The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living
Ryan Holiday, Stephen Hanselman
4.37
39,911 ratings2,340 reviews
Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780735211735.
A beautifully packaged daily devotional of Stoic wisdom, featuring new translations of the most celebrated Stoics with historical context and practical tips from bestselling author Ryan Holiday.
Stoic philosophy has long been the secret weapon of history’s greatest and wisest leaders--from emperors to artists, activists to fighter pilots. Today, people of all stripes are seeking out Stoicism’s unique blend of practicality and wisdom as they look for answers to the great questions of daily life.
Where should they start? Epictetus? Marcus Aurelius? Seneca? Which edition? Which translator? Presented in a page-per-day format, this daily resource combines all new translations done by Stephen Hanselman of the greatest passages from the great Stoics (including several lesser known philosophers like Zeno, Cleanthes and Musonius Rufus) with helpful commentary.
Building on the organizational structure in Ryan Holiday’s cult classic The Obstacle is the Way, this guide also features twelve monthly themes (and helpful glossary) for clarifying perception, improving action, and unlocking the power of will. Aimed at the high-octane, action-oriented doers of our wired world, this book brings new daily rituals and new perspectives to produce balanced action, insight, effectiveness, and serenity.
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GenresPhilosophyNonfictionSelf HelpPersonal DevelopmentPsychologySpiritualityBusiness
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416 pages, Hardcover
First published October 18, 2016
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About the author
Ryan Holiday99 books15.7k followers
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Ryan Holiday is media strategist for notorious clients like Tucker Max and Dov Charney. After dropping out of college at 19 to apprentice under the strategist Robert Greene, he went on to advise many bestselling authors and multi-platinum musicians. He is the Director of Marketing at American Apparel, where his work in advertising was internationally known. His strategies are used as case studies by Twitter, YouTube, and Google, and have been written about in AdAge, the New York Times, Gawker, and Fast Company. He is the author is *Trust Me, I'm Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator*, which is due out in July. He currently lives in New Orleans, with his rebellious puppy, Hanno.
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Paula | pastbookish
295 reviews8 followers
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July 19, 2018
I’ve read this book already but i still read it everyday. It serves as a book vitamin to me.
❦ It helps me have a positive attitude when i’m feeling down.
❦ It gives me a whole a new perspective.
❦ It helps open my mind and help me understand things.
❦ It helps me find something positive in a negative situation.
❦ It just lifts me.
It may be short but i believe it still served its purpose.
These are just some of the things that this book did to me. I do hope it has the same effect on you. And aside from this book, prayers will definitely work wonders, no doubt about it (other religions, please don’t take offense in this - i apologize if i’ve offended anyone with this, that’s not my intention).
Happy reading!!! :)
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Sean Goh
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May 18, 2017
Read it in just under 6 weeks, rather than a year. Some days are repetitive, but then again so is life, since lessons tend to be repeated until learnt. But as the conclusion says, theory is easy, practice is hard (and never-ending).
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Stoicism in a nutshell: Virtue (four cardinal virtues of self-control, courage, justice and wisdom) is happiness, and it is our perception of things - rather than the things themsleves - that cause most of our trouble.
The three most essential parts of Stoic philosophy:
Control your perceptions.
Direct your actions properly.
Willingly accept what's outside your control.
When your efforts are not directed towards a cause or purpose, how will you know what to say no to and what to say yes to? How will you know when you have had enough, when you've reached your goal, when you've gotten off track, if you've never defined what those things are?
Serenity and stability are results of your choices and judgment, not your environment. If you seek to avoid all disruptions to tranquility, you will never be successful. Your problems will follow you wherever you run and hide.
External things can't fix internal issues. Money only marginally changes life. It doesn't solve the problems that people without it seem to think it will.
When I see an anxious person, I ask: What do they want? For if a person wasn't wanting something outside their control, why would they be stricken by anxiety?
The next time you find yourself in the middle of a freakout or breakout, stop a moment and ask yourself: Is this helping me feel better?
It is important to connect the so-called temptation with its actual effects. Once you understand that indulging might actually be worse than resisting, the urge begins to lose its appeal.
It is the privilege of the gods to want nothing, and of godlike men to want little. To want nothing makes you invincible, because nothing lies outside of your control.
