Don’t Sell Out

In his Discourses, Epictetus asks a probing question: “Your respect, trustworthiness and steadiness, peace of mind, freedom from pain and fear, in a word your freedom. For what would you sell these things?”The answer, too often, is “for pennies on the dollar.” We trade our word for a small edge in business. We give up peace of mind for a bigger house or a nicer car. We mortgage our self-respect for fancy friends or fame. We sell our freedom for a job that makes us miserable, or a relationship full of incessant fighting. We only have one life to live...and how many of us sell it quickly and cheaply instead of holding on tightly to this incredible asset we have been given? We value our principles and our happiness like penny stocks, like fetid swampland. In Stoicism, there are four virtues that sit atop the ledger of human existence: Justice. Moderation. Wisdom. Courage. That is: Fairness. Discipline. Tranquility. Bravery. Compared to these things, everything else is cheap, if not worthless. No bargain is worth giving them up. And only a sucker sells them. 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. Don't Sell Out. In his discourses, Epictetus asks a probing question: "Your respect, trustworthiness, and steadiness, peace of mind, freedom from pain and fear, in a word, your freedom. For what would you sell these things?" The answer, too often, is for pennies

• 0:49Ryan Holiday?

  on the dollar. We trade our word for a small edge in business. We give up peace of mind for a bigger house or a nicer car. We mortgage our self-respect for fancy friends or fame. We sell our freedom for a job that makes us miserable, or a relationship full of incessant fighting. We have only one life to live, and how many of us sell it quickly and cheaply instead of holding on tightly to this incredible asset we've been given? We value our principles and our happiness like penny stocks, like fetid swampland. In Stoicism, there are four virtues that sit atop the ledger of human existence: justice, moderation, wisdom, courage.

• 1:33Ryan Holiday?

  That is, fairness, discipline, tranquility, bravery. Compared to these things, everything else is cheap, if not worthless. No bargain is worth giving them up, and only a sucker sells them. If you like the podcast that we do here, and you want to get it via email every morning, you can sign up at dailystoic.com/email.