Episode · The Daily Stoic · 2026-10-21
Books mentioned on 10 Stoic Lessons It Took Ryan 10 Years to Understand
Ten years after publishing The Daily Stoic, Ryan shares what he’s learned, what he missed, and what he sees differently now. The new 10th Anniversary Edition of The Daily Stoic is out NOW!
Ryan Holiday discussed Meditations by Aurelius Marcus, The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and others, and The Obstacle Is the Way by Ryan Holiday.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Meditations
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius is a collection of personal journals and philosophical notes written by the Roman emperor, offering timeless Stoic wisdom on duty, resilience, and self-improvement.
Discussed“It wasn't until we were sitting down and looking at the completed first draft of The Daily Stoic that it hit me that Mark Stoic talks about the idea of the common good something like 80 times in meditations, right? 80 times is a lot.”
Where to get it
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The Daily Stoic
The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman offers 365 days of stoic meditations and insights.
Discussed“It wasn't until we were sitting down and looking at the completed first draft of The Daily Stoic that it hit me that Mark Stoic talks about the idea of the common good something like 80 times in meditations, right?”
Where to get it
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The Obstacle Is the Way
The Obstacle Is the Way by Ryan Holiday is a popular self-help book that draws on Stoic philosophy to help readers reframe adversity as an opportunity for growth.
Discussed“Obviously, I wrote an entire book around this idea from the Stoics that every obstacle is an opportunity, but an opportunity to do what? I think when people hear that phrase, certainly when I heard that phrase for the first time, I interpreted it in how do you bounce back?”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (8) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“10 years ago, I published this book, The Daily Stoic. I was 29 years old and I had been studying the Stoics for over a decade. I'd already written The Obstacle is the Way and Ego is the Enemy.”
“I'd already written The Obstacle is the Way and Ego is the Enemy. I knew enough about philosophy that I could write a couple hundred page book about it, one Stoic entry for every day of the year.”
“I'd already written The Obstacle is the Way and Ego is the Enemy. I knew enough about philosophy that I could write a couple hundred page book about it, one Stoic entry for every day of the year.”
“When The Daily Stoic came out, I was sort of at an inflection point in my career. It was early enough. Some of my books had come out and done well. Some of them had done not so well, but they certainly hadn't blown the doors off by any means.”
“And it's funny though, the same year that the Daily Stoic came out and it did sell well, a friend of mine, Mark Manson, put out a book, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck, that sold probably more in that year than this book has sold in its lifetime.”
“And it's funny though, the same year that the Daily Stoic came out and it did sell well, a friend of mine, Mark Manson, put out a book, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck, that sold probably more in that year than this book has sold in its lifetime.”
“The final lesson here, I think, is embodied in these two editions, and then some. This is the first draft, which was itself the result of many, many, many drafts. This is the 10-year anniversary edition.”
“Thanks for watching. This is the new edition of the book. You can check it out if you want a signed, numbered first edition. You can grab that from the link below or at dailystoic.com/ds10.”