The Daily Stoic - Courage is the Most Important Virtue

Episode Date: March 3, 2020

The Stoics believed that a life well lived was one which always countered adversity with virtue. And they believed in four aspects of virtue: courage, temperance, justice, and wisdom. Each and every situation calls for one or more of these four Stoic virtues, and nothing in life exempts us from their power. Today, we begin with one of the most important: Courage. If you’ve read Cormac McCarthy’s dark and beautiful novel All the Pretty Horses, you’ll remember the key question that Emilio Perez asks John Grady, one that cuts to the core of life and what we all must do to live a life worth living.“The world wants to know if you have cojones. If you are brave?”The Stoics might have phrased this a bit differently. Seneca would say that he actually pitied people who have never experienced misfortune. “You have passed through life without an opponent,” he said, “No one can ever know what you are capable of, not even you.”The world wants to know what category to put you in, which is why it will occasionally send difficult situations your way. Think of these not as inconveniences or even tragedies but as opportunities, as questions to answers. Do I have cojones? Am I brave? Am I going to face this problem or run away from it? Will I stand up or be rolled over?Let your actions etch a response into the record—and let them remind you of why courage is the most important thing.Check out our newest product, the Four Virtues Medallion. It's designed to exemplify the Four Stoic Virtues—and help you keep them in your heart.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, prime members, you can listen to the Daily Stoke podcast early and add free on Amazon music. Download the app today. Welcome to the Daily Stoke. For each day, we read a short passage designed to help you cultivate the strength, insight, wisdom necessary for living good life. insight, wisdom necessary for living good life. Each one of these passages is based on the 2000 year old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women. For more, you can visit us at dailystoic.com. The stoics believed that a life well lived was one which always countered adversity with virtue. And they believed in four aspects of virtue, courage, temperance, justice, and wisdom.

Each and every situation they said calls for one or more of these four stoic virtues and nothing in life exempts us from their power. Today, we begin with one of the most important courage. If you've read Cormick McCarthy's dark and beautiful novel, all the pretty horses, you'll remember the key question that Emilio Perez asks John Grady, one that cuts to the core of life and what we all must do

to live a life worth living. The world wants to know if you have cajones, he says, if you are brave. The Stoics might have phrased this a bit differently. Seneca would say that he actually pitted people who had never experienced misfortune. You have passed through life without an opponent, he said, no one can ever know what you are capable of, not even you. The world wants to know what category to put you in, which is why it will occasionally send difficult situations your way. Think of these not as inconveniences

or even tragedies, but as opportunities, as questions to answer. Do I have cajones, and my brave, am I going to face this problem or run away from it while I stand up or be rolled over? Let your actions etch a response into the record. Let them remind you of why courage is the most important thing. So some exciting news at Daily Stoke. We just released our four virtues Medallion, the Stoics, as I said, believe there are four virtues courage, temperance, justice, wisdom, and that everything in life is an opportunity to illustrate and exemplify those virtues. And so we've made this beautiful brass medallion. It's manufactured here in the United States. It a mint that's been operating since 1882. This is now going to go into my everyday carry.

On the front, it's got a symbol of each one of the virtues. And then on the back, it says courage, temperance, justice, and wisdom. And then it's got a line from Marcus Realius Reese's try not to exchange these virtues for others. So you can check that out at the daily stoic store, go to www.dailystooic.com slash 4 virtues. today, or you can listen early and add free with Wondery Plus in Apple podcasts.