Quintus Curtius

Why is guilt the most insidious and devious of all the vices? Why can it exist when we enjoy success, or suffer failure? And what are the ways we can eradicate crippling feelings of guilt? We discuss how in this podcast.

How has personality influenced history? Are great men more influential, or are impersonal forces? What are the positive and negative instincts that give rise to strong or weak personalities?

What are the traits that allow us to survive extreme situations? What is the calculus of survival? What can we can do to increase our chances of survival in adverse conditions? This podcast uses lessons learned from the horrifying prison camps of the Pacific in the Second World War to suggest some answers.

What is the imagination? We discuss some of its features: 1. The pervasive nature of ambiguity and what it means for the imagination. 2. The bridge or isthmus between the physical and spiritual worlds. 3. The microcosm and the macrocosm. 4. Existence being identical to imagination. 5. The importance of dreams.

We all need to sharpen our powers of logic and deduction. But how to go about doing this? This podcast provides some effective strategies for improving our deductive skills.

How can I stop procrastinating and regain control of my life? How can I maintain my focus and motivation for the things I'm doing? We discuss some answers to these questions.

The world can provide us with the things we need if we adopt the right approaches: 1. Subordinating appetites to Reason. 2. Never giving up. 3. Learning to let go. Our discussion focuses on why this is so, and how to achieve this awareness.

We all nurse some form of anger or resentment about wounds we received in the past. Why is this? Where does it come from? And how can we free ourselves from it? This podcast focuses on these questions.

Everyone wants to be creative. But how do we become creative? What conditions nurture and augment the creative impulse? Quintus tackles this subject and lays out the five important conditions that should be present for creativity truly to flourish. Tune in to hear more details...

We discuss the nature, importance, and features of boldness. How can we cultivate boldness? How can we employ it to best advantage? What are some of the inhibitors of boldness? How do I know when to be bold, and when not to?

In this podcast I discuss my seven major observations about getting older. Some of these will surprise you.

This is a reading of my essay "My Own Ten Commandments." It sets out some of the main points of my worldview.

This lecture discusses Cicero's visionary essay "The Dream of Scipio" which I included at the end of my book "Stoic Paradoxes." The topics of the essay are: 1. The qualities that make a great man. 2. The fleeting and futile nature of all earthly glory. 3. The immortality of our souls. 4. The right path to eternal glory. This essay is for me a personal favorite, and a rich storehouse for study and reflection.

This is the seventh and final lecture in our series. We discuss some of the most important ethical points of Stoicism, which are: 1. What is wealth? 2. Who can be considered wealthy? 3. Is only the wise man wealthy?

This lecture discusses propositions IV and V of "Stoic Paradoxes", which explore the following: 1. The wise man cannot be deprived of happiness. 2. Nothing can be taken from the wise man. 3. Character and conduct are all-important 4. Only the wise man can be said to be free. 5. What is freedom? 6. The wise man does nothing under compulsion. 7. Evil men are slaves. 8. Slaves are unable to control their impulses.

This lecture in our series on "Stoic Paradoxes" discusses the book's third proposition: that misdeeds are equal, and good deeds are equal. The central points are: 1. A transgression is bad, regardless if it is large or small. 2. If all sins are equal, then all virtues must also be equal.

This lecture discusses the first two questions in "Stoic Paradoxes", which deal with the following issues: 1. Wealth is an illusion. 2. What is a good? 3. Those who value pleasure too much are deluded. 4. Pleasure distracts the mind from the truth. 5. Virtue is a well of strength. 6. Death and exile are not threats to the wise man. 7. A truly wise man cannot be miserable.

Part 3 of our lecture series on "Stoic Paradoxes." In this episode, I discuss the essential doctrines of Stoicism, the major Stoic thinkers, and their influence in history.

The prologue of Quintus Curtius's book "Pantheon", describing the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamen.

Lecture 2 in my series on Cicero's "Stoic Paradoxes". This podcast focuses on the influences behind Cicero's thought, and explains what he really believed.