They tell their credulous followers that via the classical philosophy of the Stoics, they can ‘become successful, ­masculine . Hodgkinson disdains to name the ­shallow-brained noodle who summarised ­Stoicism thus (but I think it might be Andrew Tate). Money, fame and success, on the other hand, have no power to make you happy. In fact, the Roman Stoic, Seneca, called love even for one’s own wife ‘friendship gone mad’. B eing in love also meant you were enslaved to another, and this undermined the importance of Stoic ­independence and self-reliance.

Source: Daily Mail February 13, 2026 21:02 UTC