Chrysippus: Freedom of the Mind

The Stoic Difference Between “Need” and “Want”

Vincent Van Gogh, Prisoners Exercising (After Dore), 1890. The mind can be a prison if we allow our desires to overwhelm us. (source: Wikimedia Commons)

In 1765 the French writer Denis Diderot acquired a new robe. His old robe — that he loved — had become a little tatty so the luxurious new robe was welcome. But the gift had unexpected consequences.

Diderot’s other possessions suddenly looked tawdry compared to his new robe. Nothing he had lived up to the…