enchiridion, 53

November 18th Reading from The Daily Stoic - Four Habits of the Stoic Mind

"Our rational nature moves freely forward in its impressions when it:
1. accepts nothing false or uncertain;
2. directs its impulses only to acts for the common good;
3. limits its desires and aversions only to what's in its own power;
4. embraces everything nature assigns it."

~ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 8.7

November 17th Reading from The Daily Stoic - Judge Not, Lest . . .

"When philosophy is wielded with arrogance and stubbornly, it is the cause for the ruin of many. Let philosophy scrape off your own faults, rather than be a way to rail against the faults of others."

~ Seneca, Moral Letters, 103.4b-5a

November 16th Reading from The Daily Stoic - Hope And Fear Are The Same

"Hecato says, 'cease to hope, and you will cease to fear.' . . . The primary cause of both these ills is that instead of adapting ourselves to present circumstances we send out thoughts too far ahead."

~ Seneca, Moral Letters, 5.7b-8

November 15th Reading from The Daily Stoic - Everything Is Change

"Meditate often on the swiftness with which all that exists and is coming into being is swept by us and carried away. For substance is like a river's unending flow, its activities continually changing and causes infinitely shifting so that almost nothing at all stands still."

~ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 5.23

November 14th Reading from The Daily Stoic - You Choose the Outcome

"He was sent to prison. But the observation 'he has suffered evil' is an addition coming from you."

~ Epictetus, Discourses, 3.8.5b-6a

November 13th Reading from The Daily Stoic - Never Complain, Never Explain

"Don't allow yourself to be heard any longer griping about public life, not even with your own ears!"

~ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 8.9

November 12th Reading from The Daily Stoic - The Strong Accept Responsibility

"If we judge as good and evil only the things in the power of out own choice, then there is no room left for blaming gods or being hostile to others."

~ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 6.41

November 11th Reading from The Daily Stoic - It's Not The Thing, It's What We Make Of It

"When you are distressed by an external thing, it's not the thing itself that troubles you, but only your judgment of it. And you can wipe this out at a moment's notice."

~ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 8.47