Write And Think Clearly

In his short new edition of How To Be Free, A. A Long observes the relative ease he had translating Epictetus from ancient Greek into English. This is because, he says, Epictetus’s “conversational manner and short sentences suit our modern idiom.” According to Long, Epictetus avoids complex sentence structure and needless verbosity. Better still, he tended to use simple, direct metaphors and diction for which there are accessible everyday equivalents. This is high praise to both Epictetus and his dutiful scribe/student Arrian. If we were to flash forward two thousand years, it’s unlikely that many of today’s working philosophers would pass this test. They’re inscrutable and unreadable today—imagine how they’d read across the vast gulf of time. Marcus Aurelius and Seneca and Epictetus, on the other hand, knew that clear writing was a reflection of clear thinking. Marcus was writing in Greek, to himself, and still managed to produce beautiful, inspiring words that endure to this day. Seneca was such a brilliant epigramist that his one-liners and epigrams were taught to Latin students for centuries. Epictetus was usually speaking extemporaneously to students, yet his words roll off the page. Each of them has had enormous impact and changed millions of lives (in addition to their own) as a result. Richard Feynman’s line was that if you can’t explain something simply, you don’t understand it. That’s a good rule. It’s worth thinking about today for our own writing, thinking, and speaking. Don’t let yourself get away with sloppy, half-baked thinking. Avoid exaggeration and insist on clarity in your conversations. Don’t make lazy assumptions. Annunciate. Care about your word choice—but don’t be pretentious. Be direct. Be simple. Take your time. Don’t rush if you don’t have to. Insist on getting things right. Learn how to tell a good story. Hold even your journaling to this higher standard. Because it matters. To yourself. And to the world. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

• 0:06Speaker 00

  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. Write and think clearly. In his short new edition of How to be Free, A. A. Long observes the relative ease he had translating Epictetus from the ancient into English. This is because, he says, "Epictetus's conversational manner and short sentences suit our modern idiom."

• 0:50Speaker 00

  According to Long, Epictetus avoids complex sentence structure and needless verbocity. Better still, he tended to use simple, direct metaphors and diction for which there are accessible everyday equivalents. This is high praise to both Epictetus and his dutiful scribe and student Arrian. If we were to flash forward 2,000 years, it's unlikely that many of today's working philosophers would pass this test. They're inscrutable and unreadable today. Imagine how they'd read across the vast gulf of time. Marcus Aurelius and Seneca and Epictetus, on the other hand, knew that clear writing was a reflection of clear thinking.

• 1:33Speaker 00

  Marcus was writing in Greek to himself and still managed to produce beautiful, inspiring words that endure to this day. Seneca was such a brilliant epigramist that his one-liners and epigrams were taught to Latin students for centuries. Epictetus was usually speaking extemporaneously to students, yet his words roll off the page. Each of them has had an enormous impact and changed millions of lives, in addition to their own lives as a result. Richard Feynman's line was that if you can't explain something simply, you don't understand it. That's a good rule. It's worth thinking about today for our own writing, thinking, and speaking. Don't let yourself get away with sloppy, half-baked assumptions.

• 2:17Speaker 00

  Avoid exaggeration and insist on clarity in your conversations. Don't be lazy. Enunciate. Care about your word choice, but don't be pretentious. Be direct, be simple, take your time. Don't rush if you don't have to. Insist on getting things right. Learn how to tell a good story. Hold even your journaling to this higher standard because it matters to yourself and to the world. Don't forget to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or your favorite podcast app. And if you don't get the Daily Stoic email, go to dailystoic.com/email.