The Stoic View on the Value of Life: Why Death Gives Life Its Meaning

“Life, it is thanks to death that you are precious in my eyes.”

Seneca, Dialogues and Essays, Consolation to Marcia, 20

We tend to treat life as endless, until it reminds us that it’s not. A birthday, a close call, a funeral. Suddenly, things get sharper. Days feel weightier. We become aware of time again.

Seneca, in his letter to Marcia, doesn’t avoid death. He looks directly at it and thanks it. Because for the Stoic, it is precisely death that teaches us the value of life.

This is the Stoic view on the value of life: we don’t become more alive by pretending we’re immortal. We become more alive by remembering we are not.

The Stoic View on the Value of Life

Modern life pushes death into the background. Algorithms are more interested in keeping us scrolling than thinking about our mortality. But the Stoics knew that remembering death is not morbid, it’s motivational.

Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius all practiced memento mori, keeping death in mind, not as a way to live in fear, but to live freely.

Here are three ways to bring this into your daily life:

1. Start your day with perspective
   Ask: “If today were my last, what would I want to give my time to?” This simple lens reshapes priorities.
2. Use death as a filter
   When overwhelmed, imagine looking back on this moment from your deathbed. What would matter? What wouldn’t?
3. Be generous with time
   Time is your most precious resource. Don’t spend it on what drains you or distracts you from your deeper purpose.

Understanding the Stoic view on the value of life doesn’t make life darker, it makes it brighter. Life becomes more urgent, more vivid, more real. Every ordinary moment becomes an opportunity to live deliberately.

We’ve touched on the subject of death a few times before in our blog. Check out this article we wrote: Why Death Needs a Rebranding.

🔗 Want to explore more Stoic strategies? Book a free consultation with one of our Stoic Coaches or read more on the Seneca Quotes page. You can also listen to the Via Stoica podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or watch it on YouTube.