“So tell me, do you consider yourself a Stoic?” “I’m just reading about it,” said Conrad, “but I wish there was somebody around today, somebody you could go to, the way students went to Epictetus. Today people think of Stoics—like, you know, like they’re people who grit their teeth and tolerate pain and suffering. But that’s not it at all. What they are is, they’re serene and confident in the face of anything you can throw at them. If you say to a Stoic, ‘Look, you do what I tell you or I’ll kill you,’ he’ll look you in the eye and say, ‘You do what you have to do, and I’ll do what I have to
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