Ryan Holiday

1. 2014The Obstacle Is the Way

   His first Stoic book. He builds it around one exercise from Marcus Aurelius and illustrates it with historical stories of people who turned adversity into opportunity.

   Article 2016 · Interview: Ryan Holiday
2. 2016The Daily Stoic

   With Stephen Hanselman he publishes a book of daily readings, and the same year Ego Is the Enemy. In an interview he says: 'Don't read about Stoicism, read the Stoics.'

   Article 2016 · Interview: Ryan Holiday2
3. 2018The Daily Stoic Podcast

   He starts hosting the Daily Stoic Podcast.

   Wikipédia 2026 · Ryan Holiday
4. 2019Talks to football teams about ego

   He gives talks to two US college football teams. His message: ego blocks improvement because it believes it has nothing left to learn, so stay a student.

   In their words

   « ego is this sort of impediment to improvement because it doesn't believe that it needs to improve »Talk to a university football team: ego blocks progress because it believes it has nothing left to learn. watch

   « I don't like this idea of faking it till you make it I think that another word for that is lying »He rejects 'fake it till you make it': he prefers doing the work with his own effort, and calls the alternative lying. watch

   « even when you are doing great what you want to be looking at is what you could do better not what you did well »To the Alabama football team: even when doing great, look at what you could do better, not what you did well, to keep ego in check. watch

   Video 2019 · Changing Your Life With Stoic…2
5. 2020Lives of the Stoics

   With Hanselman, he publishes a book on the lives of the ancient Stoics.

   Wikipédia 2026 · Ryan Holiday
6. 2021Courage Is Calling

   He publishes the first book of a series on the four Stoic virtues, starting with courage.

   Wikipédia 2026 · Ryan Holiday
7. 2022Memento mori: live without regrets

   On a show he says memento mori does not mean everything is meaningless. Life could end tomorrow, so the question is how to live without regrets.

   In their words

   « i carry this coin in my pocket just says momento mori on it »He carries a memento mori coin, with Marcus Aurelius' line 'you could leave life right now' on the back, to guide what he does and says. watch

   « when you wake up the next day you're grateful because it's all bonus time it's all extra you're playing with house money »Stoic evening practice: imagine today was your last day, so that each new day feels like a bonus. watch

   « you can hope nothing bad ever happens to you or you can get to a place where you almost you almost enjoy the challenge of things going sideways »On amor fati: rather than hoping nothing goes wrong, one can learn to almost enjoy the challenge when things go badly. watch

   Video 2022 · Memento Mori: The Reminder You…2
8. 2024Ten years of The Obstacle Is the Way

   A 10th-anniversary edition and a podcast talk about how Stoicism is received now and about obstacles as a chance for virtue, not only for victory.

   Video 2024 · Turn the Tables: Ryan Holiday…
9. 2025Wisdom Takes Work

   The series on the four virtues ends with a book on wisdom.

   Wikipédia 2026 · Ryan Holiday
10. 2025Against the race for life extension

    In a talk with Laurie Santos he says that stripping the reasons to live out of life just to prolong it makes little sense. He also asks for the 'right amount' of thinking about death.

    In their words

    « it is always a very powerful sobering humbling and a little bit terrifying thought to run through your mind »Imagining the loss of someone precious (Epictetus' tucking in your child) never loses its power, unlike thinking of one's own death. watch

    « what they're actually saying is not too much over here and not too little over here get the right amount »The Stoics are not contradicting themselves on imagining the worst: they ask for the right amount, a golden mean. watch

    « stripping all the reasons for existence out of existence to then prolong the existence »On radical life extension: people strip the reasons to live out of life to prolong it; you could be happy now. watch

    Video 2025 · Think About Death. Science Says…2
11. 2026The living character is the monument

    In a Daily Stoic video on memento mori he says what counts is what you did with your life for the common good, not how long you are remembered.

    In their words

    « it's not about how long you are remembered it's about what you did in your life »Memento mori does not mean nothing matters: what counts is what you did with your life for the common good, not how long you are remembered. watch

    « his mule driver were both buried in the same earth »Cites Marcus Aurelius on Alexander the Great and his mule driver buried in the same earth: death is the great equalizer. watch

    « the living character is the monument »An old tombstone line that 'changed his life': the living character is the monument. watch

    Video 2026 · Why thinking about death will…

The arguments 4

The site's arguments they defend or criticize, and why. Click a title to see the full argument.

Signature ideas