The Daily Stoic - Honesty Without Tact is Cruelty

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Starting point is 00:00:59 bonus content and extended interviews in there just for Daily Stoic Premium members as well. If you want to remove distractions, go deeper into Stoicism and support the work we do here. Well, it takes less than a minute to sign up for Daily Stoic Premium, and we are offering a limited time discount of 20% off your first year. Just go to dailystoic.com slash premium to sign up right now or click the link in the show of descriptions to make those ads go away. Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, where each day we bring you a Stoic-inspired meditation designed to help you find strength and insight and wisdom into everyday life. Each one of these episodes is based on the 2,000-year-old philosophy that has guided some of

Starting point is 00:01:50 history's greatest men and women to help you learn from them, to follow in their example, and to start your day off, with a little dose of courage and discipline and justice and wisdom. For more, visitdailystoic.com. Honesty without tact is cruelty. They rejected pointless convention. they spoke hard truths. They weren't afraid of being punished. They didn't fear power.

Starting point is 00:02:34 The Stoics said what needed to be said. Hailing from the cynic tradition, as we talked about recently, the Stoics had that dog in them. But they weren't jerks. Not on purpose anyway. It's one of the things Marcus Aurelis admired about Antoninus,

Starting point is 00:02:50 his social graces. The way Marcus writes, he never exhibited rudeness, lost control of himself, or turned violent. The ability to be able to be honest. to feel at ease with people and put them at their ease. Last year, we did a deep dive into this topic in our master class about philosophy.

Starting point is 00:03:07 One of the experts we talked to, Dr. Jennifer Baker, had a great line. Honesty without tact, she said, is cruelty. She was talking about the importance of how our words land with other people and not using bluntness as an excuse to inflict harm. By taking our time, by practicing and. empathy by understanding that not everyone appreciates candor in the same way, we're able to effectively communicate. We can say what needs to be said without being gratuitous. Did the Stoics always get this right? No, the record records some pretty biting and sarcastic remarks.

Starting point is 00:03:46 Generally, though, they tried to speak with tact and kindness. They tried to act with grace and poise, because courage without compassion isn't virtue. It's vanity. The Stoic ideal is not just to be brave, but to be good. And that means telling the truth in a way it can be heard.

The Daily Stoic - Honesty Without Tact is Cruelty

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