How to Be a Stoic: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Living

by Massimo Pigliucci

your confidence lies in knowing that you did whatever was in your power to do, because that, and only that, is under your control.

Epictetus tells us that regret is a waste of our emotional energy. We cannot change the past—it is outside of our control. We can, and should, learn from it, but the only situations we can do something about are those happening here and now.

Better to endure pain in an honorable manner than to seek joy in a shameful one.

a reasonable person makes truth her own, regardless of whether it comes from friends or foes.

As far as the rest of us are concerned, remembering that people do bad things out of lack of wisdom is not only a reminder to be compassionate toward others, it also constantly tells us just how important it is to develop wisdom.

The other thing to remember about role models—and the Stoics understood this very well—is that they are not perfect human beings, for the simple reason that there is no such thing. Moreover, making perfection an integral part of our concept of role model means that we are setting a standard that is impossibly high.

After you have reclaimed your agency, Larry points out, you are in the same position as everyone else: you have to become good at being an agent.

it is more helpful to think of people who do bad things as mistaken and therefore to be pitied and helped if possible, not condemned as evil.

“Logic defeats anger, because anger, even when it’s justified, can quickly become irrational. So use cold hard logic on yourself.”

a man is not forlorn simply because he is alone, any more than a man in a crowd is unforlorn.

Stoicism taught me that regret is about things we can no longer change and the right attitude is to learn from our experiences, not dwell on decisions that we are not in a position to alter.

every challenge in life is a perfectly good chance to work on self-improvement.

The Olympic games of life have already started, and even if you did not join before, the time to join is now, not tomorrow.

To indulge in gossip and judge people who are not present to defend themselves simply does not seem to be the virtuous thing to do, and the Stoic idea is that we debase ourselves whenever we engage in such activity.