Don’t Sell Out

The Daily Stoic

Daily Stoic | Backyard Ventures

Education, 694393, Daily Stoic, Society & Culture, Stoic, Stoicism, Self-improvement, Business, Stoic Philosophy, Philosophy, Ryan Holiday

4.6 • 4.7K Ratings

🗓️ 6 May 2019

⏱️ 2 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In his Discourses, Epictetus asks a probing question: “Your respect, trustworthiness and steadiness, peace of mind, freedom from pain and fear, in a word your freedom. For what would you sell these things?”

The answer, too often, is “for pennies on the dollar.” We trade our word for a small edge in business. We give up peace of mind for a bigger house or a nicer car. We mortgage our self-respect for fancy friends or fame. We sell our freedom for a job that makes us miserable, or a relationship full of incessant fighting.

We only have one life to live...and how many of us sell it quickly and cheaply instead of holding on tightly to this incredible asset we have been given? We value our principles and our happiness like penny stocks, like fetid swampland.

In Stoicism, there are four virtues that sit atop the ledger of human existence: Justice. Moderation. Wisdom. Courage. That is: Fairness. Discipline. Tranquility. Bravery. Compared to these things, everything else is cheap, if not worthless. No bargain is worth giving them up. And only a sucker sells them.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, prime members, you can listen to the Daily Stoke Podcast early and add free on Amazon music. Download the app today.
0:13.6	Welcome to the Daily Stoke. For each day, we read a short passage designed to help you cultivate the strength, insight, wisdom necessary for living the good life.
0:23.3	Each one of these passages is based on the 2000-year-old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women. For more, you can visit us at DailyStoic.com.
0:37.3	Don't Sell Out
0:39.3	In his discourses, Epic Titus asks a probing question. Your respect, trustworthiness, and steadiness piece of mind, freedom from pain and fear in a word, your freedom.
0:51.3	For what would you sell these things? The answer too often is for pennies on the dollar.
0:58.3	We trade our word for a small-age in business. We give up piece of mind for a bigger house or a nicer car. We mortgage our self-respect for fancy friends or fame.
1:09.3	We sell our freedom for a job that makes us miserable or a relationship full of incescent fighting.
1:16.3	We have only one life to live, and how many of us sell it quickly and cheaply instead of holding on tightly to this incredible asset we've been given.
1:25.3	We value our principles and our happiness like penny stocks, like fetted swampland.
1:31.3	In stoicism, there are four virtues that sit atop the ledger of human existence, justice, moderation, wisdom, courage.
1:41.3	That is fairness, discipline, tranquility, bravery.
1:45.3	Compared to these things, everything else is cheap, if not worthless. No bargain is worth giving them up, and only a sucker sells them.
1:56.3	If you like the podcast that we do here, and you want to get it via email every morning, you can sign up at dailystoch.com slash email.
2:10.3	Hey, Prime Members, you can listen to the Daily Stoic Early and Add Free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music App today, or you can listen early and add free with Wondery Plus in Apple podcasts.

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