A Handbook for New Stoics Quotes

“Both modern psychology and philosophy provide some backing for this ancient insight. Yale University psychologist Paul Bloom2 and City University of New York philosopher Jesse Prinz3 have made compelling cases that empathy is ethically problematic because, as with all highly emotional responses, it is easy for others to manipulate. Empathy also tends to be disproportionate to the situation (we feel more empathy for people we know or see directly), and does not scale up (it is impossible to feel empathy for anonymous thousands or even millions of people, regardless of how deserving they are).”
― Massimo Pigliucci, A Handbook for New Stoics: How to Thrive in a World Out of Your Control - 52 Week-by-Week Lessons

“Once you’re angry, reason has gone out to lunch, and you are liable to do things that you will regret—”
― Gregory Lopez, A Handbook for New Stoics: How to Thrive in a World Out of Your Control - 52 Week-by-Week Lessons

“every ship pilot is good when the waters are calm, but it is the storm that both tests and improves his skills.1 And what is the fun in always navigating flat waters?”
― Gregory Lopez, A Handbook for New Stoics: How to Thrive in a World Out of Your Control - 52 Week-by-Week Lessons

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, And wisdom to know the difference.”
― Gregory Lopez, A Handbook for New Stoics: How to Thrive in a World Out of Your Control - 52 Week-by-Week Lessons

“From thought (the judgment) and impulse (the desire to act) comes the “will to get and to avoid.”
― Gregory Lopez, A Handbook for New Stoics: How to Thrive in a World Out of Your Control - 52 Week-by-Week Lessons

“Stoicism inspired a family of schools of effective psychotherapy called cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), starting with Albert Ellis’s rational emotive behavior therapy in the 1950s.”
― Gregory Lopez, A Handbook for New Stoics: How to Thrive in a World Out of Your Control - 52 Week-by-Week Lessons

“Of all existing things some are in our power, and others are not in our power. In our power are thought, impulse, will to get and will to avoid, and, in a word, everything which is our own doing. Things not in our power include the body, property, reputation, office, and, in a word, everything which is not our own doing.” Epictetus, Enchiridion, 1”
― Massimo Pigliucci, A Handbook for New Stoics: How to Thrive in a World Out of Your Control - 52 Week-by-Week Lessons

“Actuar con moderación, ver las cosas no solo desde nuestra perspectiva, descubrir aquello que está fuera de nuestro control, desarrollar la empatía, asumir la autocrítica, analizar las causas de nuestra ira e impaciencia… Esto es lo que este extraordinario manual nos permite aprender al aplicar la filosofía estoica en nuestro día a día.”
― Massimo Pigliucci, Mi cuaderno estoico: Cómo prosperar en un mundo fuera de tu control

“Si tienes una fuerte aversión al fracaso, es posible que te sientas desgraciado si no consigues el ascenso, como al tratar de evitar la pobreza o la enfermedad. Pero, si tu deseo va encaminado correctamente a hacer el mejor trabajo posible, no puedes”
― Massimo Pigliucci, Mi cuaderno estoico: Cómo prosperar en un mundo fuera de tu control

“«De lo existente, unas cosas dependen de nosotros; otras no dependen de nosotros. De nosotros dependen el juicio, el impulso, el deseo, el rechazo y, en una palabra, cuanto es asunto nuestro. Y no dependen de nosotros el cuerpo, la hacienda, la reputación, los cargos y, en una palabra, cuanto no es asunto nuestro.» Epicteto, Manual de vida,”
― Massimo Pigliucci, Mi cuaderno estoico: Cómo prosperar en un mundo fuera de tu control

“«Nada emancipa tanto la mente» como adoptar un punto de vista racional; y nada te sitúa en una posición mejor y más objetiva para hacer frente a los problemas.”
― Massimo Pigliucci, Mi cuaderno estoico: Cómo prosperar en un mundo fuera de tu control

“Existen dos cosas que es menester cortar: el temor a lo futuro y la memoria de las molestias pasadas: éstas ya no me atañen, aquél aún no.»”
― Massimo Pigliucci, Mi cuaderno estoico: Cómo prosperar en un mundo fuera de tu control

“¿De qué sirve volver a los sufrimientos pasados y ser infeliz porque tiempo atrás lo fuimos?”
― Massimo Pigliucci, Mi cuaderno estoico: Cómo prosperar en un mundo fuera de tu control

“But if your desire is directed properly, toward doing the best job you are capable of doing, then you cannot possibly fail. In fact, if you do the best job you can at every moment, you’ve already succeeded!”
― Massimo Pigliucci, A Handbook for New Stoics: How to Thrive in a World Out of Your Control - 52 Week-by-Week Lessons

