Many of the Stoics were powerful and privileged. Marcus Aurelius was born to a wealthy family and then was given the throne and the empire. Cato came from an old and prestigious family. But not all the Stoics were so lucky–Epictetus was born a slave. His teacher Musonius was exiled multiple times. Admiral James Stockdale, whose heroics we’ve spoken of often, was from an ordinary American family in Illinois.

Yet advantaged or disadvantaged, all the Stoics possessed a certain power, a certain freedom by way of their philosophy.

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And today's entry of The Daily Stoic Journal, Ryan discusses why even the Stoics struggled with maintaining a balanced information diet, and therefore preached the benefits of favoring the everlasting wisdom found in books over daily news.

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