The Stoic Magazine Library

Big idea 1 

People are not disturbed by things that happen, but by their opinion of these things. 

Epictetus Enchiridion, 5 

In the first chapter of his discourse ON THE HAPPY LIFE, Seneca warns us against following the crowd blindly. This chapter is an excerpt from Stoic Happiness, a plain English version of Seneca’s On the Happy Life, published by The Stoic Gym.

Let us look for some blessing – a blessing that does not look just outwardly good, but is good through and through, beautiful even in parts not seen easily.

Different ways to define happiness 

Key ideas 

1. Virtue and pleasure are two different things. Virtue does not need pleasure to exist. 
2. The highest good is immortal. It never dies. But pleasure dies quickly. So it cannot be the highest good. 
3. All good things come from virtue and, therefore, even the things you value and seek come from its roots. 

Pleasure belongs to both good and bad people 

In the NINTH chapter of his discourse ON THE HAPPY LIFE, Seneca tells us that, to be happy, we should stop pursuing pleasure, but 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. 

https://amzn.to/2I0mbVW 

In the ELEVENTH chapter of his discourse ON THE HAPPY LIFE, Seneca tells us that, to be happy, we should stop pursuing pleasure, but 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. 

https://amzn.to/2I0mbVW 

In the TWELFTH 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. https://amzn.to/2I0mbVW

In the THRTEENTH 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. 

In the FOURTEENTH 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. https://amzn.to/2I0mbVW

In the FIFTEENTH chap-ter of his discourse On The Happy Life, Seneca tells us that, to be happy, we should stop pursuing pleasure, and instead pur-sue virtue. This is an ex-cerpt from Stoic Happi-ness, a plain English ver-sion of Seneca’s On the Happy Life, published by The Stoic Gym. 

https://amzn.to/2I0mbVW 

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. 

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.