Breakfast With Seneca

Eight Core Teachings of Roman Stoicism

1.  Live in agreement with nature to find happiness.

2.  Virtue, or excellence of one's inner character, is the only true good.

3.  Some things are "up to us," or entirely under our control, while other things are not.

4. While we can't control what happens to us in the external world, we can control our inner judgments and how we respond to life's events.

5. When something negative happens, or when we are struck by adversity, we shouldn't be surprised by it, but see it as an opportunity to create a better situation.

6. Virtue, or possessing a excellent character, is its own reward.  But it also results in eudaimonia or "happiness." This is the state of mental tranquility and inner joy.

7. Real philosophy involves "making progress."

8. It is essential that we, as individuals, should contribute to society.

- David Fideler, Breakfast with Seneca, 2022, pp. 4-9.

Stoic Principles for Virtuous Living

Stoicism: Bibliography, Quotations, Links, Information

Breakfast with Seneca: A Stoic Guide to the Art of Living. By David Fideler. W. W. Norton, 2022, index, bibliography, notes, appendix, 265 pages. VSCL, Paperback.

Letters on Ethics: To Lucilius. The Complete Works of Lucius Annaeus Seneca. Translated by Margaret Graver and A. A. Long. University of Chicago, 2017, 604 pages. Complete collection of Seneca's Letters. VSCL, E-Book Kindle.

Letters From a Stoic. By Lucius Annaeus Seneca. Translated by Richard Mott Gunmere. Compass Circle, 2019, index, 351 pages. Complete collection of Seneca's Letters. VSCL, Oversize Paperback.

My recent reading of the Stoics in the Spring and Summer of 2023 includes:  

The Obstacle is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph. By Rayan Holiday. Portfolio, 2013, 224 pages. VSCL, Hardbound.

More Than Happiness: Buddhist and Stoic Wisdom for a Skeptical Age.  By Antonia Macaro. Icon Books, 2018, 208 pages. VSCL, Paperback.

Stillness Is the Key. By Ryan Holiday. Portfolio, 2019, 288 pages. VSCL, Hardbound.  Excellent, insightful, relevant biographies, clear writing, practical, positive psychology.  Maintaining calmness, courage, consistency during the challenges of life.  

Ego is the Enemy. By Ryan Holiday. Portfolio, 2016, 256 pages. VSCL, Hardbound.

Lives of the Stoics: The Art of Living from Zeno to Marcus Aurelius. By Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman. Portfolio, 2020, 352 pages. FVRLibrary.

The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living. By Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman. Portfolio, 2016, 416 pages. VSCL, Hardbound. Outstanding commentary.  

My reading of the Stoics in the Summer and Autumn of 2022 included:  

Meditatons: The Annotated Edition. Translated, introduced and edited by Robin Waterfield. New York, Basic Books, 2021, 326 pages. Introduction, bibliography, notes, annotations. VSCL. 

The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living. By Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman. Portfolio, 2016, 416 pages. VSCL. 

How to Be a Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy to Live a Modern Life. By Massimo Pigliucci. 288 pages, 2013. VSCL.

The Practicing Stoic: A Philosophical User's Manual. By Ward Farnsworth. Goldine, 2018, 256 pages. VSCL. 

Virtue Ethics

How to Live a Good Life: Advice From Wise Persons

Stoicism: Bibliography, Links, Quotations, Notes

Responding to Changing Circumstances

Lately, I have been reading the letters and short essays by the Roman philosopher, Lucius Annaeus Seneca, 4 BCE - 65 CE.  Seneca was a wealthy Roman, influential writer, political advisor, and aristocrat.  Many consider him a Stoic. He grew up in Spain.  Once, he was banished to Corsica for seven years; and, later, ordered to commit suicide by the Emperor Nero.  

"And we ought to make ourselves adaptable.  We should not be partial to a rigid program but pass easily where chance has taken us without shrinking from change or plan or status, provided we do not fall into the vice of fickleness, which is an enemy to repose.  Obstinacy is necessarily anxious and unhappy because Fortune often forces it askew, but fickleness is a more serious fault because it never holds its posture.  Each, inability to change and inability to persevere, is hostile to tranquility.  In any case, the mind must be recalled from externals and focus upon itself.  It must confide in itself, find pleasure in itself, respect its own interests, withdraw as far as may be from what is foreign to it and devote itself to itself; it must not feel losses and must even construe adversity charitably."
-  Seneca, On Tranquility, Section 14, p.99 in the Hadas' translation; online version transleated by Aubrey Stewart.   

Letters from a Stoic. By Seneca. Translated with an introduction by Robin Campbell. Illustrated by Coralie Bickford-Smith. Hardcover Classics Series. New York, Penguin Classics, Reissue Edition, 2015. Index of persons, appendix, notes, 352 pages. ISBN: 978-0141395852. VSCL. 

Seneca The Stoic Philosophy of Seneca: Essays and Letters. By Seneca. Translated with and introduction by Moses Hadas.  New York, W. W. Norton, 1958, 1968. 261 pages. ISBN: 0393004597. VSCL. 

Stoicism: Bibliography, Links, Notes, Quotations, Reflections, Resources.
A hypertext notebook by Michael P. Garofalo.

Personally, I favor the metaphysics and natural philosophy of the Epicureans over the Stoics.  

Aging Well

How to Live a Good Life: Advice from Wise Persons

Cherish and Enjoy Old Age

Lately, I have been reading the letters and short essays by the Roman philosopher, Lucius Annaeus Seneca, 4 BCE - 65 CE.  Seneca was a wealthy Roman, influential writer, political advisor, and aristocrat.  Many consider him a Stoic. He was raised and educated in Rome.  Once, he was banished to Corsica for seven years; and, later, ordered to commit suicide by the Emperor Nero.  

"We should cherish old age and enjoy it.  It is full of pleasure if you know how to use it.  Fruit tastes most delicious when its season is ending.  The charms of youth are at their greatest at the time of its passing.  It is the final glass which pleases the inveterate drinker, the one that sets the crowning touch on his intoxication and sends him off into oblivion. Every pleasure defers till its last its greatest delights. The time of life which offers the greatest delight is the age that sees the downward movement - not the steep decline - already begun; and in my opinion, even the age that stands on the brink has pleasures of its own - or else the very fact of not experiencing the want of any pleasures takes their place.  How nice it is to have out-worn one's desires and left them behind."
-  Seneca, Letters, XII, p. 37 in the Campbell translation; online version by R. M. Gummere.   

Letters from a Stoic. By Seneca. Translated with an introduction by Robin Campbell. Illustrated by Coralie Bickford-Smith. Hardcover Classics Series. New York, Penguin Classics, Reissue Edition, 2015. Index of persons, appendix, notes, 352 pages. ISBN: 978-0141395852. VSCL. 

Seneca The Stoic Philosophy of Seneca: Essays and Letters. By Seneca. Translated with and introduction by Moses Hadas.  New York, W. W. Norton, 1958, 1968. 261 pages. ISBN: 0393004597. VSCL. 

Stoicism: Bibliography, Links, Notes, Quotations, Reflections, Resources.
A hypertext notebook by Michael P. Garofalo.

Personally, I favor the metaphysics and natural philosophy of the Epicureans over the Stoics.  The Stoics remind me of the Confucians, and the Epicureans remind me of the Taoist thinkers of around 300 BCE.  

Aging Well

How to Live a Good Life: Advice from Wise Persons