When thou wishest to delight thyself, think of the virtues of those who live with thee; for instance, the activity of one, and the modesty of another, and the liberality of a third, and some other good quality of a fourth.
In his private journal, Marcus Aurelius advises reflecting on the virtues of others as a source of personal contentment.
Share
More from Marcus Aurelius
And how small a part of the whole substance; and how small a part of the universal soul; and on what a small clod of the whole earth thou creepest!
What remains, except to enjoy life by joining one good thing to another so as not to leave even the smallest intervals between?
The safety of life is this, to examine everything all through, what it is itself, that is its material, what the formal part; with all thy soul to do justice and to say the truth.
Reflecting on all this, consider nothing to be great, except to act as thy nature leads thee, and to endure that which the common nature brings.
Other voices in this conversation
