Three Rules for Life

Theodore Roosevelt loved sports. He loved the outdoors. He loved martial arts. He loved boxing. He loved football and rowing and wrestling.

He also loved books, so it’s fitting that one of his best pieces of advice—featuring a sports metaphor—was inscribed on a book he was signing for someone. “Don’t flinch,” he wrote, “don’t foul, hit the line hard.”

What wonderful advice for both sports and life. If you think about it, it’s got three of the four Stoic virtues in it right there. Don’t flinch—that’s courage. Don’t cheat—that’s justice. Get after it with all you’ve got—that’s discipline.

Theodore Roosevelt grew up a sickly young boy. It was his father who got him active, got him lifting weights, helped him ‘make his body’ and got him into sports. He didn’t push Teddy to be someone else. He supported him in becoming himself, a stronger, braver, more confident version of the boy he already was. And in doing so, his father didn’t just give him strength—he gave him a philosophy for life.

P.S. As parents, our job isn’t just to raise kids—it’s to raise confident, virtuous humans. Like Teddy Roosevelt’s father, we do this by giving them a philosophy of life.

Ryan Holiday’s Stoic Virtues series will show you how to instill courage in your kids when life gets tough (Courage Is Calling), discipline when effort is required (Discipline Is Destiny), and justice when decisions matter (Right Thing, Right Now).

Bundle all three Stoic Virtues series books at an exclusive discount over at The Daily Stoic Store!

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