The Nicomachean Ethics
350 BC · 329 pages
Everyone wants to be happy. Aristotle's answer is that happiness is not a feeling but a life of acting well, and that you become brave only by doing brave things.
★ 7.6
The Books canon
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Every book chosen by hand and annotated for why it matters.
Browse all 1,178 books or filter by subject, era, place, and author.
Browse all 1,178 books or filter by subject, era, place, and author.
Discourses
108 · 400 pages
Born a slave, Epictetus taught that nothing is yours except what you make of what happens. These are his classroom talks, and he is losing patience with you.
★ 7.5
Meditations
180 · 256 pages
On campaign at the Danube, Marcus Aurelius, emperor of Rome, wrote notes reminding himself to expect rude people and to die well. He is talking himself into it, and you can hear that.
★ 7.5
The Handbook (The Encheiridion)
125 · 40 pages
Stoicism cut down to a pocket manual: sort everything into what is up to you and what is not, stop wanting the second kind, and meet what comes without complaint.
★ 7.2
Letters from a Stoic
60 · 254 pages
Nero's tutor sets down how to die, how to hold wealth lightly, and how to stop waiting for life to begin. Philosophy arrives as advice from someone who likes you.
★ 7.0