The Stoic Art of Living: Inner Resilience and Outer Results

by Tom Morris

Tom Morris's exuberant seminars and presentations to business leaders have taken the commanding heights of corporate America by storm and his books on philosophy for businesspeople have sold millions. Dr. Morris shows how the ideas of Stoic Philosophy - which emphasizes goals like gaining command of one's passions and achieving indifference to pain and distress - are completely up-to-date in their relevance to the practical issues people confront in the 21st century.
Divided into three sections Dr. Morris sympathetically relates the life and intellectual achievements of the three leading the slave Epictetus, the lawyer Seneca, and the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius. From the bottom of society, to the upwardly mobile middle, and all the way to the top, these thinkers saw life deeply.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Self Help, Psychology

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

There is more than one author by this name. This profile contains various Tom's.

Reviews

[Sergei Moska · Rating 3 out of 5]

Looking at the title, you may have trouble figuring out whether to classify this in "philosophy" or "self-help". It's self-help. That's not a knock against the book, but that's what it is.

The book's style is as follows. Many short chapters are divided into three sections, with each section corresponding to a Stoic thinker: Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius. Each chapter has a theme (e.g.: "Clarity for the Journey", "Obstacles and Anger", etc.), and in each Morris quotes the Stoic and then offers commentary on the quotation. There are enough quotations here so that even if you end up hating Morris' commentary, you'll at least get a compendium of inspiring Stoic maxims.

So far as I can see, there are three elements to "judge" here:

1-Morris' selection of quotations. Does Morris' selection provide a reasonable portrayal of Stoicism? I'm not classicist, so I'm not qualified to answer. Nothing stood out as clearly wrong, though

2-Morris' commentary on the quotations. With a few exceptions, I think that he did a nice job here. A few commentaries were truly superfluous, but I came to realize that many of the commentaries existed not to explicate the very clear quotation in question, but to serve as a glue to give the chapter some sort of logical narrative

3-Morris' disagreement with the Stoics. This doesn't come up often, but when it does, it seems quite weak. Frankly, I don't think that Morris could have succeeded here, given this project. I have no doubt that he could provide a persuasive critique of certain elements of Stoicism within the context of a properly philosophical work (or a work that's longer that 167 pages with a lot of blank space), but here his portrayal of Stoicism is just too superficial to provide the ground of a persuasive critique

It's a quick book, and I don't regret reading it. It's ideal for people interested in becoming a bit more familiar with Stoicism but who have too much going on to delve into the primary texts themselves.

[John Matthew IV · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good introduction to Roman stoics. Lots of quotes from Seneca, Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius.

There was a very poor decision made by the publisher to put the block quotes in very faint text. This makes the most important part very hard to read. It should be in BOLD text.

There is an index but no bibliography or suggested readings.
 
p. 5: The Stoic Philosophy of Seneca: Essays and Letters

p. 10: "The mind should be exercised both day and night because it is nourished by moderate labor. And this form of exercise need not be hampered by cold or hot weather, or even old age." (Seneca, EM, I.99)

p. 16: "Virtue depends partly on training and partly on practice. You must learn first, and then strengthen what you've learned by practice." (Seneca, EM, III.41)

p. 27: "Our lack of confidence doesn't come from difficulty; the difficulty comes from our lack of confidence." (Seneca, EM, III.205)

p. 30: "There are more things in this world, Lucilius, likely to frighten us than to crush us. We suffer more in imagination than in reality." (Seneca, EM, I.75)

p. 32: "Everyone approaches a danger with more courage if he has prepared in advance how to confront it. Anyone can endure difficulties better if he has previously practiced how to deal with them. People who are unprepared can be unhinged by even the smallest of things." (Seneca, EM, III.225)

p. 35: "Proper goal setting is crucial for a successful life."

p. 36: "Some people follow no plan consistently but are pushed into one new scheme after another by a fickleness that's rambling, unstable, and never satisfied. Other have no goals at all but are just overtaken by fate as they stand and stare." (Seneca, SPS, 48)

p. 36: "Look to your goal, in everything you do, and then you will get rid of superfluous things." (Seneca, EM, III.373)

p. 37: "Life is balance, and that often requires holding ourselves poised between opposites."

