Character Is Fate

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

• 0:03Ryan Holiday?

  Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, where each day we bring you a passage of ancient wisdom designed to help you find strength, insight, and wisdom in everyday life. Each one of these passages is based on the 2,000-year-old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women. For more, you can visit us, dailystoic.com.

• 0:30Ryan Holiday?

  Character is fate. How did Hadrian know that Antoninus would be a worthy mentor to Marcus Aurelius? That he could be trusted as a stand-in emperor? He knew because he had glimpsed into Antoninus's character. We're told the story of Hadrian watching Antoninus help his elderly stepfather up a flight of stairs. He didn't know anyone could see. It wasn't a performance. It wasn't virtue signaling, as we call it today. It was actual virtue, kindness, decency, respect. And it was these same traits that Antoninus brought to his 20 years as Marcus's guardian and to the Roman people as their leader. The reason that justice, which is the theme of the new book, Right Thing Right Now, which you can preorder right now, dailystoic.com/justice.

• 1:15Ryan Holiday?

  The reason this is such a critical part of Stoicism is that it goes to character. What good is courage if the person acting with it is not a good person? You could have a brilliant mind, but if you don't have a moral compass, it may bring you to ruin. "Character is fate," the Stoics said. "It determines our destiny. Hero or nero, our personal integrity decides. Our sense of justice is our trajectory. Our moral compass is precisely that. A compass that directs us, prevents us from getting lost." And now, more than ever, we're constantly being told how to think, how to act, who to support. We need direction through that thicket of noise. And as the Stoics are keen to always remind us, that direction comes from within. "If an action or utterance is appropriate,

• 1:59Ryan Holiday?

  then it's appropriate for you," Marcus Aurelius writes. "Don't be put off by other people's comments and criticisms. If it's right to say or do it, then it's the right thing to say or do." And he says, "If it's not right to do or say, do not do it." Anyways, that's the aim of the new book, Right Thing Right Now, which is all about cultivating good character, good values, and then, of course, doing good deeds. And I'm really proud of the stories in it. We've got Harriet S. Truman and Susan B. Anthony, Marcus Aurelius. We've got civil rights leaders. We've got gay rights leaders. We've got people from ancient history, people from modern history. But what they all have in common is good character. And it's our character that we have to stand by the strength of our

• 2:43Ryan Holiday?

  convictions, not to be swept up in the mania or paranoia of the day, to live free from doubt and shame. And if you haven't pre-ordered it yet, I know I'm talking about it a lot, but it would mean a lot to me if you could preorder the book. You can grab it right now at dailystoic.com/justice. You can get signed numbered first editions. You can get a signed page from the manuscript. You can even have dinner with me where we can talk about a bunch of the ideas in the books. Grab that now at dailystoic.com/justice. And I can't wait to hear what all of you think. It's coming out really, really soon. The earlier you preorder, the more it helps authors. So I'll say that again, dailystoic.com/justice for the new book, Right Thing Right Now.