If You Want To Be Great, This Is All You Have To Do | Can Ryan Pass This Stoic Quiz?

0:00Ryan Holiday: Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, designed to help bring those four key stoic virtues, courage, discipline, justice, and wisdom into the real world.

0:14Ryan Holiday: If you want to be great, do this. At the start of the year, we said we were going to go to the gym more. We're going to eat better. We're going to be more present at home. We're going to read more. We're going to waste less time. We're going to finally get serious about the thing we keep saying matters. And then life got in the way. We missed a day here, another there. We had a bad week, which became two. The routine slipped. The momentum disappeared. And before long, we weren't just off track. We'd given up. And so we haven't been who we want to be. How do we fix it? Epictetus reminds us how.

0:45Ryan Holiday: He says, every habit and ability is confirmed and strengthened by the relevant actions. The ability to walk by walking, the ability to run by running. If you want to be a good reader, read. If you want to be a good writer, write. If you wish to do something, make it habitual. Habits are not built or rebuilt by guilt. They're not restored by grand declarations or perfect plans. They are strengthened by doing the thing. We said this last week. Excellence, good habits, virtue. It's not a state of being. It's a state of action. If you want to be it, you got to do it. And that's what the Habits for Success, habits for happiness challenge we have for Daily Stoic was built around.

1:23Ryan Holiday: It's six weeks of stoic inspired challenges to help you build and maintain good habits. Habits that make you better, habits that make you stronger, habits that make you happier. And we built this challenge several years ago. It's been one of the most popular things we've ever done, but we updated it now for this moment. We wanted to keep the things that worked, wanted to add some new ones. We added some great new tools to help you reflect and sort of meditate on the changes you're making. There's also a great new community space because I think habits are something best done with others. It's really awesome.

1:58Ryan Holiday: We're going to start it on July 21st. So I'd love to see it in there. We're offering a group discount if you enroll with some of your friends. And it's going to be awesome. I don't want you to think about the year is over. I don't want you to think about the person you want to become as being something out of reach. Just get after it. And you can sign up right now for the Daily Stoic Habits for Success, Habits for Happiness Challenge and get back on track to being that person you want to be. That's what it's all about. And you can sign up right now at dailystoic.com slash habits.

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4:31Hello, puzzlers, and welcome to the Puzzler Podcast, the marble pediment atop your Roman puzzle temple. I am your host, AJ Jacobs, and I am joined by today's guest, the amazing Ryan Holiday, podcaster, multiple bestselling author of books such as The Ego is the Enemy and Stillness is the Key. Welcome, Ryan.

4:51Ryan Holiday: Thanks for having me. I am so excited. I know you're not a huge Huge puzzler, but I think you're going to like this one. I think you're going to because... This is more of a quiz, right? It's a little more of a quiz. I think I would make a difference between puzzles and quizzes, I feel. And you prefer the quiz. Yeah, I could do a quiz. All right. Well, I did give you a hint of what it is, and it's based on your wonderful podcast, The Daily Stoic, which I am honored to have been a guest on. And on your podcast, you talk about the wisdom of the ancient Greek and Roman Stoic philosophers and how their wisdom can be applied today.

5:23So this puzzle is all about Stoic wisdom. Okay. And the quiz is Stoic philosopher or cartoon character. Okay. So I'm going to give you two quotes, one from a Stoic philosopher, one from a cartoon character or comic character. You have to tell me which is which, and they're going to be mixed up in the order. So are you ready? Yes. All right. Now, I think, honestly, I think you're going to do pretty well on this. But hopefully—

5:51Ryan Holiday: It would be embarrassing if I don't. Well, I'm hoping that maybe some of the listeners might be fooled by some. All right. Here's the first two quotes. Quote number one. My life has no direction, no aim, no meaning. And yet I'm happy. Quote number two. Be content with what you are and wish not change. I'm going to say the first is a stoic and the second maybe sounds like Yoda or something. Wow. Right out of the gate, I think I got you. No. Yeah. Wait. So let me. Okay. My life has no direction, no aim, no meaning, and yet I'm happy is from Snoopy. Oh, great. The Peanuts character. All right. I'm off to a bad start already.

