This Is One Thing You Must Not Do

It’s possible, Marcus Aurelius said, to not have an opinion. You don’t have to turn this into something, he reminds himself. You don’t have to let this upset you. It’s not that the Stoics lived in a world where people didn’t do bad things or a world free from rudeness and cruelty. On the contrary—those things were far more prevalent in Rome than they are today. But what the Stoics worked on was not letting these things get to them, not letting it provoke them to anger. If someone insulted Cato, he pretended not to hear it. When someone attacked Marcus Aurelius’s character, he tried to think about the character of the person saying it. When someone said something offensive to Epictetus, he told himself that if he got upset, he was as much to blame as they were. He also joked that if they really knew him, they’d be even more critical. It wasn’t that the Stoics were apathetic or that they never tried to change the world. Clearly, they wouldn’t have been engaged in politics if all they cared about was the status quo. Why would Seneca have written those letters if he didn’t believe he could have an impact on people? It’s just that the Stoics saw only danger in getting angry. They refused to be provoked. They tamed their temper so they could do the work they believed they needed to do. And that’s what you must do also. You don’t have to have an opinion. You don’t have to turn things into bigger things. You can control your emotions. You can do what you need to do. 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. This is one thing you must not do. "It is possible," Marcus Aurelius said, "to not have an opinion. You don't have to turn this into something," he reminds himself. "You don't have to let this upset you." It's not that the Stoics lived in a world where people didn't do bad things, or a world

• 0:48Ryan Holiday?

  free from rudeness and cruelty. On the contrary, those things were far more prevalent in Rome than they are today. But what the Stoics worked on was not letting these things get to them, not letting them provoke them to anger. If someone insulted Cato, he pretended not to hear it. When someone attacked Marcus Aurelius's character, he tried to think about the character of the person saying it. When someone said something offensive to Epictetus, he told himself that if he got upset, he was as much to blame as they were. He also liked to joke that if they really knew him, they'd have been even more critical. It wasn't that the Stoics were apathetic, or that they never tried to change the world

• 1:29Ryan Holiday?

  or themselves. Clearly, they wouldn't have been engaged in politics if all they cared about was the status quo. Why would Seneca have written those letters if he didn't believe you could have an impact on people? It's just that the Stoics saw only danger in getting angry. They refused to be provoked. They tamed their temper so they could do the work they believed they needed to do. And that's what you must do also. You don't have to have an opinion. You don't have to turn things into bigger things. You can control your emotions. You can do what you need to do. Thanks for listening to today's Daily Stoic Podcast. I've got really great news. The ebook of The Obstacle is the Way is currently on sale for $1.99 on Amazon.

• 2:12Ryan Holiday?

  It's got great stories about wisdom, how we take the things that life throws at us, and we see them not as obstacles, but as opportunities, how we make what is in the way, the way. The book is $1.99 as an ebook in the US right now. Really excited. Every time we do this, a whole bunch of new people come in. So if you haven't read the book and you want to give it a try, it will never be cheaper than this. Or if there's someone you know that would benefit from it, maybe you could gift it to them. So check that out on Amazon, or you can follow us on social media and get a link to it. But the book in the US on Amazon, $1.99 as an ebook, I think also iBooks and the other book platforms. So check it out.