Stoic quotes
The Stoics spent their lives on a few plain questions: what's in your control, what isn't, and how to act well either way. These 30 short lines are written in that spirit. They aren't quotes from Marcus Aurelius, Seneca or Epictetus, and they aren't paraphrases dressed up as quotes.
They're original lines we wrote for dscpln, drawing on the same ideas: calm over reaction, effort over outcome and character over comfort. Each one is short enough to read in a single breath and remember all day. Pick one for the morning, before the day and everyone in it starts pulling at you. Copy it, share it or save it as a Stories image to keep it close at hand.
30 short stoic lines
Sort what's yours to control from what isn't. Then act on yours.
The weather, the traffic, their mood: none of it is yours. Your answer is.
Most of the hurt lives in the story you tell about it.
Do your work well, and let the applause go where it likes.
You can't choose the day you're given. You choose how you meet it.
Expect a hard day, and it loses its power to surprise you.
Be calm first. Clever can come later.
Before you react, ask whether this will matter in a year.
Hold what you love gently. Everything is on loan for a while.
An insult only lands if you agree to pick it up.
Do the next right thing, then the one after that.
Your character goes everywhere you go. Keep it worth carrying.
Rise early, work honestly, rest without guilt.
Comfort is a pleasant guest and a poor master.
Practice going without, so losing things never owns you.
Time is the one thing you can't earn back. Spend it on purpose.
Judge your day by your effort, not by how it turned out.
Let other people be wrong without making it your job.
Someone will test your patience today. Decide now to pass.
Name the fear plainly. Most fears shrink once they have a name.
Need less, and almost every day becomes a good one.
Every setback is practice for the next one. Keep the lesson.
Speak less than you know. Do more than you say.
A calm reply has ended more arguments than a clever one.
Picture your worry from a mountaintop. See how small it gets.
This moment will pass. Act in it the way you'll respect later.
Be the same person in private that you are in public.
Don't wish the hard thing away. Ask what it's teaching you.
Duty first, then comfort. The order matters.
Tonight, review the day honestly. Keep what worked, fix what didn't.
Get a new line every morning on your Home Screen
dscpln, the app we make, gives you a fresh line every morning. Add the Handwritten widget and it sits on your Home Screen next to your streak, so you see it every time you unlock your phone.
Sort what's yours to control from what isn't. Then act on yours.
DAY 12 · 1 OF 2 DONE