The Four Cardinal Virtues
And the Warrior for Virtue (Law 1)
Everything in Stoicism rests on one foundation: virtue is the only true good.
Health can be taken. Money can vanish. Reputation can be destroyed in an afternoon. But a virtuous character — wisdom, courage, justice, and temperance — belongs to you alone, and no external force can strip it away.
The Stoics called these four qualities the cardinal virtues because every other good trait turns on them like a door on its hinge (Latin: cardo = hinge). Master these four, and every decision in life becomes simple.
This chapter assumes you've absorbed the overview in The Path of Stoicism and the context from What Is Stoicism?.
1. Wisdom (Phronesis)
The art of seeing reality clearly and choosing rightly.
Wisdom is not book-learning or cleverness. It is practical judgment — the ability to cut through noise, emotion, and social pressure to answer one question: What is actually the right thing to do here?
- Know the difference between what you can control and what you cannot.
- Recognize that a calm mind is more useful than a furious one.
- Understand that being liked is not the same as being respected — and being respected is not the same as being good.
Marcus Aurelius reminds himself in Meditations:
“If it is not right, do not do it; if it is not true, do not say it.” (8.8)
“Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.” (10.16)
2. Courage (Andreia)
Not the absence of fear, but acting well in spite of it.
Stoic courage is twofold:
- Physical courage — enduring pain, hardship, or danger when required.
- Moral courage — standing for what is right when it costs you friends, status, or comfort.
Marcus faced barbarian invasions, plague, and betrayal. Yet he writes:
“At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: ‘I have to go to work — as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was born for — the things I was brought into the world to do?’” (5.1)
Courage, for the Stoic, is refusing to let fear make your decisions.
3. Justice (Dikaiosyne)
The virtue of social living — treating every human being as a fellow citizen of the cosmos.
Stoics were cosmopolitans. The slave Epictetus and the emperor Marcus were equals in the eyes of reason. Justice means:
- Giving every person what is owed: respect, honesty, fairness, kindness.
- Speaking the truth even when it is inconvenient.
- Acting for the common good, not just your tribe.
Marcus writes each day:
“Whenever you meet someone, ask yourself first this question: ‘What beliefs does this person hold about happiness and the good life?’ … Then ask: ‘With beliefs like that, how can he do anything but the things he does?’” (10.37, abridged)
He forces himself to see the humanity in even his enemies.
4. Temperance (Sophrosyne)
Self-control, moderation, knowing when enough is enough.
Temperance keeps the other three virtues from going off the rails:
- Wisdom without temperance becomes cold calculation.
- Courage without temperance becomes recklessness.
- Justice without temperance becomes self-righteous cruelty.
It is saying no to the extra drink, the endless scroll, the affair, the unnecessary purchase — not because you hate pleasure, but because you refuse to be enslaved by it.
“If you seek tranquility, do less… Do less that is not essential, do less that is not in accordance with nature. Because you will then be a man of leisure and live a life of true freedom.” — Meditations 4.24 (paraphrased)
Law 1 — Be a Warrior for Virtue, Not Approval
Here is the eighth Stoic law, the one that ties all four virtues together: Be a warrior for virtue, not approval. Popularity is fickle. Virtue is the only audience that never changes its standards.
- Choose the hard right over the easy wrong — even when no one will ever know.
- Speak the truth when silence would be safer.
- Act with integrity when compromise would be rewarded.
Marcus again:
“I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinion of himself than on the opinion of others.” (12.4)
Care only about the opinion of the best part of yourself and the universal reason that runs through all things.
Your Daily Practice
Tonight, before sleep, ask yourself four simple questions (one for each virtue):
- Where did I fail to see clearly today? (Wisdom)
- Where did fear or comfort stop me from doing what was right? (Courage)
- Whom did I treat as less than human today — even in thought? (Justice)
- Where did I indulge when restraint was called for? (Temperance)
Be brutally honest. Then let it go and resolve to do better tomorrow. That nightly review is how Marcus Aurelius kept himself on the path for two decades of absolute power.