Discipline Is Destiny: The Power of Self-Control (The Stoic Virtues Series)

by Ryan Holiday

This, too, is what temperance is about. When we say that self-discipline saves us, part of what it saves us from is ourselves. Sometimes that’s from our laziness or our weakness. Just as often, it’s from our ambitions, from our excesses, from our impulse to be too hard on others and ourselves.

Aristotle, who wrote so much on the topic, reminded us that the point of virtue wasn’t power or fame or money or success. It was human flourishing.

Life is for the living.

If books came naturally, without effort? Everyone would write them. And for [books], you can plug in whatever it is that you do. It’s good that it’s hard. It’s good that it can be discouraging. It’s good that it breaks your heart, kicks your ass, messes with your head. But it can also be done with balance, with sustainability, and, most of all, with temperance.

That’s what separates the disciplined from the undisciplined, the weak from the strong, the amateurs from the pros. Nobody ever said destiny was going to be ...