The Stoic Challenge: A Philosopher's Guide to Becoming Tougher, Calmer, and More Resilient QUOTES

1 " If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment. "

― William B. Irvine , The Stoic Challenge: A Philosopher's Guide to Becoming Tougher, Calmer, and More Resilient

2 " One sign of maturity is a realization of the extent to which you, either intentionally or unintentionally, make life difficult for those around you. Consequently, you should keep in mind the words of Seneca: “we are bad men living among bad men; and only one thing can calm us—we must agree to go easy on one another.”1 "

― William B. Irvine , The Stoic Challenge: A Philosopher's Guide to Becoming Tougher, Calmer, and More Resilient

3 " A growing number of people have realized that they lack what the ancient philosophers would have called a philosophy of life. Such a philosophy tells you what in life is worth having and provides you with a strategy for obtaining it. If you try to live without a philosophy of life, you will find yourself extemporizing your way through your days. As a result, your daily efforts are likely to be haphazard, and your life is likely to be misspent. What a waste! "

― William B. Irvine , The Stoic Challenge: A Philosopher's Guide to Becoming Tougher, Calmer, and More Resilient

4 " When the number of options available is limited, it is foolish to fuss and fret. We should instead simply choose the best of them and get on with life. To behave otherwise is to waste precious time and energy. "

― William B. Irvine , The Stoic Challenge: A Philosopher's Guide to Becoming Tougher, Calmer, and More Resilient

5 " anger, as I’ve said, is incompatible with joy. "

― William B. Irvine , The Stoic Challenge: A Philosopher's Guide to Becoming Tougher, Calmer, and More Resilient

6 " One sign of maturity is a realization of the extent to which you, either intentionally or unintentionally, make life difficult for those around you. Consequently, you should keep in mind the words of Seneca: “we are bad men living among bad men; and only one thing can calm us—we must agree to go easy on one another. "

― William B. Irvine , The Stoic Challenge: A Philosopher's Guide to Becoming Tougher, Calmer, and More Resilient

7 " Epictetus tells us that “it is difficulties that reveal what men amount to; and so, whenever you’re struck by a difficulty, remember that God, like a trainer in the gymnasium, has matched you against a tough young opponent.” And why would God do such a thing? "

― William B. Irvine , The Stoic Challenge: A Philosopher's Guide to Becoming Tougher, Calmer, and More Resilient

8 " Epictetus tells us that “it is difficulties that reveal what men amount to; and so, whenever you’re struck by a difficulty, remember that God, like a trainer in the gymnasium, has matched you against a tough young opponent.” And why would God do such a thing? “So that you may become an Olympic victor; and that is something that can’t be achieved without sweat. "

― William B. Irvine , The Stoic Challenge: A Philosopher's Guide to Becoming Tougher, Calmer, and More Resilient

9 " Do what you can, with what you’ve got, where you are. "

― William B. Irvine , The Stoic Challenge: A Philosopher's Guide to Becoming Tougher, Calmer, and More Resilient

10 " Seneca was given the choice of either killing himself or being killed by someone else. He chose the former option. Friends and family were allowed to be present during his final moments. When some of them wept, he responded by chastising them for abandoning their Stoicism, just when it would have been quite useful. He embraced his wife and cut the veins in his arms—but didn’t die. Because of old age and infirmity, he was a slow bleeder. He then cut the arteries in his legs, but he still didn’t die. He requested poison and drank it, but again, without the desired effect. Finally he was carried into a steam bath, where he parted from life. All this time, he remained true to his Stoic principles. "

― William B. Irvine , The Stoic Challenge: A Philosopher's Guide to Becoming Tougher, Calmer, and More Resilient

11 " Stoic test strategy: when faced with a setback, we should treat it as a test of our resilience and resourcefulness, devised and administered, as I have said, by imaginary Stoic gods. "

― William B. Irvine , The Stoic Challenge: A Philosopher's Guide to Becoming Tougher, Calmer, and More Resilient

