Word list · 17 words
Ancient words for living well
Greek and Roman philosophers argued for centuries about one question: what does it take to live well? Their answers left English a vocabulary still in use, from eudaimonia and arete to the Stoics' apatheia and the reminder memento mori.
The schools disagreed with each other, and modern self-help often blurs them, so each entry says whose idea a word was: Aristotle's, the Stoics', the Epicureans' or a later writer's. Amor fati, for instance, is usually filed under Stoicism, but the Latin phrase owes its fame to Nietzsche, not to the Stoics.
Kept on this device only, for the daily recall in My words.
The words
Eudaimonia
Eudaimonia is the ancient Greek idea of human flourishing — "living well" as the highest good, achieved over a whole life of virtuous, purposeful activity rather than through momentary pleasure or…
Philosophy & Ways of Living
Arete
Arete is being excellent at what you are — doing your characteristic job well.
Philosophy & Ways of Living
Phronesis
Phronesis is the skill of working out the right thing to do in a particular situation, and actually doing it.
Philosophy & Ways of Living
The Golden Mean
The golden mean is the desirable middle between two extremes — too much and too little.
Philosophy & Ways of Living
Telos
Telos is the completed state a thing is developing toward — what it is trying to become when nothing gets in the way.
Philosophy & Ways of Living
Akrasia
Akrasia is weakness of will: doing what you yourself judge to be the worse option, at the moment you judge it.
Philosophy & Ways of Living
Logos
Logos is Greek for word, account, reason or ratio — used both for the rational order of the cosmos and, in rhetoric, for persuasion through the argument itself.
Philosophy & Ways of Living
Stoicism
In ordinary English, uncomplaining endurance of hardship without showing what it costs.
Philosophy & Ways of Living
Apatheia
Apatheia is the Stoic condition of no longer being ruled by destructive passions — not the condition of feeling nothing.
Philosophy & Ways of Living
Memento Mori
Memento mori is a reminder — in words, art, or daily practice — that you are going to die.
Philosophy & Ways of Living
Amor Fati
Amor fati — Latin for "love of fate" — is the attitude of actively loving and affirming everything that happens in your life, including suffering and loss, as necessary, rather than merely…
Philosophy & Ways of Living
Ataraxia
Ataraxia is a settled, undisturbed state of mind — the ancient Greek goal of not being agitated by anything.
Philosophy & Ways of Living
Epicureanism
Epicureanism is Epicurus's teaching that the good life is a quiet one — freedom from bodily pain and mental disturbance, reached by wanting less.
Philosophy & Ways of Living
Cynicism (the ancient school)
Classical Cynicism was an ancient Greek way of life that stripped away money, status and social convention in order to live according to nature — almost the opposite of what the word means now.
Philosophy & Ways of Living
Carpe Diem
Carpe diem is Horace's instruction to take hold of today's pleasure because tomorrow is not yours to bank on — and 'seize' is a translator's decision, not what the Latin says.
Philosophy & Ways of Living
Kairos
Kairos is the right moment — when circumstances have opened a window that will close again.
Philosophy & Ways of Living
Hubris
Hubris is dangerous, reality-losing arrogance — overconfidence so great it blinds you to your own limits.
Mythology & Folklore