The Stoic Magazine Library

1  - If donkeys had the ability to go further and understand how to deal with impressions, they would refuse to obey us and would be our equal. And rightly so. 
[Epictetus, D 2.7] 

In the SIXTEENTH chapter of his discourse On The Happy Life, Seneca tells us that, to be happy, we should stop pursuing pleasure, and instead pursue virtue. This is an excerpt from Stoic Happiness, a plain English version of Seneca’s On the Happy Life, published by The Stoic Gym. 

Natural desires and desires of opinion 

There are two kinds of desires. Desires that are natural such as the desire for food when hungry or the desire for water when thirsty. And there are desires born of our opinion: we will be happy if we have so much money, such and such position, so many friends, so much sex, and so on. What is the difference between the two? 

Available now!  - SENECA ON PEACE OF MIND 

1 - The cost of the material things you give up—whether it is food or some furniture—is nothing compared to the goodwill you gain in return. 

[Epictetus, D 2.10] 

Key ideas 

1. When you practice philosophy, people will criticize you because you are not perfect. 
2. What they don’t know is some progress is better than no progress at all. 

Almost all of us can see why excessive desires can harm us. We stay away from excesses because we know that things like excessive drinking, eating for greed, or excessive money may not be good for us. 

International Fellowships

This book is a modern rendition of Sen-eca’s On the Tranquility of Mind (De Tran-quillitsate Animi). This a dialog between Seneca and his friend Serenus. 

1 - Do you know the standards by which someone can be judged? What a good or a bad person is and how they got that way? If so, how come you are not a good person yourself? [Epictetus, D 2.13]

The problem with avoiding the unpleasant - What is wrong with avoiding things that are unpleasant or dangerous?