About this site: practice, with real sources

What this site is for

Most writing about Stoicism explains it. This site is built to help you do it: to prepare for the day, to respond when something goes wrong, and to look back honestly in the evening. That is the daily rhythm the Stoics themselves describe, and it is the rhythm of the app.

So the pages here lead with practice. Where the Stoics describe an exercise, we show you the passage, explain it in plain English and give you the exercise. Where a tool helps, the tool is on the page, free, with no account and nothing to sign up for: the I Need Perspective exercises for anger, worry and things outside your control, the Evening Examination, the dichotomy of control sort and the day’s teaching.

These tools are the same ones the free version of the app offers, built from the app’s own content and logic. The app adds what a website can’t: the practice on your iPhone when you need it, reminders at the times you choose, a private journal that stays on your device, and the full 365-day curriculum.

How we source the Stoics

Stoicism suffers from fake quotations. Lines attributed to Marcus Aurelius on social media are often modern inventions, film dialogue or loose paraphrases of copyrighted translations. We hold ourselves to a stricter rule:

• Every direct quotation is an exact excerpt of a public-domain English translation, checked word for word by software against the digitized text. A quotation that can’t be found verbatim in its cited passage is rejected automatically before the site or the app is built.
• Every quotation carries its full citation: the author, the work, the book and section, and the translator with the year of the translation.
• Omissions are marked with an ellipsis (…), never silently stitched together.
• Paraphrases are labeled. Seneca’s Letters to Lucilius and the lectures of Musonius Rufus are important Stoic sources, but the usual English translations are still under copyright in many countries. Where we draw on them, we write an original modern paraphrase and label it as one. A paraphrase is never set as a quotation.
• Modern labels are named as modern. “Dichotomy of control” is a modern name for the idea that opens Epictetus’s Enchiridion. “Amor fati” is Nietzsche’s phrase. “Memento mori,” “negative visualization,” “the view from above” and “the reserve clause” are later names for practices the Stoics describe in other words. We say so where it matters.
• Commentary is ours, and looks like ours. Explanations and exercises are modern writing. They are always set apart from the ancient text, never presented as the words of an ancient author.

The translations we quote:

Long died in 1879 and Stewart in 1918, and these translations were published before 1931, so they are in the public domain in the United States and in every country whose copyright term is the author’s life plus 100 years or less.

Victorian translations read differently from the modern ones you may know, with “thou” and “thyself” and long sentences. We think that is a fair price for words you can check. When a famous modern rendering differs from Long’s or Stewart’s wording, we say so rather than borrowing the copyrighted version.

What we will not do

• We will not pretend philosophy is therapy. Stoic Practice is philosophy and personal reflection. It is not therapy, medical treatment, diagnosis or crisis support, and it is not a substitute for professional care. If you are in danger or crisis, contact local emergency services; in the U.S. you can call or text 988.
• We will not turn Stoicism into hustle or posturing. The Stoics were not trying to be emotionless or invincible. They were trying to judge well and act justly.
• We will not collect your data. The website has no cookies, analytics or sign-ups, and nothing you type into its tools leaves your browser. The app has no account and no server; its App Store privacy label is “Data Not Collected.” See the Privacy Policy.
• We will not invent reviews, numbers or endorsements. What we say about the app is what the app does.

The column

The app’s icon is a single limestone column on charcoal. The Stoics take their name from the Stoa Poikilē, the Painted Porch in Athens where Zeno began teaching around 300 BCE. The column has four flutes, one for each of the four Stoic virtues: wisdom, courage, justice and temperance.

Who makes it

Stoic Practice and this website are made by Kaizen Apps. We would like to hear what helps, what doesn’t, and which passages you would like to see. Write to gpmediacontact@gmail.com or see Contact.