6:36And be content with what you are and wish not changed is from Marcus Aurelius. Wow. At least according. Now, we should. I did try to fact check this, but, you know, the listeners could come in and tell me if I got it wrong.

6:48Ryan Holiday: Well, it's all about the translations, right? So you can hear that exact quote from a different translation and recognize it immediately. Exactly, yes. And I think that's something I've always been struck by when a lot of the things that are free on the internet from the Stoics are like the 19th century translations. And so they tend to be very kind of wonky. It's like he wasn't saying like thou shall not. Right, right. Because that was an 18th century configuration of speech. So interesting. Well, that is interesting. All right. Great. All right. How about this one? Quote number one, whatever happens to you has been waiting to happen since the beginning of time.

7:27Ryan Holiday: Okay. And quote number two is, rivers know there is no hurry. We shall get there someday. I would say the first one is a Stoic. You are correct. You are correct. It's your man, Marcus Aurelius, great Roman emperor and Stoic. And the second is Winnie the Pooh. Winnie the Pooh. I feel there's a whole book, like the Tao of Fu. There is. There's a lot of rivers, metaphors in meditation. Oh, really? Yeah. Do you remember any of them? He wrote a good chunk of it near the Danube River. Really? Obviously, the Tiber goes through Rome. Yeah, he talks about how the river's unending flow. He talks about how time passes by us like a river.

8:07Is he the one who said when you put your foot in the river?

8:11Ryan Holiday: That's Heraclitus, but the Stoics sort of, he talks about Heraclitus a lot. So he kind of alludes to that quote. Got it. Yeah. And that was, I'm butchering it, but something like you put your foot in the river, take it out, put it in again. It's a different river. Is that the idea? Yeah, it says we never step in the same river twice. Got it. Yeah, that's a good one. I think Winnie the Pooh would agree. Okay. All right. Here's another. The circumstances of one's birth are irrelevant. It is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are. That's quote number one. Quote number two is circumstances don't make the man.

8:42they only reveal him to himself. So that's a challenging one because they're the same quote. They're the same quote.

8:48Ryan Holiday: I think the second one is Epictetus. Yes, you do. You know you're Epictetus. And the first one you might not know as well, but is Mewtwo from Pokemon. Who was apparently in the first movie said some very profound things. He was a genetic clone. Well, my eight-year-old will like to hear that. Yeah, there you go. All right, a few more. Very little is needed to make a happy life. It is all within yourself, in your way of thinking. That's Marcus. No. You got to let the people catch up. Sorry, yes. I forget you heard that. There is no secret ingredient. It's just you. Do you happen to know which philosopher said that?

9:27Poe, the panda's father from Kung Fu Panda, about the noodle soup. No secret ingredient. It's just you. All right. Let me see a couple more. All right. This one I thought was, they were both profound. Quote number one. Accept the things to which fate binds you. Accept what fate tells you, gives you. Quote number two, you can't keep blaming yourself. Just blame yourself once and move on.

9:55Ryan Holiday: The first is Mark Ceruleus. That's correct. That is correct. And the second, do you know which philosopher said that? No, I like it though. Homer Simpson. There we go. I think it's so true though. It is so true. Blame yourself once. The best Homer quote is where he goes like, this is the worst day ever. Bart says this and then Homer says, worst day ever so far. I like that. That's my problem with goats, the greatest of all time. Yes. It should be greatest of all time so far. Goat-us. All right. Two more. Two more. How about. All right. This one I think you will get, but I just like the contrast.

10:37A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials. That's quote number one. Quote number two is, dude, sucking is the first step to being sort of good at something.

