“If you lay violent hands on me, you’ll have my body, but my mind will remain with Stilpo.”
ZENO, QUOTED IN DIOGENES LAERTIUS, LIVES OF THE EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS, 7.1.24
Zeno is saying, in today’s quote from The Daily Stoic book, that you can hurt his body but not his mind — because philosophy protects him there. (Stilpo was his philosophical teacher.)
I’m reminded of the playground phrase, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.” It’s got a bit of a different nuance, but the underlying sentiment is the same: the mind can’t be harmed unless we let it.
Your body may be affected by many things outside your control: illness, accident, or even violence (hopefully not often). But you have an impenetrable inner fortress that can’t be breached, and that’s the thing you can control.
You’ll always have control over your mind and how you react. You even have control over what you react to — and that reasoned choice makes you invincible. Nevermind the sticks and stones, you’re essentially unstoppable.