p. 45: "Sextius had this habit, at the end of the day when he had retired to his nightly rest, to ask his soul these questions: 'What bad habit have you cured today? What fault have you resisted? In what way are you better?" (Seneca, ML, I.341)

p. 54: "The most important contribution to peace of mind is never to do wrong. Those who lack self-control lead disturbed and tumultuous lives. Their crimes are matched by their fears, and they are never at peace." (Seneca, EM. III.216-217)

p. 59: "Consider individuals, survey human beings in general--there is no one whose life does not look forward to tomorrow. 'What harm is there in this?' you ask. Infinite harm, for such people never live, but are always just preparing to live." (Seneca, EM. I.299)

p. 61: "Above all, my dear Lucilius, make this your business: learn how to feel joy." (Seneca, EM. I.161)

p. 81: "If anyone is unhappy, remember than this unhappiness is his own fault. God has made all men to be happy, and to be free from worries." (Epictetus, III.XIV.2)

p. 84: "Some things are good, some are bad, and others are indifferent. The good things are the virtues and the things partake of virtues, the bad things are the vices and things that partake of them, and the indifferent things are all those items that lie between the virtues and the vices: wealth, health, life, death, pleasure, and pain." (Epictetus, II.19.13)

p. 87: "There is only one way to happiness, and so one rule to use from morning until night. That rule is: Don't be concerned about things that are outside the power of your will, and don't believe that anything external is really yours, but give up all that to God." (Epictetus, IV.4.39)

p. 91: "All the great Stoic philosophers viewed anger as one of the most self-defeating and even self-destructive of inner states to be in."

p. 101: "Instead of a herd of oxen, endeavor to assemble herds of friends in your house." (Epictetus, F.LXVII)

p. 106: "What we should not do, we should not even think of doing." (Epictetus, F.C)

p. 109: "First tell yourself what you want to be, then act consistently with that in everything you do. .... First, we must act as an authentic human being. (Epictetus, III, 23.1-4)

p. 113: The Last American Man

p. 114: "When you're kissing your child or your wife, tell yourself that this is a human being you are kissing, for then when the wife or child dies, you not be disturbed." (Epictetus, E, III)

p. 121: "[Marcus Aurelius] became the last great Stoic thinker and writer of antiquity."

p. 125: "Men are always looking for retreats in the country, at the beach, and in the mountains. You want it as much as anyone. But this is a common mistake. It's completely within your power, whenever you choose, to retreat into yourself." (Meditations, IV.3)

p. 131-2: "I have often found it strange that every man loves himself more than anyone else, and yet values his own opinion of himself less than the opinions others have about him. (Meditations, XII.4)

p. 139: "Think about the speed with which things come and go, pass by and disappear--both the things that are around now and those that are yet to be free.... Any problem that arises lasts only for a time, and really for a very short time." (Meditations, V.23)

p. 153: "If it's not right, don't do it; if it's not true, don't say it." (Meditations, XII.17)

p. 153: "In the writings of the Ephesians, there was this suggestion: Keep in your mind at all times the image of some virtuous person from the past." (Meditations, XI.26)

p. 156: "Always keep this in mind: that very little is necessary for living a happy life." (Meditations, VII.67)

p. 156: "If you will concentrate on living what is really your life--the present moment--then you will be able to live the rest of your life free from anxiety, nobly, and at peace with your own spirit--with the god that is within you." (Meditations, XII.3)

[Dan Wiener · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life changing and perspective altering. I used to be an avid reader and this was an excellent choice to get back into it. This might be the best book I have ever read. The only thing that is good in and of itself lies in the will, your willpower. Anything that happens that is outside the realm of your own will is out of your control and is thus neither necessarily good, or bad. Regardless, feels good to finish an entire book.

[Luigino Bottega · Rating 5 out of 5]

The life we live is a journey through space and time during which we acquire experiences and interpret our existence, getting closer to the truth.
As in any journey, there is a beginning. In the journey of life, the path and destination are yet to be discovered. It’s a “treasure hunt” that gives value–awareness–to the journey itself.
Inspiring book!

[Adam · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had thought that this was going to be a book about philosophy and, specifically, the Stoics. Instead, it was a self-help book with cherry-picked quotes from three Stoic philosophers used to back up otherwise unsupported opinions. And it read like an essay I might have written in high school - sort of like a very slightly more mature version of Who Moved My Cheese?

And I guess I could have been OK with that had it been done well or with some modicum of insight. Instead, the advice came across like South Park's Underpants Gnomes. The advice for how to control your anger went something like this:
1) Realize that it's better not to be angry
2) ???
3) Stop being angry

Not the least bit helpful. If I didn't recognize step one already, I wouldn't be reading a book about how to take control of my anger. If I was capable of step 3, I wouldn't need to read a book about how to take control of my anger. Nothing was said about how to actually get from step 1 to step 3. So what did this book do for me? Nothing.

[Colin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A self-help type instruction manual in Stoic philosophy, my only complaint is that it is too "dumbed-down" for my taste. Heck, Morris doesn't even cite his sources in the original languages! But I found it to be a user-friendly introduction to the philosophy.

[Carlos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book.. lots of perspective

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I last read this book on 12/2/13. Still good.