“Epictetus suggests that those who fall into circumstances they wish to avoid are those who suffer misfortune, by which he means that much suffering comes from a disconnect between what you want to happen and what actually happens. Or, as the Stoics would say, what is in accordance to nature as opposed to contrary to nature.”
― Massimo Pigliucci, A Handbook for New Stoics: How to Thrive in a World Out of Your Control - 52 Week-by-Week Lessons

“Remember that following desire promises the attainment of that of which you are desirous; and aversion promises the avoiding that to which you are averse. However, he who fails to obtain the object of his desire is disappointed, and he who incurs the object of his aversion wretched. If, then, you confine your aversion to those objects only which are contrary to the natural use of your faculties, which you have in your own control, you will never incur anything to which you are averse. But if you are averse to sickness, or death, or poverty, you will be wretched. Remove aversion, then, from all things that are not in our control, and transfer it to things contrary to the nature of what is in our control.” Epictetus, Enchiridion, 2.1–2”
― Massimo Pigliucci, A Handbook for New Stoics: How to Thrive in a World Out of Your Control - 52 Week-by-Week Lessons

“Epictetus claims that all three of these things (thoughts, impulses, and the will to avoid and to get) are ultimately under our control.”
― Massimo Pigliucci, A Handbook for New Stoics: How to Thrive in a World Out of Your Control - 52 Week-by-Week Lessons

“Of all existing things some are in our power, and others are not in our power. In our power are thought, impulse, will to get and will to avoid, and, in a word, everything which is our own doing. Things not in our power include the body, property, reputation, office, and, in a word, everything which is not our own doing.” Epictetus, Enchiridion,”
― Massimo Pigliucci, A Handbook for New Stoics: How to Thrive in a World Out of Your Control - 52 Week-by-Week Lessons

“las dificultades representan oportunidades para convertirte en una persona mejor y, con la práctica, es posible emocionarse con esas oportunidades. La virtud es un regalo que perdura:”
― Massimo Pigliucci, Mi cuaderno estoico: Cómo prosperar en un mundo fuera de tu control

“«no importa lo que soportas, sino cómo lo soportas».”
― Massimo Pigliucci, Mi cuaderno estoico: Cómo prosperar en un mundo fuera de tu control

“There are three things in which a man ought to exercise himself who would be wise and good. The first concerns the desires and the aversions, that a man may not fail to get what he desires, and that he may not fall into that which he does not desire. The second concerns the movements (toward an object) and the movements from an object, and generally in doing what a man ought to do, that he may act according to order, to reason, and not carelessly. The third thing concerns freedom from deception and rashness in judgment, and generally it concerns the assents. Of these topics the chief and the most urgent is that which relates to the affects [i.e., the Discipline of Desire]; for an affect is produced in no other way than by a failing to obtain that which a man desires or falling into that which a man would wish to avoid. This is that which brings in perturbations, disorders, bad fortune, misfortunes, sorrows, lamentations, and envy; that which makes men envious and jealous; and by these causes we are unable even to listen to the precepts of reason.” Epictetus, Discourses III, 2.1–3”
― Massimo Pigliucci, A Handbook for New Stoics: How to Thrive in a World Out of Your Control - 52 Week-by-Week Lessons

“To decide how best to live (ethics), one has to understand how the world works (physics) and reason appropriately about it (logic). Which brings us to the idea of living according to nature. The most important aspects of human nature, the Stoics thought, are twofold: that we are social animals (and are then deeply interdependent with other people) and that we are capable of reasoning-based problem solving. So to live according to nature means using reason to improve social living. Or as Seneca put it, “Bring the mind to bear upon your problems.”
― Massimo Pigliucci, A Handbook for New Stoics: How to Thrive in a World Out of Your Control - 52 Week-by-Week Lessons

“What should we do then? Make the best use of what is in our power, and treat the rest in accordance with its nature.” Epictetus, Discourses I, 1.17”
― Massimo Pigliucci, A Handbook for New Stoics: How to Thrive in a World Out of Your Control - 52 Week-by-Week Lessons

“Para decidir cuál es la mejor forma de vivir (ética), hay que entender cómo funciona el mundo (física) y razonar adecuadamente sobre ello (lógica).”
― Massimo Pigliucci, A Handbook for New Stoics: How to Thrive in a World Out of Your Control―52 Week-by-Week Lessons

“Shaping your character is ultimately the only thing under your control.”
― Massimo Pigliucci, A Handbook for New Stoics: How to Thrive in a World Out of Your Control - 52 Week-by-Week Lessons