We should not trust the masses who say only the free can be educated, but rather the lovers of wisdom who say that only the educated are free.” — - Ryan Holiday

Success breeds softness.

It also breeds fear: We become addicted to our creature comforts. And then we become afraid of losing them.

The Stoics spent so much effort trying to limit their attachments to various comforts.

They worked hard at not needing the newest or fanciest or most expensive new luxury.

They understood that it was not only ungrateful – it was a quest that only ever ended in disappointment.

Remember, if there is one core teaching at the heart of this philosophy, it’s that we’re not as smart and as wise as we’d like to think we are. If we ever do want to become wise, it comes from the questioning and from humility — not, as many would like to think, from certainty, mistrust, and arrogance.