Ryan Holiday on writing a children's book about Marcus Aurelius

Executive overview

Most children's books aim for entertainment alone. Ryan Holiday wanted a book that would plant stoic ideas early — ideas that surface later when life demands them. Marcus Aurelius is the ideal subject: a boy chosen for power he didn't seek, who spent 20 years preparing, then ruled without being corrupted.

The book distills stoic philosophy into aphorisms embedded in a fable, so children absorb the pattern before they understand the meaning.

Power doesn't corrupt those who are chosen for it and prepared by philosophy — it reveals them.

Why Marcus Aurelius works as a children's story

• Marcus was adopted, not born into power — chosen and groomed over two decades
• He wept when told he'd become emperor, knowing most emperors failed
• His dream of ivory shoulders told him he was strong enough to carry the role
• He transformed an unwanted burden into a gift through active effort, not optimism
• The story works as a leadership fable for any age

How the book was built

• Started as a bedtime story told to his own sons in March 2020
• Written on scrap paper, iterated by reading aloud and watching where attention flagged
• Self-published to retain creative control; sold signed copies direct, then word of mouth drove Amazon sales
• Kept to ~1,000 words — distillation, not summary
• Illustrated by Victor Yuhas; cover shows Marcus from behind so readers can project themselves onto him

Stoic ideas in the book

• Almost every line traces back to a real quote or historical source
• Core teaching: we don't control what happens, only how we respond
• Key aphorism embedded in the story: "The best revenge is to not be like them" — from Marcus's Meditations
• Inscription Holiday writes in signed copies: "Fight to be the person that philosophy tried to make you"
• The word "stoicism" never appears — philosophy is embodied, not labeled

On teaching children stoicism

• Embody it; the lesson lands through your own behaviour, not explanation
• Focus on individual principles, not names or history
• Real-life moments (a broken arm, being cut from a team) are where the mantras become real
• Stories create a jumping-off point — questions about gladiators lead to history, questions about Rome lead to geography
• Aesop, Pixar, The Little Prince: good children's content has a moral layer adults feel too

On the stoics and common misconceptions

• Stoics were not passive — nearly all were active in politics, military service, and public life
• Chrysippus reportedly died laughing at his own joke, illustrating the stoics had genuine humor
• Seneca quoted Epicurus (his philosophical rival) more than any other source in his letters
• The four cardinal virtues: courage, temperance, justice, wisdom — Holiday carries a coin engraved with them
• The hardest lesson to internalize: actually focusing on what you control in the moment you're angry

On Commodus and Marcus's legacy

• Marcus had 11 children and seven sons; Commodus was the only surviving male heir
• Losing six children makes the question of what went wrong nearly unanswerable
• The clearest mark against Marcus: passing the throne to his biological son, reversing the adoption model that produced him
• Whether this was failure of parenting, bad luck, or mental illness in Commodus — the historical record doesn't say