Justice: The Most Important Virtue

Being brave. Finding the right balance. These are core Stoic virtues, but in their seriousness, they pale in comparison to what the Stoics worshipped most highly: Doing the right thing. There is no Stoic virtue more important than justice, because it influences all the others. Marcus Aurelius himself said that justice is “the source of all the other virtues.” Stoics throughout history have pushed and advocated for justice, oftentimes at great personal risk and with great courage, in order to do great things and defend the people and ideas that they loved. Cato gave his life trying to restore the Roman Republic. And Thrasea and Agrippinus gave theirs resisting the tyranny of Nero. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson formed a new nation—one which would seek, however imperfectly, to fight for democracy and justice—largely inspired by the philosophy of Cato and those other Stoics. Thomas Wentworth Higginson, a translator of Epictetus, led a black regiment of troops in the US Civil War. Beatrice Webb, who helped to found the London School of Economics and who first conceptualized the idea of collective bargaining, regularly re-read Marcus Aurelius. Countless other activists and politicians have turned to Stoicism to gird them against the difficulty of fighting for ideals that mattered, to guide them towards what was right in a world of so much wrong. A Stoic must deeply believe that an individual can make a difference. Successful activism and political maneuvering require understanding and strategy, as well as realism… and hope. It requires wisdom, acceptance and also a refusal to accept the statue quo. It was James Baldwin who most brilliantly captured this tension in Notes of a Native Son:It began to seem that one would have to hold in mind forever two ideas which seemed to be in opposition. The first idea was acceptance, the acceptance, totally without rancor, of life as it is, and men as they are: in light of this idea it goes without saying that injustice is commonplace. But this did not mean that one could be complacent, for the second idea was of equal power: that one must never, in one’s own life, accept these injustices as commonplace but one must fight them with all one’s strength. A Stoic sees the world clearly...but also sees clearly what the world can be. And then they are brave, and strategic enough to help bring it into reality. Check out the Daily Stoic’s new Four Virtues Medallion here. 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.

• 0:28Ryan Holiday?

  Justice, the most important virtue. Being brave, finding the right balance, these are core Stoic virtues, but in their seriousness, they pale in comparison to what the Stoics worshipped most highly: doing the right thing. There is no Stoic virtue more important than justice, because it influences all the others. Marcus Aurelius said that justice is the source of all other virtues. Stoics throughout history have pushed and advocated for justice for the right thing, oftentimes at great personal risk and with great courage, in order to do great things and defend the people and ideas that they loved. Cato gave his life trying to restore

• 1:13Ryan Holiday?

  the Roman Republic, and Thrassia and Agrippinus gave theirs resisting the tyranny of Nero. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson formed a new nation, one that would seek, however imperfectly, to fight for liberty and justice, largely inspired by the philosophy of Cato and those other Stoics. Thomas Wentworth Higginson, a translator of Epictetus, led a black regiment of troops in the US Civil War, and Beatrice Webb, who helped to found the London School of Economics and who first conceptualized the idea of collective bargaining, regularly reread Marcus Aurelius. Countless other activists and politicians have turned

• 1:54Ryan Holiday?

  to Stoicism to gird them against the difficulty of fighting for ideals that mattered, to guide them towards what was right in a world of so much wrong. A Stoic must deeply believe that an individual can make a difference. Successful activism and political Maneuvering require understanding and strategy as well as realism and hope. It requires wisdom, acceptance, and also a refusal to accept the status quo. It was James Baldwin who most brilliantly captured this tension in Notes of a Native Son. "It began to seem that one would have to hold in mind forever two ideas which seemed to be in opposition," he said. "The first idea was acceptance, an acceptance totally without ranker of life as it is and

• 2:39Ryan Holiday?

  men as they are. In light of this idea," he said, "it goes without saying that injustice is commonplace." But this did not mean that one could be complacent, for the second idea was of equal power, that one must never in one's own life accept these injustices as commonplace, but one must fight them with all one's strength. A Stoic sees the world clearly, but also sees clearly what the world can be, and then they are brave and moderate and strategic enough to help bring it into reality. You can check out our new Daily Stoic reminder of this idea, the idea of the four Stoic virtues

• 3:20Ryan Holiday?

  of courage and wisdom and justice and moderation, justice I think being one of the most important to remind ourselves of. You can check out this coin, it's got symbols of each one of the virtues on the front and on the back. It lists all four and then it reminds us, as Marcus really said, that we should not exchange these virtues for others. You can check this out in the Daily Stoic store, go to www.dailystoic.com/forvirtues. And you can see what I have just now added to my own everyday carry. It's sitting here in my right hand pocket, and I hope it will sit in yours as well.