Category Archives: Book reports

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Lessons from a Stoic – Practical Philosophy by Seneca

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Imagine you were alive during the height of the Roman empire, at the start of the Christian calendar. As an admired political figure, you spend most days orating in parliament or tutoring soon-to-be emperors. Everyday life brings you huge banquets, death sentences and near-fatal strokes of disease – not exactly the circumstances inductive to the virtuous life. Yet it was under those temptations that Seneca, one of the most practical philosophers, relentlessly focused on improving his personal character. The series of letters he wrote at the end of his life, collected in “Letters from a Stoic”, are a must read for every (young) person who is interested in forming his or her own character.

Seneca’s writings are surprisingly timely and highly practical. I have collected below excerpts from his letters that I found truthful or that triggered personal questions. Note that I do not agree with all quotes below.

“Extend your stay among writers whose genius is unquestionable, […] if you wish to gain anything from your reading that will find a lasting place in your mind.”

“Think for a long time whether or not you should admit a given person to your friendship. But when you have decided to do so, welcome him heart and soul, and speak as unreservedly with him as you would with yourself. […] Regard him as loyal, and you will make him loyal.”

“Personal converse and daily intimacy with someone with someone will be of more benefit to you than any discourse. […] Plato and Aristotle derived more from Socrates’ character than from his words.”

“Retire into yourself as much as you can. Associate with people who are likely to improve you. Welcome those whom you are capable of improving. The process is a mutual one: men learn as they teach.”

“The many speak highly of you, but have you really any grounds for satisfaction with yourself if you are the kind of person the many understand? Your merits should not be outward facing.”

“Indulge the body just so far as suffices for good health. Spurn everything that is added on by way of decoration and display by unnecessary labor. Reflect that nothing merits admiration except the spirit, the impressiveness of which prevents in from being impressed by anything.”

“If you wish to be loved, love.”

“The wise man, unequalled though he is in his devotion to his friends, though regarding them as being no less important and frequently more important than his own self, will still consider what is valuable in life to be something wholly confined to his inner self.“

“We need to set out affections on some good man and keep him constantly before our eyes, so that we may live as if he were watching us and do everything as if he saw what we were doing.” 

“Every day should be regulated as if it were the one that brings up the rear, the one that rounds out and completes our lives.” 

As the opening of a letter: “I trust this finds you in pursuit of wisdom”

“When a person is following a path, there is an eventual end to it; with wandering at large, there is no limit. If you want to know whether the desire to pursue a journey is natural or unseeing, ask yourself whether it is capable of coming to rest at any point.”

“Making noble resolutions is not as important as keeping the resolutions you have made already. You have to persevere and fortify your pertinacity until the will to good becomes a disposition to good.”

“Appoint certain days on which to give up all physical pleasures and make yourself at home with next to nothing: bread, water, a bed. Cultivate a relationship with poverty.”

“Assume authority […] and produce something from your own resources. The people who are forever acting as interpreters and never as creators are always lurking in someone else’s shadow.”

“Praise others for what is truly their own. Do not praise for possessions or physical shape, but praise for spirit and certain characteristics you admire.”

“Treat your inferiors in the way in which you would like to be treated by your own superiors. […] To be really respected is to be loved; and love and fear will not mix”

“Let us rouse ourselves, so that we may be able to demonstrate our own errors.”

“People who are really busy never have enough time to become skittish. And there is nothing so certain as the fact that the harmful consequences of inactivity are dissipated by activity.”

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Reading the classics

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In a recent biography of Einstein, by Walter Isaacson, I learned about the “Olympia Academy”. During Einstein’s first year as a patent officer in Bern, Switzerland, he founded, together with two friends, what was to become the basis of a reading club. Multiple evenings a week, Einstein, Solovine and Habicht would get together for a wholesome meal to discuss their readings of the classics. They covered books from Hume’s A treatise on human nature to Spinoza’s Ethics, discussing their personal views and critically reflecting on the concepts proposed by the authors.

As I was visiting the Rocky Mountain Institute in Boulder, Colorado last week, a friend kindly showed me around the University of Colorado campus. My eye was caught by the quote on the face of the library. When you think about it, time plays the role of a very strong filter on century-old pieces of literature, art of music that are still recommended.

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As the urgency of books on best-seller lists fades with time, only the truly good, beautiful and truthful books will keep being recommended. That’s the beauty of diving into old books: it takes a lot more effort to read, but you will find very deep sentences on each page, forcing you, the reader, to think about the truth contained in them.

From that perspective, I would like to share with you an index of great books I recently stumbled upon, mentioning some of the best works of the past 2500 years. We should all take more time to actively read these. I have found that the most valuable way of reading the classics is to stop after every other sentence, to try to think of (counter-)examples of your own life that (dis-)prove the truth of the matter. It is slow, but meaningful. If you want to recommend a book, or discuss a certain topic, please do reach out to me.

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Plan for Future Conduct – adapted from Benjamin Franklin

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To shape ourselves to become the person we want to be, and to build “good” habits, it is valuable to write a personal code of conduct, which you try to stick to. Read it every morning before you leave the house, and go through it in the evening, reflecting whether you behaved according to the rules you set for yourself.
The four rules below were listed by Benjamin Franklin, on his sailing journey from London to Philadelphia. They resonated particularly with me, hence the reference.
  1. It is necessary for me to be extremely frugal for some time, till I have paid what I owe.
  2. To endeavor to speak truth in every instance; to give nobody expectations that are not likely to be answered, but aim at sincerity in every word and action–the most amiable excellence in a rational being.
  3. To apply myself industriously to whatever business I take in hand, and not divert my mind from my business by any foolish project of suddenly growing rich; for industry and patience are the surest means of plenty.
  4. I resolve to speak ill of no man whatever.