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Stoicism for Death
Stoicism does not fear death; it uses the awareness of it to make life urgent and sincere. Remembering that your time is finite is not morbid — it is what makes today worth living deliberately.
Stoic ideas for this
“You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think.”
Marcus Aurelius · Meditations
“Do not act as if you were going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over you.”
Marcus Aurelius · Meditations
“It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it.”
Seneca · On the Shortness of Life
“Begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life.”
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
Perfection of character is this: to live each day as if it were your last, without frenzy, without apathy, without pretense.
Marcus Aurelius · Meditations
It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.
Marcus Aurelius · Meditations
When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive — to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.
Marcus Aurelius · Meditations
“While we wait for life, life passes.”
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.
Seneca · On the Shortness of Life
“Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; no sooner does a thing appear than it is swept away and another takes its place.”
Marcus Aurelius · Meditations
“You are a little soul carrying around a corpse.”
Marcus Aurelius · Meditations
Tomorrow is nothing, today is the thing.
Marcus Aurelius · Meditations
“Never say of anything "I have lost it"; but, "I have given it back." Your child is dead — it has been given back. Your wife is dead — she has been given back.”
Epictetus · Enchiridion
People are frugal in guarding their personal property; but as soon as it comes to squandering time, they are lavish.
Seneca · On the Shortness of Life
The day which we fear as our last is but the birthday of eternity.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
“We should meditate often on the shortness of time.”
Seneca · On the Shortness of Life
“Life is long if you know how to use it.”
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
“The greatest part of our life is spent in doing nothing.”
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
“The present is the only thing of which a man can be deprived, since this is the only thing which he has.”
Marcus Aurelius · Meditations
Every day is a little life.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
Let us order our minds as if we had come to the end of our days.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
Study death always.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
“Though thou shouldst be going to live three thousand years, and as many times ten thousand years, still remember that no man loses any other life than this which he now lives, nor lives any other than this which he now loses.”
Marcus Aurelius · Meditations
“Do every act as if it were your last.”
Marcus Aurelius · Meditations
What is death? If thou lookest at it alone, it is a work of nature; but it is not a thing which thou shouldst fear, but rather despise as a trifle.
Marcus Aurelius · Meditations
When you have been delighted by a thing, reflect on its nature: you have received it, and you will return it.
Epictetus · Enchiridion
Do not waste the life you have, for it is not a rehearsal; it is the only performance you will give.
Marcus Aurelius · Meditations
It is not death or pain that is dreadful, but the fear of death or pain.
Epictetus · Enchiridion
Let each day be treated as if it were a complete life.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
Death, like birth, is a mystery of nature; do not add to it the further mystery of fear.
Marcus Aurelius · Meditations
Life is divided into three periods: past, present, and future. Of these, the present is short, the future doubtful, the past certain.
Seneca · On the Shortness of Life
We should live as if we were to die tonight, and learn as if we were to live forever.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
Let us so live that each day, at its close, we may say we have done something worth doing.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
Life is short; make the most of what is small.
Marcus Aurelius · Meditations
Let your every action be deliberate, as if it were the last of your life.
Marcus Aurelius · Meditations
Begin now; the hour is already late, and the task is waiting.
Marcus Aurelius · Meditations
Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend, and the most foolishly squandered.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
Put it into practice
A Stoic tool is only useful if you actually use it. Try this small loop the next time death shows up:
- Name it plainly. Say what is happening without the story you are adding on top of it.
- Split what’s yours from what isn’t. Invest your energy only in the part you can actually choose.
- Do one small thing. A single deliberate action today beats a week of intending to.