”The pleasure of excess is always fleeting.”

”Who can be free when they have lost, as one addiction specialist put it, ‘the freedom to abstain’?”

”When we desire more than we need, we make ourselves vulnerable.”

“You may lose battles, but never lose a minute to sloth.”

“We don’t rise to the occasion, we fall to the level of our training.”

“A weak mind must be constantly entertained and stimulated. A strong mind can occupy itself and, more importantly, be still and vigilant in moments that demand it.”

“Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.”

“Don’t just think about what a certain pleasure will give, think about what it will take out of you.”

“You can get angry…the important thing is not to do anything out of anger.”

“An expert on speaking also knows when not to do so.”

“Time is the way we measure the only truly nonrenewable resource we have. No one is making more of it. Once lost, it cannot be recovered.”

“The leader shows up first and leaves last. The leader works hardest. The leader puts others before themselves. The leader takes the hit. Everything else is just semantics and titles.”

“In the end, it’s not about what we do, it’s about how we do it and, by extension, who we are.”

“Rigidity is fragility. Formlessness is unbreakable.”

Impactful quotes from Discipline Is Destiny, the second book of his most recent stoic virtue series.

The instant New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestseller! In his New York Times bestselling book Courage is Calling, author Ryan Holiday made the Stoic case for a bold and brave life. In this much-anticipated second book of his Stoic Virtue series, Holiday celebrates the awesome power of self-discipline and those who have seized it. To master anything, one must first master themselves–one’s emotions, one’s thoughts, one’s actions. Eisenhower famously said that freedom is really the opportunity to practice self-discipline. Cicero called the virtue of temperance the polish of life. Without boundaries and restraint, we risk not only failing to meet our full potential and jeopardizing what we have achieved, but we ensure misery and shame. In a world of temptation and excess, this ancient idea is more urgent than ever. In Discipline is Destiny, Holiday draws on the stories of historical figures we can emulate as pillars of self-discipline, including Lou Gehrig, Queen Elizabeth II, boxer Floyd Patterson, Marcus Aurelius and writer Toni Morrison, as well as the cautionary tales of Napoleon, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Babe Ruth. Through these engaging examples, Holiday teaches readers the power of self-discipline and balance, and cautions against the perils of extravagance and hedonism. At the heart of Stoicism are four simple virtues: courage, temperance, justice, and wisdom. Everything else, the Stoics believed, flows from them. Discipline is Destiny will guide readers down the path to self-mastery, upon which all the other virtues depend. Discipline is predictive. You cannot succeed without it. And if you lose it, you cannot help but bring yourself failure and unhappiness.

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Philosophy

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Personal Development

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Ryan Holiday is media strategist for notorious clients like Tucker Max and Dov Charney. After dropping out of college at 19 to apprentice under the strategist Robert Greene, he went on to advise many bestselling authors and multi-platinum musicians. He is the Director of Marketing at American Apparel, where his work in advertising was internationally known. His strategies are used as case studies by Twitter, YouTube, and Google, and have been written about in AdAge, the New York Times, Gawker, and Fast Company. He is the author is *Trust Me, I'm Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator*, which is due out in July. He currently lives in New Orleans, with his rebellious puppy, Hanno.

Discipline Is Destiny

Jackson Smoot