“Name someone truly great without self-discipline. Name one calamitous undoing that was not, at least in part, rooted in a lack of self-discipline.
More than talent, life is about temperament. And temperance.
The people we admire most and will explore in this book—Marcus Aurelius, Queen Elizabeth II, Lou Gehrig, Angela Merkel, Martin Luther King Jr., George Washington, Winston Churchill—inspire us with their restraint and dedication. The cautionary tales of history—Napoleon, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, King George IV—stun us with their self-inflicted destruction. And because each of us contains multitudes, sometimes we see both excess and restraint in the same person and can learn from both.
Freedom requires discipline.
Discipline gives us freedom.
Freedom and greatness.
Your destiny is there.
Will you grab the reins?”
~ Ryan Holiday from Discipline Is Destiny
This is the second book in Ryan Holiday’s virtue series.
We covered the first one, Courage Is Calling—which was THE very first book I bought after rebooting the PhilosophersNotes series. Ryan and Penguin Random House sent me a copy of this book as it was coming out. (Thank you, RH/PRH.)
I started reading it the day it arrived. And, here we are.
It’s classic Ryan Holiday—an inspiring distillation of ancient (Stoic!) wisdom brought to life through a broad range of ancient and modern heroes. I loved it. I highly recommend it. (Get a copy of the book here.)
If you haven’t checked out our collection of Notes on Ryan’s other great books, I think you’ll enjoy those as well: The Obstacle Is the Way, Ego Is the Enemy, The Daily Stoic and Stillness Is the Key.
As with most of Ryan’s books, this one has three parts. In Part I, we explore discipline of The Exterior (The Body). In Part II, we explore discipline of The Inner Domain (The Temperament). In Part III, we explore discipline of The Magisterial (The Soul).
As you’d expect, the book is packed with Big Ideas. I’m excited to share some of my favorites, so let’s jump straight in!
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