The Harshest Life Lessons You'll Ever Learn
Ryan Holiday walks through harsh Stoic truths from the 10th anniversary edition of The Daily Stoic, from saying no and tuning out the news to accepting fate and remembering that everyone dies.
The gist
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Citing Seneca, Holiday says that if you never say no to invitations, requests and draining emotions, you end up paying with your life.
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Instead of endless real-time news, Holiday suggests reading history and biography, such as Plutarch, Marcus Aurelius, Robert Caro or Edward Gibbon.
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Drawing on a passage in Meditations, Holiday argues that circumstances don't care about you, so your only real choice is how you respond.
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Holiday cites Seneca to say no one can harm or provoke you without your consent, and most of what we dread never happens.
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Holiday closes with mortality, noting Marcus Aurelius's point that Alexander the Great and his mule driver met the same end.
Ryan Holiday recommends it
"Read great biography, whether it's Robert Caro and Doris Kearns Goodwin or Edward Gibbon. This is what informed people do."
▶ Play at 3:25
Ryan Holiday recommends it
"One of my favorite passages in Meditations is Marcus Aurelius actually quoting someone else. It is a fragment from a lost play by Euripides."
▶ Play at 6:366 creators recommend it, including Ivanka Trump, Jett Franzen, and Joe Rogan.
See all on the Meditations pageWhat they recommend · 2 picks
"Read great biography, whether it's Robert Caro and Doris Kearns Goodwin or Edward Gibbon. This is what informed people do."
"One of my favorite passages in Meditations is Marcus Aurelius actually quoting someone else. It is a fragment from a lost play by Euripides."
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