You can find a complete listing of all the articles on this site here. They are listed in reverse chronological order, and are all clickable links. Twenty-five articles are displayed per page, with the publication date included. To find older articles, click on the page numbers at the bottom.
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Even A Small Cave May Hold Calamities
The decrees of Fortune may be postponed, but they can never be vacated. He who imagines that he can avoid these rulings is like the man who exerts his limited control over a raft traveling on a swiftly-moving river; he may be able to organize the furnishings on his raft, but it is the river…
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The Six Most Important Leadership Principles (Podcast)
In this podcast, I state what I believe are the six most critical leadership traits that anyone in a position of authority needs to master. They can be applied to nearly any circumstance or situation.
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In Trying To Avoid One Harm, You May Cause A Worse One
Aesop tells the following tale called “The Son and the Painted Lion.” A fearful old man was worried about his robust son’s enthusiasm for hunting wild game. He imagined that the son’s courage might go too far, and result in serious bodily injury or death. So he did everything he could to shelter and sequester…
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Smoked Pork Neck Bones And Black Beans
I was in a grocery store the other day and saw a package of smoked pork neck bones. I don’t recall ever eating them before; but they were enticing, and I had a good intuition on how they might be prepared. Slow-cooked with spices and black beans, I thought, and they might evoke memories of…
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A Simple Dish With Pinto Beans And Chilies
I’m going to share an easy and satisfying recipe that I threw together yesterday. It doesn’t have a name, and I didn’t get it from any recipe book. I’ve been experimenting with this very useful Instant Pot pressure cooker lately, and thought readers might want to hear about this. If you don’t have one of…
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The Font Of Life And Leadership
How often do we really think about time, and our interactions with it? We know that Augustine of Hippo, in his Confessions (XI.20), expended significant effort on the nature of time, and its effect on human affairs. In his view it was not accurate to say, as we normally do, that the three “times” are…
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Captain Adolf Von Schell On Leadership And Composure In Adversity (Podcast)
Captain Adolf Von Schell was an infantry officer in the German Army during the First World War. In 1930 he gave a series of lectures on battle leadership to American officers at the Infantry School in Fort Benning, Georgia. These presentations were later collected into a book called Battle Leadership. In this podcast, I read…
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The Monkey Atop The Ship’s Mast, And How To Deal With Him
A nineteenth-century volume of nautical lore provides the following story of a strange incident at sea. In 1818 there was a ship—its name is not recorded by the tale’s author—on its homeward voyage from Jamaica to Whitehaven, England. One of the passengers was a young mother with her infant child, who was only several weeks…
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Special Kindle Discount Sale: Limited Time Only, From March 16 To March 19
In response to requests by students and instructors who want them for classroom use and recreational reading, Fortress of the Mind Publications will be offering, for a limited time only, a special discount sale on all of Quintus Curtius’s translations in Kindle format. All of them are fully annotated, with commentary and indices. They are…
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The Complete Lecture Series On “Stoic Paradoxes” And “On Moral Ends”
In 2015 and 2018, I made a series of podcasts discussing Cicero’s Stoic Paradoxes and On Moral Ends. In response to continuing interest and questions, I thought it would be useful to provide all the links to these lectures in one place. Having all of them consolidated can be a real convenience, and I want…
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Having Too Many Choices, And Falling Into Ruts (Podcast)
A reader has some questions about some possible choices in his life. We comment on this, and talk about: (1) how having too many choices can inhibit progress; (2) why you should focus on internals, and not externals; (3) why character and determination are all-important; and (4) how you need to shock yourself out of…
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The Humor And Wisdom Of Ibn Sabir Al-Manjaniki
Ibn Sabir Al-Manjaniki’s full name was Abu Yusuf Ibn Sabir Ibn Hauthara Al-Manjaniki; we note it here for completeness, and will not repeat it again. He was also known in some circles by the surname Najm Al-Din, which means “star of religion.” He was born in Baghdad in January 1159, and spent his early life…
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“Why Do I Feel Regret?” (Podcast)
