“Ryan Holiday’s Courage is Calling traces the history of courage and its many faces through
the ages and arrives at the present day with an urgent call to arms for each and all of us. As
we battle our enemies within and without, will we choose to rise up to the call of our courage
or blush and bow down to the whispers of our cowardice? Our answer to this question is
about more than our sense of duty, it’s about our freedom. It’s about more than wins and
losses, it’s about our survival. It’s on me, it’s on you, it’s on us. Take the dare we may.”
Matthew McConaughey, Academy Award Winning Actor and New York Times #1 best-
selling author
In this first part of a four part series, drawing on the 4 Stoic virtues, Ryan Holiday examines the virtue of courage - what it means, how we can apply it in our lives, and how we can be inspired by leaders and figures from the past. From Florence Nightingale, who defied Victorian upper-middle-class convention, to the famous stories of the Spartans who stared down the mighty Persian empire, Ryan Holiday emphasises the very much ordinary nature of these people in order to inspire us to make courageous decisions in our own lives. For example, Florence Nightingale didn't immediately rise from obscurity to become one of the world's most famous nurses. It was small decision by small decision, starting with having the courage to defy her family.
In between each story, Ryan uses his own interpretation of Stoicism and writings on courage to create his own thesis about what modern-day courage looks like, and how it doesn't need to be huge acts to be noteworthy. It can be saying "no" to something you find immoral or unethical. It can be saying "yes" to something that takes you out of your comfort zone. And each courageous decision can accumulate to be life-changing.
Find more of Ryan's work via @RyanHoliday and @DailyStoic on Twitter, or @ryanholiday and @dailystoic on Instagram.
