Five stoic insights drawn from remarkable women

Executive overview

Stoicism has always maintained that virtue is equally available to men and women — yet most of its recorded voices are male. Ryan Holiday draws on women from history and his own life to surface stoic principles that are often overlooked.

Being described as "passionate" is a warning sign, not a compliment — the stoics prized calm objectivity over emotional intensity.

Eleanor Roosevelt and the stoic case against passion

• Roosevelt rejected the word "passionate" when applied to her — deliberately.
• The stoics treat passion as a liability: it clouds judgment and drives mistakes.
• Caring deeply about something does not require being driven by passion.
• The goal is clear, effective, objective action — not emotional intensity.

Florence Nightingale and answering the call

• Nightingale first felt her calling at 16 but feared her parents' disapproval.
• She waited 16 years before finally committing to nursing.
• The question stoicism poses: how long will you let fear delay who you are meant to be?

Three lessons from Samantha Holiday

• Blame is a choice: "nobody can frustrate you — you are responsible for your own emotions."
• Childbirth exposes a level of physical courage most men never approach.
• Embodying a philosophy matters more than writing or talking about it.

Margaret Thatcher and the courage to remain yourself

• An interviewer wrote that Thatcher was "too difficult" — in plain sight, upside down.
• That kind of judgment can hollow out a person's ambition if they let it.
• Stoic courage means refusing to be reshaped by others' expectations or the status quo.

Portia Cato: the fullest expression of stoic virtue

• Daughter of Cato the Younger, she was raised in stoicism from childhood.
• She endured the death of her first husband, the fall of the Republic, and the loss of a child without losing her resolve.
• To prove her trustworthiness to Brutus, she stabbed herself in the thigh and bore the pain alone.
• Her argument: a true partner shares not just comfort but suffering and risk.
• Brutus judged her his equal — and the conspirators' resolve on the Ides of March reflected that.