11
The obstacle is the way
Cites Marcus Aurelius, per a summary
Wikipedia and Daily Stoic’s summary have Holiday taking the title from Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations and calling the line a “formula for thriving not just in spite of whatever happens but because of it”.
- c. 170 to 180 CE
“for the mind converts and changes every hindrance to its activity into an aid; and so that which is a hindrance is made a furtherance to an act; and that which is an obstacle on the road helps us on this road.”
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations. Earliest we can find, about 1,840 years earlier.
- 2014
Wikipedia’s account of the book: Holiday emphasizes that Aurelius’ formula was a “formula for thriving not just in spite of whatever happens but because of it.”
Secondhand, from Wikipedia. Ryan Holiday, The Obstacle Is the Way (2014).
This book is still in copyright, so we read an account of it, not the book.
Sources
Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/
Daily Stoic: dailystoic.com/