Stoic Wisdom Quotes

“Living virtuously is how we live well with others. Seneca’s claim is that social fellowship is finely textured, a matter of noticing a furrowed brow, an air of arrogance, a groan, hesitation, or on the positive side, the warmth of a smile or a shared laugh.”
― Nancy Sherman, Stoic Wisdom: Ancient Lessons for Modern Resilience

“Anger is “a movement generated by decision” that “can be eliminated by decision.” What these Stoic-inspired teachers are trying to teach is control at that pivotal first moment of decision—the “assent to an evaluative impression.” It’s that assent to an impression of having been cheated in the case of these young kids, that gets the impulse of anger going.”
― Nancy Sherman, Stoic Wisdom: Ancient Lessons for Modern Resilience

“Philosophy is practice for dying and death,” Socrates famously says in Plato’s Phaedo. Seneca casts the philosophical training this way: “Wouldn’t you say a person was quite stupid if he thought that a lamp was worse off after it was extinguished than before it was lighted. We too are extinguished; we too are lighted. Betweentimes is something that we feel; on either side is complete lack of concern.”
― Nancy Sherman, Stoic Wisdom: Ancient Lessons for Modern Resilience

“The person who fears death, will never do anything worthy of one who is alive,” as Seneca says.”
― Nancy Sherman, Stoic Wisdom: Ancient Lessons for Modern Resilience

“Epictetus opens the Encheiridion with that dichotomy of control: “Some things are up to us and some are not up to us . . . If is one of those things that is not up to us, be ready to say, ‘You are nothing in relation to me.”
― Nancy Sherman, Stoic Wisdom: Ancient Lessons for Modern Resilience

“The sense of being at home in the world through social connection with others is a deep and pervasive Stoic theme. Stoicism, whether ancient or modern, sees social supports and not just inner strength as critical to how we surmount rather than succumb to adversity.”
― Nancy Sherman, Stoic Wisdom: Ancient Lessons for Modern Resilience

“If you want anything good, get it from yourself,” Epictetus”
― Nancy Sherman, Stoic Wisdom: Ancient Lessons for Modern Resilience

“So, despite the popular view of Stoicism as a philosophy that would strip us of most emotions, the ancient Stoics argue that the very best of us show rational exuberance and desire, and a cautious wariness, lest we be too easily led astray or deceived. We cherish friends and nurture warm and welcoming attitudes toward them. This is what it is to be righteous. Put bluntly, even sages have emotional skin in the game.”
― Nancy Sherman, Stoic Wisdom: Ancient Lessons for Modern Resilience

“Another way the Stoics counsel us to adapt to the uncertainty of outcomes is through an analogy with archery. In shooting an arrow, the “objective” is to hit the target, but the “goal” or “end” “is to do all in one’s power to shoot straight,” “to do all one can to accomplish the task.”
― Nancy Sherman, Stoic Wisdom: Ancient Lessons for Modern Resilience

“Epictetus’s core claim: We are all hostages of fortune in some way or other.”
― Nancy Sherman, Stoic Wisdom: Ancient Lessons for Modern Resilience

“Epictetus famously opens the Encheiridion this way: “Some things in the world are up to us, while others are not. Up to us are our faculties of judgment, motivation, desire, and aversion—in short, everything that is our own doing. Not up to us are our body and property, our reputations, and our official positions—in short, everything that is not our own doing.”
― Nancy Sherman, Stoic Wisdom: Ancient Lessons for Modern Resilience

“Epictetus tells us, “It is not easy to gain the attention of young men who are soft, for you cannot get hold of soft cheese with a hook; but the naturally gifted, even if you turn them away, hold all the more firmly to reason.”
― Nancy Sherman, Stoic Wisdom: Ancient Lessons for Modern Resilience

“The Stoics are exhorters. And at their best, they exhort us to rise to our potential through reason, cooperation, and selflessness.”
― Nancy Sherman, Stoic Wisdom: Ancient Lessons for Modern Resilience

“A lesser known Stoic writer, Hierocles, visualizes a series of extended, concentric circles with the self at the center. “To be at home” in the world requires striving to bring the outermost circles toward the center.”
― Nancy Sherman, Stoic Wisdom: Ancient Lessons for Modern Resilience

“Some things are up to us and some are not up to us.” —Epictetus “I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.” —Angela Davis “If you want to be a true professional, do something outside yourself.” “Who will take responsibility for raising the next generation?” —Ruth Bader Ginsburg”
― Nancy Sherman, Stoic Wisdom: Ancient Lessons for Modern Resilience