"There's a good deal of cynicism in real stoicism.."

"You boys fancy yourselves a Diogenean--barefoot friars who despise so-called good things, and for whom the essence of virtue is independence--but cynic means dog-like, Fist, cynicism really comes down to snarling, when it's vulgarized the way you campus philosophers do vulgarize everything. And part of the time you seem to think Epicurus has it for you--cut out all learning that doesn't do anything for you; simple pleasures; freedom from fear, especially from fear of Hell...But i really believe that what you need is a little less parietal freedom and a little more stoicism. There's a good deal of cynicism in real stoicism, you know: All real things are material, even the soul, which is a sort of atomic gas, and when we die all that disappears. The balloon simply deflates, either with a bang or with a slow leak. The sage, then, should be dispassionate, he should not be pushed around by pleasure or pain, but he should accede to natural laws--those or laws you just can't break. Nor can you change them with all the sitdowns and placard-carrying in this world." -Professor Orreman in Too Far to Walk