12 " We might pity those who are broken or incapacitated by life’s setbacks. Theirs cannot be a happy existence. We might also sympathize with those who respond to setbacks with frustration and anger. It is such a common response that we might have concluded that it is, for us humans, the default response. Look around us, though, and we can find individuals who quickly bounce back from a setback—or better still, who don’t need to bounce, since they don’t get upset to begin with. Such individuals come off looking strong and even heroic. "

― William B. Irvine , The Stoic Challenge: A Philosopher's Guide to Becoming Tougher, Calmer, and More Resilient

13 " what upsets people is not things themselves but their judgments about the things.”3 Seneca shared this view—“It is not how the wrong is done that matters, but how it is taken "

― William B. Irvine , The Stoic Challenge: A Philosopher's Guide to Becoming Tougher, Calmer, and More Resilient

14 " her predicament. In his autobiography, Theodore Roosevelt offered this bit of Stoic-inspired advice: “Do what you can, with what you’ve got, where you are. "

― William B. Irvine , The Stoic Challenge: A Philosopher's Guide to Becoming Tougher, Calmer, and More Resilient

15 " her predicament. In his autobiography, Theodore Roosevelt offered this bit of Stoic-inspired advice: “Do what you can, with what you’ve got, where you are.”11 This is precisely what the locked-in individuals I have described did. They were thereby able to transform what might otherwise have been characterized as tragic lives into lives that were both courageous and admirable. AS ONE LAST EXAMPLE OF RESILIENCE in the face of a setback, consider the case of the Stoic philosopher Paconius Agrippinus, who in around 67 CE was openly critical of Emperor Nero. A messenger came to inform him that he was being tried in the Senate. His response: “I hope it goes well, but it is time for me to exercise and bathe, so that is what I will do.” Subsequently, another messenger appeared with the news that he had been found guilty of treasonous behavior and condemned. “To banishment or to death?” he asked. “To banishment,” the messenger replied. Agrippinus responded with a question: “Was my estate at Aricia taken?” “No,” said the messenger. “In that case,” said Agrippinus, “I will go to Aricia and dine.”12 In behaving in this manner, Agrippinus was simply applying advice that, although perfectly sensible, is easy to forget. When the number of options available is limited, it is foolish to fuss and fret. We should instead simply choose the best of them and get on with life. To behave otherwise is to waste precious time and energy "

― William B. Irvine , The Stoic Challenge: A Philosopher's Guide to Becoming Tougher, Calmer, and More Resilient

16 " Whereas most people valued fame and fortune,6 a Stoic’s primary goal in life was to attain and then maintain tranquility—to avoid, that is, experiencing negative emotions while continuing to enjoy positive emotions. "

― William B. Irvine , The Stoic Challenge: A Philosopher's Guide to Becoming Tougher, Calmer, and More Resilient

17 " Many, on hearing Ebert’s story, would use the word unlucky to describe him, but a much more fitting word would be unvanquished. During the last decade of his life, he experienced enough setbacks for several lifetimes and yet was not embittered by his fate. It was a triumph of the human spirit. "

― William B. Irvine , The Stoic Challenge: A Philosopher's Guide to Becoming Tougher, Calmer, and More Resilient

18 " Theodore Roosevelt offered this bit of Stoic-inspired advice: “Do what you can, with what you’ve got, where you are. "

― William B. Irvine , The Stoic Challenge: A Philosopher's Guide to Becoming Tougher, Calmer, and More Resilient

19 " It is not how the wrong is done that matters, but how it is taken”4—as did Marcus Aurelius: “If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment. "

― William B. Irvine , The Stoic Challenge: A Philosopher's Guide to Becoming Tougher, Calmer, and More Resilient

20 " Although all things in excess bring harm, the greatest danger comes from excessive good fortune: it stirs the brain, invites the mind to entertain idle fancies, and shrouds in thick fog the distinction between falsehood and truth. "

― William B. Irvine , The Stoic Challenge: A Philosopher's Guide to Becoming Tougher, Calmer, and More Resilient