We Are Poor Compared To Them

Getting to a place where you know yourself, where you have controlled your needs, where you understand and live by your values is an incredibly wealthy place. Do you have it? 🎶 Song lyrics: A Satisfied Mind (Bon Iver version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fREgiqdOEo&list=RD7fREgiqdOEo&start_radio=1) 🎟️DAILY STOIC LIVE https://www.dailystoiclive.com/| Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you https://www.dailystoiclive.com/! Grab tickets here https://www.dailystoiclive.com/ | https://www.dailystoiclive.com/ 🎙️AD-FREE https://dailystoic.supercast.com/| Support the podcast and go deeper into Stoicism by subscribing toThe Daily Stoic Premium https://dailystoic.supercast.com/ - unlock ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content:https://dailystoic.supercast.com/ 🎥 VIDEO EPISODES https://www.youtube.com/@DailyStoic/videos| Watch the video episodes onThe Daily Stoic YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@DailyStoic/videos:https://www.youtube.com/@DailyStoic/videos ✉️ FREE STOIC WISDOM https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail | Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email athttps://dailystoic.com/dailyemail See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Ryan Holiday?

  Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, designed to help bring those four key Stoic virtues— courage, discipline, justice, and wisdom—into the real world.

• 0:15Ryan Holiday?

  We are poor compared to them. It seemed like he had nothing. He had no home. He had no job. He dressed in rags. Yet, when Diogenes encountered Alexander the Great, it was ultimately the poor philosopher who came out on top. Alexander, who could offer wealth and power and protection, virtually anything in the world, asked Diogenes if there was something he could do for him. Diogenes wanted for nothing and was therefore bold enough to tell Alexander the Great to go away and stop blocking his son. It calls to mind the lyrics in the classic song “A Satisfied Mind.”

• 1:14Ryan Holiday?

  Epictetus was such a man, too. He was born a slave in the household of one of Nero’s officials. But looking around at the sycophants and psychopaths, he came to understand that, actually, he was much freer than them. He had something they could never buy: self-possession. He had equanimity and wisdom. Getting to a place where you know yourself, where you have controlled your needs, where you understand and live by values, is an incredibly wealthy place. How many rich people actually have it? Do you?