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5 Best Books on Stoicism to Improve Your Life
- Is there a way to improve your life? — yes.
- Can stoicism help you? — yes.
- When is it possible? — Whenever you are ready.
Stoic knowledge from the ancient Greco-Roman era floats around the internet and resonates with millions on social media, particularly with Stoic philosophers Epictetus, Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius.
It appears to be all the rage, despite the fact that it was developed about 2,500 years ago by the ancient Greek philosopher Zeno of Citium.
This is most likely due to how incredibly useful Stoic wisdom can be. Unlike other philosophy, which is often perceived as outdated or pointless (here’s why philosophy in today’s world is actually as relevant and important as ever), Stoicism gets right to the heart of our everyday attitudes and behaviors, and its core principles are distilled in many famous natty aphorisms and quotations.
But what is stoicism? you may ask…
Dailystoic defines Stoicism in a very clear and simple way.
It’s a philosophy designed to make us more resilient, happier, more virtuous and more wise–and as a result, better people, better parents and better professionals.
Consider this quote from Marcus Aurelius:
You have power over your mind — not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.
Or, as Epictetus puts it:
It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.
Seneca on life’s brevity:
It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it. Life is long enough, and a sufficiently generous amount has been given to us for the highest achievements if it were all well invested. But when it is wasted in heedless luxury and spent on no good activity, we are forced at last by death’s final constraint to realize that it has passed away before we knew it was passing. So it is: we are not given a short life but we make it…