The more things we desire and the more we have to do to earn or attain these achievements, the less we actually enjoy our lives - and the less free we are.
It's not about avoidance or shunning, but rather not giving any possible outcome more power or preference than is appropriate. This is not easy to do, certainly, but if you could manage, how much more relaxed would you be?
Curb your desire - don't set your heart on so many things and you will get what you need. Train your mind to ask: "Do I need this thing? What will happen if I do not get it? Can I make do without it?"
"The cause of my irritation is not in this person but in me." Our labels, our expectations.
There are two ways to be wealthy, to get everything you want or to want everything you have.
People put a great deal of effort into ensuring that money is real, whereas we accept potentially life-changing thoughts or assumptions without so much as a question. One ironic assumption along these lines: That having a lot of money makes you wealthy. Or that because a lot of people believe something, that it must be true.
At the end of your time on this planet, what expertise is going to be more valuable, your understanding of matters of living and dying, or your knowledge of celebrity lives / intricacies of plot points of your favourite TV series / insert random vice or obsession here?
Everything we do has a toll attached to it. Waiting around is a tax on travelling. Rumours and gossip are the tax that come from acquiring a public persona. Disagreements and occasional frustration are taxes placed on even the happiest of relationships. There are many forms of taxes in life. You can argue with them, you can go to great - but ultimately futile - lengths to evade them, or you can simply pay them and enjoy the fruits of what you get to keep.
"If you don't take the money, they can't tell you what to do." Wanting makes you a servant.
Make character your loudest statement. Do, don't just say.
God laid down this law, saying: if you want some good, get it from yourself. - Epictetus.
Reflect then, that your ancestors set up these trophies, not that you may gaze at them in wonder, but that you may also imitate the virtues of the men who set them up.
Take pleasure in taking the right actions, rather than the results that come from them. Focus on what you can control.
Joy for human beings lies in proper human work. And proper human work consists in: acts of kindness to other human beings, disdain for the stirring of the senses, identifying trustworthy impressions, and contemplating the natural order and all that happens in keeping with it.
The first two things before acting: Don't get upset. And do the right thing.
Succumbing to the self-pity and "woe is me" narrative accomplishes nothing - nothing except sapping you of the energy and motivation you need to do something about your problem.
A trained mind is better than any script. And and far better booster of confidence.
Don't think of how you HAVE to do something, but rather how you GET TO do it. Receive and respond to the will in the world.
Appeal to self-interest, rather than moralise. SHOW how something is bad, rather than just say it is bad.
Remember then, if you deem what is by nature slavish to be free, and what is not your own to be yours, you will be shackled and miserable, blaming both gods and other people. But if you deem as your own only what is yours, and what belongs to others as truly not yours, then no one will ever be able to coerce or to stop you, you will find no one to blame or accuse, you will do nothing against your will, you will have no enemy, no one will harm you, because no harm can affect you.
Anyone who truly wants to be free, won't desire something that is actually in someone else's control, unless they want to be a slave.
Take days off from work, not learning.
Better to trip with the feet than the tongue. Words can't be unsaid.
A virtuous person is generous with assumptions: that something was an accident, that someone didn't know, that it won't happen again. This makes life easier to bear and makes us more tolerant. Meanwhile - assuming malice - the most hasty of judgments - makes everything harder to bear.
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.
Fortune falls heavily on those for whom she's unexpected. The one always on the lookout easily endures.
"I would choose being 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."
No person hands out 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.
pers-dev philosophy
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Ying Ying
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April 12, 2017
The meditations are so short that they cannot satisfy my daily thirst. However, because the texts are not tightly connected, "reading" quickly on one-go feels like drinking too many different beverages at the same time; soon you lose your feeling.
What this book did do is to re-awaken my interest in stoicism and my desire to go back to the actual texts, which are much more thoughtful and profound, and hence significantly more delightful.
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Valeriu Gherghel
Author 6 books1,767 followers
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August 11, 2022
1, 73 din 5.
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Amy Landino
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September 25, 2022
Life changing. Reading it over. Every day. Every year.