A reader asks why he feels pangs of regret for not yet being married and having a family. I respond by explaining that (1) everyone’s path is different; (2) if you really wanted to do it, you would do it; (3) the real reason for your regret is a deeper one, and lies elsewhere, and…
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Sooner Or Later, Everyone Must Take A Side
The Athenian statesman and lawgiver Solon is said to have enacted an unusual law in 594 B.C. The essence of the law was that, in times of civil conflict or crisis, every citizen had to take one side or another. Neutrality was not an option; one could not “sit on the sidelines” and wait things…
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Getting Your Mind Right (Podcast)
Are you holding yourself accountable every day by living a good life, a productive life? Are your actions congruent with your words? We talk about that slime bag mentality, how it holds you back, and how those little voices in your head can lead you down the path of vices. There are no shortcuts, no…
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The Tomb Of The Scipios
When one considers the veneration that the ancient Romans had for their ancestors, it seems incredible that the tomb of the Scipios—one of the city’s most illustrious families—should be shrouded in such neglect and mystery. And yet this is precisely the case. One senses that the family and the city endured a bitter divorce, from…
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The Sources Of Anger (Podcast)
In this podcast we talk about the origins of anger, and how to manage your anger issues. It’s not a time for sugar-coating things, and telling you what you want to hear. Most anger can be traceable to one or more of these factors:
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A Terrible Storm Destroys Octavian’s Fleet
In the modern era we tend to minimize or downplay the influence of weather and geography on human activity. In earlier periods of history, armies and fleets had a much more intimate relation with the inconstancy of the natural world. Ancient man could not insulate himself from the ocean’s surges, the sky’s furies, or the…
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How Art Can Inspire Great Deeds
In this podcast, I talk about the documentary film Sad Hill Unearthed, and what conclusions we should draw from it. The movie describes how four friends found and restored the cemetery in Spain used for the iconic climax of the 1965 Sergio Leone film The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly. We discuss how art…
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“Digest” Is Now Available
Digest is available in paperback, hardcover, and Kindle editions. This comprehensive (713 pages), annotated, illustrated, and fully indexed collection includes all of Quintus Curtius’s important essays from 2016 to January 2020. Some of the essays have been expanded. The range of topics is diverse and compelling, and includes history, moral and ethical philosophy, travel and…
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Greed Is Always Their Undoing
In the first book of the Panchatantra (the classic Sanskrit collection of moral fables), the writer, Vishnu Sarma, mentions “five evils” that can befall an individual or a state: absence or dearth; rebellion; addiction; calamities; and tactical inversions. Each of these is explained in the following way.
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Petrarch Counsels A Ruler On The Ends Of Power
Giacomo Bussolari was born to a poor family in Pavia, Italy around 1300. A natural gift for oratory augmented the modest opportunities available to him; and he found in the Augustinian order a vehicle for the expression of his ambitions. During the 1350s he was a leading figure in the city, even rising to command…
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“I’m Thinking About Doing Something, But Don’t Know If It’s A Waste Of Time And Money” (Podcast)
I often get questions from readers asking if they should do seminars, courses, retreats, take classes, or things like this. It’s a great question. My thoughts are these: (1) Everyone has different motivational needs and requirements; (2) Your resources and time are limited; (3) You should experiment with different things to find out what works,…
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The Travels And Achievements Of Giovanni Belzoni
Giovanni Battista Belzoni ranks as one of the most unexpected and fascinating of European travelers. With little formal experience and education, he managed not only to explore and document various parts of the Arab world, but also to carry out engineering and logistical feats that would have daunted even the trained professionals of his era. …
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Ringing In 2020: A New G Manifesto Tweet Reading
We’re ringing in the new year with another G Manifesto tweet reading (even though he’s already in 2022). The topics are: custom suits, nootropics, game meats, mountain villages, ocean swims, beautiful girls, and avoiding weesh dudes. What more can be said? Kick back, have a drink or two, and laugh along with us! Life is…
Original copy of Cicero’s De Officiis (On Duties) published in Holland in 1642. From the collection of Fortress of the Mind.
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