The Hardest Book Ryan Holiday Has Written | Billy Oppenheimer (Pt. 1)
The Daily Stoic
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Virtues as Actions, not Inborn Traits
Virtue, courage, discipline, and generosity are not inherent traits but actions that one cultivates through practice and repetition. Aristotle emphasizes that virtue is a continuous process of doing rather than something one is born with or attains. Soldiers and astronauts become courageous through training and practice, not innate bravery. Similarly, discipline and generosity are qualities that are developed through repeatedly engaging in difficult acts and consciously working towards embodying these traits. To become virtuous, one must actively think about, set rules, and engage in activities aligned with the desired virtue to make it a second nature, as advocated by the Stoics in their writings.
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