There Is No Race | Transformative Quotes From The Founder Of Stoicism (Zeno)

We know at least one of the Stoics was a runner. Chrysippus ran the dolichos, a grueling three-mile loop consisting of approximately 24 stadium length wind sprints. Epictetus’s leg injury probably precluded much in the way of running, but he was clearly an avid sports fan and his lectures abound with metaphors to prove it. Yet the Stoics relationship to athletics was slightly different than your average competitor.---And in today's Daily Stoic video excerpt, Ryan presents some of the most affecting quotes from Zeno to help inspire your day.✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee 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.

• 0:02Ryan Holiday?

  Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, where each day we read a passage of ancient wisdom designed to help you in your everyday life. On Tuesdays, we take a closer look at these Stoic ideas, how we can apply them in our actual lives. Thanks for listening, and I hope you enjoy.

• 0:30Ryan Holiday?

  There is no race. We know that at least one of the Stoics was a runner. Chrysippus ran a grueling three-mile loop consisting of approximately 24 stadium-length wind sprints. Epictetus's leg injury probably precluded much in the way of running, but he was clearly an avid sports fan, and his lectures abound with metaphors to prove it. Yet the Stoics' relationship to athletics was slightly different than your average competitor. We know that Chrysippus was a good runner, but he also held that there was something far more important than winning: conducting oneself with virtue in a race. Epictetus didn't care much for the standings of a given event. He believed that the only competition that mattered

• 1:13Ryan Holiday?

  began and continued long before the finish line or after the bell. "If you want to be a winner," he said, "define the competition only by things that are up to you." Both of these lyrics would have liked the lyric from the band Lucius.

• 1:40Ryan Holiday?

  That's what life is. It's not a race against anyone else. The only thing to measure yourself against is yourself. There is no real finish line either. There is one foot in front of the other, one sprint, one slog after another. The marathon is getting up and going and not quitting, and setting your own standards that you never quite reach, and finding satisfaction and pride in the progress that you've made and the fact that you are better than you were yesterday. There is no race. There is only you. Just keep going. Keep going with virtue.

• 2:28Speaker 01

  Better to trip with the feet than with the tongue.

• 2:35Speaker 01

  If you lay violent hands on me, you'll have my body, but my mind will remain with Stillpo.

• 2:45Speaker 01

  Happiness is a good flow of life.

• 2:51Speaker 01

  A bad feeling is a commotion of the mind repugnant to reason and against nature.

• 3:00Speaker 01

  Well-being is realized by small steps, but is truly no small thing.

• 3:09Speaker 01

  Man conquers the world by conquering himself.

• 3:16Speaker 01

  We have two ears and one mouth, so we should listen more than we say.

• 3:24Speaker 01

  He is best of all men who follows good advice. Good too is he who finds out all things for himself.

• 3:35Speaker 01

  No loss should be more regrettable to us than losing our time, for it's irretrievable.

• 3:44Speaker 01

  Follow where reason leads.

• 3:49Speaker 01

  Steal your sensibilities, so that life shall hurt you as little as possible.

• 3:57Speaker 01

  No evil is honorable, but death is honorable. Therefore, death is not evil.

• 4:07Speaker 01

  All the good are friends of one another.

• 4:13Speaker 01

  No one entrusts a secret to a drunken man, but one will entrust a secret to a good man. Therefore, the good man will not get drunk.

• 4:27Speaker 01

  All things are parts of one single system, which is called nature. The individual life is good when it is in harmony with nature.

• 4:39Speaker 01

  Seeing that the universe gives birth to beings that are animate and wise, should it not be considered animate and wise itself?

• 4:50Speaker 01

  The end may be defined as life in accordance with nature, or, in other words, in accordance with our own human nature, as well as that of the universe.

• 5:04Speaker 01

  When a dog is tied to a cart, if it wants to follow, it is pulled and follows, making its spontaneous act coincide with necessity. But if the dog does not follow, it will be compelled in any case. So it is with men too. Even if they don't want to, they will be compelled to follow what is destined.

• 5:31Speaker 01

  Fate is the endless chain of connection, whereby things are, the reason or principle by which the world goes on.

• 5:42Speaker 01

  Man seems to be deficient in nothing, so much as he is in time.