Esther McCarthy: There's a lot to be said for the stoic way of life

Esther McCarthy shares some old-school stoicism from her late dad, Paddy Mac

My dad was a great man for the idioms — little sayings he’d deploy in moments of uncertainty or agitation around him

My dad, Paddy Mac, may he rest in peace, was a stoic. We just didn’t have the word for it back then.

There’s a book on my bedside table at the moment — Go Gentle by Maria Semple, a New York Times bestseller. It’s a witty novel about a stoic philosopher called Adora Hazzard who seems to have cracked the code of human happiness. She’s mad for Marcus Aurelius and his philosophies.