10:52Ryan Holiday: Yeah, that definitely sounds like Marcus Rios there, the second one. The first is Seneca, right? Exactly, Seneca. And the second, I don't know if your kids watch this yet, but it is Jake from Adventure Time. Oh, yes. My son loves the Adventure Time books, but I did not know that he says that. But that makes sense. I like it. Well, yeah. Jake the dog. That is a great show. I fear kids get into it. We have the books in the bookstore. I didn't even know it was based on a book. Well, they are saying very profound things all the time. Here, actually, I'll just read one other quote from Jake the dog outside of a quiz.

11:32Let's go in the garden. You'll find something waiting there for you where you left it. You'll see how it's faded. The underside is lighter. Everything stays right where you left it, but it still changes ever so slightly.

11:46Ryan Holiday: Ooh, that's like the no river, you can't step in the same river twice. I thought it was stoic. I thought it was stoic. I like it. All right, last one. All right, what about this? because this relates to what we were talking about in our interview about sort of the personal responsibility in making change. Quote number one is, If it is not right, do not do it. If it is not true, do not say it. You're shaking your head. I know. Okay. And then number two, One person really can make a difference, but most of the time they probably shouldn't. The first is Mark Ceruleus. Right. And we actually even have...

12:24Ryan Holiday: a coin that we sell in Daily Stoic. It says, just that you do the right thing, the rest doesn't matter. It's part of that quote, I believe. But I don't know where the second one is from. What's that from? That is from the wife of another philosopher we quoted. That's Marge Simpson. Ah, sure. So she was saying, I guess one person really... Yeah, the epistemic humility. Exactly. We all think we're so sure we're making a difference. Well, I think you did well. You had a, yeah, I got your first one, which is very exciting. But after that, you nailed them all. Well, the Stoics, there's a quote from Marcus Rios.

13:00Ryan Holiday: You could put it in your quiz where he talks about, you know, when you mess up, you got to come back to the rhythm very quickly. You can't get rattled. So I feel like I've recovered nicely. Yeah, no, you were living. That's why you did it. So that you could live out, Marcus. Because before I go, do you feel that there are any particularly stoic characters in fiction, either comics or movies? I mean, there's, I think, a stoic element to Yoda. He's sort of a philosopher type. Who else would I pick? I mean, who were sort of the people who are able to control their passions? I'm trying to think of.

13:38Ryan Holiday: Well, my favorite George Washington one to go to your new book is one of the painters or sculptors of Washington. He spends all this time with him and he says, you know, this idea of because Washington was known for his like self-command. Yes. And everyone thought he was this kind of superhuman guy. And what he realized watching him up close and seeing how he interacted with people is that he was actually a very tense guy. And that he said Washington's first victory was clearly over himself. Right. So instead of seeing Washington as this guy who didn't have passions or a temper, it was actually more impressive to see him as a very angry guy who didn't get angry.

14:19Ryan Holiday: Right. And that like he had all the passions. He just had actually practiced the philosophy and had a certain amount of self-awareness that allowed him not to be at the mercy of them all the time. Right. I thought that was very impressive. That is impressive. And he was at the moment. I know he he cursed a lot at his cabinet. But yeah, he was. There is one quick story about how early in his political career, he got in an argument. Another guy insulted him and hit him with a hickory stick. actually hit him. And George Washington sent word that he wanted to meet this guy the next day. The guy is freaking out.

14:57And George Washington apologized to him for any offense he might have caused and extended the hand of friendship. So that's pretty cool.

15:06Ryan Holiday: Well, Washington's model in all things other than Cincinnati's was Cato. There's a story about Cato getting jostled in a bath. They're walking in the Roman baths and he gets bumped and it's Sort of a fracas breaks out and the man punches him and later then apologizes to Cato for punching him because he doesn't want a sort of a blood feud or something. And Cato's response is, I don't even remember being hit. Like he's not only doesn't respond, but he's purging himself of even the incident having happened. Nice one. Yeah. Well, Cato was one of the other ones. I begin to speak only when I'm certain what I'll say is not better left unsaid, was his quote.

15:45And then from another philosopher, there's no sense of doing a lot of barking if you don't have anything to say. That's from Snoopy. All right. Well, thank you, Brian. Yeah, of course.

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