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Alejandro
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March 20, 2017
I am a fan of some of Marcus Aurelius' writing so I bought this book looking forward to discovering other ancient Stoic writers. Instead, I found mostly the interpretations of the editor with just small snippets from the Stoic greats. Sometimes it's hard to find the Stoic quotes amidst the simplistic and shallow commentary of the editor.
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Adam McNamara
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January 1, 2021
Stoicism is an ancient philosophy. It asserts that virtue (meaning self-control, courage, justice, and wisdom) is happiness. To achieve virtue, and thus live happily, one must master the three Stoic disciplines: perceptions (how you see and understand the world), actions (how you act based on what you see), and will (how you feel when events are outside your control).
The Daily Stoic is an exercise guide, not a history of Stoicism. Its goal is to help you understand the three disciplines - perception, action, and will - and apply lessons from each to your life. Each day, you’re presented with a Stoic lesson, explained in modern language, with advice about how to apply it in everyday life.
When studying Stoicism in the past, I’ve encountered two problems. The original sources can difficult to read. Simply put, we spoke differently 2,000 years ago. Stoicism is full of important lessons, but they can be lost when struggling with the language in Meditations by Marcus Aurelius and Letters from a Stoic by Seneca. Books like The Obstacle is the Way and a Guide to the Good Life help by interpreting and summarizing the lessons for a modern audience. But Stoicism contains hundreds lessons about how to live well, and modern summaries can be difficult to remember and apply them all.
This is where The Daily Stoic shines. Not only does it make Stoic lessons easy to understand and apply, it focuses you on just one lesson per day. I find this format - a daily practice guide - the most effective way of reading, understanding, and applying Stoicism.
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Raymond
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July 17, 2017
This was a really good collection of quotes from Stoic philosophers such as Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, and Epictetus and daily meditations from the authors Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman. I read two meditations a day from December 2016 to July 2017. I enjoyed learning from the wisdom of these philosophers who lived around 2,000 years ago and it amazes me that their words stand the test of time. Big takeaways from the book: Be good, accept the things you can control, realize that the outcome of things is controlled by someone or something bigger than yourself, and finally practice what you preach by living out the wisdom and teachings that you read.
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Peter
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June 12, 2024
Stoicism
In today's world, we are so polarised and disturbed by inequalities and issues often outside our own control, as we are regularly fed misinformation and disinformation. How much do we point a finger and jump to blame someone else before we introspectively assess our own beliefs and actions? Stoicism is an ancient philosophy that teaches the development of self-control and fortitude as a means to overcome destructive emotions. It was initially brought to prominence through the works of great philosophers such as Marcus Aurelius, Seneca and Epictetus. Their works are still relevant today and are becoming very popular again.
The growing uptake of this philosophical mindset is an excellent reminder that all changes to our beliefs and mindsets start from within - regulate emotion, live by virtue (wisdom, courage, justice and temperance), practice mindfulness for self-examination, control what you can and embrace fate, live in a community that encourages compassion and justice for all. The powerful serenity prayer is an excellent example of this:
"Grant me the serenity to
accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can, and
the wisdom to know the difference."Ryan Holiday's book is possibly the best way to deliver the lessons on Stoicism as it outlines one unique thought per day with 366 different lessons provided in the book. Hence the title The Daily Stoic. Today's message is "Sweat the Small Stuff" - One does not magically get one's act together, it is a matter of many individual choices - the little things add up. My only issue is that some lessons feel repetitive, and some padding is employed to get to 366 lessons.
I have been reading this for almost a year, and it has been a great way to start each day. The daily lesson is only a few paragraphs. If you like the idea of a daily inspirational message or exploring the philosophy of Stoicism, this is a great starting point. I wouldn't consider myself a Stoic, but I appreciate its value and keep trying to get there.
Maybe that's the point!!!
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Another
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February 6, 2017
It's perfect for it's purpose, a daily dip into stoic wisdom. Those who rated it one star are judging against a standard it's not attempting to meet. The author does not claim to give the best translations, only accessible ones.
I'm probably going to end up buying this and reading it daily for years.
For those looking for deep dives rather than a daily dip, read Long's translation of Meditations (or Hays for a version that's like having the author put his hand on his shoulder and advise you, while standing in a muddy field).
There are a lot of translations, look until you find one you like!
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