# Lives of the Stoics  ## Metadata - Author: [[Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman]] - Full Title: Lives of the Stoics - Category: #books ## Highlights - Cicero once said that to philosophize is to learn how to die. So the Stoics instruct us wisely not only in how to live, but in how to face the scariest part of life: the end. They teach us, by example, the art of going out well. ([Location 99](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B083HL8RLK&location=99)) - Sensing that his new pupil was too worried about his social status, Crates assigned him the task of carrying a heavy pot of lentil soup across town. Zeno tried to sneak the pot through town, taking back streets to avoid being seen doing such a humiliating task.* Tracking him down, Crates cracked the pot open with his staff, spilling the soup all over him. Zeno trembled with embarrassment and tried to flee. “Why run away, my little Phoenician?” Crates laughed. “Nothing terrible has befallen you.” ([Location 230](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B083HL8RLK&location=230)) - Zeno is also credited with originating the expression that man was given two ears and only one mouth for a reason. He supposedly said that there was nothing more unbecoming for a person than to put on airs, and that doing so was even less tolerable for the young. “Better to trip with the feet,” he once said, “than with the tongue.” ([Location 283](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B083HL8RLK&location=283)) - To Cleanthes, labor and philosophy were not rivals. They were two sides of the same coin, pursuits that furthered and enabled each other. ([Location 339](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B083HL8RLK&location=339)) - It is clear that Cleanthes abhorred debt and luxury, preferring the freedom of a humble life to the slavery of extravagance. ([Location 389](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B083HL8RLK&location=389)) - “Fate guides the man who’s willing,” he writes in one short fragment, “drags the unwilling.” ([Location 456](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B083HL8RLK&location=456)) - A wise man can make use of whatever comes his way, he said, but is in want of nothing. “On the other hand,” he said, “nothing is needed by the fool for he does not understand how to use anything but he is in want of everything.” ([Location 737](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B083HL8RLK&location=737)) - There is no better definition of a Stoic: to have but not want, to enjoy without needing. ([Location 739](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B083HL8RLK&location=739)) - the human being in action is better understood as an archer. We train and practice. We draw back the arrow and aim it to the best of our abilities. But we know full well that despite our training and our aim, many factors outside our control will influence where the arrow hits the target—or if it falls short entirely. This is what the pursuit of virtue is in real life. We study. We train until things become second nature. The moment arrives. We commit. We hold up what’s right as our target. We take action. But much happens after that—much of it not remotely up to us. ([Location 1001](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B083HL8RLK&location=1001))