“With clean and clear prose, Margaret Graver provides a truly wise reading of the Stoics on the emotions. Her book is destined to become the standard on appreciating the deep contribution the Stoics make to our understanding of the role of emotions in our lives. After reading this book, few will dare read the Stoics as proponents of a life devoid of all affect and attachment.”
— Nancy Sherman, Georgetown University
“A first-rate treatment of the Stoic theory of emotions, Stoicism and Emotion is full of extremely careful philological detective work presented in clear and precise prose. It propounds a distinctive positive thesis in urging us to see the Stoics as more favorably disposed to emotions and emotional feelings than they have traditionally been thought to be. Margaret Graver represents this more humanizing reading of Stoicism better than anyone has done it before.”
— Tad Brennan, Cornell University
"A lucidly written . . . compellingly argued, and carefully researched investigation which should remain an indispensable resource for study of the Stoics on emotions for years to come. As it is pitched to readers well versed in ancient Greek literature with a fair degree of philosophical training, scholars and graduate students in Classical philosophy will benefit the most from this work. . . . A fine, soberly crafted contribution to both our understaning of the Stoics' theory of emotion and to an appreciation of the Stoics' subtle, insightful arguments against non-cognitivism. The patient reader's persistence will be repaid."
— William O. Stephens, Bryn Mawr Classical Review
"In addition to a beautifully clear and uncluttered style, [the book] offers a careful and balanced account of the Stoic view of the emotions which pays all due attention to the Stoics' accounts of psychology in general . . . education and character development, and moral responsibility. . . . A fine contribution to the increasingly plausible view that the Stoics (and Epicureans too, for that matter), in adopting a broadly intellectualist psychology, can still offer a rich and sophisticated view of human emotional life."
— James Warren, Journal of the History of Philosophy
"[A] valuable and provocative study. Accessible to general readers and challenging for specialists, [Graver's] investigation of the Stoic theory of emotion succeeds in achieving her aim of sympathetically presenting the intellectual attractions of Stoic moral philosophy."
— Glenn Lesses, Classical World
"Should we hold ourselves responsible for our own emotions? The Stoics tried to do so, and Graver invites us to take them seriously."
— Common Knowledge