We Want That But Need This | Ask DS

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1:18Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, where each day we read a passage of ancient wisdom designed to help you in your everyday life. Well, on Thursdays, we not only read the daily meditation, but we answer some questions from listeners and fellow Stoics who are trying to apply this philosophy just as you are. Some of these come from my talks. Some of these come from Zoom sessions that we do with Daily Stoic Life members or as part of the challenges. Some of them are from interactions I have on the street when there happened to be someone there recording. Thank you for listening, and we hope this is of use to you.

1:58We think we need a lot to be happy. We think we need piles of money and power and fame and that to get that perfect house and marry that perfect person. There are so many things we tell ourselves we have to have. But for centuries, the wisest minds have been saying some version of what Marcus Aurelius wrote in meditations. Very little is needed to make a happy life. And a little less than 2 ,000 years later, Goethe wrote, one ought to, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words. Seneca similarly suggested that each day we should find a good quote or read a good story or have a good exchange with a friend.

2:44That's it, he says, that will fortify you against poverty, against death, indeed against other misfortunes as well. Just a few things. A good quote to start the morning, a little song to start the workday, a good poem with lunch, a fine picture next, and a few reasonable words spoken over dinner with a friend or a loved one or in the pages of a journal. Do that each day and you will have a happy and a wise. And actually, I'm just busting out. I just got home. I was gone. I'm just busting out the new Daily Stoic calendar. One quote every day. It's the quote in the Daily Stoic book, but if you want it on your nightstand, if you want it on your bathroom counter, or I keep one on my desk, there's also one on the counter at the painted porch.

3:28You should check out the Daily Stoic Tear Away Calendar, 365 Days of Stoic Quotes, featuring quotes from Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, Epictetus, and more. You can check it out at store.dailystoic.com, or I'll link to it in today's episode notes, but check it out. Talk soon. Thanks to Toyota Trucks for sponsoring this episode. When I bought my ranch in 2015 out here in Bastro County, I drove my car about halfway down the dirt road that we live on, thought this isn't going to work, stopped, parked it, walked the rest of the way home, borrowed my wife's car, drove into Austin and bought a truck. What I bought was a Toyota Tacoma.

4:11And this truck wasn't just transportation getting me to and from my house. It unlocked a whole different style of living for us, not just on the ranch, but in our little Texas towns. There were places I could go now that I couldn't go before, especially out here in the piney forests, through the fields, and on the unpaved roads like the one that I lived in. We got to go deep into the hill country's wild beauty. We've driven all the way out to East Texas. We've driven across the country. And by we, I mean not just my wife, but both my kids, who I drove home from the hospital in that truck. Toyota trucks are built for those who understand that the best adventures happen when you're willing to veer off course, because you never know when you'll end up on a Toyota adventure detour.

5:00And of course, this is stoicism too, because every detour, every obstacle is an opportunity. But it's helpful if you can handle the difficulty inherent in that. If you've got the resilience and the right companion to make it wherever the road takes you. Discover your uncharted territory. Learn more at toyota.com slash trucks slash adventure dash detours. Hello, 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.

5:44Welcome, Ryan. Thanks for having me. I am so excited. I know you're not a huge puzzler, but I think you're going to like this. Okay. I think you're going to become - 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, yeah. 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.

6:17So 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? All right. Now, I think, honestly, I think you're going to do pretty well on this, but hopefully— It would be embarrassing if I don't. Well, I'm hoping that maybe some of the listeners might be fooled by something. Okay. All right. Here goes, quote—here's the first two quotes.

6:54Quote 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. Great. 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. And be content with what you are and wish not changed is from Marcus Aurelius. Wow. At least according... Now, I did try to fact check this, but the listeners could come in and tell me if I got it wrong.

7:42Well, it's all about the translations, right? So you could 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. And it's like, he wasn't saying like, thou shall not, you know, because that was an 18th century configuration of speech. So, 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.

8:18And 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 Pooh. There is. And there's a lot of rivers, metaphors in meditations. Oh, really? Yeah. Do you remember it? He wrote a good chunk of it near the Danube River. Really? And obviously the Tiber goes through Rome. Yeah, he talks about the river's unending flow. He talks about how time passes by us like a river.

8:55Is he the one who said when you put your foot in the river? That's Heraclitus, but the Stoics sort of, he talks about Heraclitus a lot. So he kind of alludes to that quote. 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? 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.

9:25That's quote number one. Quote number two is, circumstances don't make the man. They only reveal him to himself. So that's a challenging one because they're the same quote. They're the same quote. 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 oh my eight-year-old will like to hear that yeah there you go all right few more very little is needed to make a happy life it is all within yourself in your way of thinking there is no secret ingredient it's just you do you happen to know which slasher said that no po the panda's father from Kung Fu Panda about noodle soup.

10:12No secret ingredient. It's just you. 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. The first is Mark Sturulus. 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 yourselves 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.

10:54I like that. That's my problem with goats, the greatest of all time. Yes. It should be greatest of all time so far. Goatest. All right. This one I think you will get, but I just like the contrast. A 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. 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.

11:41My 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. If your 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. Let'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.

12:17Ooh, 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, what about this? Because this relates to what we were talking about in our interview about sort of one, the personal responsibility and 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. So the first is Marcus Aurelius. Right. And we actually even have a coin that we sell in Daily Stoic, says, just that you do the right thing, the rest doesn't matter.

13:01It'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 got your first one, which is very exciting. But after that, you nailed them all. Well, the Stoics, there's a quote from Marcus Rullus who 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.

13:31You 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. 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. Yeah, 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. 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.

14:15Yes. 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. He said Washington's first victory was clearly over himself. 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. Right. And that 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.

14:50I thought that was very impressive. That is impressive. And he was at the moment. I know he cursed a lot at his cabinet. 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. And George Washington apologized to him for any offense he might have caused and extended the hand of friendship. Well, Washington's model in all things other than Cincinnati's was Cato. There's a story about Cato getting jostled in a bath.

15:30They're walking in the Roman baths and he gets bumped. And it's sort of a fracas breaks out. 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. Not only does it respond, but he's purging himself of even the incident having happened. Nice one. 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 with his quote. And then from another philosopher, there's no sense of doing a lot of barking if you don't have anything to say.

16:04That's from Snoopy. All right. Well, thank you. Yeah, of course. For our puzzlers at home. We always have an extra credit. So I'm going to do that now. And that is quote number one. How ridiculous and how strange it is to be surprised at anything which happens in life. That's quote number one. Quote number two. Something weird might just be familiar viewed from a different angle. Very both profound. Thank you all. Come back and hear the answers. And in the meantime, you can check out our Instagram feed at Hello Puzzlers, where we have fresh original puzzles. And please see you soon for more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you puzzlingly.

16:46hey it's ryan thank you for listening to the daily stoic podcast i just wanted to say we so appreciate it we love serving you it's amazing to us that over 30 million people have downloaded these episodes in the couple years we've been doing it it's an honor please spread the word tell people about it and this isn't to sell anything i just wanted to say thank you

17:16Look, ads are annoying. They are to be avoided, if at all possible. I understand as a content creator why they need to exist. That's why I don't begrudge them when they appear on the shows that I listen to. But again, as a person who has to pay a podcast producer and has to pay for equipment and for the studio and the building that the studio is in, it's a lot to keep something like the Daily Stoic going. So if you want to support a show but not listen to ads, well, we have partnered with Supercast to bring you a ad-free version of Daily Stoic. We're calling it Daily Stoic Premium. And with Premium, you can listen to every episode of the Daily Stoic podcast completely ad-free, no interruptions, just the ideas, just the messages, just the conversations you came here for.

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