Lessons from a Stoic.
-Will Durant's, Caesar & Christ
"But how does one acquire wisdom? By practicing it daily, in however modest a degree; by examining your conduct of each day at its close;"
Critical self-examination & surrounding yourself w/ virtuous friends/mentors
"by being harsh to your own faults and lenient to those of others; by associating with those who excel you in wisdom and virtue; by taking some acknowledged sage as your invisible counselor and judge."
Read the original works of philosophy
"You will be helped by reading the philosophers; not outline stories of philosophy, but the original works; “give over hoping that you can skim, by means of epitomes, the wisdom of distinguished men.”...
..."“Every one of these men will send you away happier and more devoted, no one of them will allow you to depart empty-handed. . . . What happiness, and what a noble old age, await him who has given himself into their patronage!”"
As @RyanHoliday often emphasizes, the reader is transformed from one reading to the next.
"Read good books many times, rather than many books; travel slowly, and not too much; “the spirit cannot mature into unity unless it has checked its curiosity and its wanderings.”...
...“The primary sign of a well-ordered mind is a man’s ability to remain in one place and linger in his own company.”
Avoid crowds
"“Men are more wicked together than separately. If you are forced to be in a crowd, then most of all you should withdraw into yourself.”"
The final lesson of the Stoic centers around one's relationship with death.
"Life is not always so joyful as to merit continuance; after life’s fitful fever it is well to sleep. “What is baser than to fret at the threshold of peace?”
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