Hey, prime members, you can listen to the Daily Stoke podcast early and add free on Amazon music. Download the app today.

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 good life.

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.

When you should give up, no one would ever call Winston Churchill a quitter. His whole reputation is built on his instinct to fight.

He was the lone objector when appeasement toward Hitler reigned as policy in the 1930s. He was the one strong enough to inspire the British people to hold out against the Nazi bombardment and a potential invasion until America entered the war.

His personal motto was K, B, O, keep buggering on.

You may have heard the first part of his famous speech which he gave to the boys at the Harrow School, which he had attended as a child. He said, never give in, never, never, never, and nothing great or small, large or petty.

But did you know there was a second part to it that Churchill wasn't saying to hold out forever in every circumstance? This is the full quote, never give in, never, never, never, and nothing, great or small, large or petty.

Never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense.

So there you have the famous never quitter explaining the conditions under which you should quit or give in, when you are honor bound or when it makes no sense to continue.

In example, when Churchill lost the confidence of his government in November 1915, he resigned his position and enlisted in the British Army.

His old path ceased to be even remotely viable, so he found another way to serve with honor.

And while Hitler might have thought that Churchill was insane for not negotiating a piece with Germany, Churchill actually did see a way through and knew there was a good chance his country could endure.

In one case, it was good sense to give in and another, it wasn't.

The Stokes were all about this balance. Yes, they were proponents of perseverance and persistence. No, they didn't run away just because things got hard.

But they weren't massacres either. They didn't believe in hurling themselves against a wall that would never give way.

Marcus used a vivid analogy for people who continue to be the same person despite all the obvious signs it wasn't working.

He said they were like animal fighters at the games, torn half to pieces covered in blood and gore and still pleading to be held over till tomorrow to be bitten and clawed again.

Today we talk about this colloquially as the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

That's no way to live. It's good to be tough but hardly noble to be stupid.

Sticking to something is commendable, but not if that inflexibility comes at the expense of other viable solutions or if it becomes its own vice.

Remember that today. Never ever ever ever given.

...