Book SummaryThe Daily Stoic, by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of The Daily Stoic

Popular entrepreneur Ryan Holiday and translator Stephen Hanselman wrote The Daily Stoic as a daily devotional to share insights from the ancient Stoic philosophers on how to live a good life. It was a bestseller in 2016 and was widely featured in media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. It’s also been expanded into a podcast and website that serves as a treasure trove of Stoic wisdom for daily living.

Stoicism was founded in the third century BCE in Greece, but it came to be associated with the Romans. Some of its most noteworthy early practitioners include the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius and the Roman slave Epictetus. In time, the philosophy was practiced by numerous leading historical figures, including George Washington and Immanuel Kant, and it has a long list of modern admirers and practitioners.

The popularity of Stoic philosophy, according to Holiday and Hanselman, is due to its practicality: From early on it was meant to be a way of life, not just a set of abstract ideas. At the core of Stoicism is the belief that the cardinal virtues—self-control, courage, justice, and wisdom—are the source of internal stability and peace of mind and the measure of a good life.

We’ve organized our guide according to the three broad categories of Stoic practices Holiday and Hanselman include in The Daily Stoic, including viewing life with self-control, responding to life with justice and courage, and managing our lives with wisdom. Within...

The Daily Stoic Summary Stoic Practices

In The Daily Stoic, Holiday reflects on quotes from Stoic thinkers, such as Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus, and suggests ways their insights might be practiced today. However, Holiday warns that no Stoic claimed to perfectly embody every Stoic tenet—instead, they strove for that ideal.

(Shortform note: The authors emphasize practicing the Stoic insights in your daily life but only mention in passing that, in the Stoic view, a perfect life is an aspiration—not necessarily a reality. Considering how significant this is, readers should know at the outset of this section that these Stoic practices are hard. Marcus Aurelius understood that living a good life was an ongoing challenge, and he spent considerable time reflecting on how he might do better each day. Therefore, remember that The Daily Stoic is a collection of Stoic goals, not a scorecard of Stoic achievements.)

In this section, we’ll look at some of the practices the Stoics had for living well. First, we’ll consider their way of viewing life, which concerns our ability to make sense of life with reason. Next, we’ll consider Stoic...

Shortform Exercise: Put the Principles Into Practice

The Daily Stoic is meant to motivate you to action, so consider how you can do just that.

The Stoics believed in regulating their emotions. Take a moment to identify what you’re feeling right now, then try being mindful of what your emotions reveal about your thoughts. (For example, if you’re feeling anxious, what’s the source of that anxiety? Identify it. Then, consider whether your anxiety will do anything to improve the situation.)nnUse the space below to identify an emotion and analyze its cause(s) and effect(s).