PN | Weekly #11: April 19, 2026
“Indeed, the Stoic ideal was to be free of irrational and unhealthy passions and yet full of rational and healthy ones, particularly natural affection. Commendable emotions such as friendship and love play an important role in the philosophy.”DONALD ROBERTSON |
Friends!
Happy Sunday. Michael here. 🤗
Fun fact: Did you know that the first “pull quote” in each Philosopher’s Note is hand-selected to most powerfully capture the soul of the book?
Here’s the one from this week’s new Philosopher’s Notes, on Donald Robertson’s Marcus Aurelius: The Stoic Emperor.
“For the Stoics, to love someone is to wish for that person to flourish, so long as nothing prevents this–to hope, in other words, that the loved one may acquire virtue.
We could say then, that Stoicism tried to marry love with wisdom.
Indeed, the purest form of love is the desire to attain wisdom and share it with others for the common good.”
As I listened to the new note, I was transported back to the hallowed grounds of Plato’s Academy, with Donald and Brian urging us to LIVE the philosophies we were studying.
I remembered being surrounded by people I love: my wife and two young daughters, teammates and their children and families, community members and close friends.
And it brought me back once again to our shared purpose… captured so eloquently and powerfully in that quote from Donald above.
“To marry love with wisdom.
Indeed, the purest form of love is the desire to attain wisdom and share it with others for the common good.”
May you attain wisdom. Sharing it with others for the common good.
Playing the ultimate game… this moment… with excellence and love.
Have a great week!
-Michael
Enjoy this past week's featured Notes!
How Champions Think
by Dr. Bob Rotella
by William Damon
Man's Search for Meaning
by Viktor Frankl
Marcus Aurelius
by Donald J. Robertson
by Georgia Ede, MD
by Dr. Benjamin Hardy
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“It is amazing how when we begin to say yes, life seems to present us with just the right challenges: always slightly more or slightly earlier than we might have wished and yet doable—if we are willing.”STEVEN C. HAYES |
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