The Daily Stoic - Is This Really Worth The Cost?
Episode Date: August 20, 2025We can’t let our accomplishments fool us into thinking that we are immortal, that we can outthink, outrun, outwork death. 📚 The ebook edition of Ryan Holiday's Ego Is the Enemy ...;is just $1.99 for a limited time only!📖 Preorder the final book in Ryan Holiday's The Stoic Virtues Series: "Wisdom Takes Work": https://store.dailystoic.com/pages/wisdom-takes-work🎙️ Follow The Daily Stoic Podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoicpodcast🎥 Watch top moments from The Daily Stoic Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@dailystoicpodcast✉️ Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email at https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Get Stoic inspired books, medallions, and prints to remember these lessons at the Daily Stoic Store: https://store.dailystoic.com/📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, and FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
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
history's greatest men and women 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.
to have the most. He could not be satisfied, and this propelled him to great heights,
great lengths, and greatness. It quite literally took him to the ends of the earth. As the poet
Juvenile writes, when Alexander the Great was alive, the world was not big enough to contain his
ambition. But while Alexander chafed at the confines of the world in life, in death, a coffin was
enough. To the Stoics, to Marcus Aurelius in particular, this was a cautionary tale. We have to
resist the delusion that our specialness makes us immune from criticism or consequences.
We can't let our accomplishments fool us into thinking we are immortal, that we can out-think,
out-run, out-work, death, that we are exempted from the rules or from simply being a decent person.
Now, of course, today, few of us actually desire to conquer the world.
Few of us truly think we are descended from the gods.
But that doesn't mean that our egos can't get the best of us.
It doesn't mean that our drives can't get ahead of us, which is why we have to stop and check
ourselves. The great Iron Maiden lyric is worth thinking about every so often.
Measure your coffin, they say. Does it measure up to your lust? This thing that you're chasing
that you want so badly, can you take it with you when you die? This thing you're spending every
waking moment on. Is it worth, as Seneca asks, the cost of your life? Because that's what you
are using to pay for it. Time. Time that you can never get back.
In the end, we all fit in the same small pine box or the same urn.
So remember that, that it humble you, let it put things in perspective.