Love Not Hate

It’s easy to stir up resentment, harder to create common ground. It’s easy to point out what’s wrong, it’s much more difficult to come up with a solution. Our current political and social dialogue has taken the easy road, no question, which is why we’re divided and despair of solving any of our problems. The Stoic rejects this, resists the urge to point fingers or label other groups “the enemy.” As Booker T. Washington wrote, “Great men cultivate love, only little men cherish a spirit of hatred.” And this was from a man who had been born in the final days of slavery, who faced incredible racism and adversity. Yet he, like all great men and women, sought common ground, solutions and love over distrust and anger. What excuse do you have to be little? What do you expect this smallness is going to accomplish? Even if playing to divisions and pointing fingers gets you attention, even if it plays well with today’s social media algorithms, does it make you feel better or happer? Of course not. Love. Love. Love. Other people. Your fate. Your obstacles. Amor fati. Love it all. Because it’s the only way. 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.

• 0:29Ryan Holiday?

  Love, not hate. It's easy to stir up resentment, harder to create common ground. It's easy to point out what's wrong. It's much more difficult to come up with a solution. Our current political and social dialogue has taken the easy road, no question, which is why we're divided in despair of solving any of our problems. The Stoic rejects this, resists the urge to point fingers or label other groups the enemy. As Booker T. Washington wrote, "Great men cultivate love. Only little men cherish a spirit of hatred." And this was from a man who had been born in the final days of slavery,

• 1:11Ryan Holiday?

  who faced incredible racism and adversity. Yet he, like all great men and women, sought common ground, solutions, and love over distrust and anger. What excuse do you have to belittle? What do you expect this smallness is going to accomplish? Even if playing to divisions and pointing fingers gets you attention, even if it plays well with today's social media algorithms, does it make you feel better or happier? Of course not. Love, love, love. Other people, your fate, your obstacles, amor fati, love at all, because it's the only way.

• 1:55Ryan Holiday?

  If you want to check out our amor fati medallion or necklace, you can do that at dailystoic.com/store. We also have one for "The Obstacle is the Way." You can carry that with you everywhere. And we have an "Obstacle is the Way" poster that you might enjoy, too. Just check that out at dailystoic.com/store.