Welcome to the Via Stoica Podcast, the ultimate podcast on Stoicism, where Brendan and Benny walk the digital streets to share the ancient knowledge of the Stoics. Join us as we explore the timeless wisdom of virtue, resilience, and wisdom and learn how to apply it to our modern lives. Tune in for practical tips and insights on living a more fulfilling and purposeful existence.
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Besides listening to us on the Via Stoica podcast on Stoicism, you can find us on other platforms as well. You can also follow us on X.com where we host several Stoic spaces during the week.
Find Brendan: @BogglesTheStoic and Benny: @benny_viastoica. You can join these spaces to contribute live or to listen.
If you are looking for other Stoic Podcasts, click here for our Top Stoicism Podcast for 2025
The episodes have been made possible with the help of our audio and video editor, Alex Makaric. You can find his services at: http://badmic.com
Stoic Conversations
Part of the Via Stoica Podcast are the conversations we have with people who are active in the Stoic community or have a connection with the philosophy. Some of these conversations, we have turned into blog posts, where you can read the biggest takeaways. Here are the links to those articles.
A Stoic Conversation with Any Leonard from Classic Wisdom
A Stoic Conversation with Becky Schmooke from Stoic Edge Consulting
The Via Stoica Podcast
The Via Stoica Podcast is part of Via Stoica, which offers you a wide range of opportunities to connect and learn about ways to use Stoicism in a practical way. Besides this podcast on Stoicism and the live spaces on X, Via Stoica offers more ways to connect and join the community.
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Virtue is the only good
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Brendan and Benny
The Via Stoica Podcast Episodes
Welcome to the Via Stoica Podcast, the podcast on Stoicism that brings you the ancient wisdom of this philosophy to our modern-day lives. Walking the digital streets, Brendan and Benny examine the ancient texts and tools through a current lens. The Stoics teach us to focus on the moment, and that’s how Stoicism should be approached. We have the foundation of the wise minds of the past and now it is our time to find the right application to this philosophy of life.
In our weekly episodes, we will dissect a wide range of topics and apply the Stoic teachings to them. It is our goal to show you the benefits of Stoicism and provide you with examples and tools to help you live a better and more peaceful life.
If you wish to contact us, you can visit Viastoica.com, or email us at info@viastoica.com. You can find us on X.com: @viastoica, Brendan:@BogglestheStoic, and Benny: @benny_viastoica. If you like the content we are providing you can support us by subscribing, leaving a rating, and a review. Furthermore, you can support us via Patreon as well.
Stoicism is a philosophy we adhere to in our daily lives. It helps us live better lives and it is our duty to share this with you. And remember, Virtue is the only good.
Welcome to the Via Stoica Podcast, the podcast on Stoicism.
In this episode, we explore what it truly means to be a friend and to have one. We often say “a friend in need is a friend indeed,” but the Stoics invite us to look deeper. What makes a friendship good? When does it help us grow in virtue, and when does it distract us from it? Drawing on the insights of Seneca, Epictetus, and even Aristotle, this episode looks at friendship not as a social convenience but as a moral relationship that reflects our own character and self-knowledge.
For the Stoics, friendship begins within. Seneca reminds us that “The wise person is content with themselves, but not that they wish to be without friends.” (Moral Letters to Lucilius, 9.3)
In other words, genuine friendship can only grow from inner stability. If we depend on others to complete us, we’ll mistake attachment for care and convenience for connection. But if we first learn to be at peace with ourselves, we can approach others freely, not out of need, but from shared virtue and goodwill.
Aristotle described three types of friendship: those of pleasure, of utility, and of virtue. The Stoics agree that only the last kind, friendship rooted in moral growth, endures. As Seneca wrote to Lucilius, “Associate with those who will make a better man of you; welcome those whom you yourself can improve.” (Moral Letters, 7.8)
True friends are those who help us live according to reason, who hold us accountable with honesty and kindness, and who rejoice in our happiness as their own.
Here are a few Stoic practices from this episode you can explore in your own life:
Be content alone. Practice solitude to build a calm inner base before seeking connection.
Examine your friendships. Ask whether they are based on pleasure, utility, or virtue.
Pay full attention. When with a friend, give them your complete presence; it is the essence of friendship.
Cultivate gratitude. Cherish the time you share with good friends; hold them in spirit even when apart.
Friendship, like all externals, is a preferred indifferent; it enriches life but should never define our peace of mind. When we accept that change and loss are natural, we can honor past friendships without clinging to them and stay open to new ones that align with virtue.
By the end of this episode, you’ll see that Stoic friendship isn’t about dependence or detachment, but about mutual improvement, two people walking the path of virtue together, freely, honestly, and with joy.
Listen to the full episode now and discover how friendship can transform the way you think, act, and see your life.
Read the companion article: https://viastoica.com/10-seneca-quotes-on-friendship/
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