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Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, designed to help bring those four key Stoic virtues courage, discipline, justice and wisdom into the real world. You can't join them. It's a dark world, filled, sadly, with dark people. People who lie, people who cheat, people who steal, people who do all the things that Marcus Aurelius opens that passage in Meditations with. The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous and surly, he says. And he was right, as we all know. But it's important to understand that Marcus Rihlis didn't use this as an excuse. And more importantly, he didn't join them. As he says just a few lines later, no one can implicate me in ugliness. Elsewhere in Meditations, Mark Srulis talks about not becoming like our enemies. And it's the same idea. People are the way they are. They will always be this way. We don't control them. We do control who we are. We control whether we let them drag us down. We control whether we become like them. It's ugly out there, but we don't have to be ugly. We can be beautiful. We can be kind. We can be honest. We can be decent. We can be good. We have to be.
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Episode: You Can't Join Them
Date: February 25, 2026
Host: Ryan Holiday (Daily Stoic)
This episode, titled "You Can’t Join Them," explores the enduring Stoic principle of refusing to become corrupted by the negative behavior of others, even in a world rife with dishonesty, arrogance, and jealousy. Host Ryan Holiday draws directly from Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations, reflecting on the challenge of maintaining virtue in the face of darkness and urging listeners to rise above the ugliness around them.
"The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous and surly, he says. And he was right, as we all know.” [00:34]
"It’s important to understand that Marcus Aurelius didn’t use this as an excuse. And more importantly, he didn’t join them." [01:04]
"No one can implicate me in ugliness." [01:16]
"It’s ugly out there, but we don’t have to be ugly. We can be beautiful. We can be kind. We can be honest. We can be decent. We can be good. We have to be." [01:43]
Ryan Holiday (quoting Marcus Aurelius):
"The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous and surly, he says. And he was right, as we all know." [00:36]
Ryan Holiday:
“But it’s important to understand that Marcus Aurelius didn’t use this as an excuse. And more importantly, he didn’t join them.” [01:04]
Ryan Holiday (summarizing the Stoic stance):
"We control whether we let them drag us down. We control whether we become like them." [01:29]
Ryan Holiday (resolutely):
"It’s ugly out there, but we don’t have to be ugly. We can be beautiful. We can be kind. We can be honest. We can be decent. We can be good. We have to be." [01:44]
The tone is direct, reflective, and encouraging—typical of Ryan Holiday’s practical application of Stoicism. The language is plain yet firm, modeled after the blunt truths Marcus Aurelius confronted in his own life, with a persistent and uplifting resolve to be and do good despite external negativity.
"You Can’t Join Them" challenges listeners to confront the darkness and dishonesty present in the world with steadfast personal virtue. Drawing inspiration from Meditations, Ryan Holiday reminds us that we cannot escape the difficult people or ugly behaviors around us, but we are always free to choose decency and kindness. This is the true Stoic path: not withdrawal or despair, but quiet and courageous resistance—refusing to join them.