Tradition
Stoic
A school of Greek and Roman philosophy taught from the third century BCE onward, concerned with judgement, action and the distinction between what a person controls and what they do not. Its surviving handbooks were written as practical training rather than theory.
12 passages
Passages
PhilosophyA philosophical argument
Enchiridion IThere are things which are within our power, and there are things which are beyond our power. Within our power are opinion, aim, desire, aversion, and, in one word, whatever affair…PracticeAn instruction for practice
Enchiridion IVWhen you set about any action, remind yourself of what nature the action is. If you are going to bathe, represent to yourself the incidents usual in the bath—some persons pouring o…PhilosophyA philosophical argument
Enchiridion VMen are disturbed not by things, but by the views which they take of things. Thus death is nothing terrible, else it would have appeared so to Socrates. But the terror consists in…PhilosophyA philosophical argument
Enchiridion VIIIDemand not that events should happen as you wish; but wish them to happen as they do happen, and you will go on well.…PhilosophyA philosophical argument
Enchiridion XINever say of anything, "I have lost it," but, "I have restored it." Has your child died? It is restored. Has your wife died? She is restored. Has your estate been taken away? That…PhilosophyA philosophical argument
Enchiridion XVIWhen you see anyone weeping for grief, either that his son has gone abroad or that he has suffered in his affairs, take care not to be overcome by the apparent evil, but discrimina…PracticeAn instruction for practice
Enchiridion XXILet death and exile, and all other things which appear terrible, be daily before your eyes, but death chiefly; and you will never entertain an abject thought, nor too eagerly covet…PhilosophyA philosophical argument
Enchiridion XLIIWhen any person does ill by you, or speaks ill of you, remember that he acts or speaks from an impression that it is right for him to do so. Now it is not possible that he should f…PhilosophyA philosophical argument
Meditations II.1Begin the morning by saying to thyself, I shall meet with the busybody, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial. All these things happen to them by reason of their i…PhilosophyA philosophical argument
Meditations IV.3This then remains: Remember to retire into this little territory of thy own, and above all do not distract or strain thyself, but be free, and look at things as a man, as a human b…PhilosophyA philosophical argument
On the Shortness of Life, 1–2The greater part of mankind, my Paulinus, complains of the unkindness of Nature, because we are born only for a short space of time, and that this allotted period of life runs away…PhilosophyA philosophical argument
On Peace of Mind, 17It also proves a fertile source of troubles if you take pains to conceal your feelings and never show yourself to anyone undisguised, but, as many men do, live an artificial life,…