Another great book that has passed the test of time (thousands of years since it was written).
It’s great to see how he dissects and thinks through different topics related to day-to-day life.
If you are interested in philosophy, you won’t regret picking up this book. Short and down-to-earth.
Flow: 5/5
Actionability: 5/5
Mindset: 5/5
Some of My Highlights:
“Merely learning philosophical doctrine and listening to lectures, they state, will not do us any good unless we manage to interiorize the teachings and apply them to daily life.”
“….the aim of philosophy is for Musonius to lead a life of virtue.”
“Most anecdotes about Socrates’ marriage know to us from antiquity depict his marital relationship as turbulent and his spouse as a shrew who understood nothing of his aims.”
“A king should not only study philosophy; he should also apply it by exerting self-control and serving the common good in his rule.”
“For Musonius Rufus, as we have seen, to engage in philosophy means to apply its teaching in practice and in everyday life.”
“Ant the pupil too, the quicker his intelligence, the fewer proofs he will require, and the sooner he will assent to the conclusion of the argument in question, provided it be sound.”
“…the other reared somewhat in the Spartan manner, unaccustomed to luxury, practiced in self-restraint, and ready to listen to sound reasoning.”
“But most of all his treatment should consist in showing himself not only as one who utters words which are most helpful, but as one who acts consistently with them.”
“…for the only way to escape from wantonness is through self-control; there is no other.”
“I only urge that they should acquire from philosophy goodness in conduct and nobility of character.”
“In effectiveness, however, practice takes precedence over theory as being more influential in leading men to action.”
“How, indeed, could a person immediately become temperate if he only knew that one must not be overcome by pleasures, but was quite unpracticed in withstanding pleasures?”
“Therefore upon the learning of the lessons appropriate to each and every excellence, practical training must follow invariably, if indeed from the lessons we have learned we hope to derive any benefit.”
“For obviously the philosopher’s body should be well prepared for physical activity, because often the virtues make use of this as a necessary instrument of the affairs of life.”
“We use the training common to both when we discipline ourselves to cold, heat, thirst, hunger, meagre rations, hard beds, avoidance of pleasures, and patience under suffering.”
“…to become good and just and self-controlled, a state which no man achieves without hardships.”
“For the first duty of a king is to be able to protect and benefit his people…”
“In an ordinary man when these qualities are present they give him dignity and self-command, but if they be present in a king they make him preeminently godlike and worthy of reverence.”
“For my part, I believe that the good king is straightway and of necessity a philosopher, and the philosopher a kingly person.”
“In fact, there have been cases where exile was an absolute blessing, as it was to Diogenes, who by his exile was transformed from an ordinary citizen into a philosopher, and instead of sitting idly in Sinope, he busied himself in Greece, and in the pursuit of virtue came to surpass the philosophers.”