Author: Paul Stroessner

“What’s left to be prized? This, I think–to limit our action or inaction to only what’s in keeping with the needs of our own preparation…it’s what the exertions of education and teaching are all about–here is the thing to be prized! If you hold this firmly, you’ll stop trying to get yourself all the...

“From Rusticus…I learned to read carefully and not be satisfied with a rough understanding of the whole, and not to agree too quickly with those who have a lot to say about something.” ~ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 1.7.3 Inspired by The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living This...

“Let’s pass over to the really rich–how often the occasions they look just like the poor! When they travel abroad they must restrict their baggage, and when haste is necessary, they dismiss their entourage. And those who are in the army, how few of their possessions they get to keep…” ~ Seneca, On Consolation...

“I will keep constant watch over myself and–most usefully–will put each day up for review. For this is what makes us evil–that none of us looks back upon our own lives. We reflect upon only that which we are about to do. And yet our plans for the future descend from the past.” ~...

“Your principles can’t be extinguished unless you snuff out the thoughts that feed them, for it’s continually in your power to reignite new ones…It’s possible to start living again! See things anew as you once did–that is how to restart life!” ~ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 7.2 Inspired by The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on...

“A podium and a prison is each a place, one high and the other low, but in either place your freedom of choice can be maintained if you so wish.” ~ Epictetus, Discourses, 2.6.25 Inspired by The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living It doesn’t matter if we...

“Pass through this brief patch of time in harmony with nature, and come to your final resting place gracefully, just as a ripened olive might drop, praising the earth that nourished it and grateful to the tree that gave it growth.” ~ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 4.48.2 Inspired by The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on...

“I am your teacher and you are learning in my school. My aim is to bring you to completion, unhindered, free from compulsive behavior, unrestrained, without shame, free, flourishing, and happy, looking to God in things great and small–your aim is to learn and diligently practice all these things. Why then don’t you complete...

“So in the majority of other things, we address circumstances not in accordance with the right assumptions, but mostly by following wretched habit. Since all that I’ve said is the case, the person in training must seek to rise above, so as to stop seeking out pleasure and steering away from pain; to stop...