Meditations

“Some people, when they do someone a favor, are always looking for a chance to call it in. And some aren't, but they're still aware of it—still regard it as a debt. But others don't even do that. They're like a vine that produces grapes without looking for anything in return. A horse at the end of the race ... A dog when the hunt is over ... A bee with its honey stored ... And a human being after helping others. They don't make a fuss about it. They just go on to something else, as the vine looks forward to bearing fruit again in season. We should be like that. Acting almost unconsciously.”

Hard to rate this as a reading experience as it's the private musings of a very notorious, very wise figure of history and as such it was never meant to be read as a book.

Still, there's some gems of wisdom contained within the book and Aurelius is a champion of the stoic philosophy which resonates strongly with me. It's interesting to watch someone 2000 years ago struggle and muse over the same sort of things that still affect us today - reputation, fame, sense of worth, purpose, identity. The Roman empire is but a distant memory, faded to dust; yet people are still people and some truths are eternal.

“It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own. If a god appeared to us—or a wise human being, even—and prohibited us from concealing our thoughts or imagining anything without immediately shouting it out, we wouldn't make it through a single day. That's how much we value other people's opinions—instead of our own.”