Do Your Duty, Every Day, Everywhere

The French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy was recently interviewed by the New York Times about his grueling travel schedule, which will include 22 cities this year. This passage of the interview is worth highlighting: Q: When you travel, do you read, write, sleep, or watch movies? A: I do not live very differently when I travel and when I don’t, which means I do my duty. My duty is to read, to write, and to fight. These are the three things that are my duty. Traveling and not traveling, this is what I do.”Although Lévy’s brand of philosophy is distinctly not Stoic—he’s the founder of the New Philosophers school—his answer does sound eerily similar to something Marcus Aurelius wrote in Meditations 2,000 years ago: “No matter what anyone says or does, my task is to be good. Like gold or emerald or purple repeating to itself, ‘No matter what anyone says or does, my task is to be emerald, my color undiminished.’”This is all worth pointing out because of the disturbing habit we humans have of making excuses for not doing our duty or not being good. “It’s not cheating if it’s on vacation.” “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.” “They hit me first.” “I’m on the road, who cares about my diet (or my sobriety)?” “I was tired. I couldn’t take it anymore.”No. Duty is duty. Good is good. We must do it every day, everywhere. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. 📢 Share | ⚙️ Manage Subscription

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

• 0:06Ryan Holiday?

  Welcome to The Daily Stoic, where each day we read a short passage designed to help you cultivate the strength, insight, wisdom necessary for living the good 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 at DailyStoic.com. Do your duty, every day, everywhere. The French philosopher Bernard Henry Levy was recently interviewed by The New York Times about his grueling travel schedule, which will include 22 cities this year. This passage of the interview is worth highlighting. When you travel, do you read, write, sleep, or watch movies?

• 0:49Ryan Holiday?

  I do not live very differently when I travel and when I don't, which means I do my duty. My duty is to read, to write, and to fight. These are the three things that are my duty. Traveling and not traveling, this is what I do. Although Levy's brand of new philosophy is distinctly not Stoic, he's the founder of the new philosopher's school, and his answer sounds eerily similar to something Marcus Aurelius wrote in Meditations 2,000 years ago. No matter what anyone says or does, my task is to be good. Like gold or emerald or purple repeating to itself, no matter what anyone says or does, my task is to be emerald, my

• 1:33Ryan Holiday?

  color undiminished. This is all worth pointing out because of the disturbing habit we humans make of having excuses for not doing our duty or not being good. It's not cheating if it's on vacation. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. They hit me first. I'm on the road. Who cares about my diet or my sobriety? I was tired. I couldn't take it anymore. No, duty is duty. Good is good. We must do it every day, everywhere. If you're liking this podcast, we would love for you to subscribe. Please leave us a review on iTunes or any of your favorite podcast listening apps. It really helps. And tell a friend.