Ryan Holiday

Ryan Holiday is an American writer and former marketing executive who has done much to bring ancient Stoicism to a wide modern readership. After working in media and as director of marketing at American Apparel, he turned to popular philosophy with The Obstacle Is the Way. The Daily Stoic, written with Stephen Hanselman, offers a short reading from Seneca, Epictetus or Marcus Aurelius for every day of the year, each followed by a comment. His books treat Stoicism as a practical discipline for work, setbacks and character rather than as academic theory.

Key ideas

• Stoicism is best treated as a daily practice of attention and self-examination, not only a body of doctrine.
• Obstacles can be turned into opportunities: how we respond to an event is within our control even when the event is not.
• Ego, the unhealthy belief in our own importance, gets in the way of learning, work and recovery from failure.
• Stoic training falls under three disciplines: perception, action and will.

Major works

• The Daily Stoic (2016)
• The Obstacle Is the Way (2014)
• Ego Is the Enemy (2016)
• Stillness Is the Key (2019)
• Lives of the Stoics (2020)

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