The Stoic Art of Living: Inner Resilience and Outer Results

The Stoic Art of LivingInner Resilience and Outer ResultsTom MorrisWow, wow and wow! Tom Morris presents stoic philosophy in a new and personally empowering way in The Stoic Art of Living. I am so glad (as I am sure others are also) that Tom Morris brought the art of stoic living out of the academic classroom and now presents it (in lectures) to the corporate world and (in life-changing books) to the public.The ancient philosophy of Stoicism has a lot to recommend it in the twenty-first century. Everyone in the world today could benefit from learning about and applying Stoic philosophy in their personal life.Tom Morris does an excellent job of presenting Stoic philosophy in an easy to digest and apply manner which even a younger (teenaged) generation would find helpful. This book is helpful to those new to Stoicism, and to the experienced reader/practitioner of this life-changing philosophy. Applying ancient stoic writings to everyday living is made easy by the author’s brilliant and learned writing/speaking style.Each chapter of this book presents different aspects of knowledge to help the reader develop personal wisdom and virtue. The reader can learn to truly know themselves, which is a cornerstone of the Stoic philosophy.As I read through the book I highlight passages that I feel relate to my stoic practice in some unique manner. I find myself highlighting most of each chapter and then smile as I go back and read the highlights a few days later, realizing that the passages still resonate strongly with my personal practice of stoicism as a philosophy of life.Inside this book the reader will discover and learn (that philosophy can act as a counselor in the court of life), the stoic philosopher’s advice, clarity for the journey, inner confidence, planning a life, consistent living, the heart, the ethics of character, and about seizing the day. These are only the topics covered in the first part of the book.The remainder of the book is filled with many lessons on inner achievement and personal freedom, it also contains wise words on life straight from the top (Marcus Aurelius).Anyone interested in making their day to day life better in all aspects of living (through the development of inner resilience for outer results) would find this book infinitely helpful.Once again, thank you Tom Morris for bringing The Stoic Art of Living, out of the academic classroom and into the trenches of everyday life.

For most of my life, I suffered from terrible anxiety, depression, 24/7, obtrusive negative thoughts, anger, uncontrollable emotions, and a belief that I was destined to be unhappy.I was introduced to Stoicism in a philosophy class during college, but I struggled to sift through the dense philosophical texts. The Stoic Art of Living helped me take this ancient wisdom and actually apply it to my life. I remember reading it over and over, finding it so fascinating how each time I read it, a new gem of wisdom popped out at me which was completely applicable to my current situation.With all of our technological progress, we’ve forgotten some of these basic laws of nature that allow us to create happiness regardless of our genetics, what we learned from the people who raised us, and the difficult experiences we’ve had. This book had quite the ripple effect, not just on me, but also my students in the 8-week program I created to help others internalize Stoic principles and benefit from the treasures of this ancient philosophy.Thank you to the author for this practical resource that changed my life!

I was disappointed in this book first of all because it is strongly god-based and I am an atheist. I think the book might be good for someone who is religious and is interested in being financially successful in life, but wants to make money ethically. It is an okay introduction to Stoicism, but if you've already read Epictetus, Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius, you won't find much new here. Someone mentioned that Keith Seddon's "Stoic Serenity" is much better. I have not read it, but I just finished his "Epictetus' Handbook and the Tablet of Cebes", and there is some good commentary about Epictetus in it, but it is also god-based (in this case Zeus) and the author mentions that for a number of years he did Tarot readings for people. I got the impression that he believed the readings were legitimate. There is a lot of good stuff in his book, but I did not think it was worth the money. I highly recommend William Irvine's three books, "A Guide to the Good Life", "On Desire", and "A Slap in the Face", all available on Amazon. They are so far the best modern books I have found on Stoicism.

I was pleasantly surprised. Like some other reviewers, this was my first foray into the stoic story, and I found this quite readable and well written. True, I tended to skip over some of the areas that didn't "work" for me, for personal reasons, but much of this is simply a good, pithy read and a nice, humorous work by Tom Morris. This will go into my "top" shelf, I have already started a second reading. Anyone with an interest in Robert DeRopp (if anyone remembers him) would find this enjoyable and intriguing. P.S. - someone complained about Morris imposing his religious views into this work, but I did not find that concerning, or at least, nothing struck me offensively in that manner.

The book is excellent BUT who ever decided to use the nearly invisible print technique to highlight the quotes made this work anything but easy to read... in fact it is down right annoying!

This is potentially a life-changing book. This is not an easy read, but it is worth every bit of the intellectual effort required to study and understand what Tom Morris is teaching. I have read this book at least 5 times -- and will continue to go back to it year after year because it is so incredibly helpful and valuable. I have recommended it to many of my friends - and I highly recommend it to you! ** I posted the above review several years ago. Today is 02.26.2022 - just started reading it again!!

Quite simply one of the best books I’ve ever read. Maybe the best. I’ve also read dozens of books on stoicism and this is by far the best. Brilliantly written, clear, simple and yet incredibly thought provoking. I can’t recommend it strongly enough.