Key points

Like the Spartans and the Cynics, the Stoics greatly valued self-imposed hardship.

Self-imposed hardship can help us discover what we can do without, and reduce our fear of losing those things.

It can also remind us that simple things, such as bread and olive oil, can be just as enjoyable as any luxury.

Diogenes in his barrel. Source: Wikimedia Commons/Jean-Léon Gérôme/Public Domain

In the deep winter, Diogenes the Cynic (d. 323 BCE) would strip naked and embrace bronze statues. One day, upon seeing this, a Spartan asked him whether he was cold. When he said that he was not, the Spartan replied, “Well, then, what’s so impressive about what you’re doing?”

Like their ancestors, the Cynics, and like the Spartans, the Stoics greatly valued hardship, albeit on a more modest o

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