Ryan Holiday on Stoicism Quotes

"The obstacle in the path becomes the path. Never forget, within every obstacle is an opportunity to improve our condition."

"Objectivity is the ability to see things as they are, not as we want them to be."

"A person who is a slave to their urges is not free."

"Focus on what you can control. Ignore the rest."

"We don’t control what happens to us, we control how we respond."

"The more you say no to the things that don't matter, the more you can say yes to the things that do."

"Persistence is an action. Perseverance is a matter of will. One is energy. The other is endurance."

"Ego is the enemy of what you have and of what you want."

"Stoicism is not about being emotionless; it's about not being a slave to your emotions."

"You don't have to have an opinion on this. You can just let it be."

"External things are not the problem. It’s your assessment of them."

"You don't have to turn this into something. You don't have to let this upset you."

"Objective judgment, now at this very moment. Unselfish action, now at this very moment. Willing acceptance of all external events. That’s all you need."

"We forget: In life, it doesn’t matter what happens to you or where you came from. It matters what you do with what happens and what you’ve been given."

"The more we value things outside our control, the less control we have."

"The obstacle is the way."

"We don’t control what happens to us, only how we respond."

"Pre-mortem: Looking ahead to what could go wrong so you can fix it now."

"There is no good or bad without us, there is only perception. There is the event itself and the story we tell ourselves about what it means."

"Control your perceptions. Direct your actions properly. Willingly accept what’s outside your control."

"You can't handle the truth if you're too busy protecting your ego."

"Stillness is not the absence of activity, but the mastery of one's inner world so that focus can flourish amidst the chaos."

"The best revenge is not to be like that."

"See things for what they are. Do what we can. Endure and bear what we must."

"Perception is how we see and understand what occurs around us—and what we decide those events will mean."

"Minimalism is the pursuit of the essence of things."