The Daily Stoic

You have to learn how to retreat into yourself. And then return, renewed, to whatever is waiting for you.

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That’s Stoicism. A philosophy to help us in our search. But where do we start with it?

The new 10th Anniversary Edition of The Daily Stoicwill be released October 6, 2026—but signed and numbered first-edition copies are available NOW 👉 Pre-order your signed and numbered 10th Anniversary Edition here

🎟️DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you! Grab tickets here | https://www.dailystoiclive.com...

Time has passed. The ideas haven’t changed, as the Stoics say, but you have.

The new 10th Anniversary Edition of The Daily Stoicwill be released October 6, 2026—but signed and numbered first-edition copies are available NOW 👉 Pre-order your signed and numbered 10th Anniversary Edition here

🎟️DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you! Grab tickets here | https://www.dailystoiclive.com/

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The Stoics wrote about almost every part of life, but which of their ideas are worth carrying with you every day? In this episode, Ryan shares 50 short rules from Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, Epictetus, and other Stoics that you can actually put into practice.

🏛 Stoic reminders to carry with you: https://store.dailystoic.com/

🎟️DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you! Grab tickets he...

How are you making your impact felt? How are you bringing your beliefs—and virtues—into the world?

On the one hand, history is a catalog of human misdeeds. On the other hand, is history not also a catalog of human greatness?

The streets of Rome still carry the lessons the Stoics left behind nearly 2,000 years ago. In today’s episode, Ryan walks through the places where Stoicism was lived and tested and shares 11 lessons the ancient Stoic sites still have to teach us.

By the final years of his life, Marcus Aurelius had lost nearly everyone he loved, endured years of war, and watched the Antonine Plague devastate the empire. In today’s episode, Professor William O. Stephens joins Ryan to examine how Marcus faced the end of his life, why Meditations may have been his swan song, the loneliness of being emperor, and what kept him getting out of bed when he had every reason to give up.

There is no time like the present because, really, there is no time but the present. 

Today's bonus episode: three Stoic one-liners to help you start the day with the right mindset.

Does yelling and screaming change anything? Does spiraling fix it? Does finding someone to blame make you feel better for more than a few minutes?

We often wait for the perfect conditions to feel joyful, but joy rarely arrives as expected. In today’s episode, Kate Bowler and Ryan discuss three surprising signs that something might bring you real joy and how to become more open to recognizing it. They also talk about the difference between joy and happiness, what the Stoics thought about contentment, and our obsession with optimizing everything. 

You have it pretty good. We all do. You have modern conveniences. So it is easy to get a little spoiled…it’s also easy to assume that you are spoiled and soft.

No one—no Marine, no leader, no citizen, no parent, no one who wants any measure of success—is excused from studying. Not now. Not ever.

Nobody said getting wiser, better, or stronger would be accomplished without hard work. In fact, the Stoics specifically said the opposite.

Before stepping in front of a live audience on Real Time with Bill Maher, Ryan turned to five Stoic reminders to calm his nerves. In today’s episode, Ryan takes you behind the scenes and shares highlights from his conversation with Bill about why Stoicism is having a moment.

How do you keep climbing when there’s no guarantee your work will pay off? Sportswriter Seth Wickersham joins Ryan to talk about the Springsteen lyric that inspired his new book Be On That Hill, the role luck plays in success, and what keeps ambitious people showing up when the work gets hard.

Comfort and convenience are nice, but too much insulation comes at a cost. 

Ten years after taking a knee, Colin Kaepernick looks back on the decision that changed his life and cost him more than $150 million. In today’s episode, he sits down with Ryan to discuss navigating the backlash, keeping the focus on the message behind his protest, and what, if anything, he would do differently.